Chinese New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year or the Spring Festival, is the biggest Chinese holiday with more than 1 billion participants each winter.
The 15-day festival starts on the second new moon after the winter solstice and causes the biggest influx of visitors to one place across the globe.
Determined by the Chinese lunar calendar, the date of the festival changes every year but falls between January 21st to February 20th.
Chinese New Year goes back even further than the 16th century.
So where and why did it start?
One of the most popular is about the mythical beast called Nian.
Nian is said to have eaten livestock, crops, and even people on the eve of the New Year.
As the story goes, to prevent Nian from attacking people and wreaking havoc, a wise old man figured out that Nian was afraid of the color red, fire, and loud noises.
People put red lanterns, red paper cutouts, red scrolls, food, and crackled bamboo on their windows and doors to stop Nian from coming inside with the hopes of scaring Nian away.
The monster is said to have never showed up again.
