Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival, is an annual festival that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar. Chinese New Year is one of the most important holidays in Chinese culture. It is also celebrated worldwide in regions and countries with significant Overseas Chinese or Sinophone populations, especially in Southeast Asia including Singapore, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Thailand. It is also prominent beyond Asia, especially in Australia, Canada, France, Mauritius, New Zealand, Peru, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as in many European countries.

The Chinese New Year has a connection with a variety of stories and traditions. Traditionally, the holiday was used to celebrate both deities and ancestors. Within China, regional customs and traditions for New Year's celebrations differ greatly. The evening before New Year's Day is a time for Chinese families to meet for their annual reunion supper. Usually every family would thoroughly clean their home, symbolically sweeping away any bad luck to create room for new good fortune to come and bless the family. Windows and doors can be adorned with red papers with cuts in them and couplets depicting themes such as good fortune, happiness, money, and longevity. Other festivities include exploding firecrackers and distributing money in red packets (ang pau/hongbau).

During the annual Spring Festival, a mythological beast known as the Nian was said to bring in the Chinese New Year. The Nian ate residents, particularly children, in the middle of the night. One year, the entire community chose to hide from the beast. An elderly man emerged before the villagers fled into hiding, claiming that he would remain the night and bring punishment on the Nian. The elderly man put up red sheets and set off firecrackers. The following day, the people returned to their town and saw that nothing had been damaged. They felt as if the old man was a deity who had come to help them. The people soon realised that Yanhuang had uncovered the Nian's fear of the colour red and loud noises. As New Year approached, the villagers would dress in red, hang red lanterns and spring scrolls on windows and doors, and scare away the Nian with firecrackers and drums. From then on, the Nian never returned to the village. The Nian eventually was captured by Hongjun Laozu, an old Taoist monk.

During the occasion, people all around China cook various gourmet foods for their family and friends. Foods from various locations appear and taste very different due to the influence of flourishing cultures. Among these, the most well-known are northern Chinese dumplings and southern Chinese Tangyuan.

The majority of auspicious greetings and sayings use four characters, such as the following:
金玉滿堂, Jīnyùmǎntáng – "May your wealth come to fill a hall"
大展鴻圖, Dàzhǎnhóngtú – "May you realise your ambitions"
迎春接福, Yíngchúnjiēfú – "Greet the New Year and encounter happiness"
萬事如意, Wàn Shì Rú Yì – "May all your wishes be fulfilled"
吉慶有餘, Jíqìngyǒuyú – "May your happiness be without limit"
竹報平安, Zhúbàopíng'ān – "May you hear that all is well"
一本萬利, Yīběnwànlì – "May a small investment bring ten-thousandfold profits"
福壽雙全, Fúshòushuāngquán – "May your happiness and longevity be complete"
招財進寶, Zhāocáijìnbǎo – "When wealth is acquired, precious objects follow”

However, the two most common phrases you'll find are:
恭喜发财, Gong Xi Fa Cai (pinyin), which loosely translates to "Congratulations and Be Prosperous" - most commonly used in the West. A variant of this is 'Gong Hei Fat Choi', which is spelled in various ways in English and is derived from the Hokkien, Cantonese, and Hakka ways of saying this phrase.
新年快乐, Xin nian kuai le (pinyin) which loosely translates to 'Happy New year' also used commonly in the West.
Note: the above are in simplified, not traditional, Chinese Mandarin.

These pleasantries or phrases can also be used just before youngsters receive their red packets, when presents are given, when visiting temples, or even when tossing the shredded components of yusheng, a dish popular in Malaysia and Singapore. Children and their parents can also pray at a temple in the hopes of receiving good blessings for the next year.

Now, to everyone reading this: Gong Xi Fa Cai and Xin Nian Kuai Le! <3

Written by Marlee Potter.
Edited by Sara Rowan.
Proofread by Hazel Antler.