Despite coming from a culture that doesn’t celebrate it, my childhood memories of Lunar New Year are both clear and fond. Friends would hand out bright candies, bustling pop-up events scattered the city, and my family routinely visited our go-to Chinese restaurant, where wafting smells of traditional food and overwhelming celebration permeated. However, this positive perception of Lunar New Year has also been somewhat misguided. For a large part of my childhood, I fell into the common misconception of attributing the holiday solely to Chinese culture, and I admittedly know little about its varied interpretations even recently. This year, I sought to explore the numerous cultures beyond China that celebrate this occasion, and hope to recognize some of the lesser-known, but equally important new year traditions.