Lunar New Year, often called the Spring Festival or Chinese New Year, is the most important holiday in China and many other Asian communities. Every year is marked by a different animal and 2025 is the Year of the Snake.

Lunar New Year celebrations begin Wednesday. Here's everything to know about the 2025 Lunar New Year, the Year of the Snake.

Lunar New Year — also commonly called Chinese New Year — marks the start of the new year based on lunar calendars, or monthly cycles of the moon's phases.   The lunar new year starts with the first new moon of the lunar calendar and ends on the first full moon,