Chatting on a worldwide Happy New Year

Maryna,a foreign trader who has been in Yiwu for seven years, came back Yiwu from Thailand. During the national seven-day long Spring Festival vacation, Maryna chose to enjoy herself and have a rest in Thailand scenic.
"During the Chinese Spring Festival vacation,markets are closed and families gathering together to have a dinner,and what people never forget to do is turning on the television to watch the CCTV Spring Gala." Maryna was so familiar with this traditional Chinese custom, but she confessed that she could hardly get used to it.
"Every country has its own way to celebrate the new year,the Chinese way is very traditional, and in eyes of some friends of mine,could not be creative any more."
Thus I interviewed three foreigners, Maryna,Sandeep and Coco who have been staying in Yiwu for years,they are very willing to share the New Year customs of their own countries to us. Mr. Sandeep,the India textile marketing engineer who came to Yiwu to enrich his new life experience half a year ago,had made up his day of return. Coco is a pretty Russian girl who is now doing export business in Yiwu market.
And there is one more person, the handsome Chinese businessman Jin Xin,who had 8 years of living experiences in Japan, also takes part in this interesting topic.
Now,here we go. My question goes like this: Is there a festival in your own country(or your staying country), just like the lunar New Year in China? How will your people
spend this festival?
Maryna: In my country Ukraine,the spring festival is January 1,we have a ten-day holiday for work people and a twenty-day holiday for students.
We take our New Year celebration from December 28 to December 31,and the New Year's Eve would be the night of December 31 . This evening families gather together just like Chinese people. Then,we also set off firecrackers, especially on January 1 .
I know this year is the year of Renchen,and 2011 is the year of Xinmao. But,why? To be honest, I am totally confused about the Chinese lunar.
Sandeep: We have similar festival or rather new year in India has various dates depending upon various cultures. Usually this new year starts somewhere from end of March or in Mid of April. It is actually spring time. However the celebration is only for one day and various cultures has various ways to celebrate.
We in India also believe in calendar based on Hindu religion which is also based on lunar system and not on sun system or sun signs. We have similar but different systems.
Secondly in India we have many festivals throughout the year and all festivals has its own specialty and ways to celebrate. However in India, years are not assigned as like in
China (year of dragon etc).
Coco: The Russian new year falls on January 6-7,based on our own lunar calendar. So our holiday goes from December 24 to January 10 . It's like this: from December 24 to December 26,we celebrate Catholic Christmas; the Orthodox Christmas is on December 30,we celebrate it that day. And January 1 is the new style worldwide new year,while January 6 is the Russian lunar new year.
Jin Xin: Generally speaking, Japanese people take January 1 as the beginning of the new year,the exception is that some old people and lots of countrymen spend exactly the same lunar New Year as our Chinese people. The way they spend both the new year and the lunar new year is nothing different with our Chinese people.
When I was in Japan, every lunar New Year's Eve, most of Chinese overseas students in Japan would gather together to have a feast. What's more,the Dafu television studio will
rebroadcast the CCTV Spring Gala on the lunar New Year's Eve,and none of us would miss it. When the Gala is on, our room is filled with nostalgia.