The Spring Festival is a traditional Chinese folk festival. The Lunar New Year falls on the first day of the first lunar month, and it is the most grand festival of the year. It is celebrated by ethnic groups including the Han, Zhuang, Buyi, Dong, Korean, Gelao, Yao, She, Jing, Daur, and others.
With a long history, the Spring Festival originated from sacrificial rituals to gods at the turn of the year during the Yin and Shang dynasties. There are many related legends, among which the most representative are the legend of the Nian beast, the legend of staying up to ward off evil, and the story of Wan Nian creating the lunar calendar. Since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty adopted the lunar calendar, successive Chinese dynasties regarded the Start of Spring (one of the 24 solar terms) as the Spring Festival and the first day of the first lunar month as the New Year. The Start of Spring was originally a day for worshipping Heaven, the God of Agriculture, and the God of Spring, whipping the Spring Ox, and praying for a bumper harvest. Records of the Grand Historian and Book of Han refer to the first day of the first lunar month as the "Four Beginnings" (beginning of the year, season, day, and month) and the "Three Firsts" (first day of the year, month, and day). Ancient people often held court congratulations, various recreational activities, worshipped gods and ancestors, divined weather, and prayed for good harvests on this day, which gradually evolved into a rich Spring Festival.
After the 1911 Revolution, the first day of the first lunar month was renamed the Spring Festival, and the Start of Spring celebrations gradually faded.
Also known as the Lunar New Year, commonly called "Guo Nian" (passing the year), the Spring Festival’s related folk activities last for a full month. Before the first day of the first lunar month, rituals such as worshipping the Kitchen God and ancestors are held; during the festival, customs include giving lucky money to children and paying New Year visits to relatives and friends; half a month after the festival comes the Lantern Festival, when lanterns fill cities and crowds pack streets. The Spring Festival does not conclude until the end of the Lantern Festival.
The Spring Festival is a comprehensive folk culture encompassing worship, rituals, festival decorations, cuisine, and recreational activities. Major activities during the Spring Festival include: eating Laba porridge on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month; worshipping the Kitchen God and eating Guandong candy and sugar porridge on the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month; on New Year’s Eve, families make dumplings, sweet rice balls, and New Year cakes, share a reunion dinner, stay up overnight, paste Spring Festival couplets, New Year paintings, and paper-cuts, and set off firecrackers; welcoming gods and paying New Year calls on the first day of the first lunar month; opening small markets on the fifth day; and holding grand markets, welcoming the God of Wealth, eating sweet rice dumplings (yuanxiao), attending lantern fairs, and guessing lantern riddles on the fifteenth day (Lantern Festival). Setting off firecrackers is a folk custom to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new during the Spring Festival.
The Spring Festival serves as an important platform for embodying harmonious family bonds and friendly interpersonal relationships. Rich and colorful in content, it carries significant historical, artistic, and cultural value. Celebrating the Spring Festival is an important way to strengthen family ties, enhance social cohesion, build a harmonious society, and also promotes the development of the cultural industry.
Celebration styles vary between urban and rural areas in China due to different environments. At present, most rural areas still observe traditional Spring Festival customs, though the emphasis on worship and rituals has weakened, while gift-giving and banqueting have grown popular; urban Spring Festival celebrations are simpler compared with rural ones.
Source: https://www.ihchina.cn/
春节是中国民间传统节日,新年指夏历(农历)正月初一，是一年中最隆重的节日。汉、壮、布依、侗、朝鲜、仡佬、瑶、畲、京、达斡尔等民族都过这个节日。
春节历史悠久，起源于殷商时期年头岁尾的祭神活动。有关传说很多，其中以“年”兽传说、熬年传说和万年创建历法说等最具代表性。自汉武帝改用农历以后，中国历代都以二十四节气中的立春日为春节，农历正月初一为新年。立春最早是祭天、祭农神和祭春神、鞭春牛、祈丰年的日子。《史记》、《汉书》称正月初一为“四始”（岁之始、时之始、日之始、月之始）和“三朝”（岁之朝、月之朝、日之朝，朝亦始也）。古人常在此时举行朝贺，进行各种娱乐活动，迎神祭祖，占卜气候，祈求丰收，后来逐渐形成内容丰富的新春佳节。
辛亥革命之后，改农历正月初一为春节，立春逐渐淡化。
春节又叫阴历(农历)年，俗称“过年”，相关民俗活动要持续一个月。正月初一前有祭灶、祭祖等仪式；节中有给儿童压岁钱、向亲友拜年等习俗；节后半月又是元宵节，其时花灯满城，游人满街。元宵节过后，春节才算结束。
春节是一种综合性的民俗文化，其中包括崇尚、仪式、节日装饰、饮食和相关的娱乐活动。春节期间的主要活动有：腊月初八喝腊八粥；二十三日祭灶，吃关东糖和糖粥等；除夕夜以家庭为单位包饺子、包汤圆、做年糕，吃团圆饭守岁，另外还贴春联、年画、剪纸和放爆竹；正月初一迎神、拜年；初五开小市；十五日元宵节开大市、迎财神、吃元宵、游灯会、猜灯谜等。燃放鞭炮是春节期间辞旧迎新的一项民俗活动。
春节是体现和谐亲情与和睦人际关系的重要平台。其内容丰富多彩，具有重要的历史、艺术和文化价值。过好春节是提升亲情关系、增强社会凝聚力、构建和谐社会的重要途径之一，对文化产业的发展也有积极的促进作用。
我国城乡地区因所处环境不同，过春节的方式也有所差异。目前广大农村仍按照传统方式过春节，但崇尚和仪式的内容淡化，而送礼品、请客吃饭之风日盛；城市过春节的形式与农村地区相比，显得更为简单。