As one of the most celebrated holidays across the world, Lunar New Year has a rich history behind it. The holiday is associated with new beginnings, colorful festivals, and meaningful customs.
By teaching your kids about Lunar New Year, you can foster cultural awareness and connection. Learning about traditions such as Lunar New Year enriches your child’s worldview and encourages curiosity about different ways of life.
At BASIS Charter Schools, we love teaching our students about traditions from across the globe! To help you celebrate, we’ve gathered 10 fun facts you might not know about Lunar New Year.
1. Lunar New Year isn’t always on the same day
Lunar New Year marks the first new moon of the lunar calendar, so the exact date changes from year to year. The holiday most commonly falls in late January or early February.
2. Lunar New Year is celebrated in many countries
Lunar New Year is most commonly associated with China, but it’s celebrated in many other parts of the world, too, including South Korea, Vietnam, and Singapore. Other cultures have their own new year celebrations based on different variations of lunar calendars—such as the Hindu New Year, Islamic New Year, and Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah).
3. Each year is assigned an animal from the Chinese Zodiac
There are 12 animals total in the Chinese Zodiac. Each year is associated with an animal, with the cycle resetting every 12 years. The Zodiac animal of your birth year is said to influence your personality traits and characteristics.
2025 is the Year of the Snake, which symbolizes transformation, wisdom, and renewal.
4. Oranges and tangerines are symbols of Lunar New Year
Oranges and tangerines are thought to symbolize prosperity and good luck. This relates back to the pronunciation of the word “orange” in Mandarin, which sounds very similar to the word for “good luck.” Families will often display bowls of oranges in their homes or place the fruit beside the pillows of their children as they sleep.
5. Children receive red envelopes of money as a gift
During Lunar New Year, children often receive red envelopes from their relatives. These envelopes contain money, which children can spend on anything they like! The tradition is more about the red envelope than the money itself, as it relates back to a Chinese legend about scaring away a monster named Nian with red paper cutouts.
6. It’s traditional to clean your home before Lunar New Year
Leading up to Lunar New Year celebrations, people will often thoroughly clean their homes. This is to “sweep” away any bad luck in time for the new year. Cleaning up in advance allows you to avoid cleaning for the first few days of the celebration, ensuring that you don’t accidentally throw out the new good luck that has entered your home.
7. It’s bad luck to wash or cut your hair during Lunar New Year
Similar to the belief that it’s bad luck to sweep your home during the first few days of Lunar New Year, it is also considered bad luck to wash or cut your hair during the beginning of the celebration. In Mandarin, the word “hair” shares the same first character as the word “fortune”—so washing your hair is seen as washing away your good fortune.
8. Dragon dances are an important part of Lunar New Year festivals in China
If you attend a Lunar New Year festival, you might see a dragon dance—an elaborate dance with multiple performers controlling a dragon puppet. Sometimes festivals will also have a lion dance, with performers inside a large lion costume. These dances usually include loud drumming, which is said to drive away bad luck and evil spirits.
9. Lunar New Year is also called the Spring Festival
Since Lunar New Year typically occurs just as the weather starts to get warmer in the Northern hemisphere, it is also called the Spring Festival. The traditional Chinese lunar calendar was historically used to divide the year into different seasons for agriculture, and people would pray for a bountiful harvest season during Lunar New Year celebrations.
10.The Lantern Festival is celebrated on the 15th day of Lunar New Year
Lunar New Year is traditionally celebrated over the course of 15 days. The last day of the celebration is a Lantern Festival, a Chinese tradition in which colorful lanterns light up the sky! The Lantern Festival happens on the same day as the first full moon of the Lunar New Year.
Keep the learning going all year long
Happy Lunar New Year to our BASIS community! We’re wishing all of our students, families, and faculty new adventures and continued success in the Year of the Snake.
If you’re looking to take the next step towards a transformative education for your child, apply to BASIS Charter Schools today. Our tuition-free, K–12 public charter schools prepare students to attend the world’s best colleges. With an accelerated college prep curriculum, fun extracurriculars, and a welcoming community, we empower each student to reach their full potential.
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