Chinese New Year: Dates, Animals, Traditions and Celebrations

Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year - Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival - is the most important holiday in the Chinese calendar, and is also celebrated as Tet in Vietnam and Seollal in Korea.

It follows the lunisolar calendar, so it falls between 21 January and 20 February, on the second new moon after the winter solstice. Celebrations run for fifteen days, ending with the Lantern Festival.

Below: the zodiac animals, what happens on each of the main days, the customs and taboos, and where it's marked in the UK.

Cards for Lunar New Year

We don't make a Lunar New Year range - our blank-inside cards, printed in the UK, let you write your own greeting. Wording ideas are in our Chinese New Year card messages guide.

Celebrate That SLAAAAAY! Well Done Card Celebrate That SLAAAAAY! Well Done Card £3.87 Guinness themed thank you card with a pint of stout illustration and the pun text Tanks A Million. Tanks A Million (Guinness Themed Thank You Card) £3.87 Thank you and well done greeting card featuring a star design and the wording "You're a Star". You're a Star (Thank You or Well Done Card) £3.87 Thank you card showing an illustrated pint of Guinness with a cheeky message about celebrating with a stout. Thank You! (This Calls For a Guinness Thank You Card) £3.87 Thank You Gold Foil Velvet Greeting Card (A6) Thank You Gold Foil Velvet Greeting Card (A6) £4.49 Landscape thank you greeting card featuring vibrant, colourful letters spelling out "Thank You" for a colleague or friend. Thank You Card With Colourful Letters (Landscape) £3.87

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When is Chinese New Year?

  • It falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice - between 21 January and 20 February.
  • The date changes every year, which is why it moves around the UK half-term.
  • Celebrations last fifteen days, from New Year's Eve to the Lantern Festival.
  • New Year's Eve, with the reunion dinner, is the single most important night.
  • The same festival is Tet in Vietnam and Seollal in Korea, with their own customs.

The twelve zodiac animals in order

  • Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig.
  • Each year takes one animal, repeating on a twelve-year cycle.
  • The order comes from the Great Race, in which the rat rode the ox and jumped off at the finish.
  • Each animal also pairs with one of five elements - wood, fire, earth, metal, water - on a sixty-year cycle.
  • Your own zodiac year is considered unlucky, which is why red underwear is traditionally worn during it.

Traditions and customs

  • Reunion dinner on New Year's Eve - the biggest family meal of the year.
  • Red envelopes, hongbao, containing money, given to children and unmarried adults.
  • A deep clean before the new year, to sweep out the old year's bad luck.
  • Red decorations, couplets on the doorway, paper cuttings and lanterns.
  • New clothes, ideally red, for the first day.
  • Firecrackers and lion or dragon dances to drive off bad luck.
  • Visiting relatives in a set order over the first days.
  • The Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day, with lanterns, riddles and tangyuan.

Food and its meanings

  • Dumplings, shaped like old gold ingots, for wealth.
  • Whole fish, served with head and tail intact, for surplus - the word for fish sounds like abundance.
  • Longevity noodles, served uncut and never bitten through.
  • Nian gao, sticky rice cake, for rising higher each year.
  • Spring rolls, for gold bars.
  • Tangerines and oranges, for luck and wealth.
  • Tangyuan, sweet glutinous rice balls, at the Lantern Festival, for family togetherness.

Things not to do at New Year

  • Don't sweep or take out rubbish on the first day - you'd sweep out the luck.
  • Don't wash your hair on the first day; the word for hair shares a sound with wealth.
  • Avoid scissors, knives and needles.
  • No arguing, crying or breaking anything - it sets the tone for the year.
  • Avoid black and white clothes, which are associated with mourning.
  • Don't give clocks, sharp objects, shoes or anything in fours as gifts.
  • Don't lend or borrow money on New Year's Day.

Chinese New Year in the UK

  • London's celebrations in Chinatown, Trafalgar Square and Shaftesbury Avenue are the largest outside Asia.
  • Manchester's Chinatown holds a dragon parade and lantern displays.
  • Liverpool has the oldest Chinese community in Europe and a large arch-centred celebration.
  • Birmingham, Glasgow, Newcastle and Sheffield all hold public events.
  • Many UK schools mark it in the spring term with lantern making and lion dances.
  • 'Happy Chinese New Year', 'Xin nian kuai le' or the Cantonese 'Gong hei fat choy' are all fine greetings.

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How to write it so it lands

  • Give red envelopes with new notes, and never an amount with a four in it.
  • Send greetings in the week before rather than after the day.
  • If you're invited to a reunion dinner, take fruit or sweets and don't turn up empty-handed.

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Frequently asked questions

When is Chinese New Year?

It falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice, so between 21 January and 20 February each year. Celebrations run for fifteen days and end with the Lantern Festival.

What are the Chinese zodiac animals in order?

Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig, repeating on a twelve-year cycle.

What do you say at Chinese New Year?

'Happy Chinese New Year', the Mandarin 'Xin nian kuai le' or the Cantonese 'Gong hei fat choy', which wishes prosperity.

What is a red envelope?

A hongbao is a red envelope containing money, given by married adults to children and unmarried relatives for luck. Avoid amounts containing the number four, and use new notes.

What shouldn't you give as a Chinese New Year gift?

Clocks, sharp objects, shoes, umbrellas, white flowers and anything in fours all carry unlucky associations. Sweets, fruit, tea and red envelopes are all safe.

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