The Spring Festival is one of the most solemn and distinctive traditional festivals among the Chinese people. It generally refers to New Year's Eve and the first day of the first lunar month. It is the first day of the lunar year (also called the lunar year), commonly known as "New Year". From Laba or Xiaonian to the Lantern Festival, it is called New Year.
The Spring Festival has a long history. It originated from the primitive beliefs and nature worship of early humans. It evolved from the ancient times of praying for the new year. It is a primitive religious ritual. People will hold sacrificial activities at the beginning of the year to pray for a good harvest and prosperity of people and livestock in the coming year. This sacrificial activity gradually evolved into various celebrations over time, and finally formed today's Spring Festival. The term "Spring Festival" began to be used after the Xinhai Revolution.
During the Spring Festival, the Han nationality and many ethnic minorities in China hold various activities to celebrate. These activities are mainly about worshiping ancestors and respecting the elderly, thanking and praying, family reunion, getting rid of the old and bringing in the new, welcoming the New Year and praying for a good year, with strong national characteristics. There are many folk customs during the Spring Festival, including drinking Laba porridge, offering sacrifices to the Kitchen God, sweeping the house, pasting Spring Festival couplets, pasting New Year pictures, pasting upside-down blessing characters, staying up on New Year's Eve, eating dumplings, giving lucky money, paying New Year's greetings, and visiting temple fairs.
Influenced by Chinese culture, some countries and regions in the world also have the custom of celebrating the New Year. From Egypt in Africa to Brazil in South America, from the Empire State Building in New York to the Sydney Opera House, the Chinese Lunar New Year has set off a "Chinese style" all over the world. The Spring Festival is rich and colorful, with important historical, artistic and cultural value. In 2006, the Spring Festival folk customs were approved by the State Council to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage lists.
On December 4, 2024, the 19th regular session of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage held in Asuncion, Paraguay, passed the review and decided to include "Spring Festival-Chinese Social Practice of Celebrating the Traditional New Year" in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
