Happy new year
What will people do to celebrate the beginning of the year of the horse?
Today 17 February 2025 marks the first day of the Lunar New Year celebration for 2026. It is a time of festivities, reflection, and family for many people on Earth. People will travel to visit with their families, eat special foods (e.g., culturally anchored dishes), honor ancestors, share good wishes for the coming new year, and more.
The Asian zodiac has 12 years with each represented by an animal that symbolizes a socio-culturally important idea. The new year beginning today will be the year of the horse, which represents strength, vitality, confidence, freedom, and more. Here is the image of a horse statue in a park in Seoul (KR) that I took while visiting in 2007. It was one of 12 statues arrayed in a circle facing each other, each representing one of the animals for a year in the zodiac.
During the Lunar New Year, Asian people will exchange auspicious greetings containing the corresponding zodiac animal, such as “馬到成功” (instant success), “馬上封侯”（Immediately conferred a title of nobility), or “馬上有錢” (immediate wealth).
For all those readers of Special Education Today who celebrate this new year, here are our wishes for a long life, good luck, and a joyous fresh start for this year. We hope that these statements express our good wishes appropriately:
새해 복 많이 받으십시오
Năm mới an khang thịnh vượng!
新年快乐
However you say it, have a good one!