春节

新年快乐！Happy New Year! You might think it’s a bit late to wish this, but think again. This year, Chinese New Year, which is based on the lunar calendar, fell on February 14th. ... Oh wait, that was about a month ago. I guess I am a bit late in posting, but I'll tell you about it anyways.

New Years is more than a day in China – it’s a full-blown festival – in fact, they call it 春节 Spring Festival. You’re probably wondering why they use the word spring? Well, think of it like Groundhog Day where the groundhog doesn't see his shadow since after Spring Festival, 春天来了！ Spring is coming! The doorman who works in my apartment building said exactly when I returned to Harbin on the 17th.

Most students or anyone who’s talked to a Westerner know nothing about Groundhog Day... but they do know that the best holiday to compare Spring Festival to in America is Christmas. Getting out of school, huge travel headaches, visiting family, way too much food, decorations that have a lot of red and sparkles - you’d have to agree, they do have some things in common. The red and sparkles of 春节 Spring Festival, however, are much much noisier.

Taken from my 6th floor apartment balcony in Harbin on 元宵节 Lantern Festival, the last day of Spring Festival when supposedly everyone uses up all the fireworks they haven't set off over the past 15 days. How come I've still heard some this past week?