The Fifteen Days of Chinese New Year

Fifteen Days of Celebration

The Spring Festival is not a single day but a fifteen-day cycle that begins on New Year's Eve (除夕) and culminates with the Lantern Festival (元宵節) on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. Each day carries its own customs, foods, and taboos — many documented in sources going back to the Liang dynasty (502–557 CE).

Regional variation is enormous. Northern and southern China observe different customs; Cantonese, Hokkien, Hakka, and other communities each have their own emphases. What follows is the most widely observed set of traditions, drawn from classical sources and contemporary practice across the Chinese cultural sphere.

New Year's Eve (除夕, Chúxī)

The character 除 means "to remove" — New Year's Eve is literally the night of removal, when the old year and its accumulated ills are driven out.

The Reunion Dinner (年夜飯)

The reunion dinner (年夜飯, niányèfàn) is the most important meal of the year and the emotional heart of the Spring Festival. Family members travel vast distances to be present — this imperative drives Chunyun (春運), the largest annual human migration on Earth. Every dish carries symbolic meaning: whole fish for surplus (魚/餘), dumplings shaped like gold ingots for wealth, nian gao (年糕, niángāo) for advancement, and chicken for luck (雞, jī/吉, jí). See the full food symbolism table on our Chinese New Year guide.

Shousui (守歲) — Staying Up

Shousui (守歲, "guarding the year") is the practice of staying awake through the entire night. The custom is attested from the Jin dynasty (265–420 CE) and recorded in the Jingchu Suishi Ji. The folk explanation holds that staying up ensures longevity for one's parents. At midnight, firecrackers erupt to mark the transition. In modern practice, many families watch the CCTV Spring Festival Gala (春節聯歡晚會).

Day 1 — New Year's Day (初一)

The first day is devoted to paying respects to elders (拜年, bàinián). Younger family members greet their parents and grandparents, and red envelopes (紅包/壓歲錢) containing money are distributed to children and unmarried younger relatives.

Customs:

• Set off firecrackers at dawn
• Wear new clothes, preferably in red
• Eat dumplings (north) or nian gao (年糕, niángāo) (south)
• Visit senior relatives to offer New Year greetings

Taboos:

• No sweeping — Sweeping on Day 1 is believed to sweep away good fortune. Rubbish accumulates until Day 6.
• No sharp objects — Scissors, knives, and needles are avoided to prevent "cutting" one's luck.
• No breaking things — If a dish breaks accidentally, one immediately says 歲歲平安 ("peace year after year") because 碎 (broken) sounds like 歲 (year).
• No washing hair — The character 髮 (hair) sounds like 發 (fortune, prosperity) — washing it away is inauspicious.
• No inauspicious words — Words like "death," "illness," "break," or "lose" are strictly avoided.

Day 2 — Married Daughters Return Home (初二·回娘家)

On the second day, married daughters return to their parents' home (回娘家, huí niángjia), accompanied by their husbands and children. This is a major social occasion in traditional Chinese family structure, where married women typically lived with their husband's family. The visit reconnects daughters with their birth families and strengthens inter-family bonds.

Gifts are brought for the natal family. In some regional traditions, the God of Wealth (財神, Cáishén) is also welcomed on this day.

Day 3 — Red Mouth (初三·赤口)

The third day is traditionally considered inauspicious for visiting. It is called 赤口 (chìkǒu, "red mouth"), meaning arguments and quarrels are easily provoked. Families stay at home and rest.

In some regions, Day 3 is the night of 老鼠嫁女 (the mouse's wedding) — a folk belief that mice hold their wedding celebrations on this night. Families retire early, leave some grain on the floor, and avoid making noise to grant the mice their festivities. This charming custom reflects the traditional agricultural relationship between humans and the mice that shared their granaries.

Days 4–5 — Kitchen God & God of Wealth

Day 4 — Welcome the Kitchen God (初四·接灶)

The Kitchen God (灶君/灶王爺) returns from his heavenly report to the Jade Emperor. On Little New Year before the festival, his image was burned to send him to heaven; now a new image is posted to welcome him back. Families prepare offerings of food and incense. In folk belief, the gods descend from Heaven to inspect the mortal realm on this day.

Day 5 — Break Five / Welcome the God of Wealth (初五·破五/迎財神)

Day 5 is a pivotal turning point in the festival. Called 破五 (pòwǔ, "Break Five"), it is the day when all taboos observed during the first four days are officially lifted. The name signifies the "breaking" of restrictions.

