Among China’s traditional holidays and celebrations, none ranks higher in importance than the Lunar New Year (農曆新年). Also known as the Spring Festival (春節), or simply Chinese New Year, it marks the beginning of the year according to the traditional lunar calendar.

Each year, a 150-foot-long dragon, PoChiMu, promenades from the Portland Chinatown Museum across Downtown. Drummers, dancers, and spectators in tow, it wends south through the Chinatown Gate and down Third Avenue until landing, a mile and a right turn later, at the Oregon Historical Society.

In many Asian cultures, the Lunar New Year is a celebration marking the arrival of spring and the start of a new year on the lunisolar calendar

Also known as Chinese New Year, it marks the beginning of the lunar new year based on the lunar calendar, typically falling between Jan. 21 and Feb. 20.

It's a complex holiday with much symbolism crammed into days of festivities filled with material abundance, but here's how to make sense of this millennia-old custom as the Green Bay area hosts its own Lunar New Year activities.