This year & the next celebration
When is Lunar New Year's Eve?
208 days ago
Lunar New Year's Eve 2026
16 February 2026Open this calendar month →146 days away
Lunar New Year's Eve 2027
5 February 2027Open this calendar month →Meaning & living traditions
What is Lunar New Year's Eve?
The reunion dinner
Foods differ between families and regions. Northern dumplings, southern rice balls and fish whose name echoes surplus are among the examples found at festive tables; the gathering matters as much as a particular menu.
Keeping watch for the new year
Shousui means staying awake to welcome the incoming year, often while talking and spending time with family. It gives the final hours of the year their own role in the celebration.
Wishes at the doorway
Red decorations, Spring Festival couplets and exchanges of red packets express hopes for the coming year. Households combine these customs in different ways rather than following one required routine.
Reading the decorations
The character fu means good fortune. Displaying it upside-down plays on two words pronounced dao: “upside-down” and “arrive,” expressing a wish that fortune has arrived. Cupboards and storage places are familiar settings for this custom. Paper-cut “window flowers” use pictures such as fish, reunion characters and longevity symbols to carry further wishes. Couplets instead pair lines of verse around a doorway. Looking at the character, image or paired wording reveals the particular message within each decoration.
Calendar rule
When Lunar New Year's Eve falls
The last day of the twelfth lunar month, which can be day 29 or day 30.
The exact rule is Last day of the 12th lunar month (day 29 or 30). The final month can contain 29 or 30 days, so the rule uses its last day rather than assuming a fixed numbered date.
Lunar New Year's Eve dates, 2023–2032
| Year | Gregorian date | Calendar position |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 21 January 2023 | Lunar 12/30 |
| 2024 | 9 February 2024 | Lunar 12/30 |
| 2025 | 28 January 2025 | Lunar 12/29 |
| 2026 | 16 February 2026 | Lunar 12/29 |
| 2027 | 5 February 2027 | Lunar 12/29 |
| 2028 | 25 January 2028 | Lunar 12/29 |
| 2029 | 12 February 2029 | Lunar 12/29 |
| 2030 | 2 February 2030 | Lunar 12/30 |
| 2031 | 22 January 2031 | Lunar 12/29 |
| 2032 | 10 February 2032 | Lunar 12/29 |
Observance
How it is observed
In China, many families share a reunion dinner and stay up late to greet the new year, while the meal and surrounding rituals vary by region.
Common questions
Understanding Lunar New Year's Eve
Is New Year’s Eve always lunar 12/30?
No. The final lunar month can have 29 or 30 days. New Year’s Eve is whichever day closes that month, immediately before Chinese New Year.
Must every fu decoration hang upside-down?
No. Placement traditions differ; the upside-down arrangement is especially associated with cupboards and storage places, not a rule for every front door.
What are New Year “window flowers”?
They are decorative paper cuttings attached to windows. The name describes the craft, which can depict animals, characters and auspicious symbols as well as flowers.
The calendar around the next occurrence
Lunar New Year's Eve in 2027
Friday, 5 February 2027 is lunar month 12, day 29, in lunar year 2026. The festival falls in the Yang Fire Horse year.
The festival’s lunar year
Yang Fire Horse
354 days across 12 lunar months, with no leap month.
Explore this lunar year →Inside lunar month 12
29 days in this month
From 8 January 2027 to 5 February 2027. The festival is on day 29.
Beginning of Spring
The solar term begins on 4 February 2027.
Convert the festival date →
Moon around the celebration
Waning crescent
This is the Moon phase on the festival’s civil date.
Moon phases for the festival month →Before and after this festival
15 January 2027
Laba FestivalLunar date & day reading →5 February 2027
Lunar New Year's EveLunar date & day reading →6 February 2027
Chinese New YearLunar date & day reading →
The next celebration · 5 February 2027 · UTC+8
The complete Lunar New Year's Eve day reading
The festival sets the occasion; its day pillar, activities, directions and hours change each year. This reading is for 5 February 2027.
