Have you ever wondered why Chinese New Year falls on different dates every year? You might be thinking that it arrived earlier than usual this year. Because Chinese New Year follows the lunar calendar, which is based on the position of the moon, it is out of sync with the more commonly used calendar, the Gregorian calendar, which determines the date based on the Earth’s revolution around the sun. According to the lunar calendar, the beginning of each new year lies on the day of the second new moon following the winter solstice between January 21 and February 20. In other Asian cultures that celebrate the new year based on the lunar calendar, such as the Vietnamese and Korean cultures, the holiday is widely called Lunar New Year, a more general term that indicates the celebration of the Chinese New Year. Marking the end of winter and the beginning of spring, Chinese New Year is also called Spring Festival, or 春节(Chūnjié).
Following its name, the Spring Festival includes traditions such as writing and hanging “spring couplets” or 春联 (chūnlián) on either side of the doorway. These verses written on red paper are believed to scare away evil spirits and bad luck. Another tradition is Chinese paper cutting or 剪紙 (jiǎnzhǐ), in which paper is cut into two or three-dimensional words and shapes. A popular character to cut out is 春 to celebrate the season to which the holiday is dedicated.
Image from Radio Taiwan International
Despite the fact that arguably the most important holiday is based on the lunar calendar, people in China have long followed the Gregorian calendar for everyday life since adopting it in 1912. However, centuries-old traditions remain, influencing people who live across the world.
https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/festivals/chinese-new-year-vs-lunar-new-year.htm \
https://www.distractify.com/p/why-is-the-date-of-chinese-new-year-different-every-year
https://en.rti.org.tw/news/view/id/2000567#:~:text=%E2%80%9CSpring%20Couplets%E2%80%9D%20refers%20to%20pairs,%2C%20poetic%20and%20straight%2Dforward.