春节的由来
Chinese Spring Festival, also called Lunar New Year, has more than 4,000 years of history. Being one of the traditional Chinese festivals, it is the grandest and the most important festival for Chinese people. It is also the time for the whole families to get together, which is similar with Christmas Day to the westerners.
中国的春节，也被称为农历新年，迄今已有四千多年的历史。对于中国人来说，这是规模最大，最重要的传统节日。就如同西方的圣诞节一样，春节是一家团聚的日子。
Originating during the Shang Dynasty (about 17th - 11th century BC), Spring Festival, which celebrates family reunion, is full of rich and colorful activities, and hopes with the advent of spring and flowers blossoming. People from different regions and different ethnic groups celebrate it in their unique ways.
春节起源于商朝(公元前11-17世纪)，为了庆祝全家团圆和表达对春暖花开的期盼，节日期间会准备丰富多彩的活动。不同地区和不同少数民族人们会用自己独特的方式庆祝这一传统节日。
Legends
春节传说
There are many legends about Spring Festival in Chinese culture. In folk culture, it is also called “guonian” (meaning “passing a year”). It is said that the “nian” (year) was a strong monster which was fierce and cruel and ate one kind of animal including human being a day. Human beings were scared about it and had to hide on the evening when the “nian” came out. Later, people found that “nian” was very scared about the red color and fireworks. So after that, people use red color and fireworks or firecrackers to drive away “nian”. As a result, the custom of using red color and setting off fireworks remains.
中国文化中有很多关于春节的传说。在传统文化中，春节亦被称为“过年”。传说“年”是一种凶猛异常的怪物，每天都会吃一种动物(包括人)。人们非常惧怕他，当“年”夜间出来活动时，人们会找地方躲起来。后来，人们发现“年”非常害怕红色和爆竹，于是，人们用红色和鞭炮来驱赶“年”。久而久之，春节用大红色和放鞭炮的习俗就保留了下来。
Festivities Schedule
春节活动
Preparing the New Year starts 7 days before the New Year’s Eve. According to Chinese lunar calendar, people start to clean the house on Dec. 24, butcher on Dec. 26th and so on. People have certain things to do on each day. These activities will end Jan. 15th of the lunar calendar.
新年的准备工作在除夕前的七天就开始了。根据中国农历，人们从腊月二十四开始打扫屋子，二十六日杀猪宰羊等等。每一天都有不同的活动，所有这些活动将在正月十五结束。
Taboos
春节禁忌
The Spring Festival is a start for a new year, so it is regarded as the omen of a year. People have many taboos during this period. Many bad words related to “death”, “broken”, “killing”, “ghost” and “illness” or “sickness” are forbidden during conversations. In some places, there are more specific details. They consider it unlucky if the barrel of rice is empty, because they think they will have nothing to eat in the next year. Taking medicine is forbidden on this day, otherwise, people will have sick for the whole year and take medicine constantly.
春节是新的一年的开始，预示着一年的运气，所以过年期间有很多禁忌，比如“死”“破”“杀”“鬼”“病”这类字眼是谈话中要避免的。在某些地方还有一些特殊的禁忌，比如新年米缸空了不是好兆头，因为这预示着新的一年将没东西吃，春节那天也不能吃药，这会预示着新的一年疾病产生，医药不断。
春节正月习俗的英文介绍
The Chinese New Year celebrations are marked by visits to kin, relatives and friends, a practice known as "new-year visits" (Chinese: 拜年; pinyin: bài nián). New clothes are usually worn to signify a new year. The colour red is liberally used in all decorations. Red packets are given to juniors and children by the married and elders. See Symbolism below for more explanation.
Preceding days 春节前
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On the days before the New Year celebration Chinese families give their home a thorough cleaning. There is a Cantonese saying "Wash away the dirt on ninyabaat" (年廿八，洗邋遢), but the practice is not usually restricted on nin'ya'baat (年廿八, the 28th day of month 12). It is believed the cleaning sweeps away the bad luck of the preceding year and makes their homes ready for good luck. Brooms and dust pans are put away on the first day so that luck cannot be swept away. Some people give their homes, doors and window-frames a new coat of red paint. Homes are often decorated with paper cutouts of Chinese auspicious phrases and couplets. Purchasing new clothing, shoes, and receiving a hair-cut also symbolize a fresh start.
In many households where Buddhism or Taoism is prevalent, home altars and statues are cleaned thoroughly, and altars that were adorned with decorations from the previous year are also taken down and burned a week before the new year starts, and replaced with new decorations. Taoists (and Buddhists to a lesser extent) will also "send gods" (送神), an example would be burning a paper effigy of Zao Jun the Kitchen God, the recorder of family functions. This is done so that the Kitchen God can report to the Jade Emperor of the family household's transgressions and good deeds. Families often offer sweet foods (such as candy) in order to "bribe" the deities into reporting good things about the family.
