For example, many businesses close out their books. The night before the new year, families gather and pay respect to the deities of wealth, health, the bed, and the hearth, among other gods. Food sacrifices are offered to ancestors and respects are paid to elders before the family sits down to a feast. Chicken, served with head, tail, and feet, symbolizes completeness and prosperity, while whole fish represents abundance and uncut noodles symbolize longevity. Out When the New Year is officially rung in, celebrators open windows and doors of their homes to let out the old year and invite in prosperity.
Fireworks say farewell to the old year, while welcoming the new year.
The Lantern Festival, celebrated on the fifteenth day, signals the end of the New Year's festivities. Traditionally, families construct paper lanterns to better see the gods. Modern celebrations involve great craftsmanship, with public showings of various shaped and styled lanterns. In the Chinese lunar calendar, the years repeat in a sequence of 12 years, with each year in a cycle named after a Zodiac animal. People born in the Year of the Snake are said to be wise, charming, and romantic, while also being soft-spoken and deep thinkers.