Lunar New Year 2015: 23 dazzling pictures of the Year of the Goat celebrations

Even Google is celebrating Chinese New Year

Wednesday 18 February 2015 17:36 GMT

Fireworks explode at the River Hongbao Lunar New Year Celebrations along Marina Bay in Singapore. The Chinese Lunar New Year on February 19 will welcome the Year of the Sheep (also known as the Year of the Goat or Ram)

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The Chinese Lunar New Year begins tomorrow on 19 February and celebrations for the year of the goat, also known as the year of the sheep or ram, are already underway in China and across Asia.

New Year’s Day in the lunar calendar is the most important holiday in China and is a public holiday in countries such as Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia where there are large Chinese populations.

Lion and dragon dancers perform as part of the festive Chinese New Year celebrations in Bangkok's shopping district

A Chinese-Thai Dancer performs a traditional Chinese dance on the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year in Bangkok, Thailand

A store vender waits among Chinese New Year decorations comprising of lanterns, toy sheep and other trinkets for sale, in Singapore

A woman hangs a paper crane with her wish written on it during Chinese New Year eve celebrations at Chinatown in Manila, Philippines

Parades, reunions, dinners and dragon dances will all feature in the New Year holiday, although the Chinese government has asked citizens to avoid setting off their own fireworks this year to avoid adding to China’s escalating pollution problems.

Known as Tet in Vietnam, Seollal in South Korea, and also known as the spring festival, the holiday catalyses the largest human migration in the world each year as migrant workers, students and faraway family members make their way home to celebrate.