A woman brushes gold calligraphy onto red paper used for Lunar New Year couplets in Hong Kong, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/May James)
HONG KONG (AP) — At Lunar New Year, red holds the promise of luck and reunion — a color meant to call people home and carry wishes for the year ahead.
It sits at entrances and lingers along walls. It threads through wishes and wraps around food. In smoke, it lifts and thins into the air.
Across much of Asia — where the festival is known as the Spring Festival, Tet, or Seollal — the new year is marked by rituals long believed to gather people against darkness and draw good fortune near. This year’s festival begins the Year of the Horse, one of the twelve animals in the Chinese zodiac.
These photographs follow the color red from public celebrations to smaller, everyday spaces.
____
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Two people carry red bags with offerings as they walk along a bridge in Hong Kong, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/May James)People queue for the bus outside a shop selling Lunar New Year decorations in Hong Kong, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/May James)A couplet with the Chinese character “good fortune” is half peeled off on a green metal door in Hong Kong, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/May James)Friends gather to make dumplings on the first day of Lunar New Year in Hong Kong, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/May James)A worker walks past a shop selling Lunar New Year decorations beneath scaffolding in Hong Kong, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/May James)Joss paper burns in a metal bin ahead of the Lunar New Year in Hong Kong, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/May James)People share a reunion meal ahead of the Lunar New Year celebrations in Hong Kong, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/May James)Wooden plaques bearing written wishes are tied with red string at a public site in Hong Kong, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/May James)Worshippers hold incense sticks as they pray during Lunar New Year celebrations at Wong Tai Sin temple in Hong Kong, Feb. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/May James)A man is seen through hand written Lunar New Year couplets hanging in Hong Kong, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/May James)A woman prepares food in a kitchen decorated for Lunar New Year in Hong Kong, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/May James)A cyclist rides past a rural hospital decorated with red lanterns on the first day of the Lunar New Year in Hong Kong, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/May James)A person waits inside a laundromat as a red Lunar New Year decoration sits on a tiled bench on the first day of the Lunar New Year in Hong Kong, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/May James)Pedestrians wait at a traffic light crossing during the Lunar New Year in Hong Kong, Feb. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/May James)A florist sits inside his shop in Hong Kong, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/May James)A man watches his tablet inside his home decorated with couplets on the first day of the Lunar New Year in Hong Kong, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/May James)Local residents gather outside a shop on the first day of the Lunar New Year in Hong Kong, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/May James)A tangerine decorated with a red new year ribbon is placed on a table ahead of Lunar New Year in Hong Kong, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/May James)A woman carrying a red shopping bag with fruits walks past a stop sign ahead of the Lunar New Year in Hong Kong, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/May James)
The Associated Press is an independent global news organization dedicated to factual reporting. Founded in 1846, AP today remains the most trusted source of fast, accurate, unbiased news in all formats and the essential provider of the technology and services vital to the news business. More than half the world’s population sees AP journalism every day.
