Lunar New Year: Get ready for the Year of the Snake

In Chinese culture, the snake is a symbol of happiness and good luck. People born in the year of the snake are said to be wise and charming.

Lunar New Year is celebrated by millions of people around the world , especially in east and south-east Asia.

This year marks the Year of the Snake and it starts on 29 January.

New year celebrations happen from the evening before, and last for 15 days.

The exact date of the Lunar New Year changes each year but it usually happens between 21 January and 20 February, on the date of the first new moon.

This is different to the 'Gregorian' calendar that is traditionally used in the UK, which starts on 1 January.

How do people celebrate Lunar New Year?

People eat special food, including noodles, which represent having a long life.

They also dress up in traditional clothes, sing and dance and light red lanterns.

There are also firework displays, parades and lion dancing.

Lion dancing is a spectacular part of the celebrations

It is also time for people to meet up with family, and lots of people travel to see their friends and relations at this time of year.

Sometimes children are also given red envelopes with money inside.

Often people clean their houses before the new year, to sweep bad luck away.

Why are the years named after animals?

In Chinese tradition each year is named after one of 12 different animals of the Chinese zodiac: Rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.

The order of the years supposedly comes from a story about a race across a river which was set by the Jade Emperor.

The animals all wanted the year to be named after them so they competed to cross the river the fastest and, through cunning, the rat won.

Then the other animals got to be named after a year in the order they finished the race. There is a 12 year cycle of animal names.

There are some differences in the zodiac animals across different countries, for example in Vietnam, they celebrate the Year of the Cat instead of Rabbit and in Japan it's a boar instead of a pig.

Which animal in the Chinese Zodiac are you?

The years are named after these 12 animals

Check below to see which animal's year you were born in

2010 Feb. 14, 2010 – Feb. 2, 2011 Year of the Tiger

2011 Feb. 3, 2011 – Jan. 22, 2012 Year of the Rabbit

2012 Jan. 23, 2012 – Feb. 9, 2013 Year of the Dragon

2013 Feb. 10, 2013 – Jan. 30, 2014 Year of the Snake

2014 Jan. 31, 2014 – Feb. 18, 2015 Year of the Horse

2015 Feb. 19, 2015 – Feb. 7, 2016 Year of the Goat

2016 Feb. 8, 2016 – Jan. 27, 2017 Year of the Monkey

2017 Jan. 28, 2017 – Feb. 15, 2018 Year of the Rooster

2018 Feb. 16, 2018 – Feb. 4, 2019 Year of the Dog

2019 Feb. 4, 2019 – Jan. 24, 2020 Year of the Pig

2020 Jan. 25, 2020 – Feb.11, 2021 Year of the Rat

2021 Feb. 12, 2021 – Jan. 31, 2022 Year of the Ox

2022 Feb. 1, 2022 – Jan. 21, 2023 Year of the Tiger

2023 Jan. 22, 2023 – Feb. 9, 2024 Year of the Rabbit

2024 Feb. 10, 2024 – Jan. 28, 2025 Year of the Dragon

2025 Jan. 29, 2025 – Feb. 16, 2026 Year of the Snake