Chinese New Year
- When6 February 2027
About this day
Chinese New Year, also called the Spring Festival, is the lunar new year and the most significant celebration in the Chinese calendar. It begins on the new moon that falls between late January and mid-February and runs fifteen days to the Lantern Festival, with each year assigned one of the twelve zodiac animals in a repeating cycle. The reunion dinner on New Year's Eve is the heart of it, and the effort families make to reach it produces chunyun, the annual travel period widely described as the largest regular human migration on earth. Customs cluster around renewal and luck: houses cleaned before the new year but not swept during it, red couplets pasted on doorframes, red envelopes of money given to children and unmarried relatives, lion and dragon dances, and fireworks. It is celebrated across China, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia, in parallel with Vietnam's Tết and Korea's Seollal, and by diaspora communities worldwide. UNESCO inscribed the Spring Festival on its intangible cultural heritage list in 2024. The 2027 date is 6 February.
How to take part
Take part through local, family or community practice:
- Check the local date and public-holiday rules where you are.
- Join community celebrations, markets or cultural programmes where available.
- Use the day for family meals, greetings and respectful learning about the tradition.