China is an amazing country and it’s even more interesting and fun when the Chinese New Year is celebrated as it’s the world’s oldest New Year festival. The event is celebrated in Chinese communities all over the planet but why not enjoy the party in China?
The New Year in China is also called the Spring Festival and it takes place during the first day of the first lunar month, which means the date is different each year according to the Western calendar each year.
This is the year of the Rabbit and it falls on Feb. 3rd. The festivities start before the actual date and carry on for about 15 days and come to a rousing end with the Lantern Festival.
New Year is taken quite seriously in China and all businesses close down to celebrate it for about 4 days while millions of people travel to be with their families.
Preparations for the event start about a month in advance with people cleaning out their homes to rid themselves of bad luck. Many windows and doors are painted in red and gold, the colors of the festival. Paper cut decorations are hung up and poems are posted on doors and gateposts.
When the big night arrives people celebrate with enormous family dinners of dumplings, seafood, and New Year cakes. When midnight strikes the dark skies are lit up with fantastic fireworks displays all over the nation.
The next day, people visit friends, family, and neighbors. There are also numerous lantern shows, yangge dances, dragon dances and many other types of celebrations.
