Happy Year of the Rabbit! Sunday, Jan. 22 officially marks the start of the Lunar New Year, time to reunite with family, eat dumplings and noodles and engage in other practices that augur a prosperous new cycle.
The Lunar New Year, sometimes called the Chinese New Year or the Spring Festival, is celebrated in China and other Asian countries (and throughout the diaspora), and predominantly follows a lunar calendar that originated in China. Festivities officially begin with the first new moon of the lunar calendar and end 15 days later, on the first full moon of the lunar calendar. Because the holiday operates on the cycles of the moon, its dates of celebration vary from year to year (since we follow a solar calendar in the West), often beginning some time between Jan. 21 and Feb. 20, per Britannica.
