Lunar New Year, 2/10

Jim Todd
RCA President
OMSI Director of Space Science Education

The Lunar New Year falls on February 10, 2024. It coincides with the date of the new moon and signals the start of the Year of the Dragon. According to Farmer's Almanac, the Dragon enjoys a very high reputation in Chinese culture and it represents auspiciousness and imperial power since ancient times.

In China, the start of the new year is celebrated with the Spring Festival, the biggest holiday. Traditionally, people give their house a big spring clean and hang couplets on their doors. Couplets are poetic lines about spring and prosperity written in gold or black on red paper. Setting off firecrackers is hugely popular, and children get hongbao, little red gifts with money inside, from older family members.