Celebrations vary from culture to culture, but typically on the first day of Lunar New Year people visit the senior members of their extended family. One of the most recognizable celebrations is lion dance troupes, a dramatic tradition meant to usher in the New Year and expel evil spirits.

It's a complex holiday with much symbolism crammed into days of festivities filled with material abundance, but here's how to make sense of this millennia-old custom as the Green Bay area hosts its own Lunar New Year activities.

Based on the Chinese zodiac, the Lunar New year goes by a 12-year cycle. Each year is represented by a different animal, and 2025 welcomes the year of the snake (the sixth animal