When is Chinese New Year?

Chinese New Year 2013 starts on Feb 10 2013 and ends on the eve of Jan 32 2014. 2013 is the year of the Water Snake. The Chinese New year marks the first day of the lunisolar Chinese calendar year. Chinese New Year start on a new moon. Some past year of the Dragon were:2001, 1989, 1977, 1965, 1953, 1941, 1929. The Snake is compatible with the Ox and the Rooster. The Snake is incompatible with the Pig.

Chinese New Year Animal

Each year is associated with an animal and an element. There are twelve animals(Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig.) and five elements(Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water). This provides you with a sixty year cycle for all possible combinations of animals and elements. The current cycle, started in 1984 and the next cycle will start in 2044. Each element has Yin or Yang year. Every year on Chinese New Year a new animal takes the year. Every twelfth year the animal signs repeat. Every other year the element changes. 2011 is the year of the Metal Rabbit. 2013 is the year of the Water Snake.

Why is Chinese New Year Different Every Year?

Chinese new year is different every year because of how the moon cycles fit in to a year. A Lunar Year is a little longer or shorter than a Solar Year. Because, it depends if there are twelve or thirteen lunar months. One year can start the 14 of February and another year it can start the 21st of January. The Chinese new year marks the start of a new year and the start of a new growing season. Shortly after the start of the new year people will start planing their crops in China. The Chinese calendar actually has dates for when to be planting and when to be harvesting your crops. All of this is based on the start of a new Chinese new year.

Learn More

To find out when Chinese New Year has occured in the past, check out the page on Chinese New Year Dates. Find your Chinese Zodiac sign and learn what your sign says about you. Learn about the Legend of the 12 Chinese Zodiac signs.