Calendar · 春节
Lunar New Year 2027
Saturday, February 6, 2027 starts the Year of the Fire Goat. The celebration runs from New Year's Eve on February 5 to the Lantern Festival on February 20, with a month of getting ready before that.
The dates · New Year's Eve · Red envelopes · Lucky food · What to say · Checklist
Countdown
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days to New Year's Day
丁未 Fire Goat · 羊
Lunar New Year (春节, the Spring Festival) is the biggest holiday of the Chinese year. It usually falls on the second new moon after the Winter Solstice, so it lands somewhere between January 21 and February 20. In China it sets off the largest annual human migration on Earth, as people go home to their families. Abroad it's the one holiday almost every Chinese family keeps in some form.
It isn't only Chinese. Koreans celebrate Seollal and Vietnamese families celebrate Tết, usually on the same day, with their own food and customs, which is why many people in the U.S. say "Lunar New Year." This guide covers the Chinese customs. Families do things differently by region (north and south, Cantonese and Mandarin, mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong), and we've tried to say where.
The dates for 2027
The lunar dates for the twelfth month of the old year and the first month of the new one. The highlighted row is where we are now.
- 12th month, 8th day
腊八节 Laba Festival
The traditional start of New Year season. Families cook Laba congee from mixed grains, beans, nuts and dried fruit. There's a saying that once Laba arrives, the New Year isn't far behind.
- 12th month, 23rd day
小年 Little New Year
The day to send the Kitchen God (灶神) up to heaven to report on the family. People offer sticky sweets, half joking that it keeps his mouth sweet or glued shut. Northern families mark it on the 23rd; much of the south on the 24th (Jan 31). Cleaning the house starts in earnest.
- Solar term
立春 Start of Spring
The first of the 24 solar terms. It follows the sun, not the moon, and this year it falls two days before New Year.
- 12th month, 29th day
除夕 New Year's Eve
Reunion dinner, red envelopes, staying up to see the year in. The twelfth month has only 29 days this year, so New Year's Eve is the 29th rather than the usual 30th. What happens
- 1st month, 1st day
春节 New Year's Day
Visiting elders, greetings, and a list of things you're not supposed to do. The day itself
- 1st month, 2nd day
初二 Visiting the wife's family
Traditionally the day a married daughter goes back to her parents' home (回娘家) with her husband and kids. In Cantonese families it's also 开年 (hoi nin), the first offerings and the first proper meal of the year, at home and in shops.
- 1st month, 5th day
破五 Welcoming the God of Wealth
Many of the New Year restrictions lift. Businesses reopen with firecrackers to welcome the God of Wealth (财神). In the north, more dumplings.
- 1st month, 7th day
人日 Everyone's birthday
In the old story the goddess Nüwa made animals on the first six days and people on the seventh, so it's counted as humanity's birthday. In Malaysia and Singapore it's traditionally the day for tossing yusheng, the raw fish salad, though now it happens all season.
- 1st month, 15th day
元宵节 Lantern Festival
The first full moon of the year, and the end of the New Year season. Lanterns, lantern riddles (灯谜) and sweet rice balls. Make tangyuan
Getting ready
The weeks before New Year are busy. The house gets a deep clean (扫尘, "sweeping the dust"), meant to clear out the old year's bad luck. It has to be done before New Year's Day, because sweeping on the day itself sweeps out the new luck.
Then the decorations go up: red couplets (春联) on either side of the front door, 福 for good fortune, and paper cuts (窗花) on the windows. People stock up on New Year goods (年货): snacks, candy, fruit and everything for the reunion dinner. Many get a haircut beforehand, since some families avoid cutting hair during the first lunar month. Kids often get new clothes, ideally something red.
New Year's Eve: the reunion dinner
The most important meal of the year is the reunion dinner (年夜饭) on New Year's Eve. The point is that everyone comes home. For people who can't travel, this is the hardest night to be away, and a lot of overseas families now do it over video.
After dinner, many families in China watch the CCTV Spring Festival Gala (春晚), a four-plus-hour variety show that has aired every New Year's Eve since 1983. Watching it, and complaining about it, is a tradition of its own. People stay up past midnight to see the old year out (守岁), and at midnight come the firecrackers, though many cities have banned or restricted them.
