The Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) is one of the most grand and distinctive traditional festivals in China. As an important part of outstanding traditional Chinese culture, it falls on the first day of the first lunar month, commonly known as “Guo Nian” (celebrating the New Year). The festival period runs from New Year’s Eve to the Lantern Festival, all regarded as part of “celebrating the New Year”. The Lantern Festival is on the 15th day of the first lunar month, which Chinese people consider the official end of the Spring Festival. In other words, the Spring Festival celebration lasts 16 days according to the lunar calendar (including New Year’s Eve).
With a long history, the Spring Festival originated from primitive beliefs and nature worship in early human society, evolving from sacrificial rituals held at the start of the year in ancient times. As a primitive religious ceremony, people held sacrifices at the beginning of the year to pray for a bumper harvest of grains and prosperity of humans and livestock in the coming year. Over time, these rituals gradually developed into various celebratory activities, eventually forming the modern Spring Festival. The term “Spring Festival” came into use after the 1911 Revolution.
Generally, before the Spring Festival holiday, Chinese people return home from all over the country to celebrate the New Year. This period is also the busiest time for transportation. On ordinary days, people are busy with work and life, often away from their hometowns, and they look forward to reuniting with their families during the Spring Festival holiday. During the Spring Festival, the Han people and many ethnic minorities in China hold various celebrations. These activities focus on ancestor worship, respecting the elderly, expressing gratitude and praying for blessings, family reunion, replacing the old with the new, welcoming joy and good fortune, and praying for a fruitful year, with strong ethnic characteristics.
The Spring Festival has rich folk customs, including putting up Spring Festival couplets, New Year paintings, and the character “Fu”; staying up late on New Year’s Eve; eating dumplings and sweet rice balls (tangyuan); giving lucky money; paying New Year visits; attending temple fairs; and enjoying lantern festivals. On New Year’s Eve, families usually prepare a sumptuous reunion dinner. They also watch the Spring Festival Gala on TV, which is broadcast live until the early hours of the Lunar New Year, featuring performances by celebrities. Among them, the song Unforgettable Tonight is an indispensable program. During the Spring Festival, Chinese people have the custom of setting off fireworks and firecrackers, mostly at night, with continuous sounds and brilliant fireworks bursting into the sky. Chinese people usually eat sweet rice balls on the first day of the lunar year, symbolizing reunion and perfection.
Influenced by Chinese culture, some countries and regions around the world also celebrate the Lunar New Year. From Egypt in Africa to Brazil in South America, from the Empire State Building in New York to the Sydney Opera House, the Chinese Lunar New Year has set off a “Chinese craze” worldwide. The Spring Festival is rich and colorful, with important historical, artistic and cultural values. In 2006, with the approval of the State Council, the Spring Festival folk customs were included in the first National Intangible Cultural Heritage List.
On December 4, 2024, at the 19th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO held in Asunción, Paraguay, the application “Spring Festival: Social Practice of the Chinese People Celebrating the Traditional New Year” was reviewed and approved, and inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.