Lunar New Year

Lunar New Year marks the beginning of a new year according to lunar calendars or, informally but commonly, to lunisolar calendars. Because a year of twelve lunar months is about 11 days shorter than a solar year (which determines the seasons), lunar cycle-based calendars may have strategies to take this fact into account. Pure lunar calendars have twelve lunar months invariantly and consequently their New Year is not fixed relative to the solar year; no adjustments are made. In contrast, most lunisolar calendars also have twelve lunar months, but every few years, a thirteenth "leap month" is added to resynchronise with the solar year. Consequently, neither type of calendar begins on a fixed date in the international Gregorian calendar.

The determination of the first day of a new lunar year or lunisolar year varies by culture. The event is celebrated by numerous cultures in various ways at different dates. Better-known lunar new year celebrations include those based on the (lunar) Islamic calendar which originated in the Middle East. Lunisolar new year celebrations include those of the (lunisolar) Hebrew calendar from the same region; the (lunisolar) Chinese calendar and its variations from East Asia; and the (lunisolar) Buddhist and Hindu calendars of South and Southeast Asia.

In 2023, the United Nations General Assembly recognized the Spring Festival that coincides with the lunisolar Chinese New Year and is also celebrated in Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, and Korea among others, designating Lunar New Year as a UN holiday. Some states in the US, including California and New York, officially celebrate the Lunar New Year as a public holiday in recognition of the lunisolar new year based on the Chinese calendar.