The day's centrepiece is the welcoming of the God of Wealth (迎財神). Firecrackers are set off with extraordinary enthusiasm — this is one of the noisiest days of the festival. Businesses traditionally reopen on Day 5, and dumplings are eaten to symbolise the influx of wealth (their shape resembles gold ingots, 元寶).

Days 6–7 — Send Off Poverty & The Birthday of Humanity

Day 6 — Send Off the God of Poverty (初六·送窮)

The rubbish that has accumulated since Day 1 (when sweeping was forbidden) is finally taken out on Day 6. This act symbolises sending away the God of Poverty (送窮, sòngqióng) — literally expelling destitution from the household. Shops and markets fully resume normal operations.

Day 7 — Renri: Birthday of Humanity (初七·人日)

Renri (人日, Rénrì) is the "Birthday of Humanity," based on the creation myth recorded in the Jingchu Suishi Ji. According to this tradition, Nüwa (女媧) created different beings on each of the first seven days:

Special foods include 七寶羹 (seven-treasure congee), made with seven types of vegetables. In southern China, Malaysia, and Singapore, Renri is celebrated with yusheng (魚生, yúshēng) — a raw fish salad tossed high into the air for prosperity. Renri remains widely observed among overseas Chinese communities.

Days 8–14 — The Jade Emperor & Lantern Preparation

The second week of the festival is less intensely observed in most regions, but several days carry significance:

• Day 8 — Associated with grain and the eve of the Jade Emperor's birthday. In some traditions, the stars are worshipped (順星).
• Day 9 — The Jade Emperor's Birthday (天公生, Tiāngōng Shēng). Observed with particular devotion among Hokkien communities in Fujian, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia, who prepare lavish offerings of sugarcane, fruit, and incense. The Hokkien veneration of Day 9 is among the most elaborate religious observances in the entire festival cycle.
• Days 10–14 — Continued visiting, temple worship, and preparation for the Lantern Festival. Lantern construction and decoration intensify as Day 15 approaches.

Day 15 — The Lantern Festival (元宵節, Yuánxiāojié)

The Lantern Festival is the grand finale of the Spring Festival period, falling on the night of the first full moon of the new year.

An Ancient Chinese Festival

As documented on our Spring Festival page, the Lantern Festival is an indigenous Chinese celebration predating Buddhism's arrival in China by centuries. Emperor Wu of Han established Taiyi worship ceremonies on the first month in 104 BCE — over a century before Buddhism arrived (c. 67 CE). The name 元宵 itself encodes lunar astronomical knowledge: 宵 means "when the moon becomes small" — 元宵 marks the first full moon of the year beginning to wane.

Customs

• Tangyuan / Yuanxiao (湯圓, tāngyuán/元宵, yuánxiāo) — Glutinous rice balls, round to symbolise family reunion and completeness. Northern China calls them 元宵 (rolled); southern China calls them 湯圓 (wrapped).
• Lantern displays — Elaborate lanterns in every shape and size fill public spaces, temples, and homes.
• Lantern riddles (猜燈謎, cāi dēngmí) — Riddles written on lanterns for people to solve. This intellectual pastime became popular during the Song dynasty.
• Dragon and lion dances — Performances mark the festival's climax.
• Romance — In classical Chinese culture, the Lantern Festival was one of the few occasions when young women could appear in public. The full moon and lantern light made it a setting for romantic encounters, a theme celebrated in poetry from the Song dynasty onward.

The Ming Dynasty Peak

The Lantern Festival reached its most magnificent scale under the Yongle Emperor (r. 1402–1424), who expanded the celebration to an extraordinary ten-day public holiday — from the 11th to the 20th of the first month — the longest in Chinese imperial history. The night curfew was lifted, and citizens were free to hang lanterns, drink, and celebrate through the night.

Taboos and Dos & Don'ts

The Spring Festival is governed by a web of taboos (禁忌, jìnjì) rooted in linguistic puns, cosmological logic, and folk belief. Most taboos apply during the first five days and are formally lifted on 破五 (Day 5).

These taboos reflect the broader cosmological principle that the first days of the year set the pattern for the entire year. Actions, words, and even accidents during the festival period are believed to echo through the twelve months that follow. This is not mere superstition but a natural extension of the Wu Xing understanding of cyclical time — the energy of the beginning shapes the trajectory of the whole.

Frequently Asked Questions