Get Ready for the Year of the Snake

Tuesday is New Year's Eve for more than a billion people in East Asia and around the world who celebrate Lunar New Year. The Year of the Dragon is drawing to a close and the Year of the Snake, the next animal in the 12-year cycle, is about to begin. In the longer 60-year cycle, which includes five elements, it will be the Year of the Wood Snake.

• Celebrations. CNN looks at New Year traditions over the holiday's 15 days. On Lunar New Year's Eve, families often gather for a big reunion dinner. The first day is a time for firecrackers and dragon and lion dances—and the handing out of red envelopes of "lucky money" to children and unmarried people. Day 7 is considered "the people's birthday," and celebrations climax on Day 15, when the Lantern Festival marks the first full moon of the year.

• Legends. The Washington Post reports that the most common of the holiday's many origin stories involves a legendary beast called "Nian," which means "Year" in Mandarin. Villagers are said to have scared off Nian with fire, loud noises, and the color red, which is why firecrackers are set off on the first day and decorations are red.
• Food. Asian cultures have different special dishes for the holiday, though dumplings are common elements, the AP reports. Chinese dishes feature what CNN calls "pun-based symbols of good luck," including sweet rice dumplings. The word for them sounds like words for reunion and round. The Vietnamese favor dishes made from glutinous rice, while Koreans "celebrate with tteokguk, a brothy soup that contains thinly sliced rice cakes," per the AP.
• Chinese or Lunar New Year? The Straits Times reports that amid rising nationalism in China, brands that have wished customers a "Happy Lunar New Year" instead of "Happy Chinese New Year" have been targeted by Chinese internet users unhappy with the more inclusive term in a debate similar to "Happy Holidays" versus "Merry Christmas."

(More Lunar New Year stories.)