When Is January’s Chinese Lunar New Year And What Animal Are You?

Chinese Lunar New Year 2023—or, rather, New Year 4721—will take place on Sunday, 22 January 2023 in Asia—the beginning of the Year of the Rabbit, ending the Year of the Tiger.

Celebrated in China for thousands of years, the Chinese New Year/Lunar New Year holiday—also called Spring Festival—is based on a complicated calendar that uses both the lunar (cycles of the Moon) and solar (Earth’s annual orbit around the Sun) to calculate dates.

It’s also connected to the orbit of Jupiter. In fact, the traditions of the Chinese Lunar New Year are rooted in the astronomical origins of the holiday.

Here’s everything you need to know about the Chinese Lunar New Year 2023, what animal you are—whenever you were born—and the intriguing astronomical roots of this global festival:

What is the Chinese Lunar New Year?

Chinese Lunar New Year is a major holiday in China. It’s celebrated around the world by people of Chinese descent though Lunar New Year is also celebrated in other countries in Asia—including Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

Well over a billion people celebrate Lunar New Year each year with fireworks, parades and in China with the exchange of red envelopes filled with money.

When is the Chinese Lunar New Year?

In Asia it’s on Sunday, 22 January 2023. How is the date of the Chinese Lunar New Year decided? The Chinese Lunar New Year always begins on the day of the second New Moon after the December solstice.

Since the December solstice was on Wednesday, 21 December 2022 and the next New Moon was on Friday, December 23, 2022, it follows that the New Moon on Sunday, 22 January 2023 determines the exact date of the Chinese Lunar New Year.

However, China time is everything. In Beijing the New Moon occurs at 04:53 a.m. on Sunday, January 22. That translates to:

• 8:53 p.m. GMT (UK) on Saturday, January 21, 2023
• 3:53 p.m. EST (US east coast) on Saturday, January 21, 2023
• 12:53 p.m. PST (US west coast) on Saturday, January 21, 2023

How long is the Chinese Lunar New Year?

Chinese Lunar New Year lasts for two weeks between a New Moon and the next full Moon.

So in 2023 it begins on Sunday, 22 January 2023, and ends with a lantern festival on Sunday, February 5, the date of the rising of the full “Snow Moon.”

Chinese Lunar New Year 2023: what is the animal?

The Chinese New Year 2023 animal is the Rabbit. Each year has an animal sign in the Chinese Zodiac (literally “circle of animals”), which is based on the Moon and has a 12 year cycle. So does the planet Jupiter, which takes about 12 years to orbit the Sun.

However, there is also a cycle of five elements—wood, fire, earth, metal and water—which together creates a 60 year cycle. In 2023 it’s the “Year of the Wood Rabbit,” which hasn’t happened for 60 years. Recent “Rabbit” years are: 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999 and 2011.

What is my Chinese zodiac animal?

Wondering what Chinese Lunar New Year animal you are? Simply enter your date of birth to have your Chinese zodiac calculated. This guide includes the dates for the past four iterations of each Chinese zodiac sign so you can easily see which animal you are.

The Moon’s role in calculating the date of Chinese New Year means you have to be particularly mindful if you’re born in January or February.

For example, 1976 was the “Year of the Dragon,” but only for those both on or after January 31, 1976. Anyone born on or before January 30 that month was born in the “Year of the Rabbit.”

Technically speaking the animal doesn’t change until a few days after Chinese Lunar New Year on LiChun—the beginning of spring—which this year falls on Saturday, February 4, 2023. However, most people go with the date of the Lunar New Year.

What are the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac coming up next?

• Rabbit – 2023
• Dragon – 2024
• Snake – 2025
• Horse – 2026
• Goat – 2027
• Monkey – 2028
• Rooster – 2029
• Dog – 2030
• Pig – 2031
• Rat – 2032
• Ox – 2033
• Tiger – 2034

Chinese Lunar New Year and the Moon

Chinese Lunar New Year is, as its name suggests, based on a system of measuring time based on the cycles of the Moon. The lunar calendar is used to determine the dates of important events and festivals in China, including the Chinese New Year. A lunar year is a cycle of 12 orbits of the Moon around the Earth, with each taking 29 days and, in total, 354 days.

However, if that was true then every 354 days there would be a Chinese New Year. The dates would drift forward each year. The Moon it therefore used only to determine the date of the New Year in relation to the Sun—it’s therefore a lunisolar calendar. The Chinese Lunar New Year always begins on the day of the second New Moon after the December sol-stice. So it’s actually linked as much to the Sun as to the Moon.

When is the next Chinese Lunar New Year?

The Year of the Wood Rabbit—year 4721—will begin in the morning on January 22, 2023 and end on the evening of February 9, 2024 when the Year of the Wood Dragon will begin.

Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.