How to Kick Off the Lunar New Year Around the World
From age‑old rituals to lively street festivals, here’s how to mark the occasion – and make good on your “travel more” resolution.
For cultures following the lunar calendar, the new year doesn’t start until the first new moon – a date that shifts from year to year. The Lunar New Year in 2023 is on January 22, with some celebrations continuing for weeks following. Here are the best places in Asia (and around the world) to celebrate the Year of the Rabbit.
Where are the best places in Asia to celebrate the Lunar New Year?
- Start 2023 on a lucky note in Hanoi —
For Tết (Vietnamese New Year), Hanoians queue at the Temple of Literature and ask calligraphers to paint paper scrolls with an auspicious word. Dating back to 1070, the picturesque site was once home to the Imperial Academy, Vietnam’s first national university, and students still pray here for top marks.
A Chinese calligraphy artist in Nuanquan.
Photo: Dukas Presseagentur/Alamy
- Watch sparks fly in Nuanquan, China —
To celebrate the Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival, local blacksmiths-turned-folk-artists create a pyrotechnic spectacle by throwing molten iron – heated up to 1,600 degrees Celsius – at a frozen wall. Held in Tree Flower Square, the 500-year-old ritual is known as Da Shuhua.
Celebrate the Year of the Tiger in the Philippines.
Photo: Imaginechina Limited/Alamy
- Visit the world’s oldest Chinatown in the Philippines —
Head to the Binondo quarter in Manila and do as the locals do: The Buddhist community flocks to Seng Guan Temple for New Year’s prayers and incense burning.
Lunar New Year celebrations in Malaysia.
Photo: Bernice Beltran/NurPhoto via Getty Images
- See the bright lights at Kek Lok Si Temple in Air Itam, Malaysia —
The sprawling 19th-century site is one of Southeast Asia’s largest Buddhist temples, and each Lunar New Year, it’s decked out for the occasion with thousands of lanterns and multicoloured lights.
What are the best places outside of Asia to celebrate the Lunar New Year?
- Feel the festive beat in Canada —
Some of the highlights of this year’s LunarFest celebrations – which take place in both Vancouver and the GTA – are persimmon dye and origami workshops (where you’ll get to make an origami piece representing your Chinese zodiac animal). - Join the massive crowd in London, U.K. —
The British capital claims the title of the biggest Chinese New Year bash outside Asia, with a family-friendly parade, dragon dancing and traditional street food drawing hundreds of thousands to the city’s West End.
Street performers in Sydney, Australia.
Photo: Destination NSW
- Hit the Lunar Lanes street party in Sydney, Australia —
Live performances include Chinese lion dancing, Korean drumming and Japanese hip hop. The annual Sydney Lunar Festival, kicks off January 21 with dozens of events spanning two weeks (there are more than 80 events over 16 days).
This story was originally published in January 2020 and was updated in January 2023.
