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Chinese New Year or Spring Festival is the most important of the traditional chinese holidays. It is sometimes called the lunar new year, especially by people outside China. It is an important holiday in east asia. The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first lunar month in the chinese calendar and ends on the 15th; this day is called lantern festival.
Celebrated in areas with large populations of ethnic chinese, Chinese New Year is considered a major holiday for the Chinese and has had a strong influence on the new year celebrations of its geographic neighbours, as well as cultures with whom the Chinese have had extensive interaction. These include Koreans, Mongolians, Nepalese, Bhutunese, Vietnamese, and formerly the Japanese before 1873. In Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Phillippines, Thailand, and other countries with significant Chinese populations, Chinese New Year is also celebrated, largely by overseas chinese, but it is not part of the traditional culture of these countries.
Mythology


Hand-painted Chinese New Year's poetry pasted on the sides of doors leading to people's homes, Lijiang, Yunnan, China.
According to legend, in ancient china, the Nian was a man-eating beast from the mountains (in other versions from under the sea), which came out every 12 months somewhere close to winter to prey on humans. The people later believed that the Nian was sensitive to loud noises and the colour red, so they scared it away with explosions, fireworks and the liberal use of the colour red. These customs led to the first New Year celebrations. Guò nián, which means to celebrate the new year, literally means the passover of the Nian.
Public holiday
Chinese New Year is observed as a public holiday in a number of countries and territories where a sizable Chinese population resides. Since Chinese New Year falls on different dates on the Gregorian calendar every year on different days of the week, some of these governments opt to shift working days in order to accommodate a longer public holiday. Also like many other countries in the world, a statutory holiday is added on the following work day when the New Year falls on a weekend.

The Chinese New Year celebrations are marked by visits to kin, relatives and friends, a practice known as "new-year visits" New clothings are usually worn to signify a new year. The colour red is liberally used in all decorations. red packets are given to juniors and children by the married and elders. See Symbolism below for more explanation.
All these festivities may vary from region to region and from family to family.

Days before the new year
On the days before the New Year celebration Chinese families give their home a thorough cleaning. It is believed the cleaning sweeps away the bad luck of the preceding year and makes their homes ready for good luck. Brooms and dust pans are put away on the first day so that luck cannot be swept away. Some people give their homes, doors and window-panes a new coat of red paint. Homes are often decorated with paper cutouts of Chinese auspicious phrases and couplets. Purchasing new clothing, shoes and receiving a hair-cut also symbolize a fresh start .
The biggest event of any Chinese New Year's Eve is the dinner every family will have. A dish consisting of fish will appear on the tables of Chinese families. It is for display for the New Year's Eve dinner. In northern China, they have dumplings for this dinner. Dumplings symbolize wealth because their shape is like a Chinese tael. This meal is comparable to Christmas dinner in the West. After the dinner, some families go to local temples hours before the new year begins to pray for a prosperous new year; however in modern times, many households hold parties and even hold a countdown to the new lunar year.

First day of the new year
The first day is for the welcoming of the deities of the heavens and earth. Many people, especially Buddhist, abstain from eating meat on the first day because it is believed that this will ensure longevity for them. Some consider lighting fires and using knives to be bad luck on New Year's Day, so all food to be consumed is cooked the day before.
Most importantly, the first day of Chinese New Year is a time when families visit the oldest and most senior members of their extended family, usually their parents, grandparents or great-grandparents.
Some families may invite a lion dance troupe as a symbolic ritual to usher in the Lunar New Yearas well as to chase away bad spirits from the areas. Members of the family who are married also give red packets containing cash to junior members of the family, mostly children and teenagers.

