Chinese New Year in Singapore 2026
The gazetted CNY public holiday dates, the zodiac year, and the fifteen-day festival.
Chinese New Year 2026 in Singapore falls on Tuesday, 17 February 2026, with the second day on 18 Feb, both gazetted public holidays. 2026 is the Year of the Horse. A birthday that falls before Chinese New Year belongs to the previous animal, so a birth year on its own does not settle it. The zodiac calculator works from the full date.
Chinese New Year
Tuesday, 17 February 2026
Chinese New Year
Wednesday, 18 February 2026
What these dates mean for your days off
The gazette gives you the dates. Whether each one turns into a day you are not at work depends on the weekday it lands on, and Singapore does not treat a Saturday and a Sunday the same way.
Tuesday, 17 February 2026
A working day, so this is a straightforward paid public holiday.
Wednesday, 18 February 2026
A working day, so this is a straightforward paid public holiday.
Run together, that is 2 consecutive days away from work, Tuesday, 17 February 2026 to Wednesday, 18 February 2026. Nothing here is lost to a Saturday, so the gazetted days are days you would otherwise have worked or are substituted with one.
The cheapest way to stretch it
Annual leave booked either side of the block, and what each day of it actually buys. Days off counts calendar days away from work, not working days.
| Leave | Days off | Book these |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | Mon, 16 Feb |
| 2 | 6 | Fri, 13 Feb · Mon, 16 Feb |
| 3 | 9 | Mon, 16 Feb · Thu, 19 Feb · Fri, 20 Feb |
| 4 | 10 | Fri, 13 Feb · Mon, 16 Feb · Thu, 19 Feb · Fri, 20 Feb |
| 5 | 11 | Thu, 12 Feb · Fri, 13 Feb · Mon, 16 Feb · Thu, 19 Feb · Fri, 20 Feb |
The reunion dinner is on the eve, and the eve is never a public holiday. If you are only taking one day, that is usually the day to take.
The festival calendar for 2026
The two days off are the first two of fifteen. These are the dates of the days people here actually keep, counted from the first day.
Chinese New Year's Eve
Monday, 16 February 2026
Reunion dinner. Not a public holiday.
First day
Tuesday, 17 February 2026
Gazetted public holiday. Visiting begins.
Second day
Wednesday, 18 February 2026
Gazetted public holiday. Kainian.
Third day
Thursday, 19 February 2026
Red Mouth Day. Visits are traditionally avoided.
Fourth day
Friday, 20 February 2026
Most Chinese businesses reopen.
Seventh day
Monday, 23 February 2026
Renri. The yusheng day.
Ninth day
Wednesday, 25 February 2026
Bai Tian Gong, the Hokkien new year.
Fifteenth day
Tuesday, 3 March 2026
Chap Goh Mei. The festival closes.
Customs and traditions
Reunion dinner
The reunion dinner on Chinese New Year's Eve is the most important meal of the year: families gather, often travelling home, over dishes like fish (for surplus, 年年有余) and other auspicious food.
Ang bao (red packets)
Married couples and elders give ang bao, red packets of money, to children and unmarried juniors. Amounts are even (never 4), and crisp new notes are preferred; red symbolises good fortune.
Yusheng (lo hei)
Yusheng, a raw-fish and shredded-vegetable salad, is tossed as high as possible together (lo hei) while calling out auspicious phrases. It's a Singaporean-Malaysian Chinese New Year custom for prosperity.
Visiting
Over the first days, families visit relatives and friends, bringing mandarin oranges in pairs. Many hawker stalls and small shops close for several days, while malls, attractions and public transport run as normal.
Common questions
When is Chinese New Year 2026 in Singapore?
Chinese New Year 2026 falls on Tuesday, 17 February 2026. The first two days are gazetted public holidays. 2026 is the Year of the Horse.
What zodiac year is 2026?
2026 is the Year of the Horse in the twelve-animal Chinese zodiac cycle.
How many days of Chinese New Year are a public holiday?
Two. Singapore gazettes the first two days of Chinese New Year as public holidays. The wider festival runs for fifteen days.
Why does the Chinese New Year date change each year?
Chinese New Year follows the lunisolar Chinese calendar, so it falls on a different Gregorian date each year, always between 21 January and 20 February.
Sources
- Public holidays and public holiday entitlement and pay, Ministry of Manpower.
- Holidays Act 1998, section 4, for the Sunday substitution rule.
- The gazetted public holiday dataset, Government of Singapore, via data.gov.sg.
- Chinese New Year, Culturepaedia, Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre, for the festival days.
Dates are the gazetted public-holiday dates from data.gov.sg.