This falls on the 1st day of the 1st lunar month and is China’s most important festival and a time for family reunions, like Christmas in the West. From the 1st to the 15th, or the Lantern Festival, there are various celebrations with New Year’s visits to neighbors, warding off disease, worship of the gods, and playing games.
On the 1st day of the New Year, people get up early, put on new clothes, and light incense and candles for gods and ancestors. Breakfast consists of noodles with fried eggs. After breakfast, people pay a visit to relatives and friends to give them best wishes.
Some customs go back a long time, such as avoiding eating porridge in hope of good weather, no sweeping of the floor to avoid an “outflow of money”, no breaking a bowl or plate for good luck, no beating people or swearing at them, and no asking for money back. On New Year’s Eve the lights stay on the whole night until New Year’s Day.