The biggest event of any Chinese New Year's Eve is the dinner every family will have. A dish consisting of fish will appear on the tables of Chinese families. It is for display for the New Year's Eve dinner. This meal is comparable to Christmas dinner in the West. In northern China, it is customary to make dumplings (jiaozi 饺子) after dinner and have it around midnight. Dumplings symbolize wealth because their shape is like a Chinese tael. By contrast, in the South, it is customary to make a new year cake (Niangao, 年糕) after dinner and send pieces of it as gifts to relatives and friends in the coming days of the new year. Niangao literally means increasingly prosperous year in year out. After the dinner, some families go to local temples, hours before the new year begins to pray for a prosperous new year by lighting the first incense of the year; however in modern practice, many households hold parties and even hold a countdown to the new lunar year. Beginning in the 1980s, the CCTV New Year's Gala was broadcast four hours before the start of the New Year.
介绍春节习俗
Sweeping the Dust
扫尘
To clean houses is a very old custom dating back to thousands of years ago. The dust is traditionally associated with “old” so cleaning their houses and sweeping the dust mean to bid farewell to the “old” and usher in the “new”. Days before the New Year, Chinese families clean their houses, sweeping the floor, washing daily things and cleaning the spider webs. People do all these things happily in the hope of a good coming year.
打扫房屋这个非常古老的习俗可以追溯到几千年前。灰尘在中国传统中与“旧”联系在一起，所以打扫房屋和扫除灰尘意味着辞“旧”迎“新”。春节的前几天，中国的各家各户都要打扫房屋、扫地、清洗日用品、清除蛛网。人们兴高采烈地做这些事情，希望来年能拥有好运。
House Decoration装饰房屋
One of the house decorations is to post Spring Festival couplets on doors. On the Spring Festival couplets, good wishes are expressed.
装饰房屋的方式之一就是在门上贴春联。人们会在春联上写下美好的祝愿。
People in north China are used to posting paper-cuts on their windows. When sticking the window decoration paper-cuts, people paste on the door large red Chinese character "fu". A red "fu" means good luck and fortune.
在中国北方，人们习惯于在窗户上贴剪纸。同时在大门上贴上大大的红色汉字“福”字，一个红色“福”字意味着好运和财富。
New Year’s Eve Dinner
年夜饭
Spring Festival is a time for family reunion. New Year’s Eve Dinner is "a must" banquet with all the family members getting together. In south China, It is customary to eat "niangao" (New Year cake made of glutinous rice flour) because as a homophone, niangao means "higher and higher every year". In the north, a traditional dish for the dinner is "Jiaozi".
春节是与家人团聚的时间。年夜饭是家庭成员聚在一起吃的团圆饭。在中国南方，习惯吃“年糕”(糯米粉制成的新年糕点)，因为作为同音字，年糕意味着“步步高升”。在北方，年夜饭的传统食物是“饺子”。
Staying Up Late (Shousui)
熬夜(守岁)
Shousui means to stay up late or all night on New Year's Eve. After the great dinner, families sit together and chat happily to wait for the New Year's arrival.
守岁意味着除夕夜不睡觉。年夜饭后，家人聚坐在一起，愉快地聊天，等待春节的到来。
Lucky Money压岁钱
It is the money given to kids from their parents and grandparents as New Year gift. The money is believed to bring good luck, ward off monsters; hence the name "lucky money". Parents and grandparents first put money in small, especially-made red envelopes and give the red envelopes to their kids after the New Year’s Eve Dinner or when they come to visit them on the New Year. They choose to put the money in red envelopes because Chinese people think red is a lucky color.
压岁钱是孩子们的父母和祖父母给他们作为春节礼物的钱。据说压岁钱能带来好运，能驱魔。因此，就有了“压岁钱”的称呼。父母和祖父母会提前把钱放入特制的小红包里，年夜饭后或当孩子们来拜年时，将红包发给他们。他们之所以要把钱放到红包里，是因为中国人认为红色是个幸运色。
the CCTV New Year's Gala
春节联欢晚会
The New Year's Gala is a variety show held by China Central Television(CCTV)since 1983. For every year since then at the turn of the New Year, the program begins at 8:00PM and lasts five or six hours. It brings laughter to billions of people. For over thrity years, its value has gone far beyond a variety show. It is essential entertainment for the Chinese both at home and abroad.
春节联欢晚会是中央电视台(CCTV)自1983年开始举办的文艺晚会。每年除夕夜，晚会从晚上8:00开始播出，持续五到六个小时。它给数十亿人带来了欢笑。三十多年来，它的价值远远超过了节目本身。对于海内外的华人来说，这是必不可少的娱乐活动。
New Year Greetings拜年
On the first day of the new year, it’s customary for the younger generations to visit the elders, wishing them healthy and longevity.
按照传统习惯，春节第一天，晚辈要拜见长辈，祝愿他们健康长寿。
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