Gong Hei Fat Choy! Xin Nian Kuai Le! In other words, Happy Chinese New Year! Today, we'll talk about this ginormous festival, including when it happens, and for how long; what the <bleep> all this has to do with temples; how to greet people; and, especially, where the <BLEEP> is everyone going?
Chinese Years (Wikipedia)
You know, one of the many weird things I experienced when I was a "foreigner"--that is, a non-Chinese person living in China--was that the New Year's holiday seemed to last for weeks!
We started greeting each other with "Happy New Year!" a few days after Christmas, and went on doing so well into January. Then pretty soon, it was time to start greeting people for the next new year--the Chinese one--which could happen anywhere from mid-January to mid-February.
What's up with that?