Life

It’s the Lunar New Year—Time to Shed Past Pains in the Year of the Snake

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Wong Yu Liang / Getty Images

Happy Lunar New Year—also known as Seollal in South Korea and Tet in Vietnam.

“Lunar New Year is a celebration of the arrival of spring and the beginning of a new year on the lunisolar calendar. It is the most important holiday in China, and it is also widely celebrated in South Korea, Vietnam, and countries with a significant overseas Chinese population,” per the National Museum of Asian Art.

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Today, January 29, 2025, marks the beginning of the Year of the Snake, according to the Chinese calendar, a lunisolar calendar that observes both the sun and moon. This calendar is based on a 60-year cycle involving the five elements and the 12 animal signs (just as modern astrology acknowledges 12 zodiac signs).

“There are 12 zodiac signs in Chinese astrology, each possessing a unique set of qualities,” the South China Morning Post explained. “Each year, an animal is paired with one of the five elements: gold, wood, water, fire, and earth. These elements complement and conflict with each other, but it is this ongoing interaction that is believed to promote harmony, balance, and order in the natural world.”

2025 is the Year of the Wood Snake.

“The Wood Snake is a charming, intelligent, and creative sign, but also secretive, cunning, and sometimes ruthless,” the outlet continued.

The snake is all about “shedding the ego, letting go of the past, letting go of anger, letting go of love lost,” said Jonathan H. X. Lee, an Asian and Asian American studies professor at San Francisco State University, per NBC News. “This is the year where that kind of growth — personal and macro, internal and external — is very much possible.”

If you’re looking to celebrate the Lunar New Year, it’s a great time to gather with loved ones and feast while welcoming the imminent arrival of spring.