Zipsters celebrate Lunar New Year 2026

Lunar New Year begins on Tuesday 17 February, kicking off the year of the Fire Horse—a symbol of passion, progress, and courageous forward movement. Spanning 15 days, this celebration marks a time of reflection, family gatherings, and traditions rooted in centuries-old practices.

Many Zipsters celebrate Lunar New Year, each bringing their own unique customs and experiences. Read on to hear from Anton and Tuuyen what Lunar New Year means to them, their favorite traditions, and how they’ll be celebrating this year.

Tuuyen

My name is Tuuyen and I’m a Senior Equity and Rewards Partner at Zip, managing Zip’s employee equity plans. As a second generation Vietnamese Australian, Lunar New Year (Tết) is the most important celebration of the year for me and my family. Growing up, it was all about visiting relatives, wishing my grandparents, uncles and aunties a happy new year, and, of course, receiving Li Xi (red packets containing money).

Now, as an adult, it’s a cherished time for the family to gather, enjoy endless delicious food and reconnect with loved ones. It’s also a time to remember and pay respects to our ancestors, wearing red (a colour symbolising joy and luck), and embrace a fresh start - inviting in good fortune and sweeping out the negative energy of the past year.

My favourite Lunar New Year tradition is visiting the temple on the first day of the new year with my family. We pray for good health, happiness and prosperity for our loved ones, pay our respects to Buddha and our ancestors, and take in the beautiful Lunar New Year decorations and celebrations at the temple. Afterwards, celebrating with loved ones over delicious food.

To celebrate this year, I’ll be taking advantage of Zip's cultural and religious leave to visit the Nan Tien temple in Wollongong with my mum and prepare our home for Lunar New Year celebrations. My husband and I will be hosting a Lunar New Year lunch for the family at our house. Since we live on the beautiful Illawarra coast, our celebration will involve a full day of enjoying great local seafood!

While the Year of the Fire Horse symbolises fast-paced momentum, my goal for the year ahead is to move more intentionally. Personally, I’m focusing on being more present - carving out meaningful time with family and friends, reducing screen time, and prioritising my health. Professionally, I want to keep growing with confidence - taking initiative, backing my ideas, and helping drive progress in thoughtful ways.

Our traditional Lunar New Year greeting in Vietnamese is “Chúc Mừng Năm Mới” (pronounced ‘chook moong num moy’), which simply means "Happy New Year." If you’d like to be extra impressive, you can follow up with “An Khang Thịnh Vượng” (pronounced ‘ahn khang thinh voong’), which means wishing you security, good health, and prosperity.

Anton

My name is Anton, and I am one of the many Customer Experience Agents on Level 6 in the Sydney office. Outside work, you will either find me in running events or playing tennis! I have been at Zip for a little over a year, and have been enjoying my time working here, getting to meet different Zipsters from many different walks of life.

To some, Lunar New Year is the coming together of family and friends, and wishing them a happy new year. But to me, it is more than that. It is symbolic of welcoming the new year to come, while reflecting on the previous year and leaving the past behind.

My favourite lunar new year tradition is visiting a local temple and seeing the lion dances throughout the night, topping things off by watching the fireworks at midnight. If I don’t make it to the temple this year, I was thinking about putting on my lion costume and entertaining my dog with her own dance!

I should also mention seeing relatives; we give and receive red pockets to wish others good fortune for the next year. The traditional greeting for my family would be “Gong hei fat choi” (“Congratulations and best wishes for a prosperous New Year!”, though it can be different depending on which language you speak. Or you can just say Happy Lunar New Year. The most important part is that you have to bundle this greeting with a red pocket!

2026 marks the beginning of the 'Year of the Fire Horse', which is associated with passion, progress, and courageous forward movement. My main goal for the year ahead is to make progress in building my career. Though it may feel as though I am a late developer amongst my friends, I’ve always been comfortable going at my own pace. That said, this year I’m ready to accelerate my development, and maybe even look to combine it with some overseas travel.