When was the first Chinese New Year festival?

When was the first Chinese New Year festival? Chinese have more than 4000 years history to celebrate Chinese New Year. The first Chinese New Year festival was formed earlier than when Chinese started to have writting documentation. Chinese history before writting doucmentation was passed down generation by generation through orally narration.

According to "The historic records", one of the most authorited Chinese history books, written by Si Maqian about 122 B.C, the festival was established by the king Shun. It was believed that Shun was one of the earliest leaders of Huaxia nation, which was the ancestor of the majority of Chinese, Han folk, and he lived about 2277 - 2178 B.C. Before Shun became king Chinese had already the tradition of worshipping Gods and ghosts at the beginning of every lunar year. On the first day of a lunar year, in addition to lead the worship ceremony as usual, Shun stipulated that the first day of every lunar year became a festival and must be celebrated. Most historians believe that this is the most reliable recording about the first Chinese New Year festival in history.