Chinese New Year 2026 — also called Lunar New Year 2026 and Spring Festival — began on Tuesday, February 17, 2026. It opened the Year of the Horse and the 15-day Spring Festival, which ended with the Lantern Festival on Tuesday, March 3, 2026. The festival is over, but the Horse year itself runs until February 5, 2027.
The 2026 dates
| Event | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| New Year’s Eve | Monday, February 16, 2026 | Reunion dinner; the last day of the Snake year. |
| Chinese New Year | Tuesday, February 17, 2026 | First day of the Horse year. |
| Lantern Festival | Tuesday, March 3, 2026 | 15th day; the festival closes. |
| Horse year ends | February 5, 2027 | The Goat year begins February 6, 2027. |
Dates on this page use China Standard Time (UTC+8).
What the Year of the Horse means
2026 is a yang fire Horse year: Bing Wu (丙午). The Horse is the seventh sign, associated with the earthly branch 午 (wǔ), noon, the south and the fixed element fire. In the traditional portrait it is energetic, frank, independent and impatient with fences.
Because the year element is also fire, 2026 is a double-fire Horse year — a combination that popular readings describe as especially lively. That is folklore, not a forecast. The full sign profile, years and compatibility are on the Year of the Horse 2026 page.
How the 2026 festival ran
Feb 16 · 2026
New Year’s Eve
Reunion dinner and the last day of the Snake year.
Feb 17 · 2026
Day 1
The Horse year begins. Greetings, red envelopes and family visits.
Feb 21 · 2026
Day 5
“Breaking the fifth” in northern traditions: dumplings and a welcome for wealth.
Feb 23 · 2026
Day 7
Renri, the people’s birthday, often marked with seven-vegetable soup.
Mar 3 · 2026
Day 15
Lantern Festival, the first full moon of the lunar year.
The 2026 dates are shown in past tense because the festival has passed. The same sequence shifts with the lunar calendar each year.
What was celebrated
The core customs were the same as in other years: a reunion dinner on New Year’s Eve, red couplets and lanterns, red envelopes, family visits, firecrackers where permitted, and the Lantern Festival on the 15th day. Food varied by region — dumplings in the north, rice cake and whole fish in many areas, spring rolls, glutinous rice balls and dishes chosen for auspicious wordplay.
The festival also marked the last days of the Snake year. Anyone born between January 1 and February 16, 2026 belonged to the 2025 Snake year under the Chinese New Year convention; a birth on or after February 17 belonged to the Horse year. The calculator shows this boundary for any date.
What comes next
Chinese New Year 2027 falls on Saturday, February 6, 2027 and begins the Year of the Goat. The Lantern Festival is February 20, 2027, and the Goat year runs until January 25, 2028. The 2027 guide has the full timeline, travel notes and the zodiac cutoff.
Source note
Dates are from the Hong Kong Observatory's Gregorian–Lunar Calendar Conversion Table for 2026: February 17 is the first day of the first lunar month, and March 3 is the 15th day.
For the broader festival and its regional names, see the Chinese New Year guide.
Common questions
When was Chinese New Year 2026?
Chinese New Year 2026 fell on Tuesday, February 17, 2026. New Year’s Eve was Monday, February 16, and the Lantern Festival closed the festival on Tuesday, March 3, 2026.
What animal was 2026?
2026 was the Year of the Horse. Its full sexagenary name is Bing Wu (丙午), a yang fire year. The Horse year runs from February 17, 2026 to February 5, 2027.
Is the Year of the Horse 2026 over?
The festival is over, but the zodiac year is not. The Horse year continues until February 5, 2027. The Goat year begins on February 6, 2027.
Was 2026 a good year for the Horse?
2026 is the Horse’s own zodiac year, called ben ming nian. Folk custom often wears red and treats the year as a threshold, but there is no evidence that it determines your luck. It is a cultural marker.
What was the Chinese New Year 2026 holiday?
Public holidays are set by each government and were not derived from the lunar date alone. Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and other places had different schedules. This page describes the festival, not a specific public-holiday calendar.
When is the next Chinese New Year?
The next Chinese New Year is Saturday, February 6, 2027, beginning the Year of the Goat. The following one is January 26, 2028, beginning the Year of the Monkey.