New Year celebrations have a universal feel to them.
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After a month of religious celebrations like Christmas and Hannukah, New Year’s Eve unites revelers around the world in secular celebration.
We drink, we dance, and we scream like crazy when the clock strikes midnight. Some of us even travel across the world to celebrate abroad.
At least, most of us do.
In reality, the New Year isn’t the only ‘new year’ out there.
In the West, our perception of time is framed by the Gregorian calendar, which is used as the global standard. That being said, the Gregorian calendar is the only one on the planet that reads 2024, and other cultures that use different calendars celebrate the New Year on a different day.
While this might sound foreign to many Americans, hundreds of thousands of us also celebrate a second New Year—the Lunar New Year.
In fact, back in 2023, New York State made Lunar New Year an official public school holiday. You don’t even need to travel far to experience the magic.
Ever wondered about the difference between the New Year we celebrate in the West and the Lunar New Year? Here’s your crash course.
The Gregorian calendar, the sun, & the moon
The Gregorian calendar was created in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII—which replaced the Julian calendar, launched by Julius Caesar back in 46 BC before Brutus got to him. (Some cultures still use the Julian calendar, including Berbers and the Eastern Orthodox Church.)
The Gregorian calendar is in use today thanks to the scope of European influence. (Or colonization, if you want to be more upfront.)
But many cultures around the world still use their own calendars to organize the year—and it’s often divided into a ‘solar year’.
A solar year is determined by the movement of the Earth around the sun—and it usually includes close observation of the thirteen lunar cycles.
That’s the easiest way to differentiate these calendars: the Gregorian calendar has twelve months because Pope Gregory thought that made sense, while lunar calendars have thirteen ‘months’ based on the moon’s cycle and lunar phases.
Are you still with me? (And are you having fun?)
How is the Lunar New Year celebrated in the US?
To summarize: everyone around the world relies on the Gregorian calendar because it’s accepted as the standard, but there are diverse alternative calendars based on the solar and lunar cycles around the world.
You probably already know about Chinese New Year. Chinese New Year is a lunar new year celebration that’s similar to lunar calendars used by Tibetans, Hindus, certain Buddhist groups, and even one sect of Judaism.
Lunar New Year is celebrated when the first new lunar cycle starts with a new moon. (A new moon is the absence of the moon.) It has both mundane significance—as in, the lunar cycles are just another way to tell time.
But many Lunar New Year cycles are also spiritually significant.
For example, both Hanukkah and Ramadan revolve around lunar cycles—but this is where things get complicated, as some calendars are lunisolar, meaning they change according to solar movements. Others are organized strictly by lunar cycles.
Lunar New Year celebrations worth traveling for
In the introduction, I highlighted the fact that New York State recently made Lunar New Year a mandatory public school holiday. In this case, the Lunar New Year relates specifically to the first new moon cycle of the new year—usually in January or February.
That means one thing for Americans: You’ve got a second New Year to celebrate just around the corner.
Like Gregorian New Year’s parties, many Lunar New Year celebrations are about welcoming bounty, health, and positive change—which means it’s time to party!
The ‘best’ Lunar New Year celebration is the Chinese New Year (Spring Festival) in New York City—or in San Francisco.
If you’re celebrating with a family, head to Disneyland. It throws a massive New Year party with traditional Chinese fare, from dragon dances to special treats.
