Spring Festival 春节

The lunar new year — the largest festival, and the one whose date moves against the solar calendar. The Spring Festival is the new year of the lunar calendar, falling on the second new moon after the winter solstice. Its date moves across roughly a six-week window in the solar calendar, which is the single most important fact about it for anyone working with the calendar systems.

Its date is set by the lunar month, so it moves against the solar calendar. The lunar new year — the largest festival, and the one whose date moves against the solar calendar. Because the festival year and the technical year change on different dates, a birth in January or February belongs to one year by one system and to another by the other — the sources are explicit about which is which and the error is nevertheless constant.

The festival's observances run from the new year's eve through the fifteenth day, ending with the Lantern Festival. The customary layer — reunion dinner, red envelopes, door couplets, the sequence of visiting days — is the most elaborate in the calendar. It is grouped under Wood (木) in the five-element system.