Wrapped cakes of glutinous rice, green beans and pork belly have been a Lunar New Year speciality in Vietnam for centuries.

The traditional year-end offering, or lễ cúng tất niên, is a vital ritual in Vietnamese culture, marking the end of the old year and welcoming the new with gratitude and hope.

As the week-long holiday approaches, shoppers bustled through the market in Hanoi’s Old Quarter, picking up essentials for the celebrations. (AP video shot by Hau Dinh)

Residents of Cambodia's capital city Phnom Penh were gearing up on Monday to celebrate Lunar New Year. The Lunar New Year, also known as the Spring Festival in China and Tet in Vietnam, falls on 29 January,

The event featured traditional lion dances, and of course an opportunity to check out and shop for a variety of Asian treats and groceries.

While Lunar New Year’s legislatively recognized holiday status in Washington is recent, some local groups have celebrated the holiday for decades. Here’s what’s going on this year.

The Lunar New Year begins Wednesday, but celebrations around the area are spread over multiple weeks, making it easier to find street parades, lion dances, concerts, family-friendly performances, night markets and new beers.

Each culture that celebrates the Lunar New Year has traditions passed down from generation to generation that are thought to bring good luck. NPR readers share theirs.

Lunar New Year celebrations are coming up, marking the beginning of the year of the snake. What to know about the holiday how it's different from Chinese New Year.

Tết in Seattle, now in its 29th year, is "a time when we celebrate our ancestors, to wish them good luck, and we ring in the new year to get good luck.”

Wrapped cakes of glutinous rice, green beans and pork belly have been a Lunar New Year speciality in Vietnam for centuries.