Celebrating My First Chinese New Year

Thursday, February 15th was a very important day here in China, as well as, many other places around the world. Why? Because that day marked the Lunar New Year aka Chinese New Year or 春节快乐 (chūnjié kuàilè). In China this time is also referred to as the Spring Festival or 春假快乐 (chūnjià kuàilè).

I knew this time of year was very big and important here in China, but I didn't know just how wide spread and intense the festivities were. It is about a two week long celebration, including preparations for the holiday as well as travel. Also basically everything closes, except some of the big malls and restaurants, otherwise most other things close down for most or all of these two weeks.

There are also fireworks. Oh boy the fireworks. I was told they were crazy, loud, and constant. But it wasn't that crazy at first and I was honestly kind of disappointed. However, when Thursday evening finally rolled around the neighborhood quickly became a war zone. Fireworks were being shot off everywhere.

If you would like to see what my Chinese New Year festivities were like, feel free to check out the video I created below.

xo Noelle