Happy Chinese New Year! It is the Chinese New Year (Spring Festival) today. I want to introduce the Chinese New Year to everybody, because a lot of Occidental people don’t understand the Chinese New Year.

Chinese New Year (Spring Festival) is the grandest traditional festival in China. The time of traditional Chinese New Year is from 23 of the twelfth month to the 15th of the first month of the next year. The New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day of the Chinese lunar calendar are the climax of Chinese New Year. Please note: The traditional Chinese New Year is not one day, but made up of a lot of days. And the time is the Chinese lunar calendar, but not the Gregorian calendar.

The legend of Chinese New Year (Spring Festival): “Nian” beast Legend.

You can read this article about the legend: Chinese Firecrackers Culture

The custom of Chinese New Year:

Stick the Spring Festival couplet

The Spring Festival couplet is a unique artwork of Chinese nation. Every family will stick the red Spring Festival couplet on both sides of the door when the Spring Festival of every year. The Spring Festival couplet express the fine hope that people meet next Year. The red Spring Festival couplet symbolizes jubilation and warm.

Stick “福” Chinese character

The red and big Chinese character “福” symbolizes good fortune and happiness. People will stick it on the room door when the Spring Festival, signify the good fortune and happiness enter the room. You can read this article about Chinese character “福”: Traditional Chinese Lucky Pattern and Mascot

New Year’s Eve

New Year’s Eve is the last day evening of the Chinese lunar calendar. New Year’s Eve is the most boisterous night in one year. The thing that the children most like to do is to set off firecrackers. The adults are busy with preparing the dinner of New Year’s Eve. New Year’s Eve is extremely important for Chinese people. The dinner of New Year’s Eve is known as the family reunion dinner. The family reunion dinner is held at 0 o’clock of New Year’s Eve. The whole family is eating Jiaozi (The Jiaozi is the essential food in Chinese New Year), chatting, waiting for the bell of the 0 o’clock. When the bell of the 0 o’clock is beaten, the whole family will bless each other… The firecrackers are loud outside the window. The warm atmosphere of New Year reaches a climax.

Pay a New Year call

People begin pay a New Year call in the first day of Chinese lunar calendar after the revelry on New Year’s Eve. Generally speaking, the younger will take the gifts to visit elders. Or the friends visit each other. Please note: Must take the gifts, the more valuable the better. This is custom of China. Perhaps a lot of westerners don’t understand. People will visit each other in the following 15 day.

The Chinese New Year is over until fifteen of the first month of Chinese lunar year. This is Chinese New Year (Spring Festival).