Lunar New Year, schools closed

• February 1st, 2021: Lunar New Year, schools closed

Celebrations

The following East Asian and Southeast Asian Lunar New Year celebrations are, or were, based on the traditional lunisolar calendar (occurring in late January or early February):^[1]

• Chinese New Year
• Japanese New Year (prior to 1873) – Ryukyu (present)
• Korean New Year (Seollal)^[2]
• Mongolian New Year (Tsagaan Sar)
• Tibetan New Year (Losar)
• Vietnamese New Year (Tết nguyên Đán)

These South Asian traditional lunisolar celebrations are observed according to the local lunisolar calendars. They are influenced by Indian tradition, which marks the solar new year on the sun’s entry into Aries in April.

• Gudi Padwa, lunisolar New Year’s Day celebrated by Maharashtra and Goa Hindus.^[3]
• Ugadi, lunisolar New Year’s Day celebrated by Hindus of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka
• Holi (Phalguna Purnima), North and Central India, Nepal
• Bestu Baras, Gujarat
• Cheti Chand, Sindhis
• Sajibu Cheiraoba, Manipur
• Navreh, lunisolar New Year’s Day celebrated by Kashmiri Pandits
• Nyepi, in Bali, Indonesia
• Galdan Namchot, Ladakh
• Losoong, Sikkim

These South and Southeast Asian solar New Year celebrations are quite similar to each other in that they have dates based on the solar cycle (“solar new year”), but are part of the local lunisolar calendar system or were historically observed according to the local lunisolar calendars, and thus do not generally align with the first day of the lunisolar year. They are influenced by Indian (Indic) tradition (occurring on 13/14 April):

• Sinhalese New Year
• Pohela Boishakh, West Bengal and Bangladesh
• Bohag Bihu, Assam
• Pana Sankranti, Odisha
• Vaisakhi, Punjab and Haryana
• Puthandu, Tamil Nadu
• Vishu, Kerala
• Maithili New Year, in Mithila, India and Nepal
• Water-Sprinkling Festival (Dai New Year)
• Sangken (in Arunachal Pradesh and parts of Assam, India)
• Thai New Year (Songkran)
• Cambodian New Year (Chaul Chnam Thmey)
• Lao New Year
• Burmese New Year (Thingyan): New year falls in April, but is not the first day of the Burmese lunisolar calendar year
• Satu Suro (Javanese New Year): The Javanese calendar follows a purely lunar calendar of 12 months that retrogresses through the Gregorian and Julian calendar years. Like the Islamic calendar, The day of Javanese New Year may thus fall in any season on the calendar.

Lunar New Year celebrations that originated in Western Asia fall on other days:

• Islamic New Year or Muslim New Year is not lunisolar but follows a purely lunar calendar of 12 months that retrogresses through the Gregorian and Julian calendar years. The day of Muslim New Year may thus fall in any season on the calendar.
• In Judaism (Rabbinic and Karaite) and Samaritan religious and secular traditions, there are as many as four lunar new year observances. Each tradition uses a slightly different version of the Hebrew Calendar but they are all lunisolar, so the days always fall in the same season.
  • 1 Nissan/Abib (Aviv) is the first day of the religious new year in Rabbinic Judaism and the first day of the religious and secular new years in Karaite Judaism and Samaritanism. Rabbinic Judaism calls this the New Year for Kings and similarly numbers Nissan (aka Aviv) as the first month. Nissan/Abib begins in the spring. The climax of this lunar new year is the festival of Passover, which begins on 15 Nissan/Abib (Aviv).
  • 1 Elul is the date on which the Samaritan calendar advances a year, on the theory that 1 Elul commemorates the creation of the earth. It corresponds to the New Year for Animal Tithes in the Rabbinic tradition. This is a very late summer/early autumn holiday.
  • Rosh Hashanah in Rabbinic Judaism begins with the new moon of the month of Tishrei. It is the date on which the Rabbinic calendar advances a year, on the theory that 1 Tishrei is the day on which the world was born. Rosh Hashanah also inaugurates the ten days known as the High Holy Days/High Holidays or Days of Awe, culminating with Yom Kippur; which is the holiest day of the year in Rabbinic Judaism. For Samaritans and Karaites, Passover remains the holiest day of the year, so they observe 1 Tishrei as Yom Teruah, meaning “Day of Noise” (whereas Rosh Hashanah means “Head of the Year”). It is an autumn holy day.
  • Tu BiShvat is the New Year for Trees in Rabbinic Judaism. It is a festive holiday rather than a holy day