The Lunar New Year (or commonly known as the lunar new year around the world) is a Chinese festival celebrating the start of the new year in the traditional Chinese calendar. The festival is usually called the Chinese mainland's Spring Festival. [b] is one of the few new year's holidays in Asia. Traditionally, the memorial day is the Lantern Festival held from the first night of each year to the 15th day of each year. The first day of the lunar new year begins with a new moon from January 21 to February 20. In 2020, the first day of the lunar new year will be Saturday, January 25, starting the year of the rat.

The Lunar New Year is an important festival in Greater China. The celebration of the lunar new year has greatly influenced the celebration of Chinese surrounding culture, including the Korean New Year (SEOL), Vietnam's tandt and Tibet's Losar. It is celebrated around the world in regions and countries with a large number of Chinese people (including Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Philippines and Mauritius), as well as in many countries and regions in North America and Europe.

Chinese New Year is related to some myths and customs. Traditionally, the festival is a time to commemorate gods and ancestors. Within China, the local customs and traditions for celebrating the new year are quite different. The eve of the Lunar New Year is usually regarded as an opportunity for Chinese families to get together for the annual reunion dinner. Traditionally, every family has to clean its house thoroughly to clear away any misfortunes and pave the way for the new good luck. Another custom is to decorate doors and windows with red paper cuts and couplets. Popular themes in these paper cuts and couplets include auspiciousness or happiness, wealth and longevity. Other activities include lighting firecrackers and donating money in red paper envelopes. In northern China, dumplings are the main feature of the festival. It is usually served as the first meal of the year at midnight or on the first day of the year.

According to the folklore, there will be beasts like "Nian" during the Spring Festival. The beast meets once a year. This day is called "new year". The day before the new year is called "New Year's Eve". According to legend, the beast was very fierce when he went to eat in the house at midnight. In order to avoid the wild animals, Yanhuang reunited the people and gathered around to resist the wild animals. As the beast appeared once a year, Yanhuang found that the beast was afraid of red, fire and loud voice. Therefore, each family pasted red couplets at the door, lit bonfires outside the house, and then set off firecrackers. When the beast sees something red in every house, they drive it away.

There is also a saying that the beast is "West" rather than "read". Spring festival includes new year's Eve and new year's day. "Xi" is a weak monster, while "Nian" has nothing to do with wild animals in the sense that it is more like a mature harvest. There is no record of wild animals in ancient literature. It's just a folk custom in China. The word "Nian" consists of the words "he" and "Qian". It means a good harvest. Farmers review the harvest at the end of the year and are full of expectations for the next year. According to Chinese historical documents, since the beginning of the times, people have been celebrating the harvest in the new year and welcoming new folk customs. Later, they gradually became established traditional festivals.

"Spring Festival." Although the Spring Festival has become the official name of the lunar new year, Chinese people outside the Chinese mainland still love to call it the lunar calendar. Chinese New Year is a popular and convenient translation for people with non Chinese cultural background. In addition to the Han people inside and outside China, as many as 29 of China's 55 ethnic minorities also celebrate the lunar new year. Six countries, including South Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, celebrate it as an official festival.

According to legend, the beginning of the lunar new year begins with a mythical beast named Nian. We will eat the villagers, especially the children. One year, all the villagers decided to avoid the wild animals. An old man appeared before the villagers hid. He said he would spend the night and decided to take revenge. All the villagers thought he was crazy. The old man put up the red paper and set off the firecrackers. The next day, the villagers returned to their town and saw that nothing had been destroyed. They thought the old man was the God who came to save them. Then, the villagers realized that they were afraid of red and noisy voices. At the end of the new year, villagers will wear red clothes, hang red lanterns, and hang red spring rolls on doors and windows. People also used firecrackers to scare away chanting. From then on, Nian never came to the village again. Nian was finally captured by the ancient Taoist monk Hongjun. After that, Nian retreated to a nearby mountain. For many years, the name of the mountain no longer exists.

In some populous countries and regions in China and South Korea, the Lunar New Year is regarded as a public holiday. Since the Lunar New Year is a different day in each week of the Gregorian calendar each year, some of the governments choose to rotate working days to accommodate longer public holidays. In some countries, new year's Eve adds legal holidays on the second working day of the weekend, for example, in 2013, new year's Eve (February 9) on Saturday and new year's Day (February 10)) on Sunday. Holidays vary by country. Commonly used names are "Lunar New Year", "Lunar New Year", "New Year's Day" and "Spring Festival".