Taiwan operates two calendar systems simultaneously. The Gregorian calendar governs civil administration and international commerce. The traditional lunar calendar determines religious festivals, temple celebrations, and agricultural observances. Most major cultural events follow lunar dates, meaning their Gregorian calendar dates shift annually within a range of approximately four weeks. The Taiwanese government designates fifteen official public holidays annually. Five follow lunar dates, ten follow Gregorian dates. The official work calendar provides for bridge holidays—converting four-day weekends from single public holidays by mandating make-up workdays on adjacent Saturdays.
Chinese New Year remains Taiwan's most economically significant holiday period. Officially designated Spring Festival, it spans three to nine days depending on how weekends align with the first three days of the first lunar month, typically falling between January 21 and February 20 on the Gregorian calendar. In 2024, the holiday occurred January 10-16 by official designation. In 2025, it spans January 29 to February 2. Taiwan's government publishes the exact dates eighteen months in advance. The preceding week sees reverse migration as approximately 1.2 million Taiwanese working abroad return home, creating the year's highest airport volume at Taoyuan International. Domestic transport experiences comparable strain. Taiwan High Speed Rail typically adds 20 percent additional services during the four days before New Year's Eve. Advance-purchase tickets for southbound trains from Taipei sell out 28 days before departure when booking opens. Most businesses close for a minimum of five days, with family-operated shops in traditional sectors often remaining closed for the full fifteen days until Lantern Festival. Major museum institutions including the National Palace Museum maintain modified hours, typically closing only on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.
Family reunion dinner on New Year's Eve constitutes the holiday's central observance. An estimated 85 percent of Taiwanese adults return to their ancestral family home for this meal. Traditional dishes include whole fish representing abundance, long-stemmed vegetables representing longevity, and dumplings representing wealth. The fish must remain uneaten to carry surplus into the new year. Families exchange red envelopes containing cash—hongbao in Mandarin, ang pow in Taiwanese Hokkien. Married adults give to unmarried relatives and elderly parents. Denominations follow even numbers, avoiding four due to phonetic similarity with death. Common amounts range from 600 to 3,600 Taiwan dollars for nieces and nephews, 6,000 to 36,000 for parents. No specific religious framework governs these customs. They persist across Buddhist, Taoist, Christian, and secular households. Television stations broadcast Spring Festival Gala programs, though these lack the mandatory viewing status of their mainland Chinese equivalent.
Temple visits during the first fifteen days of the lunar year generate Taiwan's densest annual crowds at religious sites. Longshan Temple in Taipei's Wanhua district reports approximately 100,000 daily visitors during the first three days of the lunar year, compared to 15,000 daily during normal periods. Worshippers burn incense, present fruit offerings, and perform divination by throwing crescent-shaped wooden blocks. They pray for prosperity, health, and favorable outcomes in specific ventures including business openings, marriage prospects, and examination results. Xingtian Temple in Taipei, dedicated to Guan Gong, attracts business owners seeking commercial fortune. Lines extend two city blocks during peak hours on the first and fifteenth of the first lunar month. Chaotian Temple in Beigang, Yunlin County, dedicated to the goddess Mazu, receives an estimated 200,000 visitors during the first week of the lunar year. No centralized attendance records exist, but temple management provides these estimates based on incense stick sales.
Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, typically falling in February or early March, officially concludes New Year celebrations. Three cities host internationally publicized lantern exhibitions. The Taiwan Lantern Festival, organized by the Tourism Bureau, rotates annually among major cities. In 2023, Taipei hosted. In 2024, the event occurred in Taichung. In 2025, it convenes in Tainan. The event spans fifteen to twenty days centered on the actual festival date. Installations include a main lantern standing 20 to 25 meters tall, thematic exhibition zones covering 30 to 50 hectares, and technology-integrated displays featuring projection mapping and LED animations. Annual attendance typically reaches 7 to 10 million visits across the exhibition period. The Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival in New Taipei City occurs on Lantern Festival evening. Participants write wishes on paper lanterns measuring approximately one meter in diameter, then release them simultaneously. The main event in Pingxi releases 200 lanterns in eight waves between 6:30 and 9:00 PM. Smaller releases occur throughout the day. Environmental criticism targets the events for creating airborne litter. Organizers introduced biodegradable lanterns in 2019. The Yanshui Beehive Fireworks Festival in Tainan involves participants wearing protective gear while standing in streets as locals ignite racks containing tens of thousands of bottle rockets that shower the crowd. The practice originated in 1885 when Yanshui experienced a cholera outbreak. Residents paraded the deity Guan Gong through streets while igniting firecrackers, believing the noise would expel plague demons. The outbreak subsequently subsided. Modern participants wear full-face helmets, thick cotton jackets, gloves, and towels covering all exposed skin. The main event occurs on the fourteenth and fifteenth nights of the first lunar month. Attendance reaches approximately 500,000 across two nights. Taipei City Hospital reports treating an average of 300 firework-related injuries annually during this festival, primarily minor burns.
Tomb Sweeping Day, known officially as Qingming Festival, falls on April 4 or April 5 when the sun reaches the fifteenth degree of celestial longitude. This occurs at a fixed point in Earth's orbit, making it one of the few traditional festivals following a solar rather than lunar calendar. The date has fallen on April 5 in seventeen of the past twenty years. It fell on April 4 in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2024. Taiwan designates it a national holiday. Families visit ancestral graves to remove weeds, repaint inscriptions, and present offerings of fruit, rice, and meat. They burn incense and joss paper representing money for use in the afterlife. Some families include the deceased's favorite foods or beverages. This practice persists regardless of religious affiliation among ethnic Han Taiwanese. Indigenous Taiwanese groups do not traditionally observe Qingming. Christian Taiwanese families often visit graves but omit burning offerings. The practice concentrates in cemeteries and columbaria during the three-day weekend surrounding the holiday. Taipei Second Public Cemetery, one of northern Taiwan's largest burial grounds before its closure to new interments in 1993, receives approximately 100,000 visitors during the Qingming period. Traffic to mountainside cemeteries increases congestion on routes leading to sites in Yangmingshan and the hills surrounding greater Taipei. Some families conduct observances on the nearest convenient weekend rather than the exact holiday. Spring rain often coincides with Qingming, a phenomenon referenced in Tang Dynasty poetry and persisting in modern weather patterns. Data from Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau shows April 5 falls within Taiwan's spring rain season, with Taipei averaging 16 rainy days in April.