Lunar New Year will soon be a school holiday in New York City

Lunar New Year celebrations.
(Image credit: Feng Li/Getty Images)

In 2016, New York City students will have the opportunity to celebrate another official holiday with a day off from school: Lunar New Year.

Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted Monday that the school system will recognize the Lunar New Year beginning next year, NBC New York reports. The mayor is expected to officially announce the decision on Tuesday. Lunar New Year is celebrated in many Asian communities, and one-sixth of the 1.1 million public school students in the city are of Asian descent. Earlier this year, de Blasio said schools would also honor the Muslim holidays of Eid al-Firt and Eid al-Adha.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.