Lunar New Year — also commonly called Chinese New Year — marks the start of the new year based on lunar calendars, or monthly cycles of the moon's phases.   The lunar new year starts with the first new moon of the lunar calendar and ends on the first full moon,

The Lunar New Year begins today, Jan. 29. It's a complex holiday with much symbolism crammed into days of festivities filled with material abundance, but here's how to make sense of this millennia-old custom as the Green Bay area hosts its own Lunar New Year activities.

This year, Lunar New Year begins today, Wednesday, Jan. 29, and ends Feb. 12. Lunar New Year, also widely regarded as Chinese New Year since the late 19th century when it gained global recognition through Chinese immigrant communities, is a centuries-old tradition rooted in the lunar calendar.