Spring Festival
Spring Festival is the Chinese Lunar New Year. The Spring Festival has a long history, which evolved from the worship of praying at the beginning of the year in ancient times. The origin of the Spring Festival contains profound cultural connotation and carries rich historical and cultural heritage in the inheritance and development. During the Spring Festival, all parts of the country hold various activities to celebrate the Spring Festival, with strong local characteristics. These activities are mainly about worshiping of gods and blessing of the year, which are rich and colorful in form and are the essence of Chinese traditional culture.
In the traditional farming society, the beginning of spring is of great significance, which has derived a large number of related popular culture. In the historical development, although the calendar used is different and the date of the first festival is different, its festival framework and many folk customs have been inherited. In modern times, people set the Spring Festival on the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar, but it usually doesn't end until the 15th day of the first month. The Spring Festival is a folk festival integrating worship, blessing and exorcism, family and friends’ reunion, celebration, entertainment, and diet.
Beginning with the Centennial Festival, the Spring Festival is the most solemn traditional festival of the Chinese nation. Influenced by Chinese culture, some countries and regions in the world also have the custom of celebrating the new year. According to incomplete statistics, nearly 20 countries and regions have designated the Chinese Spring Festival as a legal holiday for the whole or some cities under their jurisdiction. The Spring Festival, the Qingming Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival, and the Mid-Autumn Festival are known as China's four traditional festivals. The Spring Festival folk custom has been listed in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list with the approval of the State Council.