📅 holiday

Lunar New Year

Tuesday, February 17, 2026

— days to go

Lunar New Year is the most spectacular holiday of Hong Kong’s year and celebrates the start of the new year according to the Chinese calendar. It is also known as Chinese New Year or Spring Festival, and the date of this holiday changes each year but falls in January or February according the western calendar. In 2027, Lunar New Year falls on Saturday 6 February. The holiday will be on Wednesday 26 January in 2028. Lunar New Year in Hong Kong runs officially for three days, and even four if the holiday coincides with a Sunday. Unofficially, it is celebrated for up to two weeks. Chinese communities around the world, and particularly in Hong Kong, come alive with colour, fragrance, music and celebrations over the holiday. It is a time for massive festivities, temple rituals, fortune telling, family gatherings and the exchanging of gifts. In the evening on Victoria Harbour, the sky, water and city lights up with nearly half-an-hour of over twenty thousand fireworks that colour the land that invented them. The harbour front at Tsim Sha Tsui is vibrant with the International Chinese New Year Night Parade with Chinese and international performers exciting the atmosphere of Hong Kong. On the second day of the Lunar New Year, a member of the Hong Kong government attends the Che Kung Temple at Sha Tin where Hong Kong’s luck for the year is foretold in the form of ancient Chinese poetry. Every year around 100,000 worshippers come to Che Kung to beat the drum for good luck and to worship. Souvenir and shopping markets highlight every part of Hong Kong with flower markets everywhere that sell more than orchids and other flowers. Along with orange and hong bao trees, people buy kumquat bonsai trees in the hope these will bring prosperity over the rest of the year. For more good luck, there is a Wishing Tree at Lam Tsuen. Those wanting to make a wish tie a note to a piece of string that is tied to an orange then throw it high into the tree. The higher it holds in the tree, the better the chance that the wish will come true.

History

How It's Celebrated

Other Years

2025 Wed

29 Jan

2026 Tue

17 Feb

2027 Sat

6 Feb

2028 Wed

26 Jan

Countries

🇭🇰 HK 🇲🇴 MO

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🌍 observance Feb 3

Mozambican Heroes Day

Founded. The Mozambican Liberation Front (FRELIMO) is founded to fight for the independence of Mozambique from Portuguese colonial rule

🌍 observance Apr 18

National Velociraptor Awareness Day

A fossil frozen in combat. On August 3, 1971, a Polish-Mongolian expedition at Tugriken Shire in the Gobi Desert made one of the most remarkable discoveries in paleontological history. The team unearthed a Velociraptor and a Protoceratops preserved in mid-combat, buried alive by what is believed to have been a collapsing sand dune. The Velociraptor's sickle claw was embedded in the Protoceratops' neck region, while the Protoceratops had apparently broken the Velociraptor's arm with its beak. The specimen, known as the "Fighting Dinosaurs," is now a national treasure of Mongolia and provided the first direct fossil evidence of predatory behavior in dromaeosaurids

MOUS

📅 holiday Nov 30

St Andrew's Day

Saint Andrew’s Day is celebrated every 30 November in Scotland. The day celebrates the Feast of Saint Andrew and is also considered Scotland’s National Day. In 2026, Saint Andrew's Day falls on Monday 30 November. The holiday will be on Tuesday 30 November in 2027. *Please refer to this note for Scotland-specific information. This patron saint day was declared a bank holiday in 2006 by the Scottish Parliament although banks are not required to close if they do not wish to. If 30 November occurs on a weekend, the bank holiday is moved to the following Monday. Saint Andrew is notable in that he was one of the original twelve disciples of Jesus Christ and was also the brother of Saint Peter. Before following Jesus, Andrew was a fisherman. He was born at Bethsaida on the Sea of Galilee. The main colour you will see in Scotland on Saint Andrew’s Day is the white diagonal cross on blue background of the Scottish flag – the Saltire. This is the Saint Andrew’s cross, and represents the shape of the cross on which Saint Andrew was said to have been crucified. The history of the Scottish link to Saint Andrew goes back as far as 832AD when Óengus II promised God that if the Scots and Picts were victorious in battle against the Angles he would make Saint Andrew the patron saint of Scotland. And they were. Saint Andrew’s Day’s amazing menus include cullen skink (haddock and potato soup), highland venison casseroles, potted hough (shin) with mustard sauce and Scottish tablet (a very sweet treat). Events around Scotland include flag ceremonies, the Shindig in George Square of Glasgow that features live music, and local celebrations in the town of Saint Andrews in the Kingdom of Fife. There is also free entry to many of Scotland’s castles and attractions on the day. Scotland has a free Saint Andrew’s Day app available for iPhone and Android with Scottish and worldwide events, menu ideas and much more.

📅 holiday Dec 26

Shaheed Udham Singh Jayanti

The birth anniversary of freedom fighter Udham Singh, called “Shaheed Udham Singh Jayanti”, is a public holiday in the Indian state of Haryana. In 2026, Shaheed Udham Singh Jayanti falls on Saturday 26 December. The holiday will be on Sunday 26 December in 2027. From the British perspective, Shaheed Udham Singh was an assassin who killed their lieutenant governor of Punjab province on 13 March 1940. He shot Michael O’Dwyer to death at a meeting in London. He did not try to escape and was immediately arrested. In jail, he went on a hunger strike for over 40 days but was force fed to keep him alive until his execution on 31 July, 1940. In India, he is sometimes called “Shaheed i Azam”, which means “The Great Martyr”. The reason is that Michael O’Dwyer had supported a massacre of over 1,000 people over 20 years before he was assassinated. In 1919, riots broke out against British rule in Punjab, which were ultimately put down by firing on civilians, including women and children. There had been riots a few days before that had killed four Europeans and burned down some British banks, but the crowd fired upon is considered to have been a group of peaceful protesters. Mahatma Gandhi condemned the assassination, but many others, especially in his native province of Punjab, approved of it. There is a national memorial in the garden of Jallianwala Bagh in the Punjabi city of Amritsar, where the 1919 massacre took place, which mentions him honourably.