Spring Festival isthe most important holiday for Chinese people. Excitement and happiness arepalpable this time of the year， and theyreach the peak on lunar new year‘s eve.

春节对于中国人来说是最重要的节日。在每年的春节都让人兴高采烈，尤其是大年三十那晚，更是达到了高潮。

Though the 15-dayperiod， whichstarts with the first day of the lunar new year and ends on the 15th day (known as Lantern Festival)， is relatively long， it is the busiest time of the year for Chinese people. The arrangements they have to make for family reunions， buying necessities and preparing food keeps them busy through out the holiday. Many of them travel back home and meet friends over dinner and drinks. The celebration sinclude decorating the house and setting off fireworks.

春节历时15天，也就从大年初一开始，到元月十五元宵节结束。这段比较长的时间是中国人最忙的时候。他们为家庭聚会作安排，采购年货，准备丰盛的食物，以至于整个春节假期都忙忙碌碌的。许多人在春季期间都要回老家过年，跟朋友碰碰头，聚个餐。庆祝春节也包括大扫除和放烟火。

春节习俗英文简介

Customs of the Spring Festival

The Spring Festivalis a traditional Chinese festival and also the most important one of the whole year. Through the evolvement of thousands of years， a series of customs are spreading far and wide.

扫尘

Sweeping the Dust

“Dust” is homophonic with "chen”(尘)in Chinese， which means old and past. In this way，"sweeping the dust” before the Spring Festival means a thorough cleaning of houses to sweep away bad luck in the past year. This custom shows a good wish of putting away old things to welcome a new life. In a word， just before the Spring Festival comes， every house hold will give a thorough cleaning to bid farewell to the old year and usher in the new.

贴春联

Pasting Spring Couplets

“The Spring Couplet”， also called"couplet” and "a pair of antithetical phrases”， is a special form ofliterature in China. The Spring Couplet is composed of two antithetical sentences on both sides of the door and a horizontal scroll bearing aninscription， usuallyan auspicious phrase， above thegate. The sentence pasting on the right side of the door is called the firstline of the couplet and the one on the left the second line. On the eve of the Spring Festival， every household will paste on doors a spring couplet written on red paper to give ahappy and prosperous atmosphere of the Festival. In the past， the Chinese usuallywrote their own spring couplet with a brush or asked others to do for them， while nowadays， it is common for people to buy the printed spring couplet in the market.

贴窗花和“福”字

Pasting Paper-cuts and "Up-sided Fu”

Paper-cuts， usually with auspicious patterns， give ahappy and prosperous atmosphere of the Festival and express the good wishes of Chinese people looking forward to a good life. In addition to pasting paper-cuts on windows， it is common for Chinese to paste the character "fu(福)”， big and small， on walls， doors and doorpostsaround the houses. "Fu(福)” show speople’s yearning toward a good life. Some people even invert the character "fu(福)” tosignify that blessing has arrived because "inverted” is a homonym for"arrive” in Chinese. Now many kinds of paper-cuts and "fu(福)” can be seen in the market before the Festival.

贴年画

Pasting New Year Prints

The custom of pastingNew Year Prints originated from the tradition of placing Door Gods on theexternal doors of houses. With the creation of board carvings， New Year paintingscover a wide range of subjects. The most famous ones are Door Gods， Surplus Year afterYear， Three Godsof Blessing， Salaryand Longevity， AnAbundant Harvest of Crops， Thriving Domestic Animals and Celebrating Spring. Four producing areas of New Year Printare Tɑohuɑwu of Suzhou， Yɑngliuqing of Tianjin， Wuqiɑng of Hebei and Weifang of Shangdong. Now the tradition of pasting New Year paintings is still kept in rural China， while it is seldom followed in cities.

吃饺子

Having dumplings

On New Year’s Eve， the whole family will sit together to make dumplings and celebrate the Spring Festival. The shape of dumplings is like gold ingot from ancient China. So people eat them and wish for money and treasure. The tradition of having dumplings is very important during the Spring Festival. You cannot have a complete Spring Festival without having dumplings.

看春节联欢晚会

The CCTV New Year‘s Gala

The New Year’s Galais a variety show held by China Central Television (CCTV) since 1983. For every year since then at the turn of the Lunar New Year， the program begins at 8:00PM and lasts five or six hours. It brings laughter to billions of people， creates many popular words and produces lots of TV phenomena meriting attention. For over twenty years， its valuehas gone far beyond a variety show. It is essential entertainment for the Chinese both at home and abroad. Many Chinese would like to watch the gala while having the dinner on New Year’s Eve.

放鞭炮

Setting off Firecrackers

The firecracker is aunique product in China.In ancient China， the sound of burning bamboo tubes was used to scare away wild animals and evil spirits.With the invention of the gunpowder， "firecracker” is also called "鞭炮biānpào” (“炮” in Chinese meansgun) and usedto foster a joyful atmosphere. The first thing every Chinese household does is to set off firecrackers and fireworks， which are meant to bid farewell to the oldyear and usher in the new. In the past few years， such an activity was completely or partially forbidden in big cities including Beijing due to fire and personal casualty caused by burning firecrackers. However， some Chinese thought that a Spring Festival without firecrackers was not lively enough and they burned firecrackers by stealth. So in recent years， the banwas canceled again. This shows that burning firecrackers is a very important activity during the Spring Festival.

拜年和压岁钱

New Year‘s Visit and Gift Money

On the first day ofthe Chinese lunar year， everybody puts on their best clothes and pays ceremonial calls on their relatives and friends， wishing them all the luck in the coming year. Juniors will greet seniors， wishing them health and longevity， while seniors will give juniors some gift money as a wish for their safety in the coming year. When friends meet， they will wish each other happiness and prosperity with a big smile. With the development of the new technology， there is a change on the way of giving New Years greetings. In recent year， it is common to send New Years greetings by such modern means of communication as telephones， emails and text messages.

TraditionalFestival Greetings:

恭贺新禧 | Happy New Year

吉祥如意 | Everything GoesWell

恭喜发财 | Wishing YouProsperity

年年有余 | Surplus Year afterYear

岁岁平安 | Peace All YearRound

新春大吉 | Good Luck in the New Year