中国春节习俗 英文介绍 过年

Celebrating the Lunar New Year

Family Gathering

The Spring Festival can be said to be the most important festival of the year for Chinese people.

A few days before the Lunar New Year’s Eve, people working away would hurry back home in time for the Spring Festival. The whole family gathers together, and with much bustle prepares to celebrate the coming of the New Year.

In connection with the Spring Festival, we can mention a number of customs, such as the festival supper, staying up late on the Lunar New Year’s Eve, setting off fireworks, etc. These all originate in traditional stories connected with the “Year” passed down for many years among the people.

There is a legend that in ancient times there was a ferocious monster called “Year.” It was incomparably ugly, and would eat any bird or beast, and even ate many people. People feared and hated this “Year” monster.

Later, people bit by bit came to understand the life habits of “Year”: Every three hundred and sixty-fifth day it would creep into places where there were lots of people, in search of tasty snacks. Then it would disappear into the mountain forests after dark until cockcrow. When they had calculated the date of the emergence of “Year,” people came to regard this fearful night as the juncture of the year, calling it the “end of the year.” Not only that; they thought of many ways for each family to pass the end of the year in safety. Every time this evening arrived, each family would prepare a supper in advance, secure both front and back doors, and eat the “Year Supper” in private. But could they really pass the end of the year safely in this way? A family might still be fearful, and so to give themselves courage they made this meal more and more lavish. In addition, before eating, each family would memorialize its ancestors, evoking their divine protection in passing that night in safety. After the meal, none of the family members would dare to go to sleep. Instead, they would all sit together talking to bolster their courage, and this gradually became the custom of staying up late on New Year’s Eve.

Some people said that what “Year” feared most was loud noises and the color red. And so, they would paste strips of red paper on their doors, and set off fireworks at midnight. “Year,” seeing red everywhere he looked and hearing loud noises, would be scared away.

As far as we are concerned nowadays, celebrating the Lunar New Year is no longer a matter of an evening when we take precautions to protect our lives but a festival full of peace and happiness. For adults who have spent the previous year working away from home, nothing could compensate them for undergoing daily hardships as much as the warmth of the New Year supper. For children, this is a joyous time of growth and reward, when they receive gifts of NewYear money in red envelopes, filled with wishes for health and tranquility from their elders. Fireworks displays have long had an indispensable place in people’s hearts as one of the finest methods of entertainment at the Spring Festival.

The family is a very important part of Chinese culture and the mainstay of many people’s lives. The adults work hard, and the children study hard, old and young cherishing the idea of “making all the members of the family happy.”

Perhaps we should all cherish this same idea towards each other as an all-encompassing and great China dream.

The Moral of This Story

The Spring Festival, commonly called the Lunar New Year, is China’s most important and boisterous festival. The Lunar New Year customs date from long ago. By the end of the year, everyone tries to the utmost to return home and reunite with the family, to celebrate the gains and progress they achieved in the past year, and to express fervent wishes for happy and prosperous lives in the coming year. A saying goes, “Rich or poor, coming home to celebrate New Year is for sure.”

过年