The Spring Festival celebration starts from the beginning of the twelfth lunar month through the 15th day of the first lunar month and ends with the Lantern Festival. Legend tells us that in ancient times, a horrible monster called "Nian" (same word for "year") appeared at the end of the year, attacked people and livestock, but the villagers could not defeat it. Finally, the villagers found out the monster would be terrified by the color red and noise. People set off firecrackers, wore red clothes, hang red lanterns, and painted their homes red at the end of the year. The beast panicked and ran away. The cheerful bright red color is the most popular color for the Spring Festival.

Traditional Spring Festival events include: 

Day 8: Offering of Soup of the Eighth Day (Laba Gruel). Laba gruel is a thick porridge consisting of "various whole grains and/or rice with dried fruits and nuts such as dates, chestnuts, pine seeds, and raisins."

Day 23: Sending off the Kitchen God. The Kitchen God is the agent of the heavenly authority and spends the whole year with the family. On the 23rd of the last month of the lunar year, he ascends to heaven and makes a report of the family. Family present offerings, hoping the deity will speak of good things. A paper horse is set on fire as the god's steed to ascend to heaven.

Day 30: New Year's Eve (Chu xi). Fierce door Gods (Men Shen) are pasted on the center panels of doors, auspicious spring scrolls/couplets (Chun Lian) on each side of the front door. People sweep the house to send off misfortune. Offerings to gods and ancestors are made. Family reunion meals take place. People stay awake to safeguard the year.

Day 1: New Year's Day. Set off firecrackers. People change into new clothes and visit elders. Elders pass out red envelopes (Hong Bao) containing "lucky money" (Ya Sui Gian). Burn incense and worship deities in temples.

Days 1-5: Relatives/friends visits. Traditional new year food includes meat dumplings (Jiao zi), fish and sweet steamed glutinous rice pudding (Nian Gao). Fruits, nuts and seeds are popular snacks, conveying "wishes for fertility and long life." Especially in the south part of China, flowers such as lotus, camellia, hand citron and narcissus are used to decorate home.

Day 15: the Lantern Festival Day (Deng Jie) or the Feast of the First Full Moon (Yuanxiao Jie). A wild variety of lanterns are displayed. People go to the streets and view processions of stilt walkers, lions dances, dragon parade and opera performances. Sweet-tasting glutinous rice flour balls called Yuan Xiao, is consumed in every household.