Far and away the most important holiday in China is Spring Festival, also known
as the Chinese New Year. To the Chinese people it is as important as Christmas
to people in the West. the dates for this annual celebration are determined by
the lunar calendar rather than the GREgorian calendar, so the timing of the
holiday varies from late January to early February.
To the ordinary Chinese, the festival actually begins on the eve of the
lunar New Year's Day and ends on the fifth day of the first month of the lunar
calendar. But the 15th of the first month, which normally is called the Lantern
Festival, means the official end of the Spring Festival in many parts of the
country.