The Spring Festival begins on the lunar calendar 1 month 1 day, usually one month later than the Islamic solar calendar (Gregorian calendar). The Spring Festival originated in the Shang Dynasty (BC 1600-BC 1 100). People offered sacrifices to gods and ancestors at the turn of the year.
Strictly speaking, the Spring Festival begins in early December of the lunar calendar and then lasts until mid-January of the following year. In these days, the most important ones are New Year's Eve and the first three days of the New Year. At present, the China government stipulates that people have seven legal holidays during the Lunar New Year.
The Spring Festival has brought many customs. Some of them have survived now, but others have declined.
On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, many families will cook a delicious porridge made of glutinous rice, millet, coix seed, red dates, lotus seeds, beans, longan and ginkgo-Laba porridge.
The night on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month is called "Chinese New Year". At this time, people worship the kitchen god. However, most families now make delicious food at this time to satisfy their appetite.
After the new year, people began to prepare for the arrival of the new year. This is called "looking forward to the New Year".
Shopkeepers are always busy because every household has to buy new year's goods. New year's goods include not only edible oil, rice, chicken, duck and fish, but also fruits, sweets and nuts. Besides, all kinds of decorations, new clothes and shoes for children, and gifts for the elderly and relatives and friends are all on people's shopping lists.
Before the new year comes, people always do a general cleaning inside and outside the door, as well as washing clothes, bedding and all the cooking utensils.
Then people began to decorate their clean houses in a festive and peaceful atmosphere. All the door panels will be affixed with Spring Festival couplets, which reflect black China's calligraphy works written on red paper. The content of couplets ranges from the host's wishes for a better future to all kinds of good luck in the New Year. At the same time, portraits of the god of wealth and the door gods will be posted on the front door to drive away monsters and welcome peace and prosperity.
In China, the Chinese character "Fu" (meaning happiness or happiness) must be posted. This Chinese character written on paper can be pasted directly or upside down. Because in Chinese, the homonym of "pour happiness" is "Fu Di", and both words can be read as "Fu Di". In addition, a red lantern can be hung on both sides of the front door. Red paper-cuts can often be seen on the window glass, and auspicious New Year pictures may also be hung on the wall.
People think that New Year's Eve is the most important. On the evening of the 30th, all the family members will get together for a reunion dinner, which will be more luxurious than usual. Some dishes such as chicken, fish and tofu are indispensable. In Chinese, their pronunciations are similar to "Ji", "Yu" and "Du Fu" respectively, symbolizing good luck, abundance and wealth. After dinner, the whole family will sit together, chat and watch TV. In recent years, for China people at home and abroad, the Spring Festival Evening produced by CCTV is the essence of entertainment content. According to the custom, every household should keep vigil until the New Year comes.
After waking up on New Year's morning, everyone got dressed. First, they will express their New Year wishes to their parents. Then the children will get a new year gift-"lucky money", wrapped in red paper. In northern China, people eat jiaozi for breakfast, because they think that the homonym of "jiaozi" means "saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new". At the same time, the shape of jiaozi is very similar to the ancient gold ingot in China. So people eat jiaozi to pray for money and wealth.
Southerners in China usually eat rice cakes (a kind of rice cakes made of glutinous rice flour) at this time, because according to homophonic, rice cakes mean "one step a year". The first five days of the new year are also a good time to greet each other, give gifts and chat leisurely with relatives, friends, classmates and colleagues.
Setting off fireworks was once the most representative custom of the Spring Festival. People think that the crackling sound of fireworks can drive away monsters. However, since the government began to consider safety, noise and pollution, such activities have been completely or partially banned in big cities. Instead, some people buy tapes with firecrackers, some people break balloons to get sound, and some people buy handicrafts such as fireworks and firecrackers to hang in the living room.
This lively atmosphere exists not only in every household, but also in the streets. During the Spring Festival, a series of New Year activities such as lion dance, dragon dance, lantern festival and temple fair will be held. The Lantern Festival is over and the Spring Festival is over.
There are 56 ethnic minorities in China. They celebrate the Spring Festival almost at the same time as the Han people, but they have different customs.