When Is Chinese New Year 2026?

When is Chinese New Year this year? On Tuesday, February 17, 2026, Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival (春节 – chūnjié) will mark the beginning of the year of the Fire Horse 🔥🐎 (马 – pronounced “mǎ” in Chinese).

The lunar new year falls on a slightly different day in January or February of each year, as it follows the Chinese lunisolar calendar, rather than the regular Gregorian calendar used in most parts of the world. For 2026, mark your calendars on February 17!

This holiday is known as Lunar New Year, which is a term that’s more inclusive of the many East Asian cultures that celebrate it, including Koreans, Vietnamese, Tibetans, and others.

ARE YOU PREPARED FOR THE NEW YEAR?

As the Chinese New year approaches, remember to brush up on your Chinese New year greetings in Cantonese, Mandarin, or both. We have audio recordings to help you nail your pronunciations.

Also check out our detailed post on Chinese New Year Traditions for a list of DOs and DON’Ts to start the new year on the right foot!

More On the Chinese zodiac Sign for 2026

The Horse is the seventh animal in the 12-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac, following the Snake and preceding the Goat.

In Chinese culture, the Horse tends to embody freedom, energy, and charm. The horse also traditionally represents strength, restlessness, and perseverance, qualities that may manifest in those born during Horse years as a natural confidence that can inspire and energize others.

When fused with this year’s element, fire, these attributes are shine even brighter, making it a time of innovation and energy. This is a year to break free from old routines, build confidence, and chase personal growth!

Predictions for the Year of the Fire Horse 2026

This year may usher in a period of momentum, creative thinking, and bustling activity. The fire element is thought to intensify the Horse’s inherent qualities—self-reliance and energy—potentially creating a powerful combination.

This period also calls on individuals to look inward, cultivate emotional intelligence, and push beyond familiar boundaries to connect with their authentic selves.

The Fire Horse year can reward those who act decisively and embrace transformation, though at the same time, it may demand flexibility, emotional discipline, and measured responses to help temper hasty impulses with deliberate planning for sustained achievement.

What Might Be Expected in 2026

• Accelerated Pace and Fresh Possibilities: The year’s intensified vigor could create swift progress, emerging chances, and ambitious pursuits.
• Potential for Personal Evolution: You might anticipate substantial shifts in both personal and career spheres as circumstances push you to expand beyond what feels familiar and welcome new experiences.
• Creative Thinking and Courageous Moves: The year’s fiery nature tends to support inventive solutions and unconventional strategies, potentially creating favorable conditions for career progression and new projects.
• Inner Contemplation and Emotional Intelligence: Despite the emphasis on forward motion, the year may equally benefit from pausing to examine established patterns and connect more authentically with your feelings.
• Harmonizing Momentum with Caution: Though this is a year for progress and expansion, success depends on tempering audacity with deliberation, diplomacy, and self-control to stay centered amid the year’s fast pace. A word of caution: too much fire can burn out as fast as it flares up—this is a time to take action, but with intention!

Hopefully, the year of the Fire Horse will be a transformational and auspicious year of progress for everyone!

Chinese New year Dates

Again, Chinese New Year dates are dictated by the Chinese lunisolar calendar, so it is celebrated on a different date in January or February each year.

The following table gives you a quick glance at Chinese New Year dates for the next 12 year cycle of the Chinese zodiac (as well as recent years). For more information on the Chinese Zodiac, see our post on Chinese Zodiac signs.

Take note that while the dates below mark the start of the new year, the celebration actually begins on New Year’s Eve, the night before, when families gather for a big New Year’s Eve dinner, or nián yèfàn (年夜饭).

What is Chinese New Year?

The holiday we sometimes call Chinese New Year in English is known as chūnjié in Chinese, or Spring Festival.

There are similar holidays in other East Asian cultures, though they are culturally unique with their own practices and traditions. Thus, the broader term for this collection of holidays is Lunar New Year. It’s the biggest holiday of the year for many people across Asia.

Lunar New Year falls on February 17, 2026. In Chinese culture, we will gear up for a big New Year’s Eve dinner on the evening of Monday, February 16, 2026.

For many, Chinese New Year represents more than just the turning of a calendar page. It’s a time of renewal and fresh beginnings. The festival embodies the Chinese culture’s emphasis on family, tradition, and prosperity.

We prepare symbolic foods, which represent wishes for health and longevity, prosperity, family togetherness, happiness/sweetness/laughter, and progress.

Everyone wears red, a lucky color, and visits family and friends with auspicious gifts of oranges and other fruits (except pears, which represent separation!), flowers/plants, candies, and special food items like sweet rice cakes, taro cake, or turnip cake.

Adults (more specifically, married adults) give out red envelopes (hóngbāo) filled with lucky money to children and elders, and everyone enjoys fireworks, parades, banquets, and brightly lit lanterns at night.

Start off the Chinese New Year right with a symbolic dish like Money Bag Dumplings. They’re fun to make, delicious, and could bring you good fortune in 2026!

How Long Does Chinese New Year Last?

In China, it is a more than two-week-long celebration. It starts with New Year’s Eve and ends with the Lantern Festival, known in China as 元宵节 (yuánxiāo jié), on the 15th day of the year.

Officially, it is a 7-day public holiday in China. Businesses and schools close, giving people a chance to travel to their home towns and villages to be with family.

Everyone enjoys eating, drinking, cooking, visiting family and friends, and catching up on things that happened in the past year. On these visits, it’s all about exchanging good wishes, red envelopes, and of course, enjoying delicious traditional foods together.

When is the year of the Horse?

The Chinese Zodiac is a repeating 12-year cycle. The last time it was the year of the Horse, it was 2014.

Recent Horse Years include: 2014, 2002, 1990, 1978, 1966, 1954, 1942, 1930, and 1918.

(Though technically, if you were born in January or February, you could’ve been born in the prior lunisolar year, the year of the Snake. Use this calculator to enter your birthdate and get your correct sign. Learn more about what your sign is on our Chinese Zodiac post.)

In 2014, it was the Year of the Wood Horse. 2026 will be the Year of the Fire Horse.

You may know the Chinese Zodiac consists of twelve animal signs, but each year also includes one of the five elements.

Each of those elements has associated meanings. Here they are on a rather simplistic level:

• Wood: creativity, imagination
• Fire: passion, adventure
• Earth: patience, stability
• Metal: persistence, ambition
• Water: agility, eloquence

Each combination of animal and element occurs every 60 years! The last year of the Fire Horse was in 1966.

What is the Lantern Festival?

On the 15th day of the Chinese New Year, the Spring Festival holiday comes to an end with the Yuan Xiao or Lantern Festival (元宵节 / yuán xiāo jié).

The most traditional food of the Lantern Festival is called yuán xiāo, or tāngyuán, which is a glutinous rice ball usually filled with sweet bean, peanut or sesame paste.

They also come in smaller sizes without filling, mixed with fruit and jiu niang, a sweet fermented rice (check out Judy’s recipe for an example)

Savory tang yuan are also popular around the Winter Solstice in December!

When is the Lantern Festival In 2026?

The Lantern festival marks the first full moon of the new lunar year. It will be on Tuesday, March 3, 2026. Eating tang yuan is a must! If you’re close to your local Chinatown, be sure to visit and watch the final dragon and lion dances of the new year and enjoy the fireworks.

Light your lanterns, and hang them outside on the night of the festival. If you’re not making your own tang yuan, be sure to buy them early from your local Chinese market. They may sell out!

Check out our full collection of Chinese New Year recipes to plan your menu for the holiday ahead!