China’s Spring Festival
People visit a lantern show to celebrate the Spring Festival on Feb. 17, 2013, in Guangzhou, China. The Spring Festival — also known as Chinese New Year — started on Feb. 10, but celebrations commemorating the lunar new year continue for 15 days culminating with the Lantern Festival on Feb. 24.
The celebrations commemorating Chinese New Year — also known as the Spring Festival — are well under way. Thousands of people across China have gathered to celebrate the Year of the Snake, and now the focus has turned toward preparations for the annual Lantern Festival.
The festivities start with Chinese New Year, but the Spring Festival ends with the Lantern Festival 15 days later. The Chinese calendar is lunisolar (meaning it follows moon phases and time of solar year), so the dates of its festivals on the Gregorian calendar change from year to year. This year, Chinese New Year fell on Feb. 10, whereas the lantern festival is set for Feb. 24.
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