Why Do We Call it Spring Festival?: The Origins Behind the Name

Has there ever been a blander name for a holiday than “Spring Festival”? What the hell does it even mean? It’s held in the middle of winter. In North China we celebrate “spring” by huddling around in weather so frigid sheep start voluntarily walking up to chuan’r stands saying, “Seriously bro, let’s just do this.”

For thousands of years it was simply called the New Year, at least according to the lunar-solar calendar. So what changed?

Originally published by The Beijinger on January 26, 2017