In Taiwan, people rely on lunar calendar for their daily life, so almost all the festivals are controlled by it. The Spring festival is on the 1st of January of the lunar calendar, also known as Chinese New Year is the most important. All the family members get together to celebrate their big and cheerful occasion.
About one month before the festival, the mother in the family begins the preparations. She needs to buy new clothes, hats, and shoes for everyone in the family, buys new furniture for the house, and makes special food, like cured meat and Chinese sausages for the festival.
In the very early morning on the 24th of December of the lunar calendar, every family prepares wine and dessert as a sacrifice to the Kitchen God, after that, use glutinous rice to make pastry, the pastry symbolizes good luck and job promotion in the future year, so bad words are taboo while the pastry is being made.
Two days before the festivals, people clean house, have their hair cut, most women will have a new hair style.
One day before the festival, it’s the busiest day. During the day time, people paste Spring Festival couplets on the doors and windows of the house, hang new lanterns out, and arrange fresh flowers in the house. The couplets are written on red paper, the lantern is made of red cloth, everything is reddish, people believe the color will bring good luck.
In the evening, all the members of the family should be together, so most of companies are not working on that day, so people who work in different cities are able to be home in time to put on the new dresses and have dinner together, there is always fish, meat balls, and dumplings in the meal, moreover, the meal should be eaten as slow as possible, as the fish represents luck in money some is left for the future.
After the meal, the older generations gives red envelope to the young, so the children always get lucky money in the red envelope from their parents and grandparents. The younger generation stays up all night to pray for their elder members and happiness in the coming year.
In the first day of New Year, everybody gets up very early to visit relatives and friends then bow and compliment them. Something needs to bear in mind, such as hide all the cutting tools away, they are unpropitious.
The 2nd day is son-in-law welcome day, every daughter goes back to her own parents’ home with her husband and they have to prepare gifts for her parents.
People do some particular activities on the 3rd, 4th and 5th day, but the 6th day is the day people begin their work, although Spring Festival last until 15th of January of lunar calendar.