LUNAR YEAR

When people talk about the "holiday season" in the U.S., they typically refer to that period between
Thanksgiving dinner and New Year's Day. But shortly after that, another massive holiday brings friends
and family together in several Asian countries, with concurrent parties that carry on the traditions
stateside. The Lunar New Year, most commonly associated with the Chinese New Year or Spring Festival,
typically falls sometime between January 21 and February 20 annually. Lunar New Year 2021 is on
February 12, and in terms of the Chinese zodiac animal, it's the Year of the Ox.

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It's called the Lunar New Year because it marks the first new moon of the lunisolar calendars traditional
to many east Asian countries including China, South Korea, and Vietnam, which are regulated by the
cycles of the moon and sun. As the New York Times explains, "A solar year—the time it takes Earth to
orbit the sun—lasts around 365 days, while a lunar year, or 12 full cycles of the Moon, is roughly 354
days." As with the Jewish lunisolar calendar, "a month is still defined by the moon, but an extra month is
added periodically to stay close to the solar year." This is why the new year falls on a different day within
that month-long window each year.

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In China, the 15-day celebration kicks off on New Year's Eve with a family feast called a reunion dinner
full of traditional Lunar New Year foods, and typically ends with the Lantern Festival. "It's really a time
for new beginnings, and family gathering," says Nancy Yao Maasbach, president of New York City's
Museum of Chinese in America. Three overarching themes, she says, are "fortune, happiness, and
health."

Here's what to know about Lunar New Year traditions, and what more than 1.5 billion people do to
celebrate it.
Lunar New Year isn't exactly the same as Chinese New Year.

The Lunar New Year isn't only observed in China, it's celebrated across several countries and other
territories in Asia, including South Korea and Singapore. In Vietnam, Lunar New Year is known as Tết,
and in Tibet it's Losar. In the U.S., though, it's most commonly associated with what's often called
Chinese New Year, the American version of China's 15-day-long festivities.

"It's been popularized because the largest segment of the Asian-American population in the United
States is Chinese," Maasbach explains. "It's kind of like that old Friends joke, 'In China, they just call it
'food'; in Chinese, it's just the new year." But in America, she says, where the holiday is mainly
experienced in the Chinatowns of various cities, "we just made it 'Chinese New Year.'" In Maasbach's
experience, while Lunar New Year is the more inclusive and accurate term as it applies to the holiday
worldwide, celebrating is "not as popular with some of those immigrant groups in America."

As it's also become popular with people of all nationalities who visit Chinatown to eat and watch the
parade performances, Maasbach adds, "it's sort of like our stake in the country, if you will, and that's
really a pride point."