Have you ever wondered what Lunar New Year is and how others celebrate it? For the year of 2023 the holiday falls on Sunday, January 22, it’s an international holiday most commonly celebrated in Asian countries. The date of the holiday varies from year to year according to the lunisolar calendar.

The Lunar New Year is also known as the Chinese New Year. Chinese Zodiacs, or also known as Sheng Xiao, is a repeating 12-year cycle that are of animal signs and are based on the Lunar calendar. The twelve Chinese Zodiac signs are in a specific order: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and the Pig. This year the specific Chinese zodiac is the rabbit. The rabbit represents quiet, elegance, kindness, and responsibility. Each Chinese zodiac animal all have a lucky meaning to them, many associate each of the animals with a certain characteristic. Many believe that the people born into those given years would have the personalities of that year’s animal.

The Lunar New Year is not a holiday in the United States, but it is in many Asian countries. These countries include China, Vietnam, Singapore, North and South Korea, and Malaysia, not including Japan. Called the Chinese New Year in the United States, the holiday is considered to be one of the world’s largest celebrations.