春节的起源英文介绍

Question

如题所述

Answer 1

1. The origin of the Spring Festival can be traced back to the Shang Dynasty, where people would sacrifice to gods and ancestors at the end of the old year and the beginning of the new one.
2. The festival is celebrated on the first day of the first lunar month, often one month later than the Gregorian calendar. It is the most important traditional Chinese festival and is a time when families come together, similar to Christmas in the West.
3. People prepare for the festival by cleaning their homes and buying necessities such as food, clothing, and decorations. The Chinese government now stipulates that people have seven days off for the Chinese New Year.
4. Many customs are associated with the Spring Festival, some of which are still followed today, while others have weakened. For example, on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, many families make Laba porridge, a delicious type of porridge made with glutinous rice, millet, Job's tears, jujube berries, lotus seeds, beans, longan, and gingko.
5. The customs of making sacrifices to the kitchen god on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month and preparing for the new year have been replaced by enjoying delicious food in modern times.
6. Before the New Year, people clean their homes and decorate them with Spring Festival couplets, which highlight Chinese calligraphy with black characters on red paper. Pictures of the god of doors and wealth are posted on front doors to ward off evil spirits and welcome peace and abundance.
7. The Chinese character "fu" (meaning blessing or happiness) is a must, and it can be pasted normally or upside down, as the "reversed fu" is homophonic with "fu comes," both being pronounced as "fudaole." Two big red lanterns can be raised on both sides of the front door, and red paper-cuttings can be seen on window glass and brightly colored New Year paintings with auspicious meanings may be put on the wall.
8. People attach great importance to New Year's Eve, when all family members eat dinner together. The meal is more luxurious than usual, and dishes such as chicken, fish, and tofu cannot be excluded, as their pronunciations, respectively "ji," "yu," and "doufu," mean auspiciousness, abundance, and richness. After the dinner, the whole family will sit together, chatting and watching TV. In recent years, the Spring Festival party broadcast on China Central Television Station (CCTV) is essential entertainment for the Chinese both at home and abroad. According to custom, each family will stay up to see the New Year in.
9. On New Year's Day, everyone dresses up. First, they extend greetings to their parents. Then each child will receive money as a New Year gift, wrapped up in red paper. People in northern China will eat jiaozi, or dumplings, for breakfast, as they think "jiaozi" in sound means "bidding farewell to the old and ushering in the new." In southern China, people eat niangao (New Year cake made of glutinous rice flour) on this occasion, as a homophone of "higher and higher, one year after another."
10. After the Spring Festival, the first five days are a good time for relatives, friends, and classmates as well as colleagues to exchange greetings, gifts, and chat leisurely.
11. Burning fireworks was once the most typical custom during the Spring Festival. However, such an activity has been completely or partially forbidden in big cities due to security, noise, and pollution concerns. Some people buy tapes with firecracker sounds to listen to, some break small balloons to get the sound, while others buy firecracker handicrafts to hang in the living room.
12. The lively atmosphere of the Spring Festival fills every household and permeates the streets and lanes. A series of activities such as lion dancing, dragon lantern dancing, lantern festivals, and temple fairs are held for days. The Spring Festival comes to an end when the Lantern Festival is over.
13. China has 56 ethnic groups, and minorities celebrate the Spring Festival almost the same day as the Han people, with their own unique customs.