New Year is an important day to Eastern Asian cultures. Many Asian cultures celebrate their New Year by using a lunisolar calendar, which is based on moon phase and time of the solar year. Most populations in Eastern Asia are related to the Chinese, so many cultures mark the Chinese date for New Year. The Chinese New Year is the second new moon after the winter solstice, or the first day of the first lunar month. New Year is called “Chunjie” in China, “Seollal” in Korea, “Losar” in Tibet, “Tet” in Viet Nam, and “Tsagaan Sar” in Mongolia.

Many cultures use different lunar calendars. The Islamic New Year or “Muharran” is the first day of the first month. It moves ahead about 10 to 12 days each year because the lunar calendar is shorter than the solar calendar. In 2008, it falls on January 10th and December 29th. India’s “Ugadi” New Year falls in March or April. This year it’s April 7th.