Chinese New Year or Spring Festival is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is sometimes called the Lunar New Year, especially by people outside China. It is an important holiday in East Asia. The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first lunar month in the Chinese calendar and ends on the 15th; this day is called Lantern Festival. Chinese New Year's Eve is known as Chúxī . Chu literally means "pass" and xi means "Eve".
Everyone, young and old, rich and poor, looks forward to celebrating the noisiest, most joyous and longest festival of the year. Chinese New Year is not celebrated at a hotel or supper club with revelers donning silly paper hats, drinking liquor and champagne, eating sumptuously, blowing whistles, twirling noisy rattles and throwing confetti while singing and dancing until the wee hours of the morning. In China, New Year's Day is a solemn occasion. Every family performs religious rites at the family altar. This is the time for a family reunion. All family quarrels have been amiably settled and forgotten.