Why is it called the Spring Festival?

There is an old saying in China, "The whole year's work depends on a good start in spring." (一年之计在于春 yī nián zhī jì zài yú chūn).

Chinese people believe that spring, the beginning of the year, is the most important time of the whole year. Since Chinese New Year usually falls after the first of twenty-four solar term "The Beginning of Spring" (立春 lì chūn), it is also called the Spring Festival which marks the end of cold winter.

The Spring Festival also marks the end of the old year on the lunar calendar and represents the desire for a new life.

Why Is the Chinese New Year Important?

What with integrating prayers, celebrations, and entertainment, Chinese New Year is a very important occasion for the Chinese nation. All Chinese people would try their best to go back home no matter how far they live.

Chinese New Year is a time to:

• reunite the whole family and honor the ancestors
• worship gods and pray for a bumper harvest year
• get rid of the old and make way for the new
• participate in all kinds of creativity and having fun……

To this day, apart from activities for worshiping gods, which are downplayed, the major activities and customs for Chinese New Year are well preserved and developed:

• gathering with family, having reunion dinner, and staying up late on the Chinese New Year's Eve
• cleaning house and decorating house with lanterns, Spring Couplets, papercuts……
• joining in various activities like setting off fireworks, giving red envelopes, watching lion dance and dragon dance……