Chinese New Year 2025: Year of Snake

Like New Year around the world, Chinese New Year is a holiday celebrated yearly in China, as well as in other Asian countries including Japan and South Korea. Because of this, this holiday is also known as Lunar New Year.

As the name suggests, it's based on the lunar calendar instead of the solar one, which means the Chinese New Year falls on different days every year. Usually, it's celebrated anywhere from the end of January to the middle of February.

Chinese New Year 2025: Year of the Snake

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For Chinese New Year 2025, it'll fall on Wednesday, January 29. This makes it the Year of the Snake, which is one of the 12 animals that make up the zodiac.

According to Chinese zodiac traditions, the Year of the Snake, and is represents power, honor, luck, and success. It is associated with qualities such as confidence, intelligence, enthusiasm, and ambition.

Because it's such an important holiday, Chinese New Year is a multiple-day holiday in China.

Chinese New Year 2025: Origin

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The exact origins of Chinese New Year aren't known. But what we do know is that it came from a legend about a monster called Nian (or "year" in Chinese).

At the start of every year, Nian would attack the villages. So, to scare it away, the villagers would put up bright colors (mainly red) and lights (lanterns), and also set off firecrackers and fireworks.

Some historians believe that Chinese New Year traditions may have come from the Shang Dynasty (1,600-1,046 BC). During these times, the Chinese would give sacrifices during ceremonies to gods and their ancestors, and these ceremonies were held at the beginning and/or end of the year.

Chinese New Year 2025: Holidays

Ever since the mid-1990s, the Chinese have been given numerous days off work to celebrate Chinese New Year. This week is often referred to as "Spring Festival".

For Chinese New Year 2025, the Chinese get January 29 through February 3 off. This might sound like plenty of time, but celebrations have been known to last over 2 weeks! So there's a good chance there will be additional festivities.

Activities for Chinese New Year 2025

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Before Chinese New Year even arrives, most families will take some time to deep clean their houses, which is believed to sweep away bad luck. This also means it's bad to clean on New Year's Day, as good fortune will be swept away then.

You'll also see people outside decorating their houses in red items, such as couplets, lanterns, and New Year's pictures. Red is considered a lucky color in China.

Families will also make offerings to their ancestors of food and drinks, such as whole chickens, tea, fruit, and tea. They'll also light incense and candles on the shrines. Depending on the family, they'll either perform this ceremony in home shrines or go and visit ancestral graves on New Year's Eve.

Chinese New Year is a time for families to get together and bond, so it's common for the Chinese to travel back to their hometowns to have a reunion dinner with relatives. Many generations will gather to eat and drink on New Year's Eve.

Either during or after the reunion dinner, the elders will give children and younger unmarried adults red envelopes that have money in them. The money is called "ya sui qian" and is intended to protect the receiver to have a safe year. The amount will often end in 8 or 6 - 8 is a homophone for weather and prosperity, while 6 is a homophone for smooth.

When the clock strikes 12, you'll hear lots of people outside setting off firecrackers and fireworks. You'll also hear these being set off all throughout the day.

As you wander through the towns on New Year's Day, you'll see lion and dragon dances. These are spectacular displays for prosperity and good luck, so if you can, make sure you catch a few performances.

You'll also get to dine on many tasty traditional foods, which will bring good luck in the next year as well. For Chinese New Year, the Chinese like to eat fish, longevity noodles, spring rolls, and dumplings. Sweet foods include sweet rice balls (tangyuan), glutinous rice cake (niangao), and good fortune fruit.

To learn more about traditional activities in China, read Chinese New Year Traditions.

You may also wonder how Chinese New Year is celebrated among Asia, check Lunar New Year.

How to say "Happy Chinese New Year" in Mandarin & Cantonese?

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If you're interested in traveling to China or other Asian countries for Chinese New Year, then it's in your best interest to know a few key phrases. Most importantly, you should know how to wish people a happy Chinese New Year!

In Mandarin, you'll have to say, "xin nian kauai le" (新年快乐) and in Cantonese, it's "san nin fai lok" (新年快乐), which both mean "Happy New Year". You can also say "gong xi fa cai" (Mandarin, 恭喜发财) or "gong hei fat choy" (Cantonese, 恭喜发财) to wish people happiness and prosperity.

Chinese New Year 2025 will be a spectacular event to witness. No matter where you go, expect to see exciting festivities, and taste delicious traditional dishes.