Spring Festival is a Chinese New Year, also called Lunar Festival as it is celebrated in Vietnam, North and South Korea.
It is a festival of more than 4000 years old, which marks the end of one year and the beginning of the new one. According the tradition, the Chinese monster Nian would go out from his cave once a year and would eat people. The only way to escape from this monster would be to scare him with lots of noise and red colour. This is why till now the Festival is marked with fireworks and people ware lots of red cloth.
The Festival starts with the first day of the young moon of the new year and can start any time between the end of January and mid-February as there is no fixed day. This year the Chinese New Year will fell on the 25th January, Saturday. You can start the celebrations with special menu on the evening between Friday and Saturday (24th-25th January 2020) in probably all Chinese restaurants.
UPDATE 27 January 2020: The festival has been cancelled in Milan due to solidarity with those infected by Coronavirus.
Coronavirus, a Milano il Capodanno Cinese 2020 annullato per «solidarietà verso i malati»
But the celebrations last usually for about 2 weeks. In a nearby Milan there will be plenty of celebrations in the China Town of Milan, around the Paola Sarpi zone. It is a collaborative effort of several organizations to promote Chinese culture with free theater performance, creative labs, dance and of course food taste in the nearby restaurants.
The famous parade, with the Chinese dragon, fireworks, dance and colourful cloth will take place on Sunday, the 2nd of February 2020 afternoon. It usually starts at around 14 o'clock but please check the online information sources for updates. A small gift (a good luck coin) is often provided to all those who attend.
Save the date for this special cultural event!
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