Chinese New Year 2021 is around the corner. The major festival of China is also known as Lunar New Year or Spring Festival. The celebration brings in families together and people enjoy a week of an official public holiday. People indulge in merrymaking and celebratory events. But why is it called the Spring festival even though it is celebrated in winter for most of China? The Chinese New Year is popularly known as the Spring Festival in China because it starts from the Beginning of Spring (the first of the twenty-four terms in coordination with the changes of Nature) and marks the end of winter. People greet each other send best wishes. One of the most famous traditional greetings for Chinese New Year is the "Cantonese kung hei fat choi" that literally translates to "greetings, become rich". In Mandarin that’s" gongxi facai /gong-sshee faa-tseye/." Check out how to Say "Happy New Year" in Chinese.

Chinese New Year Dates

Chinese New Year 2021 falls on Friday, February 12, 2021, beginning a year of the Ox. China's public holiday will be February 11–17, 2021. Chinese New Year falls on Friday, February 12 in 2021. The date of the Chinese New Year is determined by the lunar calendar: the holiday falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice on December 21. Thus, each time the New Year in China falls on different dates of the usual Gregorian calendar, between January 21 and February 20.

  • February 4th, 2021 December 23rd Little Year

  • February 11th, 2021 December 30th Chinese New Year's Eve

  • February 12th, 2021 January 1st Chinese New Year (Spring Festival)

  • February 26th, 2021 January 15th Lantern Festival

Chinese New Year 2021 is a Year of the Ox

In popular Chinese astrology, Chinese New Year (Spring Festival) is important... For Chinese people, years begin at Chinese Lunar New Year, rather than January 1!

  • 2021: A year of the Ox will start on February 12th.

  • 2022: A year of the Tiger will start on February 1st.

Legend Behind Chinese New Year Celebration

It is believed that there was a dragon named Nian in a village in China. He used to eat the villagers (especially children) at night. People were quite afraid of him, but could not do anything. Then one day the old man decided to take revenge on him. The villagers left him and left. At night the elderly burnt firecrackers by placing them in red paper. In the morning, the villagers find that no one was harmed there. Nian also never came there again. The villagers understand that the Nian dragon is afraid of red colour and loud noises. Since then, the New Year has been celebrated and the practice of gifts and firecrackers in red envelopes is also going on.

The Chinese New Year is also seen as a Spring Festival. This is also due to its arrival in early spring. People of China do four things in the new year. First New Year decorations. Dinner with the family. Bursting firecrackers and giving people gifts in red envelopes. However, firecrackers are now banned in many places due to increasing pollution.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 27, 2021 06:59 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).