Celebrating Spring Festival abroad

Editor's Note: Spring Festival has a history of more than 4,000 years. As its traditions spread around the world, many foreigners are also celebrating the festival under the traditional Chinese calendar and incorporating indigenous rituals and practices.

Lucia (South Korea)

I think the most interesting part of my country's New Year tradition is the "glowing nocturnal spirit," a custom we perform during the New Year's nights. It is said that a ghost descends to the human world at this time and likes trying on every child's shoes. If the shoes fit him, he will steal them. The thief's victim will not receive any good luck in the entire year, so the kids always hide their shoes before they sleep. To prevent the ghost from entering our houses, we also hang a sieve on the wall or at the entrance to our courtyard, because the ghost likes counting and he will count the holes of the sieve until the next morning.

A woman takes photographs of sheep at a sheep cafe in Seoul, Feb 6, 2015. [Photo/agencies]