Second day of the new year
The second day of the Chinese New Year is for married daughters to visit their birth parents. Traditionally, daughters who have been married may not have the opportunity to visit their birth families frequently. On the second day, the Chinese pray to their ancestors as well as to all the gods. They are extra kind to dogs and feed them well as it is believed that the second day is the birthday of all dogs.
Business people of the Cantonese dialect group will hold a 'Hoi Nin' prayer to start their business on the 2nd day of Chinese New Year.The prayer is done to pray that they'll be blessed with good luck and prosperity in their business for the year.
Third and fourth days of the new year
The third and fourth day of the Chinese New Year are generally accepted as inappropriate days to visit relatives and friends due to the following schools of thought. People may subscribe to one or both thoughts.
1) It is known as "chì kǒu", meaning that it is easy to get into arguments. It is suggested that the cause could be the fried food and visiting during the first two days of the New Year celebration.[citation needed]
2) Families who had an immediate kin deceased in the past 3 years will not go house-visiting as a form of respect to the dead. The third day of the New Year is allocated to grave-visiting instead. Some people conclude it is inauspicious to do any house visiting at all.
Fifth day of the new year
In northern China, people eat jiaozi (dumplings) on the morning of Po Wu. This is also the birthday of the Chinese god of wealth. In Taiwan, businesses traditionally re-open on this day, accompanied by firecrackers.
Seventh day of the new year
The seventh day, traditionally known as renri, the common man's birthday, the day when everyone grows one year older.
It is the day when tossed raw fish salad, yusheng, is eaten. This is a custom primarily among the overseas chinese in southeast asia, such as Malaysia and Singapore. People get together to toss the colourful salad and make wishes for continued wealth and prosperity.
For many Chinese Buddhists, this is another day to avoid meat.



Chinese New Year's celebrations, on the eighth day, in the Vancouver suburb of Richmond, british columbia, Canada.
Ninth day of the new year
The ninth day of the New Year is a day for Chinese to offer prayers to the Jade emperor of Heaven in the Taoist Pantheon. The ninth day is traditionally the birthday of the Jade Emperor.
This day is especially important to Hokkiens and Teochews (Min Nan speakers). Come midnight of the eighth day of the new year, Hokkiens will offer thanks giving prayers to the Emperor of Heaven. Offerings will include sugarcane as it was the sugarcane that had protected the Hokkiens from certain extermination generations ago. Tea is served as a customary protocol for paying respect to an honored person.
Fifteenth day of the new year
The fifteenth day of the new year is celebrated as Yuánxiāo jié, otherwise known as Chap Guo mei in Fujian dialect. Rice dumplings, Tang yuan , a sweet glutinous rice ball brewed in a soup, is eaten this day. Candles are lit outside houses as a way to guide wayward spirits home. This day is celebrated as the lantern festival, and families walk the street carrying lighted lanterns.
This day often marks the end of the Chinese New Year festivities.



Reunion dinner
A reunion dinner is held on new year's eve where members of the family, near and far away, get together for the celebration. The venue will usually be in or near the home of the most senior member of the family. The New Year's Eve dinner is very sumptuous and traditionally includes and chicken, fish. In some areas, fish is included, but not eaten completely (and the remainder is stored overnight), as the Chinese phrase "may there be surpluses every year" sounds the same as "may there be fish every year."
In mainland china, many families will banter whilst watching theCCTV new year"s gala in the hours before midnight.
Red packets for the immediate family are sometimes distributed during the reunion dinner. These packets often contain money in certain numbers that reflect good luck and honorability. Several foods are consumed to usher in wealth, happiness, and good fortune. Several of the chinese food names are homophones for words that also mean good things.
Icons and ornamentals
Icons
Meaning
Illustrations
Fish
The koi fish is usually seen in paintings. Decorated food depicting the fish can also be found. It symbolizes surplus or having additional savings so as to have more than enough to live throughout the remaining year. It coheres with the Chinese idiom.



yuan bao ingots
The gold yuanbao symbolizes money and/or wealth. Yuanbao shaped ingots were the standard medium of exchange in ancient China.



lanterns
These lanterns differ from those of Mid Autumn festival in general. They will be red in colour and tend to be oval in shape. These are the traditional Chinese paper lanterns. Those lanterns, used on the fifteenth day of the Chinese New Year for the Lantern Festival, are bright, colourful, and in many different sizes and shapes.



Decorations
Decorations generally convey a New Year greeting. They are not advertisements. Chinese calligraphy posters show chinese idioms. Other decorations include a new year picture, chinese knots, and papercutting and couplets.

Dragon dance and lion dance
Dragon and lion dances are common during Chinese New Year. It is believed that the loud beats of the drum and the deafening sounds of the cymbals together with the face of the dragon or lion dancing aggressively can evict bad or evil spirits. Lion dances are also popular for opening of businesses in Hong Kong.
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Fortune gods
Cai Shen Ye, Che Kung,etc.

I get red packets. -Jaslyn
Chinese New Year bonds families! -Rouming
Chinese New Year allows our family to gather around to enjoy a reunion dinner and strengthen family ties. - Sharon
Chinese New Year is the time where we can get altogether and celebrate the joyous festive season - Huan Ting