Feb. 1 is the Chinese New Year in 2003. The Chinese New Year Festival is the most important holiday for Chinese people around the world, regardless of the origin of their ancestors.

The holiday is a very jubilant occasion, mainly because it is the time when people take a break from work to get together with their families and friends. It is also an intriguing celebration that combines festive cultural and culinary traditions, as well as mystical and superstitious rituals.

The origin of the Chinese New Year Festival can be traced back thousands of years through a continually evolving series of colorful legends and traditions. One of the most famous legends is that of Nian, an extremely cruel and ferocious beast that the Chinese believe eats people on New Year’s Eve. To keep Nian away, red-paper couplets are pasted on doors, torches are lit and firecrackers are set off throughout the night. Nian is said to fear the color red, the light of fire and loud noises.

Even though the Chinese New Year celebrations generally last for half a month — starting on New Year’s Eve — the festival itself is actually about three to four weeks long. It begins on the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month. That day, it is believed, is when various gods ascend to heaven to pay their respects and report on household affairs to the Jade Emperor, the supreme Taoist deity.

According to tradition, households busily honor these gods by burning ritualistic paper money to provide for their traveling expenses. Another ritual is to smear malt sugar on the lips of the Kitchen God, one of the traveling deities, to ensure that he either submits a favorable report to the Jade Emperor or keeps silent.

Prior to New Year’s Day, Chinese families decorate their living rooms with vases of pretty blossoms, platters of oranges and tangerines and a candy tray with eight varieties of dried sweet fruits.

On walls and doors are poetic couplets, called “spring couplets,” which are red paper scrolls and squares inscribed with blessings and auspicious words, such as good fortune, wealth, longevity and springtime.

On Lunar New Year’s Eve, family members who are no longer living at home make a special effort to return home for a reunion and share in a sumptuous meal. As at all Chinese festivals, food plays an important role throughout the Chinese New Year, and dinners tend to be especially lavish. Many of the dishes made at this time are served because they are regarded as symbols of luck.

On the eve of the festival, the whole family will gather around the table and chat over the rich dishes. After the dinner, family members stay up all night to welcome the New Year. Chinese people have long believed that staying awake all night on New Year’s Eve would help their parents to live a longer life. Lights are kept on the entire night.

Some families hold religious ceremonies after midnight, opening all the doors and windows to drive off Nian and welcome the God of the New Year into their homes, a ritual that is often concluded with a huge barrage of fireworks and firecrackers.

In recent years, the New Year’s Party on China Central Television has become as involved in the festivity for the Chinese as the big dinner, the fireworks and firecrackers. It is regarded as one of the most important new custom though it has a history of only 20 years. Today, “The Party Show” can be watched on television in North America, even in Ames through a satellite antenna or via the Internet.

Very early on New Year’s Day, children greet their parents and receive their lucky money in red packets. The symbolic giving of the money represents a wish for fortune in the coming year. Then, the family starts goes door-to-door to say greetings, first to their relatives and then to their neighbors.

During New Year’s Day and for several following days, people continue to visit each other and exchange gifts. Nowadays, with the development of telecommunication, those door-to-door visits are replaced by phone calls and pager greetings. The entire first week is a time of socializing and amusement. There are numerous lion dances, acrobats, theatrical shows and other diversions.

Today, not all people can spend so much time with their families, even at this important festival. Some of them go back to their working place on the third day of the Lunar Chinese New Year, leaving the children and older people to watch the shows. On the way to work, they think about when they will go home next year.

The New Year celebrations end on the 15th of the first moon with the Lantern Festival. On the evening of this day, people carry lanterns into the streets to take part in a great parade. Young men highlight the parade with a dragon dance. The dragons are made of bamboo, silk and paper, and might stretch for more than 100 feet in length. The bobbing and weaving of the dragon is an impressive sight.

Nowadays, more and more people are working or studying far away from their families. Going home is their biggest wish when the Chinese New Year is coming.

In an attempt to beat the traffic jams, many hit the road on the previous day. Those relying on public transportation will often camp out in sleeping bags at airports, train stations and bus terminals to ensure that they get reservations for the dates they want.

No matter how grueling the journey may turn out to be, though, all of the inconveniences are considered to be worth it, once the family has gathered around the table to eat their Chinese New Year’s Eve dinner. Some families have to travel abroad and have their New Year’s Eve dinner in a restaurant. Nevertheless, the most important thing is staying together with the family.

Indeed, no matter what changes may occur over time, the notion of getting together with the family and giving face-to-face best wishes will always lay at the heart of the Chinese New Year celebrations.

Pengcheng Lu is a graduate student in statistics from China.