Spring Festival, the first day of the lunar year, is the biggest Chinese holiday, marked by greetings, red envelopes, couplets, firecrackers and family visits.
Lunar date
1st day of the 1st month
Usual dates
Jan 23–Feb 19
Date and Origins
Spring Festival, or Chunjie (春節), falls on the first day of the first lunar month, which always lands between 21 January and 20 February. Earlier dynasties did not always agree on where the year should begin, but after Emperor Wu of Han adopted the Taichu calendar, starting the year with the first lunar month became the lasting norm. When the Republic of China adopted the Gregorian calendar in the early twentieth century, 1 January took the name Yuandan, and the lunar new year was renamed Chunjie.
A popular folk tale tells of Nian (年), a beast that attacked villages at year's end but feared red, fire and loud noise, so people pasted up red paper and set off firecrackers to drive it away. This is a legend rather than an ancient record, but it neatly explains why red and firecrackers dominate the holiday.
Customs
On the first morning people put on new clothes and greet their elders, who hand out red envelopes as blessings. Many visit temples to pray for the year ahead or go out visiting friends. The first days of the month each carry their own traditions, though details vary by region:
Day 2: married daughters return to their parents' home, a custom kept strongly in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Fujian and Guangdong.
Day 3: known as 'red mouth' (chikou), a day traditionally thought prone to quarrels, so many people stay home.
Day 4: in Taiwan and southern Fujian, households welcome back the Kitchen God and other deities sent off before the new year.
Day 5: called Powu in the north, when many holiday taboos end; businesses often reopen and welcome the God of Wealth.
Day 7: Renri, 'everyone's birthday', linked to the legend of Nüwa creating humankind.
Day 9: in Taiwan and southern Fujian, the Jade Emperor's birthday, celebrated with elaborate midnight offerings.
Festive Foods
New Year foods rely on puns. Niangao rice cake suggests rising higher each year, fagao sponge cake evokes prosperity, and fish (yu) sounds like 'surplus'. Mandarins are gifted because the word resembles 'luck'. Northern families make dumplings shaped like gold ingots, while Cantonese households exchange turnip cake, taro cake and water chestnut cake.
Regional Differences
Taiwan's holiday usually runs from New Year's Eve to around the fifth day, with packed temples and all-night offerings on the ninth. Mainland China is known for chunyun, the vast travel rush as workers return home, plus temple fairs and lion dances. Hong Kong holds a night parade on day one, harbour fireworks on day two and visits to Che Kung Temple to spin pinwheels on day three; Macau also stages parades and dragon dances.
In Singapore and Malaysia families toss yusheng, a raw fish salad, tossing it high while calling out wishes. Korea's Seollal falls on the same lunar date, with ancestral rites (charye), formal bows to elders (sebae) and rice cake soup (tteokguk). Vietnam's Tết is its biggest holiday, celebrated with peach blossoms, kumquat trees and square bánh chưng rice cakes. Japan switched to the Gregorian calendar in the Meiji era and now celebrates New Year on 1 January.
Taboos and Trivia
Traditionally, people avoid sweeping on the first day so good fortune is not swept away, and anyone who breaks a dish says 'peace every year', a pun on 'broken'. Because the Cantonese word for hair sounds like 'prosper', some avoid washing their hair that day. These are family customs rather than rules.
Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Macao, Singapore, South Korea, Philippines
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