What do you know about ... China? Chinese New Year

Last Friday, February 16, 2018, the Chinese New Year took place. Thousands of Chinese around the world celebrated this day and in many places the celebrations will last until March 2.

Why is the Chinese New Year celebrated in February?

Actually, the date of celebration of the Chinese New Year varies every year with respect to the Western (Gregorian) calendar. Although it will always take place between January 21 and February 21.

This is because the Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar with the year divided into 12 months and between 353 or 353 days. To adjust this difference with the lunar calendar, every three years a month is added, resulting in a year of 13 months and 383 or 385 days.

The first day of the year, always coincides with the first new moon closer to the period between the winter solstice and the spring equinox.

For these reasons there is a mismatch between the dates with the Western calendar and also never falls on the same day.

Oh! And since they started using this calendar much earlier than the Western one, this year 2018 is for them the 4716. But not everything is so different, at present their weeks also have 7 days and their days are divided into hours, seconds and minutes.

How is the Chinese New Year celebrated?

The celebration begins the first day of your calendar, the New Year or Spring Festival as it is known in China. And it ends on the 15th of the first month with the celebration of the Lantern Festival.

Like Christmas in the West, the Chinese New Year is celebrated as a family. In fact, there are so many people moving in China and China during this time of year, that this movement has its own name: the spring movement.

Before the last day of the year, it is tradition to clean the house to eliminate bad luck and enter the new year on the right foot. In addition, the different decorations always refer to attract good fortune.

The last night of the year, the most important dinner of the year takes place, where typical dishes are usually prepared for dinner with the whole family. After dinner, it's time for fireworks. It is also traditional to give a red envelope, which symbolizes good luck, to the younger ones with some money.

And of course, you should not miss these days of celebration, honor the ancestors. Depending on the place the customs and offerings vary, but you should never forget the ancestors in this celebration.

We hope you learned a little more about Chinese traditions with our post!

And remember, if you are going to travel to China and need to exchange Euros for Chinese Yuan, you can buy them right now on our website and receive them in 2-3 days.