This year Chinese New Year is January 29th. This holiday does not occur on the same day each year. The holiday falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice on December 21st. Each year the New Year in China falls on a different date than on the Gregorian calendar. This international holiday is observed throughout many Asian countries and celebrated across the U.S. The great significance of this holiday is the commemoration of the beginning of a new year on the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar. This Lunar year is the year of the snakes. The Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar, which is based both on the Moon’s phases and the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. The traditional Chinese calendar is used for religious purposes, festivals and for agriculture. In many cultures, each year is also associated with an animal from the zodiac. Often the animals are the same across different Asian countries, including China, South Korea, North Korea, Singapore, and Cambodia. In these 15–days of celebration, here are some of the ways they are celebrated. On the first day, you visit family and even extended family. Red envelopes with money inside are given to families. This is called Lai see. An age–old tradition of Chinese New Year in Hong Kong, the Lam Tsuen Well–Wishing Festival attracts a sea of people every year to write their wishes on a placard, tie it to a mandarin, and throw it ontothe wishing tree for a blessed new year.