People watch dragon dance during an event in celebration of the upcoming Spring Festival, or the Chinese New Year, in Barcelona, Spain, Jan. 25, 2025. (Photo by Joan Gosa/Xinhua)

The Spring Festival culture, with a history of around 4,000 years, is a public holiday in almost 20 countries and celebrated in various ways by about one-fifth of humanity.

More and more people in Croatia and other European countries are enjoying the Spring Festival culture, Kresimir Jurak, a Croatian scholar, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Spring Festival, marking the start of the Lunar New Year, was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in December 2024.

The UNESCO addition showcased the vitality and significance of the traditional Chinese Spring Festival culture, Jurak, director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Zagreb, said.

According to the Chinese lunar calendar, this year's Spring Festival falls on Jan. 29, marking the start of the Year of the Snake.

People watch a lion dance show at a temple fair in celebration of the upcoming Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year, at the Cinquantenaire Park in Brussels, Belgium, Jan. 25, 2025. (Xinhua/Meng Dingbo)

"I think the most important part is that it shows the Chinese Spring Festival is really this level of event that UNESCO would consider it to be cultural enough and historic enough and important enough to put it on this very important list," he said.

The Spring Festival culture, with a history of around 4,000 years, has made different civilizations and people in the world more connected, Jurak noted, pointing out that the festival is a public holiday in almost 20 countries and celebrated in various ways by about one-fifth of humanity.

Chinese and local volunteers pose for a group photo with calligraphy works of Chinese character "Fu," which means "good fortune," in celebration of the upcoming Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year, in Turin, Italy, Jan. 25, 2025. (Xinhua/Li Jing)

"I think it is interesting, it is colourful, it has a great tradition, it has a lot of people supporting it in this way," he said, noting that in many European countries, including Croatia, more and more people are enjoying this culture.