Daily almanac · 2027-02-05
Lunar New Year's Eve: activities & day animal
乙卯 Yin Wood Rabbit
The stem gives Wood; the branch gives Rabbit.
Read this stem against your Day Master →Huang Dao and Hei Dao name the day-god cycle. For a particular plan, read its Yi and Ji activities below.
宜 Traditionally suitable
- Hold a wedding嫁娶
- Ritual offerings祭祀
- Pray for blessings祈福
- Pray for children求嗣
- Consecrate a sacred image开光
- Travel出行
- Move a sacred altar or flame出火
- Dismantle a structure拆卸
- Begin construction earthworks动土
- Raise the main roof beam上梁
- Add a member to the household进人口
- Move into a new home入宅
- Move residence移徙
- Set up a bed安床
- Open a business or market开市
- Trade交易
- Sign a contract立券
- Hang a signboard or plaque挂匾
- Place the deceased in a coffin入殓
- Begin burial excavation破土
- Burial安葬
- Reopen a grave for reburial启钻
- End the mourning-clothes period除服
- Begin wearing mourning clothes成服
忌 Traditionally avoid
- None listed无
Calendar terms explained
This day in the traditional cycles
Each result below names this date’s position and explains what the term means.
- Day pillar 日柱
- Yin Wood Rabbit · 乙卯— this date’s position in the repeating 60-day stem–branch cycle.Hidden stems are stems conventionally contained in the day pillar’s earthly branch. Primary is the main layer; middle and residual are secondary layers.
- Yin Wood · Yǐ 乙 (primary)
- Month pillar 月柱
- Yang Water Tiger · 壬寅— the month’s position in the 60-part stem–branch cycle.
- Year pillar 年柱
- Yang Fire Horse · 丙午— Fire reinforces Fire; the year’s position in the 60-year cycle.
- Day Na Yin 纳音
- Great Stream Water · 大溪水— a fixed named element assigned to this pillar; its element is Water.
- Day animal 生肖
- Rabbit · 兔— the animal of the earthly branch in this date’s pillar.
- Opposes 冲
- Yin Earth Rooster · 己酉— a Six Clash (六冲), the branch directly opposite this date’s branch in the 12-branch cycle.
- Lunar mansion 宿
- Neck · 亢— this date’s position in the repeating 28-mansion cycle.East palace (东) · Dragon creature (龙) · traditionally unfavourable (凶)
- Day officer 建除
- Remove · 除— determined by this date’s earthly branch relative to its solar-term month branch.
- Auspicious directions 吉方
- Joy 喜神: Northwest (西北)
- Blessing 福神: Southwest (西南)
- Wealth 财神: Northeast (东北)
- Peng Zu lines 彭祖百忌
- The verse cautions against planting, saying even many plants may not grow.乙不栽植千株不长The verse cautions against digging a well, saying the water may not be sweet.卯不穿井水泉不香Two traditional almanac caution lines selected by this date’s stem and branch.
All hours and their hour gods · UTC+8
Auspicious hours for Lunar New Year's Eve
Read every interval and its traditional classification. A favorable hour is separate from suitability for a particular activity.
Controller of Destiny
AuspiciousGou Chen
InauspiciousAzure Dragon
AuspiciousBright Hall
AuspiciousHeavenly Punishment
InauspiciousVermilion Bird
InauspiciousGolden Coffer
AuspiciousHeavenly Virtue
AuspiciousWhite Tiger
InauspiciousJade Hall
AuspiciousHeavenly Prison
InauspiciousDark Warrior
InauspiciousHeavenly Prison
Inauspicious
The Rat double-hour crosses midnight. Its 00:00–00:59 and 23:00–23:59 portions belong to different hourly cycles, so both are listed separately. How the hourly cycle works →
The Moon this month · UTC+8
February 2027 moon phases
New moon
Lunar 1/1
First quarter
Lunar 1/9
Full moon
Lunar 1/16
Last quarter
Lunar 1/23
Calculated phase moments use fixed UTC+8. A lunar day number and a Moon phase describe different things. How they fit together →
Plan around Lunar New Year's Eve
See the festival in its month or compare the surrounding days with your own birth-year animal.