As the 15-day Chinese New Year celebration concluded with the Lantern Festival — which this year just happened to coincide with Valentine's Day on Feb 14 — it presented something of a dilemma for the Chinese: Should they spend the day with family or go for a romantic candle-lit dinner for two?

For many people in New York City's Chinatown, the choice was clear — Valentine's Day.

"We will have dinner at one of our favorite restaurants tonight," said Caroline, holding a bouquet of roses with her right hand and her boyfriend Kevin's arm on her left. The young couple, who asked to be identified only by their first names, were unaware that it was also Lantern Festival Day.

"Is it really?" they gasped at the fact that two special days overlapped. "We won't spend it with our families though. They are probably going to celebrate in some way."

Traditionally, on the 15th day of the first month of the new lunar year, Chinese people celebrate the year's first full moon by eating tangyuan, or rice dumplings with sweet fillings, with family, and solve riddles written on cards hanging from lanterns.

The word tangyuan sounds similar to the Chinese word for "reunion". In certain regions, especially the northern part of China, people eat yuanxiao, which looks similar to tangyuan and conveys the same wishes, though it is made a bit differently.

For florist Wendy Lee at Confucius Florist, however, none of these traditions mean much for her any more, as she hasn't celebrated the holiday much since coming to the US. But this year's Lantern Festival, it being also the Western holiday for lovers, is still special for her, since it will bring her way more business than usual.

"Work today and we don't need to worry for the rest of the year," Lee joked, mentioning that they started to receive orders for Valentine's Day about a week ago. The biggest order came from a man in his 30s who purchased a 199-rose bouquet.

"These days young people are especially willing to spend on flowers for their loved ones. Most of our customers are pretty young," said Lee.

Except Ralph Hernandez. Hernandez, 82, bought a flower bouquet from Lee for his wife, who died two years ago. He has been doing so religiously ever since they married 62 years ago.

"She died on Aug 29, 2011. I used to buy her flowers every month during the first year after her death," he said. "Now I buy her flowers on Valentine's Day, her birthday, which is this Sunday, Mother's Day and our anniversaries like before."

But the flowers aren't cheap on special days. At Confucius Florist, roses were $6 each. Lee said they had prepared about 1,000 roses that day and expected them to be sold out by early afternoon.

Some vendors competed by selling flowers on the street at $3 each, still more expensive than usual, but the relative bargain price attracted many customers.

"We were just passing by and saw these flowers and thought that, since today is both Lantern Festival and Valentine's Day, it could be nice to buy some for family and friends," said a middle-aged Chinese woman, who was shopping with her husband and preferred to be unnamed.

"For us, we will just have dinner today. No special celebrations," she said.

Another Chinese couple, who were taking a walk in Chinatown holding hands, said that they were not going to have traditional Lantern Festival food but would have dinner together because the Chinese festival is also a kind of special day for lovers.

Brazilians Carolina Alles and Fabricio Mattei, who were visiting New York, had just found out it was Valentine's Day in the US on the morning of Feb 14. In Brazil, the special day for lovers is June 12, also in the wintertime down there.

"We are happy to celebrate it here in Chinatown. It's so different from any place we've ever seen," said Mattei, who was excited to learn that the day was also Lantern Festival.

Zhang Yang contributed to this report and can be reached at yangzhang@chinadailyusa.com.