The Spring Festival, also known as Chinese New Year, is the most important holiday in China. It is celebrated on the first day of the lunar calendar, usually in late January or early February.
During the Spring Festival, families come together to have reunion dinners and exchange red envelopes, known as hongbao, which contain money. It is also a tradition to clean the house before the holiday and decorate it with red lanterns and banners that have auspicious sayings on them.
One of the most iconic parts of the Spring Festival is the lion dance, which involves dancers dressed up in lion costumes performing acrobatic moves to the beat of drums and cymbals. Firecrackers are also set off during the holiday to scare away evil spirits.
People typically eat a lot of delicious food during the Spring Festival, including dumplings, fish, and rice cakes. It is also common to drink baijiu, a strong alcoholic drink, during the holiday.
In recent years, it has become popular to send greetings and well wishes to friends and family through text messages or social media platforms like WeChat. Common phrases include "Happy New Year" and "Wishing you good health and fortune in the year ahead."
Overall, the Spring Festival is a time for families to come together, feast, and celebrate the start of a new year. It is an important cultural tradition in China and an opportunity to wish for prosperity, good luck, and happiness.