Lunar New Year: You’ll be celebrating rabbits or cats, depending on where in world you live

ON JAN. 22, 2023, more than a billion people globally will welcome the Year of the Rabbit — or the Year of Cat, depending on which cultural traditions they follow — as the start of the Lunar New Year. In the New York City public school district, Lunar New Year has been observed as a school holiday since 2015.

The Lunar New Year is sometimes called the Chinese New Year, because it follows a calendar that was developed in China; but it is also celebrated in various parts of Asia, such as Korea and Vietnam. Tibetan and Mongolian cultures follow a similar calendar that will start the Year of the Rabbit about a month later, on Feb. 20.