Lunar New Year 2026 falls on Tuesday, February 17th, and celebrations culminate with the Lantern Festival on March 3rd.

Lunar New Year is the beginning of a new year according to lunar calendars or, informally but commonly, to lunisolar calendars. Because a year of twelve lunar months is about 11 days shorter than a solar year (which determines the seasons).

Lunar New Year is celebrated/observed in many countries, not just in China. In Asia, countries observing Lunar New Year are China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam.

Wikipedia explains that: The determination of the first day of a new lunar year or lunisolar year varies by culture. The event is celebrated by numerous cultures in various ways at different dates. Better-known lunar new year celebrations include those based on the (lunar) Islamic calendar which originated in the Middle East. Lunisolar new year celebrations include those of the (lunisolar) Hebrew calendar from the same region; the (lunisolar) Chinese calendar and its variations from East Asia; and the (lunisolar) Buddhist and Hindu calendars of South and Southeast Asia.

Some states in the US, including California and New York, officially celebrate the Lunar New Year as a public holiday in recognition of the lunisolar new year based on the Chinese calendar.

The fire horse last appeared in 1966, and combines two extremely dynamic symbols in the calendar.

There are 12 animals in the zodiac, and five elements — wood, fire, earth, metal and water — meaning each animal-element pairing appears just once every 60 years.

The fire is kind of a symbol for energy, rushfulness, and the symbol for horse will be meaning energy, vitality, speed and passion.

There is a superstition that “a woman born in the year of the fire horse has a strong temperament, shortens her husband’s life and bring ruin to their families and maybe even kill their husbands.”  This superstition was still strong enough that the birth rate decreased in 1906 and 1966, the last two instances of the “fire horse”.