Three Warm Winter Days, Ringing in the New Year
The calendar quietly turns to the last page of the year, and the holiday arrangement officially announced by the General Office of the State Council has become the most tangible expectation in the cold winter — for New Year's Day 2026, we will have a three-day break from January 1st to 3rd. We just need to cross this short threshold of time to embrace the new year gently.
Elders always say, "The start of the year determines the whole year." This wisdom passed down for five thousand years lies in the subtle rituals of New Year's Day. The house cleaned in advance avoids the taboo of dusting on the day itself. The morning sun shines through the window lattice, illuminating the apples and New Year cakes prepared on the desk — the former symbolizes peace, and the latter signifies prosperity, both being blessings etched in our bones. Perhaps we will set up simple offerings to worship ancestors and pray for blessings, just like the literati of the Song Dynasty, communicating with ancestors in the curling incense to pass on filial piety and longing at the beginning of the year; or we may sit around the table and eat a bowl of hot noodle soup, a food once called "tangbing" by the ancients, embodying wishes for the longevity of the family.
If you want to add some vitality to the holiday, you might as well follow the New Year's Eve craze across the country. Go to Hanpokou of Lushan Mountain to wait for the first ray of dawn in the new year, watch the sea of clouds surging beneath your feet, and listen to the afterglow of the music festival echoing around the snow-capped peaks; or head to the Yulong River in Yangshuo to see the "golden dragon" formed by bamboo rafts winding along the water, experiencing Chinese-style romance in the secret realm of fishing fires. Even if you stay in the city, the New Year's concert at Jinan Theater is playing "Radetzky March", the night sky of Urumqi is adorned with the intersection of iron-forging fireworks and drone performances, and the market near your home may have set up stalls for intangible cultural heritage handicrafts, allowing tradition and trend to collide warmly on New Year's Eve.
Three days are not long, but they are enough to complete a gentle transition. You can stay up late chatting on the night of December 31st, summing up the past in the tranquility of bidding farewell to the old year, just like the grand scene of the New Year gathering described by Cao Zhi; or you can soak up the sun and read a book on the afternoon of January 2nd, enjoying the rare laziness; when dusk falls on the 3rd, tidy up your mood to welcome work on the 4th, having already tucked the warmth of the new year into your luggage.
New Year's Day is never just a simple holiday symbol. It is an ancient inheritance from "Emperor Zhuanxu establishing the first year" recorded in "Book of Jin", the human fireworks of family members sitting around, and even a gentle reminder hidden in time: the new year has arrived, so let's march forward.
