Saturday, the 25th of January 2020, marks the first day of the Chinese New Year, or Lunar New Year as it‘s also celebrated in South Korea, North Korea and Vietnam.
Most people in the mainland of China call it Spring Festival, technically a 15 day holiday that marks the end of the coldest days. People welcome spring and celebrate new beginnings and fresh starts by praying to gods for a good planting and harvest season. They say it‘s the biggest firework show in the world set up on Chinese New Year‘s Eve and firecrackers are set off at midnight as in the myth about Nian the firecrackers are supposed to scare off monsters and bad luck. Then firecrackers and fireworks sound throughout the night and firecrackers used again to welcome the new year and good luck the morning after.
However the most important part of the Chinese New Year is the tradition for the whole family to celebrate together and so it causes the largest human migration in the world as people travel back to their home village for the New Year‘s Eve dinner.
We think warm thoughts to our Chinese friends in these sad times regarding the Wuhan virus, and we wish you Happy New Year dear friends!
