S p r i n gF e s t i v a l(英文版春节介绍)Spring Festival1.Tale of NianWe call the Spring Festival Nian, but did you know that Nian was once the name of a terrible, scary monster? A long time ago, the monster Nian lived in the mountains. It looked like an ugly dragon, and got angry easily.Nian ate animals. But in winter, it could not find food. So it came to many villages and ate people. People were so afraid of Nian that they locked their doors before evening came during the winter.One day, an old man came to a village. He told people there that Nian was afraid of three things—red color, fire and noise. He told people to play drums and gongs (铜锣), make big fires and set off fireworks (放鞭炮) to make Nian go away.On a moonless, cold night, Nian went to the village again. As soon as it opened its big mouth, people made loud noises and made fires. Nian was really afraid and ran away. Wher-ever it went, there was noise and fire. When Nian was tired and could not run anymore, people killed the monster.After that, on the coldest day of winter, people beat drums and gongs, and set off fire­works to celebrate the death of the monster of Nian. They put up red lanterns (灯笼) and have a big dinner without sleeping during the night, and greet each other happily in the next morning.2.Brief Introduction of Spring FestivalThe Spring Festival is the most important festival for the Chinese people and is when all family members get together, just like Christmas in the West. All people living away from home go back, becoming the busiest time for transportation systems of about half a month from the Spring Festival. Airports, railway stations and long-distance bus stations are crowded with home returnees.The Spring Festival falls on the 1st day of the 1st lunar month. Strictly speaking, the Spring Festival starts every year in the early days of the 12th lunar month and will last till the mid 1st lunar month of the next year. Of them, the most important days are Spring Festival Eve and the first three days. The Chinese government now stipulates people have seven days off for the Chinese Lunar New Year.3.Preliminary CustomsMany customs accompany the Spring Festival. Some are still followed today, but others have weakened.On the 8th day of the 12th lunar month, many families make laba porridge, a delicious kind of porridge made with rice，glutinous rice（糯米）, millet（小米）, coix seed（薏仁）, jujube berries（枣泥）, lotus seeds(莲子), beans, longan（桂圆） and gingko（白果）.The 23rd day of the 12th lunar month is called Preliminary Eve. At this time, people offer sacrifice to the kitchen god. Now however, most families make delicious food to enjoy themselves.After the Preliminary Eve, people begin preparing for the coming New Year. This is called "Seeing the New Year in".Store owners are busy then as everybody goes out to purchase necessities for the New Year. Materials not only include edible oil, rice, flour, chicken, duck, fish and meat, but also fruit, candies and kinds of nuts. What's more, various decorations, new clothes and shoes for the children as well as gifts for the elderly, friends and relatives, are all on the list of purchasing.Before the New Year comes, the people completely clean the indoors and outdoors of their homes as well as their clothes, bedclothes and all their utensils（器具）.Then people begin decorating their clean rooms featuring an atmosphere of rejoicing（喜悦） and festivity（欢庆）. All the door panels will be pasted withSpring Festival couplets（春联）, highlighting Chinese calligraphy with black characters on red paper. The content varies from house owners' wishes for a bright future to good luck for the New Year. Also, pictures of the god of doors and wealth will be posted on front doors to ward off evil spirits and welcome peace and abundance（富足）.The Chinese character "fu" (meaning blessing or happiness) is a must. The character put on paper can be pasted normally or upside down, for in Chinese the "reversed fu" is homophonic（谐音） with "fu comes". What's more, two big red lanterns can be raised on both sides of the front door. Red paper-cuttings can be seen on window glass and brightly colored New Year paintings with auspicious（吉利的） meanings may be put on the wall.People attach great importance to Spring Festival Eve. At that time, all family members eat dinner together. The meal is more luxurious than usual. Dishes such as chicken, fish and bean curd cannot be excluded, for in Chinese, their pronunciations, respectively "ji", "yu" and "doufu," mean auspiciousness（吉利）, abundance andrichness. 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.4.New Year’ CustomsWaking up on New Year, everybody dresses up. First they extend greetings to their parents. Then each child will get 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（迎接） inthe new". Also, the shape of the dumpling is like gold ingot from ancient China. So people eat them and wish for money and treasure.Southern Chinese eat niangao (New Year cake made of glutinous rice flour) on this occasion, because as a homophone, niangao means "higher and higher, one year after another." The first five days after the Spring Festival are a good time for relatives, friends, and classmates as well as colleagues to exchange greetings, gifts and chat leisurely.Burning fireworks was once the most typical custom on the Spring Festival. People thought the spluttering sound could help drive away evil spirits. However, such an activity was completely or partially forbidden in big cities once the government took security, noise and pollution factors into consideration. As a replacement, some buy tapes with firecracker sounds to listen to, some break little balloons to get the sound too, while others buy firecracker handicrafts to hang in the living room.The lively atmosphere not only fills every household, but permeates to streets and lanes. A series of activities such as lion dancing, dragon lantern dancing, lantern festivals and temple fairs will be held for days. The Spring Festival then comes to an end when the Lantern Festival is finished.本版附——（可否单开一页？）Spring Festival Words春节实用词汇农历lunar calendar正月lunar January (the first month by lunar calendar )除夕eve of lunar New Year元宵节The Lantern Festival春联Spring Festival couplets (two successive rhyming lines in poetry)剪纸paper-cuts年画New Year paintings守岁staying-up买年货special purchases for the Spring Festival敬酒propose a toast灯笼lantern: a portable light烟花fireworks爆竹firecrackers (People scare off evil spirits and ghosts with the loud pop.)红包red packets (cash wrapped up in red paper, symbolize fortune and wealth in the coming year.)舞狮lion dance (The lion is believed to be able to dispel evil and bring good luck.) 舞龙dragon dance (to expect good weather and good harvests)戏曲traditional opera杂耍variety show灯谜riddles written on lanterns灯会exhibit of lanterns拜年pay New Year's call; give New Year's greetings; New Year's visit禁忌taboo去晦气get rid of the ill- fortune祭祖宗offer sacrifices to one's ancestors压岁钱gift money; money given to children as a lunar New Year gift辞旧岁bid farewell to the old year扫房spring cleaning; general house-cleaning年糕Nian-gao; rise cake; New Year cake团圆饭family reunion dinner年夜饭the dinner on New Year's Eve饺子Jiao-zi; Chinese meat ravioli汤圆Tang-yuan;( dumplings made of sweet rice, rolled into balls and stuffed with either sweet or spicy fillings )八宝饭eight treasures rice pudding糖果盘candy tray:什锦糖assorted candies - sweet and fortune蜜冬瓜candied winter melon - growth and good health西瓜子red melon seed - joy, happiness, truth and sincerity金桔cumquat - prosperity糖莲子candied lotus seed - many descendents to come糖藕candied lotus root - fulfilling love relationship红枣red dates - prosperity花生糖peanut candy - sweet。