Read, apply, check
Observe the visible features, check local explanations and keep traditional calendar dates separate from actual event schedules.
Choose the task that fits what you are trying to understand. Each resource includes an explanation, practical examples and references. For an exercise sheet, try the questions before opening the solutions.
Follow the body: a compact costume animated from inside points to a lion; a long continuous body supported on poles points to a dragon. Use the original diagram and observation record, then check the troupe’s own description for style and ritual details. Colour, music and a fixed headcount are weaker clues.
A parade’s announced date is a separate event schedule, not a replacement for the calendar’s New Year date. Compare the two sources, keep the year and place visible, and avoid deriving a parade date from a weekend or lunar-day shortcut. A verified 2027 San Francisco example, a two-record worksheet and six cases show how to check what is announced and leave reasons or missing details unconfirmed.
Use the name that fits what you are describing. Chinese New Year and Spring Festival can identify the Chinese celebration; Lunar New Year can introduce a broader comparison. Preserve community names such as Vietnamese Tết and the exact title of a public event. The original context table, wording examples and editable record help you make the scope clear without treating every celebration as the same.
Watch from permitted space, keep crossings clear and respect people and performers. A checked San Francisco example shows why a rule's event and viewing-area scope matter; original courtesy cards, three tables and six cases help you prepare.
Lantern Festival is first-month day 15; Mid-Autumn is eighth-month day 15. Use an original calendar comparison, named regional examples and an identification record to distinguish two occasions that can both feature lanterns.
Check one event field by field. Keep activity, year, source and time meaning together, distinguish changed notices from cancellation and uncertainty, and recheck before the decision that depends on the information.
For a moving Chinese lunar festival, check each year’s Gregorian date and add a separate dated event. Do not repeat last year’s Gregorian month and day. The HKO tables put lunar New Year on 17 February 2026 and 6 February 2027, so repeating 17 February annually would miss the second date.
Keep the traditional festival date, Hong Kong general holiday and your own arrangement in separate fields. In 2027, Mid-Autumn falls on 15 September and the holiday is 16 September; the New Year holiday list names 6, 8 and 9 February. The checked 2026 cases explain a different Ching Ming/Easter collision.
Check an annual date, understand the 2027 year boundary, prepare a reunion or ask about a red-envelope exchange. Each revised guide includes original worked examples, a task schematic and a blank record.
Write the festival name and target year first. Find its calendar rule, use the matching annual conversion table, and record the full Gregorian date. Check a public event or day off with its own responsible source. A festival date, a parade time and a holiday entitlement answer different questions.
For the festival-year convention used here, the 2027 Year of the Goat begins on Saturday, 6 February 2027. HKO’s annual table calls the year Ding-wei. Keep the calendar boundary, the stem–branch name and an animal illustration separate; none is a personality profile or a forecast.
A New Year red envelope, or hongbao, combines a money gift with a greeting and a relationship. The useful question is how this household or community handles the exchange. Ask privately about recipients, timing and format, choose an amount within your means, and thank the giver without comparing gifts publicly.
Chinese New Year, also called Spring Festival in the Chinese context, begins on the first day of the first lunar month. Preparation, reunion meals and greetings give it a social rhythm. Start with the year and the people gathering, then choose customs and foods that fit that household or community. Public programmes need their own current schedule.