Red envelopes
Red envelopes (红包; lai see in Cantonese) hold money and good wishes. A few common rules:
- Who gives: married adults give to children and unmarried younger relatives. Working adults often give to their parents too.
- The amount: varies widely by family and region. What matters more is the number. Even amounts are better than odd, eights are good, and fours are avoided.
- The bills: new, crisp bills, so people line up at the bank in January. Never use a white envelope, which is for funerals.
- Receiving: take it with both hands, say thank you and a New Year wish, and don't open it in front of the giver.
- Now: a lot of red envelopes in China are digital, sent through WeChat. Grabbing a group red envelope before your cousins do is a sport.
Lucky food, and the puns behind it
Most New Year dishes are on the table because of what their names sound like. Every family and region has its own menu.
| Dish | Sounds like | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 鱼yú | 余 yú, surplus | A whole fish, often with some left over: 年年有余, surplus every year. |
| 饺子jiǎo zi | 交子 jiāo zǐ, the turn of the year (and shaped like ingots) | The New Year's Eve food in the north, often eaten at midnight. Recipe |
| 年糕nián gāo | 年高 nián gāo, higher each year | Sticky rice cake, sweet or stir-fried. Eaten widely; especially big in Shanghai, Jiangnan and Cantonese homes. |
| 春卷chūn juǎn | gold bars | Golden fried spring rolls look like bars of gold. |
| 橘子jú zi | 吉 jí, luck | Mandarins, given in pairs when visiting. In Cantonese 桔 and 吉 sound the same. |
| 长寿面cháng shòu miàn | long life | Long noodles, never cut. |
| 发糕fā gāo | 发 fā, to prosper | Steamed rice cake that rises and splits on top, the more the better. |
| 汤圆tāng yuán | 团圆 tuán yuán, reunion | Mostly for the Lantern Festival. Recipe |
New Year's Day: what to do, and what not to
The first day is for visiting elders and wishing them well (拜年). Bring something for the household, like fruit in pairs or a box of sweets, and expect to be fed. Some families, especially in the south and in Buddhist households, eat vegetarian that morning, and some visit a temple.
The don'ts are what grandparents remember best. How strictly anyone follows them varies a lot:
- Don't sweep or take out the trash. You'd be throwing out the new luck.
- Don't wash your hair. In simplified Chinese, hair (发 fà) is written with the same character as 发 fā, to prosper, so you'd be washing your luck away.
- Don't break anything. If you do, say 碎碎平安: 碎 (broken) sounds like 岁 (years), so it turns into "peace every year."
- Avoid unlucky words like death, sickness and the number four, and don't argue.
- Don't lend or borrow money, or you'll be doing it all year.
What to say
Say these when you arrive, on the phone, or when someone hands you a red envelope.
| Greeting | Meaning | When |
|---|---|---|
| 新年快乐xīn nián kuài lè | Happy New Year | To anyone. |
| 过年好guò nián hǎo | Happy New Year | The everyday northern greeting. |
| 恭喜发财gōng xǐ fā cái | Wishing you prosperity | Everywhere. In Cantonese: gung hei fat choi. Kids add "红包拿来" (hóng bāo ná lái), "red envelope, please," as a joke. |
| 身体健康shēn tǐ jiàn kāng | Good health | To grandparents and older relatives. |
| 万事如意wàn shì rú yì | May everything go your way | To anyone, often paired with another wish. |
| 学业进步xué yè jìn bù | Progress in your studies | To students. |
| 羊年大吉yáng nián dà jí | Good luck in the Year of the Goat | Just for 2027. |
The Year of the Fire Goat
2027 is a 丁未 year: the Goat paired with Fire. 羊 covers goats and sheep alike, so you'll also see it called the Year of the Sheep or Ram. The last Fire Goat year was 1967.
If you were born in a Goat year (1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003 or 2015; births in January or early February may belong to the year before, so check against that year's New Year date), 2027 is your 本命年, and tradition says to wear red. Check your sign by birth date or read about the Goat.
Getting-ready checklist
Tick things off as you go. Your list is saved in this browser.
Ask your grandparents
- What did New Year's Eve dinner look like when you were a child? Who cooked?
- How much was a red envelope worth back then, and what did you buy with it?
- Which New Year rule did your family take most seriously?
- Was there a New Year when you couldn't go home? What did you do?