For students across New York, the upcoming Year of the Snake is about to start with an even bigger bang.

For the first time, public schools across the state will observe January 29 as a legal holiday to celebrate the Lunar New Year. This also makes New York the first state to mandate school closures. Last year, the national holiday started on a Saturday and students did not have an extra day off.

New York State Rep. Grace Lee, who led the effort to pass a bill that led to the change, told NBC News that the holiday is an opportunity for students of all backgrounds to reflect on and learn about Asian traditions.

“Recognizing Lunar New Year as a statewide holiday sends a message to Asian Americans and all New Yorkers that Asian Americans are New Yorkers and we belong here,” said Lee, who is also the Assembly’s Asian Pacific American said the committee's co-chairs of the working group. "I think it's also a recognition of the many contributions that Asian Americans have made to New York history in the nearly 200 years since they came to New York."

Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation putting the order into effect in September 2023. Lunar New Year – which includes Chinese New Year, South Korea’s Tet, Vietnam’s Tet and others – begins at the end of the month and kicks off more than two weeks of celebrations. The holiday is celebrated by the Chinese diaspora, other East Asian groups, and the Vietnamese, and is largely considered the most important holiday of the year for these cultures.

New York has long been home to a large population of Asian Americans, who are currently the fastest-growing racial population in the state. About 10% of students are Asian American, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, according to public school enrollment data for the 2023-2024 school year. That number jumps to 18.7 percent in New York City schools, where students from racial groups outnumber white students.

While schools across the city began recognizing the holiday about seven years ago, Lee, who was elected to the House of Representatives in 2022, said more Asian Americans in state leadership are needed to "drive change" across New York.

"I enter the state Legislature at a historic time in New York," said Lee, whose district includes Chinatown. “We have a record number of Asian American legislators in the state House and the state Senate, and I think representation is really important.”