Chinese new year greetings

what is chinese new year

Chinese New Year is Spring Festival, the first morning of the first lunisolar month. Work contracts in China still use the Gregorian year that began on 1 January. The festival uses the other clock. In 2026 the first day was Tuesday, 17 February, opening a Horse year. On 3 September 2026 that morning is over. The next first day is Saturday, 6 February 2027, opening a Goat year. The season runs through the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth lunar day, not only through breakfast on day one.

Is today Chinese New Year only on that first lunar morning. Is today China new year is the same question with a shorter noun. This Thursday in September is neither. A greeting sent today is an ordinary hello, or a very late festival card. It is not Spring Festival because the envelope is red.

What to say, in which language

In English, “Happy Chinese New Year” and “Happy Spring Festival” both name the right feast. “Happy New Year” on 1 January names the civil year. You can say both, in their seasons, without cancelling either. In Mandarin, 新年快乐 (xīn nián kuài lè) is the plain wish. 春节快乐 (chūn jié kuài lè) names the festival. 恭喜发财 (gōng xǐ fā cái) wishes prosperity. In Cantonese the prosperity line is the one English speakers often know as gong hei fat choy. Those are two pronunciations of a related wish, not two holidays.

English: Happy Chinese New Year / Happy Spring Festival — in the lunar season. Mandarin: 新年快乐, 春节快乐, 恭喜发财. Cantonese: 恭喜發財, gong hei fat choy, for the prosperity wish. Horse-year colour, 2026: a Horse greeting belonged to the 17 February turn, not to every remaining Tuesday until 2027.

1 January English “Happy New Year”: civil calendar, different night. One phrase is enough. A card that stacks six transliterations is a glossary, not a warmer wish. If you are writing to a Cantonese-speaking household, the Cantonese line is the polite match. If you are writing to a Mandarin-speaking household, use Mandarin. If you do not know, English “Happy Chinese New Year” is clear and does not pretend to a dialect you do not speak.

A January toast and a February Gong Xi Fa Cai can both be sincere. They still are not the same morning.

Cards, packets, and when the words go quiet

The reunion dinner is on the eve: 16 February in 2026, 5 February in 2027. Greetings start then and run through the visits of the first days. Some families keep the festival voice through the lantern night. After that, the animal year is still the animal year — Horse until 5 February 2027 — but the greeting season has closed. A Horse mug in September is merchandise. It is not a second eve.

Red envelopes can travel with the words. The packet is money in red paper, usually from married adults to children and younger relatives. The greeting on the lips and the packet in the hand are cousins. Neither is a salary. Workplace packets follow that office’s habit; they are not a law. Digital red packets on messaging apps are the same custom on a screen. A random transfer in October with a red sticker is a transfer.

Public holiday length in mainland China is set each year and is not identical to the traditional fortnight. A greeting does not close a bank in the United States. If you needed days off, you needed that country’s notice. If you needed a line for a card, pick one sentence and send it on time.