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My England Travel Guide |
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China Spring Festival
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Spring Festival, or Chinese New Year, is the celebration of the beginning of the lunar year of the Chinese calendar It usually occurs in late January or early to mid-February The Chinese calendar is different from the Gregorian(or western) calendar The Chinese calendar based upon the (lunar) cycles of the moon and as a result, starts on a different date each year, between January 21st and February 19th The lunar calendar repeats over twelve years Days before the New Year, every family is busy giving its house a thorough cleaning, hoping to sweep away all the ill-fortune there may have been in the family to make way for the wishful in-coming good luck People also give their doors and window-panes a new paint, usually in red color They decorate the doors and windows with paper-cuts and couplets with the very popular theme of "happiness", "wealth", "longevity" and "satisfactory marriage with more children" Paintings of the same theme are put up in the house on top of the newly mounted wall paper In the old days, people put various kinds of food as tributes on the altar of ancestors The Eve of the New Year is very carefully observed Supper is a feast, with all members coming together One of the most popular course is jiaozi, dumplings boiled in water "Jiaozi" in Chinese literally mean "sleep together and have sons", a long-lost good wish for a family After dinner, it is time for the whole family to sit up for the night while having fun playing cards or board games or watching TV programs dedicated to the occasion. At midnight, the whole sky will be lit up by fireworks and firecrackers make everywhere seem like a war zone People's excitement reach its zenith Very early the next morning, children greet their parents and receive their presents in terms of cash wrapped up in red paper packages from them Then, the family start out to say greetings from door to door, first their relatives and then their neighbors The air is permeated with warmth and friendliness During and several days following the New Year's day, people are visiting each other, with a great deal of exchange of gifts The New Year lasts fifteen days when the Lantern Festival sets in Return to: China Homepage
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on this page is from my Stay in England UK from 2002 till 2008.