5 major Spring Festival customs

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January 28, 2025

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5 major Spring Festival customs

Source: Shanghai Daily | 08:57 UTC+8 January 28, 2025 |

Print Edition

• House sweeping

Sweeping the house before the festival means a thorough cleaning to sweep away bad luck in the past year.

• Putting up festival scrolls and fu

On the eve of the Spring Festival, households decorate their doors with spring couplets featuring propitious sentences and the upside-down Chinese character fu (happiness or good fortune), both written on red paper.

• New Year’s Eve dinner

The most important event of the Spring Festival is New Year’s Eve dinner. According to tradition, all family members are supposed to present and indulge in a big feast.

• Guarding the transition

The tradition of staying up late to see the New Year originated from a folk tale about a ferocious monster, who went out on New Year’s Eve to devour people. Therefore, on every New Year’s Eve, all stay home.

• Visits and lucky money

Calling on older relatives and friends is part of the Spring Festival schedule. Adults give yasui qian (lucky money) in red envelopes, to children. Odd numbers are usually avoided except for 5.

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5 major Spring Festival customs

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