The Spring Festival, which is called Chinese New Year, is the most solemn and most distinctive folk tradition of festivals in China, and it is also the most hilarious in all the old festivals. And it generally refers to New Year's Eve and the first day on the lunar calendar for the year, which also known as the lunar year, commonly known as ''Chinese New Year''. However, in folk society, traditional sense of the Spring Festival is from the 8th day of the twelfth lunar month, or the 23rd or 24th day of the twelfth lunar month until the 15th day of the first month of the lunar calendar. Among the days, people take the New Year's Eve and the first day of the first lunar month as a climax.
Spring Festival is not only a joyful and peaceful holiday, but also a reunion day. The children who are away from home will return home for gathering in the New Year. The night before Chinese New Year, that is, the 30th night of the twelfth lunar month, also known as New Year's Eve and reunion night. In this inter-face time, Shou Sui is the most important activity of the secular year. In the New Year's Eve, the whole family get together to say up to support Shou Sui, gathered for dinking and sharing happiness of family life. In the northern regions, there is the custom of eating dumplings in the New Year's Eve while in the in the South, people have the habit of eating rice cakes, sweet sticky rice cake, symbolizing the sweet life of the new year.
After the first bounding of New Year's bell, the streets are full of sounds of firecrackers, sounds
come and go, and every family is filled with joy. Men and women, children and the older were wearing their best holiday clothes to initially wish the elderly a Happy New Year, and they will give the lucky money to the children. There are also the activities of eating family reunion dinner, visiting the friends and relatives from the 2nd or 3rd of the first month of the lunar year , congratulations blessing, say hi congratulating the New Year, saying some words that are full of congratulation, and so on.
Festive and lively atmosphere filled not only each household, but also filled the streets around. Some local markets also have dancing lions, playing the dragon, acting agency fire, visiting the flower market, visiting the temple. During this period, the city is full of lantern, the streets are full of visitors, and the scene is extraordinary and unprecedented. In addition, till to the fifteenth day after the Lantern Festival, the Spring Festival has truly ended.
Spring Festival is the most important festival in Han. Manchu, Mongolian, Yao, Zhuang, white, mountains, Hezhen, Hani, Daur, Dong, Li, and dozens of ethnic minorities also had the custom of Chinese New Year, but each with their own national characteristics in the form of festivals.