Chinese New Year, also known as Spring Festival, is the most grand and representative traditional festival of the Chinese nation, embodying the beautiful wishes of family reunion and bidding farewell to the old to welcome the new. Calculated according to the lunar calendar, it starts on the first day of the first lunar month, with the festive period stretching from the Little New Year on the 23rd day of the 12th lunar month to the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month. The joyful atmosphere lingers across every corner of China for days on end.
The prelude to the Spring Festival kicks off with the bustling New Year shopping spree. Every household cleans up the house, symbolizing "sweeping away the old to usher in the new". People stock up on meat, fish, candies and pastries, making full preparations for the family reunion dinner. Red couplets and "Fu" (blessing) characters are pasted on door frames, and the character "Fu" pasted upside down implies that "blessings have arrived".
New Year's Eve is the highlight of the Spring Festival. The whole family gathers around the table to enjoy a sumptuous reunion dinner. The fish served on the table symbolizes "surplus year after year", while dumplings, shaped like ancient gold or silver ingots, represent the hope for attracting wealth and treasure. After dinner, elders give red envelopes containing lucky money to the younger generation, praying for their peace and prosperity in the new year. The whole family stays up late, watching the Spring Festival Gala on TV and chatting casually, waiting for the ringing of the New Year bell.
On the first day of the New Year, people put on new clothes, visit relatives and friends to pay New Year calls, and exchange warm greetings of "Happy New Year". Dragon and lion dance troupes parade through the streets, accompanied by the deafening sound of gongs and drums, creating a lively and festive scene. Children love setting off fireworks and firecrackers the most— the brilliant fireworks light up the night sky and ignite the strong festive spirit.
When the Lantern Festival arrives on the 15th day of the first lunar month, people admire lanterns, guess riddles written on lanterns and eat glutinous rice balls, drawing a perfect conclusion to the Spring Festival. These lively and down-to-earth customs not only connect the emotional bonds of the Chinese people but also keep the millennia-old cultural traditions shining brightly through inheritance from generation to generation.