The Year of the Dragon is coming to a close. Tomorrow, a new moon will herald in the Year of the Snake and the start of Spring Festival celebrations.

The Lunar New Year marks the beginning of spring and the new year on something called the lunisolar calendar. That's a type of calendar historically used in China that uses the moon and the sun to determine dates.

One well-known ancient legend speaks of Nian, a hideous monster that feasted on human flesh on New Year’s Day. Because the beast feared the color red, loud noises and fire, people put up red paper dragons on their doors, burned red lanterns all night and set off firecrackers to frighten and chase away the monster.