The National Museum of Asian Art indicates Chinese New Year is the most important holiday in China, where a 15-day celebration incorporates age-old traditions to commemorate China’s culture and history. Chinese New Year is celebrated in various countries to herald the arrival of spring and the beginning of a new year on the lunisolar calendar.

One notable tradition associated with Chinese New Year involves animals, which is traced to an ancient Chinese poem about 12 mythical animals that descended from the heavens. The Rat was the first animal to arrive and help celebrate the coming spring, and the Pig was the last to make its presence known. Each Chinese New Year commemorates a different animal from that ancient poem, which is why celebrations are often characterized as the year of a particular animal. This year is “The Year of the Snake.”

According to National Museums Liverpool, the snake is wise and intense, and emphasizes physical beauty, which is why it’s often associated with vanity. Travel China Guide says the snake carries meanings of malevolence, cattiness, and mystery, but that some in China believe a snake found in a courtyard is an omen of good luck. Chinese mythology characterizes the creator of the world as having a human head and the body of snake.

Compatibility is another notion associated with the animals of the Chinese Zodiac that feature so prominently in Chinese New Year celebrations. The Snake is considered most compatible with the Rooster, which the poem suggests was the tenth animal to descend. The Pig (twelfth) is considered the least compatible animal with the Snake.

Chinese New Year is a notably unique celebration. In 2025, Chinese New Year begins on Wednesday, January 29.