In folklore, especially in rural districts, there is the custom of celebrating the small year and the big year, and the small year in the south and the north of China, the day difference of one day respectively.

Small New Year

That is, on the twenty-third day of the Lunar month of the lunar calendar, to send the Zaowang master up to the sky (the enshrined Zaowang painting was cremated), and to report to the Jade Emperor the performance of the family he is in, in the past year. In order to make Zao Wang say good things, sugar melons should be offered, and sugar paste should be put on his mouth when he is sent off, so that he can say good things in heaven. To welcome Zao Wang back on New Year's Eve, a new Zao Wang painting (depicting Master Zao Wang and his wife Zao Wang's milk) is invited (bought) and offered in the kitchen. On both sides of the painting, a couplet is usually posted: "Good things are said in heaven, and good fortune comes to the house". The banner reads: "The head of the family.

Da Nian

It begins on the last day of the Lunar New Year and lasts until the 30th day of the first month of the lunar year or the 2nd day of the second month of the lunar year (when the dragon lifts its head).

From the solar calendar, the Spring Festival swims from January 21st to February 20th.

Beijing's district: from the eighth day of the Lunar New Year (after Lunar New Year is the year) until the second day of the second month of the lunar calendar (the dragon carries the head), the year is not over.

The origin of the year

The concept of the year, the original implication comes from agriculture.

"New Year" originated in China during the Yin and Shang dynasties at the end of the year to sacrifice to the gods and ancestors, at first the date was not fixed, before the Qin Dynasty has been stipulated in December, November, October the first day of "New Year", until Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty to implement the "Taichu Calendar", the first day of the year. The first day of the first month of the year was formalized only after the implementation of the "Taichu Calendar" by Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty. From Yinshang to Qing Dynasty, "New Year's Day" was celebrated as "New Year's Day", "New Year's Day", "New Year's Day", "New Year's Day", "New Year's Day", "New Year's Day", "New Year's Day", "New Year's Day", "New Year's Day" and other names.

In 1912, the Republic of China announced a change in the solar calendar on January 1 for the "New Year", but the implementation of civil obstruction, the people are still the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar for the "New Year". University of Science and Technology of China professor, astronomical historian Shi Yunli introduced, in January 1914, the then Minister of the Interior Zhu Qixian to comply with public opinion, to set the lunar New Year's Day for the Spring Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival for the Summer Festival, Mid-Autumn for the Autumn Festival, the winter solstice for the Winter Festival, the rest of all nationals, in the public service is also permitted to give one day of leave. "Approved by Yuan Shikai, thus laying the first of the solar calendar year for the New Year's Day, the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar for the co-existence of the pattern of the 'Spring Festival'."

It was not until 1914 that the name "New Year's Day" was moved to January 1 on the solar calendar, and the first day of the first month on the lunar calendar was renamed "Spring Festival". 2013, the first day of the first month of the Year of the Snake in the year of the Kesi, is the 100th anniversary of the Chinese New Year, which has been celebrated since 1914. The first day of the first month of the Snake Year in 2013 is the 100th Spring Festival since 1914.

Over the past 100 years, the Spring Festival has evolved with the times. "For more than 20 years in the early Republic of China, the government tried to move activities such as New Year's greetings, ancestor worship, and the posting of spring couplets to New Year's Day on the solar calendar, and it was a strong sense of tradition among the people that preserved the Spring Festival." Wang Xianyou, secretary-general of the Anhui Folklore Society, said some feudal and superstitious customs were removed after the founding of New China, and the wave of urbanization and informationization after reform and opening up is also changing the Spring Festival that originated in traditional farming societies, such as simplification of traditional New Year's Eve ceremonies, some people switching to eating New Year's Eve dinner in restaurants, and door-to-door New Year's Eve greetings turning into telephone or online New Year's Eve greetings. "Although the form is changing, the connotation of the Spring Festival of ancestor worship and praying for blessings has not changed, and the function of family reunion and strengthening the sense of family has not changed." Wang Xianyou said.

At a time when globalization is further deepening, the Spring Festival has gone out of the country and become an important cultural symbol of China. "Like Christmas in the West, the Spring Festival has become an important vehicle for spreading Chinese culture." Shi Yunli believes that, with the strengthening of China's national strength, how to further strengthen the protection and inheritance of the Spring Festival and other traditional festivals and cultures, through the diversity of culture to add national charm, in the Spring Festival "100 years old" is a worthy of deep thought on the subject.