How foreigners celebrate Chinese New Year

New Year's Day means the end of the old and the beginning of the new, and many countries have the custom of celebrating New Year's Day, which is similar to the Chinese New Year's Day in its differences, which is very interesting. At present, most of the countries in the world use the Gregorian calendar, but because of religious beliefs of the calendar of the different New Year's dates are different, such as the Jews according to the Jewish calendar, New Year's Day in the Gregorian calendar in the September-October period, according to the Islamic calendar, the epoch of July 16, 622 AD for the first year of the New Year's Day, a year of only 354 days, the New Year's Day date every year there is a change.

Europe and the United States basically belong to the Christian cultural circle, over the calendar New Year. The Scots regard the New Year as a secular holiday, more so than Christmas. The most lively moment of the New Year in the United States is New Year's Eve, when there are going to church to pray and sing psalms. There are organized family receptions, there are to watch the show. Many people use New Year's Day this day also table "New Year's resolution", such as quit smoking, quit drinking, honesty and so on, to resolve conflicts with others. Britain and the United States held a masked masquerade, it is said that also stems from the old wishes to welcome the new year. The climax of the Portuguese New Year's activities is bullfighting, and many people spend the New Year in the bullring. Latin American countries are heavily influenced by Latin culture, and New Year's Day is popular for revelry, with Brazil's masquerade parades and samba competitions being a big seller to the tourism industry.

Asian countries, New Year's Day is the biggest festival of the year in Japan, before many people's doors decorated with bamboo leaves, pine branches, grass rope and white paper strings, pine and bamboo on behalf of the evergreen, white paper strings to indicate the purification and avoid evil spirits. Before New Year's Day, everyone rushes to send New Year's cards, and all walks of life organize "New Year's Gatherings" as a way of communicating information and bonding. In recent decades, the Japan Broadcasting Association has held a red and white song festival, which is very attractive. At the end of the festival, temple bells are rung to symbolize the expulsion of 108 demons and troubles (from Buddhism).

With China's neighboring Vietnam, North Korea, Mongolia, in addition to the New Year in the Gregorian calendar, the Spring Festival is also a traditional folk festival, there are many rituals and customs similar to our country. Such as Vietnam has a dust vigil, pay homage to the New Year, trekking and other activities, New Year's Eve to eat rice dumplings, rice dumplings have a round and square, symbolizing the sky and the earth, celebrating the surplus. It is worth mentioning that the Spring Festival is popular in rural areas, such as vertical streamers, people with a bamboo pole, trimming off the top of the bamboo leaves, hanging red streamers and wind chimes, and legend has it that when the wind blows, the sound will be the ghosts scared away. Some places hang a picture of a bow and arrow on the streamer, with the arrow pointing to the east, symbolizing the ghost. Over time, the streamers have come to be known as "spring poles".

The immigrant culture adds a new dimension to the New Year's culture of the countries to which they move. Every year in the Spring Festival, the Chinese people of Chinese descent have to hold celebrations in their communities, in addition to the reunion, but also staged lion dance, dragon dance, popular with the locals. Hawaii's Fujian immigrants also organize daffodil festivals and elect daffodil queens. The traditional Chinese Lantern Festival is very popular in foreign countries, and last year the Datong Kang lantern exhibition in Shanxi Province went to Israel and made a big splash. This year, at the invitation of Malaysia, they will be displayed during the Chinese New Year. Recently Indonesian President Wahid announced the revocation of a regulation banning Chinese from publicly celebrating the festival, benefiting the promotion and sharing of Chinese culture.

The culture of New Year's festivals is a unique form of community activity created by human beings, reflecting people's desire for peace and the pursuit of happiness***. Nowadays, the media provides a fast channel for people to share the culture of the festivals, and cultural dissemination and exchanges are becoming more frequent; the tourism industry provides more and more opportunities for people to visit exotic festivals and cultures.