Spring Festival 2025 falls on Wednesday, Jan 29th, 2025, beginning a year of the S nake. In China, Spring Festival is the common name for Chinese Lunar New Year. It's in winter, but the name Spring Festival has its reasons and an interesting history. Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival (see also § Names), is a festival that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar. In 1912, the government decided to abolish Chinese New Year and the lunar calendar, but adopted the Gregorian calendar instead and made January 1 the official start of the new year. After 1949, Chinese New Year was renamed to the Spring Festival. It was listed as a nationwide public holiday. In July of 1913, the young republic’s new president Yuan Shikai ruled that starting from 1914, the country would observe four national holidays, or one for each season. First up was the lunar New Year, which was to be renamed Spring Festival. The Spring Festival, also known to most people as the Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year, is the most famous and the most important of all other festivals in Chinese culture. Chinese culture, as well as some other Asian cultures like Japanese and Korean, uses the Lunar Calendar rather than our standard Gregorian Calendar. Why is it called the Spring Festival? Even though it is winter, the Chinese New Year is popularly known as the Spring Festival in China. Because it starts from the Beginning of Spring (the first of the twenty-four terms in coordination with the changes of Nature), it marks the end of winter and the beginning of spring. Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, is one of the most important traditional Chinese holidays. It is celebrated by Chinese communities around the world with various customs and activities. Understanding the significance of Chinese New Year can provide insight into the reasons behind this cherished tradition. Chinese New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year or Spring Festival, is the most important and widely celebrated holiday in China and many other Asian countries. Its origins stretch back over 3,500 years, with traditions evolving and changing over centuries and millennia. Lunar New Year, also known as Chinese New Year or Spring Festival, is a major festival celebrated at the beginning of the Chinese lunisolar calendar. Thought to have originated in ancient China around 3,500 years ago, it is one of the most important holidays in Chinese culture, marking the end of winter and the beginning of the new year. Why Do the Chinese Call Chinese New Year 'Spring Festival'? Chinese New Year always falls within half a month of 'Start of Spring' (beginning February 4), the first of the 24 solar terms of China's traditional solar calendar. Also called the Spring Festival (春节 Chūnjié), the Chinese New Year celebrates the beginning of the Chinese year based on the traditional Chinese lunisolar calendar and officially ends 15 days later with the Lantern Festival (元宵节 Yuánxiāo jié). It is also a time to ring out the old and ring in the new. The Chinese New Year can also be called "Guonian" which means the passing of the old year to the new one. This festival emphasizes the importance of family ties. The dinner gathering on Chinese New Year's Eve is the most important family occasion of the year. Lunar New Year Calendar and The holiday is sometimes called the Lunar New Year because the dates of celebration follow the phases of the moon. Since the mid-1990s people in China have been given seven consecutive days off work during the Chinese New Year. Lunar New Year, festival typically celebrated in China and other Asian countries that begins with the first new moon of the lunar calendar and ends on the first full moon of the lunar calendar, 15 days later. The dates of the holiday vary from year to year, beginning some time between January 21 and February 20. In China, Lunar New Year is called Chūnjié (/chwnn-jyeah/), i.e. 'Spring Festival', or "Chinese New Year". It is well-known for starting a new sign in the 12-year cycle of the Chinese animal-zodiac . As a signature part of Chinese culture, the Spring Festival, also called Chinese New Year, is one of the most important festivals practiced in China and around the world. The listing of the Spring Chinese New Year, also known as 春节 Chūnjié, (Spring Festival) is one of the most important and widely celebrated festivals in China and among Chinese communities worldwide. This ancient holiday, steeped in history and cultural significance, marks the beginning of the lunar calendar. Before 1913, 'Spring Festival' was the first solar term known as Lichun, which could fall before or after the New Year and marked the end of winter, but now it became the new name for the New Year's celebration itself. The old Spring Festival, now in need of a new name, eventually became Farmers' Day in Republican China. Many names call it, yet the celebration of the Lunar New Year in many Asian cultures remains the same. It is a holiday based on the lunar calendar, not the Western Gregorian calendar. The main difference is the Gregorian calendar is based on the Earth’s orbit around the sun, and the lunar calendar is based [] The Chinese New Year or the Lunar New Year is a major celebration in many Asian countries and their diasporas around the globe. Chinese New Year, also referred to as the Spring Festival, is
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