China
Kate McDaniel
Enchanting Land
Holidays
New Year
January, 1st of common calendar. Non-working day. Celebrated not widely, considered mainly as corporative holiday in the "advanced" companies.
The Spring Festival, Chinese New Year
The first day of year in lunar calendar. Celebrated somewhere between the end of January and the middle of February. Non-working day. The most favorite holiday of Chinese people. The generations of one family try to celebrate it together. The main meal of the day are meat-stuffed dumplings. The members of family make and eat them together. In these days practically nobody works, . These two weeks in fact are the vacation for whole country. The people living far from their homelands are going home to spend time among their relatives. This is the time to have fun, to buy gifts, to eat and to walk, and, of course, to shoot out the biggest part of annual production of firecrackers.
The Lantern Festival
Also called the Year's First Full Moon. The fifteenth day of the first month in lunar calendar. It finishes the celebration marathon which opens up with Chinese New Year day.
The legend says that the spirits go out to fly in darkness on the night, and people are hanging out the traditionally decorated lanterns in order to see them. The official meal of the day are yuanxiao - the balls of rice with sweet stuffing.