Hello! How’s it going? Eh…this time I want to talk about the spring festival.
You must hear about this festival many times though you are not Chinese, because the spring festival is one of the oldest festival in China and every time when you ask a foreigner “What do you know about Chinese culture?” majority of them might answer “The spring festival!”.For Chinese, that’s true the spring festival is a traditional and important festival.So let me introduce something about it.
There are some key points of it.“New year’s eve” ”poetic couplet” “paper-cuts” “do spring festival shopping” “propose a toast” “fireworks” “red packets” “give New Year’s greetings” and so on.Following is more clearly.
Days before the new year
On the days before the New Year celebration, Chinese families give their home a thorough cleaning.It is believed the cleaning sweeps away bad luck and makes their homes ready for good luck to arrive.All brooms and dust pans are put away on New Year\'s Eve so that good luck cannot be swept away.Some people give their homes, doors and windowpanes a new coat of red paint.Homes are decorated with paper cutouts of Chinese auspicious phrases and couplets (short phrases) that speak of \"happine,\" \"wealth,\" \"longevity.\"
Reunion dinner
A reunion dinner is held on New Year\'s Eve where members of the family, near and far, get together for celebration.The New Year\'s Eve dinner is very large and traditionally includes chicken.Fish, but not eaten up completely (and the remainder is stored overnight), as the Chinese phrase (nián nián yǒu yú), which means \"may there be surpluses every year\", sounds the same as \"may there be fish every year\", since \"yú\" is also the pronunciation for \"yú\" (\"leftover\" or \"surplus\").
Money Given to Children
On the night of New year’s eve or the first day of new years, just after the big dinner when people are gathered for talk, relatives usually put \"yā suì qián\" or \"end of year money\" in the red packets.That’s what kids all love.And at the same time kids should give New Year’s greetings like “Happy new year!” “Live a happy life!”
The spring festival is more than what I told you.And sometimes I just think of it as a holiday.Hope to hear from you.
Cheryl
