Lunar New Year 2026: What does the Year of the Horse mean?

In the Classic of Poetry, a poem written during the Western Zhou period (1046 BC – 771 BC) by an anonymous farmer, described the traditions of celebrating the 10th month of the ancient solar calendar, which was in autumn. An older man appeared before the villagers went into hiding and said that he would stay the night and would get revenge on the Nian. In more than 96 percent of years, the Chinese New Year is the closest new moon to the beginning of spring (lichun) according to the calendar. However, "Chinese New Year" is still a commonly used translation for people of non-Chinese backgrounds. Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, marks the beginning of a new year on the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar. For other countries and regions where the Chinese New Year is celebrated but not as an official holiday, see the table below. In certain countries, a statutory holiday is added on the following workday if the New Year (as a public holiday) falls on a weekend. Chinese New Year is observed as a public holiday in some countries and territories, outside of China, with a sizable Chinese population. The poem Yuan Ri (元日) also includes the word bao zhu (爆竹, "exploding bamboo"), which is believed to be a reference to firecrackers,citation needed instead of the previous tradition of firing bamboo, both of which are called the same in the Chinese language. Amid the sound of firecrackers, a year has come to an end,The spring wind has wafted warm breath to the Tusu wine.While the rising sun shines over each and every household,People get rid of the old couplets and put up the new ones.

Preparing for the Lunar New Year

To protect themselves, they hung red decorations and lit firecrackers to scare the monster away. One year, the villagers discovered that Nian feared the color red and loud noises. This festival is celebrated worldwide, particularly in Asian countries like China. In 2026, Lunar New Year falls on February 17th, kicking off the 16-day Spring Festival. Celebrated by millions around the world, this is a time for cultural traditions, family reunions, and hopes for good fortune in the coming year.

Spring travel

From ABC News (Australia), The Year of the Horse explained and how people across Asia celebrate the Lunar New Year The Horse, aligned with peak Yang energy at noon, embodies strength and outward expansion; yet even at this height of energy, balance remains essential. The black (Yin) and white (Yang) halves flow into one another, each containing a dot of its opposite, symbolizing the principle that within every extreme lies the seed of transformation.

During Spring Festival, elders should distribute pre-prepared lucky money to younger generations as a Lunar New Year gift.
Celebrations are centered primarily in Binondo in Manila, the oldest Chinatown in the world, with other celebrations taking place in key cities.
Certain Chinese characters can represent luck as well, such as the Chinese word for tangerine (桔 jú), which contains the Chinese character for luck (吉 jí).
Beyond cosmological explanations, rich folk legends also recount the origin of the zodiac animals.
The origins of the Chinese zodiac can be traced to ancient astronomical observation and early forms of animal worship.
In June 2015, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio declared that the Lunar New Year would be made a public school holiday, and in September 2023, New York State made Lunar New Year a mandatory public school holiday.

From RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland in 2021, everything you need to know about the Chinese New Year The zodiac system is deeply rooted in Chinese cosmology and reflects a sophisticated understanding of astronomy, philosophy, and the rhythms of nature. Discover the 12 Chinese zodiac signs, their personality traits, and compatibility. Each country has its own traditions, but the core values remain the same—family, food, and hopes for a prosperous year ahead. The villagers then understood that the Nian was afraid of the colour red and loud noises. The day after, the villagers came back to their town and saw that nothing had been destroyed. According to legend, Chinese New Year started with combating a mythical beast called the Nian (a beast that lives under the sea or in the mountains that looks like a lion with horns) during the annual Spring Festival. One of the most well-known practices of the current day is receiving money from their elders after performing a formal bow, a tradition likely adopted from Confucian customs.citation needed Nianhua can be a form of Chinese coloured woodblock printing, for decoration during the Chinese New Year. However, this only helps you get even more control over your life as you learn to stay ahead of everything by being cautious. According to Chinese tradition, the year of the pig is a generally unlucky year for the public, which is why you need to reevaluate most of your decisions before you come to a conclusion. On the Chinese opera stage, a painted red face usually denotes a sacred or loyal personage and sometimes a great emperor. The elders usually hope their kids will be healthy, happy and make progress in the coming year, so they will give red envelopes to them to pass blessings and good luck. Because in Chinese culture, red is the symbol of auspiciousness, joy and prosperity and it can drive out evil spirits and bring good lucks. There are too many people on the way, so the transportation department needs to make every effort to ensure that passengers can go home and come back safely. The reason is that China has a large population, and Chinese New Year is a traditional reunion festival. The festival food in south China is called Yuan Xiao or rice sweet dumpling. Eating rice cake during the Spring Festival symbolizes good luck, sweet life, and high prosperity every year. It is one of the representatives of traditional Chinese snacks and is a spherical food made of glutinous rice flour. Eating dumplings is a unique way to express people’s wishes for blessings and good fortune during the end of the old year and the beginning of new year. Lantern Festival is famous for its Yuan Xiao (sweet rice balls), whose round shape symbolizes family unity and togetherness. It is best to choose bright, colorful, and warm Chinese New Year clothes, especially red clothes, because red symbolizes auspiciousness and festivity. It embodies the affection and nostalgia of more than one billion Chinese people. There is a tradition of eating dumplings during the Chinese New Year in north China, but dumplings are eaten on New Year’s Eve in some regions and on the first day of the lunar new year in other regions. Therefore, it is customary to welcome the God of Wealth into one’s home and bless the family with abundant financial resources on this day. Not only can it make you look more energetic and confident, but it can also bring good luck and a good mood to you and your family.

