Year of the Dragon: The world’s stunning Lunar New Year celebrations, in pictures
People gather in ceremonies all around the world to celebrate the Lunar New Year
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - 2024/02/11: A performer in costume entertains spectators during the Chinese New Year 2024 Year of the Dragon Parade. The Chinese New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year celebrations has spectacular performances in the streets of London. (Photo by Loredana Sangiuliano/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
The Lunar New Year has been celebrated around the world, where lunar phases (and not calendars) indicate the start of 2024. This year, the Lunar New Year fell on 10 February.
Chinese New Year is based on a lunisolar calendar, where the year starts when the second new Moon of the year (following the Winter Solstice) indicates the start of a new year. It is considered to be one of the most important days in Chinese culture, where families join together to celebrate and eat together.
This year is the year of the dragon, the fifth of a 12-year cycle of animals in the Chinese calendar. As people born in the year of the dragon are thought to have more power, luck and success than other animals, birth dates in China tend to increase during this lunar year.
But the Lunar New Year isn't just celebrated in China. Here's how people from around the world marked the event.
Wuhan, China
Kids touch a traditional dragon head to pray for blessings, after a performance at night during the second day of the Spring Festival on 11 February 2024 in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. Photo by Getty Images
Seoul, South Korea
South Korean performers wearing traditional clothes participate in a traditional game to wish good luck during the Lunar New Year holiday, at the Gyeongbokgung Royal Palace on 11 February 2024 in Seoul, South Korea. Korean people travel from large cities to their hometowns for the Lunar New Year holidays to pay respect to the spirits of their ancestors. Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images
London, UK
A performer in costume entertains spectators during the Chinese New Year 2024 Year of the Dragon Parade in London, United Kingdom. Photo by Loredana Sangiuliano/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images
Hong Kong
People enjoy fireworks in Golden Bauhinia Square, Hong Kong, on the second day of the Chinese Lunar New Year on 11 February 2024. Hong Kong celebrated the Chinese Lunar New Year with a huge fireworks show over the Victoria Harbour. Photo by Hou Yu/China News Service/VCG/Getty Images
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Yen Bai, Vietnam
A couple wearing traditional outfits dances to celebrate Vietnamese Lunar New Year or Tet, in northern Vietnam's Yen Bai province on 12 February 2024. Photo by Nhac Nguyen/ AFP/Getty Images
Thai and Chinese people pray with joss sticks for good fortune at a Chinese temple during celebrations for the Lunar New Year in Bangkok, Thailand, on 10 February 2024. Photo by Anusak Laowilas/NurPhoto/Getty Images
Madrid, Spain
A woman dressed in a traditional costume during the celebration of the Chinese New Year parade in the Usera neighbourhood of Madrid, Spain. The Chinese community, together with Spanish citizens, celebrated the beginning of the Year of the Dragon with a traditional parade. Photo by Marcos del Mazo/LightRocket/Getty Images
Singapore
People watch a pair of dragons ascending into the sky, formed by 1,500 drones, on 11 February 2024 at Marina Bay Sands waterfront in Singapore. The show is called 'The Legend Of The Dragon Gate' and forms part of the celebration of the Lunar New Year. Photo by Suhaimi Abdullah/NurPhoto/Getty Images
Gauteng, South Africa
Children in traditional costumes take part celebration of Chinese New Year and the arrival of the Year of the Dragon at the Nan Hua Buddhist Temple in Bronkhorstspruit, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa on 11 February 2024. Photo by Ihsaan Haffejee/Anadolu/Getty Images
Beijing, China
People try to touch a dragon during a performance at a temple fair on the second day of the Lunar New Year of the Dragon in Beijing, China on 11 February 2024. Photo by Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images
Qingdao, China
An elevated view of tourists enjoying colourful lanterns at a Golden Beach Beer City lantern fair on 11 February 2024, Qingdao, Shandong Province of China. Photo by Zhang Jingang/VCG/Getty Images
Toronto, Canada
A performer dances during a Lunar New Year celebration at Chinatown Centre in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on 11 February 2024. Photo by Mike Campbell/NurPhoto/Getty Images
James Cutmore is the picture editor of BBC Science Focus Magazine. He has worked on the magazine and website for over a decade, telling compelling science stories through the use of striking imagery. He holds a degree in Fine Art, and has been nominated for the British Society of Magazine Editors Talent Awards, being highly commended in 2020. His main areas of interest include photography that highlights positive technology and the natural world. For many years he was a judge for the Wellcome Trust's image competition, as well as judging for the Royal Photographic Society.
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