-- On this day every town and village in the country are permeated with a jubilant atmosphere. In large cities people throng the streets, squares and parks in their holiday best. Main streets and public buildings are decorated with flags and flowers. In the evening these places are a blaze of light. Fireworks shooting, singing and dancing, various assemblies and exhibitions keep the whole nation busy for bays.
-- one according to the Gregorian solar calendar, and the other according to the traditional lunar calendar. The former was officially established in 1911, but it has been to this day the New Year in an administrative sense only. Whereas the traditional New Year has remained the virtual festival of New Year emotionally and culturally, though it was renamed “the Spring Festival” long ago.
-- The solar New Year is quite eclipsed by the traditional New Year both in importance and festivity. On this one-day national holiday there is little of what you would call rousing celebrations. It is an occasion for presenting new stage, screen or TV shows, and a convenient day for holding a wedding. Otherwise it is just an ordinary holiday. For many it is no more than an extra Sunday. The lunar New Year (the Spring Festival ) is the festival of festivals, which is deep-rooted in the life and soul of hundreds of hundreds of millions of people. It is a time of family reunion, good whishes, thanksgiving, new promises, hopes for the future, and merrymaking. Although officially there are only three full days, the celebrations of the Spring Festival take place in late January or early February and last for nearly a month, beginning ten days before the end of the year and extending well past the middle of the first month of the new year. In other words, this is the time for rest and relaxation after a year’s toil, and for celebration as well.
-- The government established Aged People’s Day for particular sections of the population, because they are also the concern of the society.
-- The 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar marks the middle of autumn. The traditional food of Zhong Qiu Jie (the Mid-Autumn Festival) is moon cakes. Give them as gifts or use them as bricks to build a house. Worshipping the moon is also customary, as is ceremonially sacrificing fruit to the moon. Women also stand in the moonlight in the desperate and deluded hope that they’ll get pregnant. The festival is a time for family members to gather together and enjoy the family harmony. And on the Mid-autumn night family members and friends gather to admire the full moon while eating their moon cakes under the beautiful moon.