Year of the Snake: Fortune, Personality, Horoscope (

Another family dinner is held to celebrate the eve of the birth of the Jade Emperor, the ruler of heaven. For many Chinese Buddhists, this is another day to avoid meat, as the seventh day commemorates the birth of Sakra, lord of the Devas in Buddhist cosmology, who is analogous to the Jade Emperor. In China, it is also common that on the 5th day people will shoot off firecrackers to get Guan Yu's attention, thus ensuring his favour and good fortune for the new year.

Why Is 2026 the Year of the Horse?

Transportation during Chinese New Year, abbreviated as “Spring Festival travel rush”, is divided by the Spring Festival, with 15 days before the festival and 25 days after, for a total of 40 days. The fifth day of the first lunar month, according to Chinese folk customs, is the birthday of the five Gods of Wealth. Ancestral worshiping usually takes place on the last day of the 12th lunar month, and varies in different regions due to different traditions. On the 24th day of the 12th lunar month, there is a custom of sweeping dust (aka sweeping houses). Before the Meiji period, the date of the Japanese New Year had been based on Japanese versions of lunisolar calendar (the last of which was the Tenpō calendar) and, before, Jōkyō calendar, the Chinese version. Since 1873, the official Japanese New Year has been celebrated according to the Gregorian calendar, on 1 January of each year, New Year's Day (元日, Ganjitsu). The Japanese New Year (正月, Shōgatsu) is an annual festival that takes place in Japan. Therefore, on New Year’s Eve, people fled to the deep mountains to avoid the harm of the Nian monster. In ancient China, there was a monster called “Nian”, which had long antennae on its head and was extremely fierce. The Spring Festival of 2026 will arrive on February 17th of the Gregorian calendar. The Spring Festival falls on the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, marking the beginning of a new year. It originated from the ritual activities of praying for good years at the beginning of each lunar year during the ancient Shang Dynasty period.

To protect themselves from the bad luck of their Ben Ming Nian, those born in the Year of the Horse are encouraged to wear red throughout 2026.
Each flower has a symbolic meaning, and many Chinese people believe that it may usher in the values that it represents.
For many followers, the Lunar New Year is an ideal time to visit a temple to make blessings depending on what the stars have to say about their particular zodiac sign for the coming months.
Many people also celebrate by going to temples across Southern California, and the largest temple celebration is held at Hsi Lai Temple in Hacienda Heights.
Red is the dominant color for decorations, which include red lanterns, paper cuttings, Spring Festival couplets, and strings of chili peppers.
The common activities are the lion dance, dragon dance, New Year market, and food festival.

The Lunar New Year in 2026 welcomes the Year of the Horse, according to the Chinese lunar calendar. On this day, people light lanterns to symbolize driving out darkness and bringing hope to the coming year. Called Yuan Xiao Jie in Mandarin Chinese, it’s considered the perfect ending to the weeks-long Lunar New Year preparations and celebrations.

Southeast Asia

A big family reunion dinner is usually held on Lunar New Year’s Eve, which falls on February 16 this year. On a related note, many say you shouldn’t wash or cut your hair on the first day of the new year either. The aim is to rid your home of any bad luck that’s accumulated over the past year. The first day of the Chinese New Year falls on the new moon that appears between 21 January and 20 February.a Chinese New Year dates vary slightly between years, but it usually comes during the period from January 21st to February 20th in Gregorian calendar. The Chinese New Year of 2026 falls on February 17th (Tuesday), and will last to February 21th.

Public holiday

However, in 1873, five years after the Meiji Restoration, Japan adopted the Gregorian calendar, and the first day of January became the official and cultural New Year's Day in Japan. During the New Year holidays, stage bosses gather the most popular actors from various troupes and let them perform repertories from the Qing dynasty. In 2017, it was estimated that over 100 billion of these virtual red envelopes would be sent over the New Year holiday. Many families in China still follow the tradition of eating only vegetarian food on the first day of the new year, as it is believed that doing so will bring good luck into their lives for the whole year. Legends hold that the Hokkien were spared from a massacre by Japanese pirates by hiding in a sugarcane plantation, between the eighth and ninth days of the Chinese New Year, coinciding with the Jade Emperor's birthday. The seventh day, traditionally known as Renri (the common person's birthday), is the day when everyone grows one year older. During this period, red packets are also known as yasuiqian (壓歲錢; 压岁钱; yāsuìqián), which evolved from a homophonous phrase yasuiqian (壓祟錢; 压祟钱; yāsuìqián), literally meaning "money to suppress evil spirits". Like many other New Year dishes, certain ingredients that have names that relate to long life, prosperity, or wealth also take precedence over others. Several of the Chinese Ringospin Casino food names are homophones for words that also mean good things. Several foods are consumed to usher in wealth, happiness, and good fortune. These packets contain money in an amount that reflects good luck and honorability. Red envelopes may be distributed during the reunion dinner to the immediate family. Certain Chinese characters can represent luck as well, such as the Chinese word for tangerine (桔 jú), which contains the Chinese character for luck (吉 jí). The Chinese word for pomelos (柚 yòu) sounds similar to 'to have' (有 yǒu); disregarding its tone, however, it sounds exactly like 'again' (又 yòu). The pronunciations of these Chinese words are said to harbor luck and prosperity, such as the Chinese pronunciation for orange (橙 chéng), which sounds the same as the Chinese for 'success' (成).