Lunar New Year is the most important holiday for many Asian communities around the world.

In 2024, Colorado became the second state in the country to officially recognize it as a holiday.

In 2025, Lunar New Year takes place on January 29th marking the beginning of the year of the snake.

In 2026, it will be February 17th, and in 2027 it will be February 6th.

The date usually fall between late January and late February.

Despite its name, Lunar New Year doesn't follow a purely lunar calendar.

It's based on the Chinese calendar, which is a lunisolar calendar.

Let's start with a lunar part.

Each new moon marks the first day of the month.

A lunar cycle takes about 29.5 days.

So a month on this calendar is either 29 or 30 days long.

Now let's talk about the solar part.

As the Earth orbits the sun, we mark every 15 degrees of its journey.

By the time we complete an orbit, there are 24 marks.

These terms reflect significant seasonal changes and guide agricultural activities with names such as Four solar terms are more widely recognized.

The winter solstice is the most important solar term in this calendar.

Because a solar year is measured from one winter solstice to the next, and it must always stay in November.

But here's the problem.

A solar year is about 365 days, while 12 lunar month add up to just 354 days.

Over time, this gap will shift the seasons and eventually we have in November in summer.

So how do we keep the winter Solstice in November?

The solution is the leap month.

And here's how it works.

Starting from the winter solstice, let's select every other solar term.

These 12 solar terms are called between two winter solstice.

There are 11 midterms because Earth's orbit around the sun is elliptical.

The time intervals between each midterm are not the same.

Usually, each month has a midterm, but sometimes due to the shifting position of winter solstice in November.

A month won't have a midterm in it.

When that happens, the month without any midterm is a leap month.

As an extra 29 or 30 days added to the previous month.

In this case, it will be called Leap April.

The following month will be the new May.

Over a 19 year cycle.

seven leap month are added, balancing the extra days and keeping the month aligned with the seasons.

Most countries in the Indo-Pacific region celebrate Lunar New Year on the same day.

However, time differences can occasionally lead to variations.

The winter solstice might fall on the last day of the month in one country, but the first day of a new month in another.

In rare cases, this results in celebrations some month apart.

For example, in 1985, Vietnam celebrated Lunar New Year on January 21st, while China celebrated on February 20th.

However, no matter where you are on Earth, one rule applies to all.

The second month after the winter solstice, when you look up and cant see the moon, its Lunar New Year.