Chinese New Year is the biggest traditional festival in the Chinese-speaking world, marking the beginning of the new year according to the Chinese lunisolar calendar and opening a period of family reunions, good luck rituals and purification.
While waiting for the Lunar New Year carnival, which will take place on Sunday, February 22, 2026 on the Place de la République, let's take a look at this popular and festive celebration, which animates an entire district — held in a mini Chinatown in the Marais: rue au Maire, rue du Temple, rue des Gravilliers and rue Volta.
► What exactly is the Chinese New Year?
Chinese New Year (or Spring Festival, Chunjie) marks the transition to a new year in the traditional Chinese calendar, which is based on both the lunar and solar cycles. It begins with the new moon between late January and mid-February and kicks off approximately 15 days of festivities, culminating in the full moon of the Lantern Festival.
It is a family and national holiday in China and many Chinese-speaking territories, during which ancestors are honored, good luck is wished for the coming year, and the new zodiac animal is welcomed — in 2026, the Horse.
► Where is the heart of the "Chinatown" in the 3rd arrondissement?
In the Arts et Métiers district—along Rue au Maire, Rue du Temple, Rue des Gravilliers, and Rue Volta—caterers, restaurants, supermarkets, bakeries, butchers, hairdressers, and other shops catering to local residents are concentrated. Here, you can sample specialties from many regions of China and purchase products that are difficult to find in French stores.
► Chinese New Year Rituals and Traditions
Among the most widespread rituals is the thorough cleaning of the house, carried out before New Year's Day to ward off bad luck and evil spirits, and to "clear the way" for new energies. Red decorations (banners, lanterns, paper cutouts, images of protective deities) are then hung on doors and windows to attract happiness, prosperity, and protection.
New Year's Eve is marked by a large family gathering, often the most important meal of the year, featuring symbolic dishes (fish for abundance, dumplings, sticky rice cakes, etc.). Red envelopes (hongbao) containing money are also exchanged, especially by children, as good luck charms for the new year.
Firecrackers and fireworks are used to drive away evil spirits, while lion and dragon dances enliven the streets and temples. Many families also visit temples in the early days to burn incense and pray to the deities for good fortune, before concluding the period with the Lantern Festival, where lanterns are lit and floated into the night.
► Where and how is this new year celebrated in Asia?
Chinese New Year is central in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, where it gives rise to several public holidays, sometimes a whole week, with massive returns to the village of origin, parades, crowded temples and cities decorated in red.
It is also widely celebrated in overseas Chinese communities in countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines, where Chinatowns organize parades, festive markets, and traditional performances.
In other East and Southeast Asian countries, the same period coincides with the Lunar New Year, with specific names and customs: Tết in Vietnam, Seollal in South Korea, Losar in Tibet, and special celebrations in Indonesia. These festivals often combine Confucian, Buddhist, and local practices (offerings to ancestors, traditional dishes, prayers in temples, fireworks), while also being influenced by the Chinese model.
► Some examples of rituals by country
Throughout Asia, the Lunar New Year unfolds on the same festive framework (family, ancestors, renewal, luck), but each country reinterprets it with its own culture.
- China : return home, big Christmas Eve meal, red envelopes, visits to relatives, temple fairs, fireworks, dragon and lion dance.
- Vietnam (Tet) : cleaning and decorating the house, ancestral altar, peach or apricot blossoms, specific dishes, red envelopes, visits and New Year's greetings.
- South Korea (Seollal) : wearing hanbok, rites to ancestors (jesa), playing yutnori, eating rice cake soup (tteokguk), giving money envelopes to the younger generation.
- Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia : strong presence of Chinese communities, with urban decorations, public performances and public holidays around the Lunar New Year.
► Chinese New Year versus Lunar New Year
“Chinese New Year” specifically refers to the New Year celebration in Chinese culture and societies with strong Chinese traditions (China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Chinese communities).
"Lunar New Year" is a broader term that encompasses all new years based on a lunar or lunisolar calendar in East and Southeast Asia: China, but also Vietnam, South Korea, Tibet, and other countries or regions with Chinese-speaking communities.
Thus, all Chinese New Year celebrations are Lunar New Year celebrations, but not all Lunar New Year celebrations are "Chinese": for example, the Vietnamese Tết or the Korean Seollal have their own names, languages, dishes and rituals, even if the date often coincides with that of the Chinese New Year.
The rituals of the lunar new year include common elements (family gatherings, offerings, prayers in temples, fireworks, new clothes, symbols of luck), but the concrete forms — food, costumes, music — vary according to local cultures.
► Why is the date not the same as in the West?
In the West, the New Year of January 1st is fixed by the Gregorian calendar, purely solar, which follows the revolution of the Earth around the Sun and divides the year into 365 or 366 fixed days.
Chinese New Year, however, depends on the traditional Chinese calendar, which is lunisolar: the months begin at each new moon, and intercalary months are added to stay aligned with the seasons, which makes the exact date vary in the Gregorian calendar, generally between January 21 and February 20.
The festival therefore falls on the day of the second new moon after the winter solstice, hence the annual discrepancy with the Western calendar of January 1st. This difference in timekeeping systems explains why the Asian "new year" does not begin at the same time in Europe and the Chinese-speaking world—even though, today, most countries also celebrate January 1st in parallel.
► What does the Year of the Horse foretell?
The Horse is the seventh of the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac, associated with the fire element, the South, the midday hour and the month of June, times of maximum heat and energy.
In Chinese astrology, the Horse is seen as dynamic, freedom-loving, sociable, charismatic and hardworking, with a strong yang energy geared towards action, movement and independence.
The year 2026 is a year of the Red Fire Horse, considered an intense period, conducive to momentum, bold initiatives and rapid changes — but also potentially unstable if one lacks caution or moderation.
For people born under this sign (for example in 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014 or 2026), it is a "Ben Ming Nian" — a personal zodiac year, often perceived as important, requiring even more care for one's symbolic protections and choices.
Text: Katia Barillot
18.02.26
