The celebrations usually start a day before the New Year, and finishes 15 days later, with the Lantern Festival, when according to tradition red lanterns are let toward the sky.

This holiday is celebrated in China, Korean Peninsula, and Vietnam, as well as other larger cities of Europe and USA, where large Chinese communities live.

The Chinese calendar dates around 2,600 B.C. and is based on astronomic observations of the movement of the Moon and the Sun. The Chinese lunar year is made of 12 months of 29.5 days, and in order to follow the natural solar year, every two and a half years another month is added, hence the Chinese New Year is always celebrated on different dates. The time according to the Chinese calendar is calculated in cycles of 12 years each, and every one carries the name of an animal.

Legend says, before Buddha left the Earth, he called all animals to say goodbye. Only 12 animals came to see him off, so as a reward he promised them one year each.

The first year was named after the rat, who was the first to say goodbye, the second after the ox, followed by the tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig.

The Chinese sent the old year off, which was the Year of the Goat, and welcome the new year, the Year of the Monkey. According to Chinese calendar, the next Year of the Monkey will be in 2028.