All about Chinese New Year Chinese New Year is a holiday that celebrates the
beginning of a new year according to the lunar calendar. It is considered to be
one of the most important holidays for Chinese families.
The holiday is celebrated with big family gatherings, gift giving, the eating of
symbolic foods and display of festive decorations--all focused on bringing good
luck for the new year and celebrating the coming of Spring.
When Is Chinese New Year? The start of Chinese New Year changes every year
since it is dictated by the lunar calendar. The Gregorian or solar
calendar--which is based on the Earth's movement around the sun and has a fixed
number of 365 days a year (366 during a leap year)--is the most widely used
calendar system in the world and has been the official calendar used in China
since 1912.
But in China the lunar calendar is still used to determine traditional holidays
like Chinese New Year. Since the lunar calendar is based on the phases of the
moon-- which has a shorter cycle than the sun--Chinese New Year is never on the
same day each year, but typically falls somewhere between January 21st and
February 20th. For 2008, Chinese New Year falls on February 7th. In 2009 it
falls on January 26th.
How Long Do Chinese New Year Celebrations Last? According to Daria Ng, Assistant Curator of
Education at the Museum of Chinese in the Americas in New York City,
celebrations can actually last up to a month, especially in China.
Originally the celebrations lasted for lengthy amounts of time because China was
a very agriculture-based country so farmers took the whole month off to rest
since crops couldn't be planted during the winter. Nowadays most families
celebrate the New Year for about two week's time, says Ng, starting on the first
day of the new year and end on the 15th.
