The Chinese lunar new year begins February 1, 2022, and starts the Spring Festival season that ends fifteen days later on the evening of the Lantern Festival. 2022 is the Year of the Water Tiger. The Chinese zodiac rotates through a 12-year cycle of animals and the traditional five elements: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. The tiger ushers in the third year of the 12-year cycle, following the Year of the Ox. Dating from as early as 1000 BCE, the traditional Chinese method of counting years is based on the sixty-year rotation of the planet Jupiter (known as the “year star”) around the sun.
