The Style and Weather of Spring Festival in China

China New Year is now generally called the Spring Festival, because it begins in beginning of spring (the first of the 24 solar terms, which adapts to the changes of nature). Its origin is too old to trace back. Several explanations are pending. However, everyone agrees that the word "nian" only means "nian" in modern Chinese. It was originally the name of a monster, which began to prey on people the night before the start of the new year.

There is a legend that the monster Nian has a big mouth and can swallow many people in one bite. People are very scared. One day, an old man came to save them and offered to subdue Nian. He said to nian, "I heard that you are very capable, but can you swallow other beasts on the earth instead of your opponent?" Therefore, it really devours many carnivores on the earth, and these animals also harass people and their livestock from time to time.

After that, the old man disappeared riding the Nian beast. He proved to be an immortal god. Now that Nian has gone, other wild animals in the forest are also afraid, and people begin to enjoy their peaceful life. Before the old man left, he told people to put red paper decorations on their windows and doors at the end of each year to scare off Nian and prevent it from sneaking back again, because red is the color that wild animals are most afraid of.

Since then, the tradition of observing the year of conquest has been passed down from generation to generation. The word "Chinese New Year" may mean "surviving the New Year" and has become "celebrating the New Year" today, because "Guo" has both the meaning of "past" and "observation" in Chinese. If Nian has a chance to escape, the custom of pasting red paper and setting off firecrackers to scare it away still exists. However, people today have long forgotten why they do all this, except that they feel that colors and sounds increase the excitement of celebration.

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Spring Festival is the most important festival in China, and it is a time for all family members to get together, just like Christmas in the west. All the people who are far away from home have gone back, and it takes about half a month from the Spring Festival to become the busiest time of the transportation system. Airports, railway stations and long-distance bus stations are crowded with returnees.

Strictly speaking, the Spring Festival begins at the beginning of1February in the lunar calendar every year and lasts until the middle of 1 1 month in the next lunar calendar. Among them, the most important days are New Year's Eve and the first three days. The China Municipal Government now stipulates that China will have a seven-day holiday for the Lunar New Year.

The Spring Festival is accompanied by many customs. Some are still in use today, but some have been weakened.

On the eighth day of the sixth lunar month, many families make Laba porridge, which is a delicious porridge made of glutinous rice, millet, coix seed, dates, lotus seeds, beans, longan and ginkgo.

The 23rd day of lunar calendar1February is called preparation night. At this time, people offered sacrifices to the kitchen god. However, nowadays, most families cook delicious food to enjoy life.

After the preparation night, people began to prepare for the coming New Year. This is called "Welcome the New Year".

The shopkeeper is very busy because everyone goes out to buy new year's necessities. Materials include not only edible oil, rice, flour, chicken, duck and fish, but also fruits, sweets and nuts. More importantly, all kinds of decorations, new clothes and shoes for children and gifts for the elderly, friends and relatives are on the shopping list.

Before the new year comes, people thoroughly clean their indoors and outdoors, as well as their clothes, bedding and all the tableware.

Then people began to decorate their clean rooms to create a happy and festive atmosphere. All the door panels will be affixed with Spring Festival couplets, and China's calligraphy will be highlighted in black font on red paper. The content ranges from homeowners' wishes for a better future to good luck in the New Year. In addition, pictures of the door god and the god of wealth will be posted on the front door to ward off evil spirits and welcome peace and prosperity.

The Chinese character "Fu" (meaning blessing or happiness) is necessary. The words written on the paper can be pasted upside down or upside down, because in Chinese, "lodging" and "falling" are homophonic, and what's more, two red lanterns can be raised on both sides of the front door. Red paper-cuts can be seen on the window glass, and colorful and auspicious New Year pictures may be posted on the wall.

People attach great importance to New Year's Eve. At that time, all the family members had dinner together. This meal is more luxurious than usual. Chicken, fish and tofu can't be excluded, because in Chinese, their pronunciations are "Ji", "fish" and "tofu", which means auspiciousness, richness and wealth. After dinner, the whole family will sit together, chat and watch TV. In recent years, the Spring Festival Gala broadcast by China Central Television (CCTV) is an indispensable entertainment program for Chinese at home and abroad. According to the custom, every family will stay up late to welcome the New Year.

When we wake up in the new year, everyone is dressed up. First, they say hello to their parents. Then every child will get money wrapped in red paper as a New Year gift. People in northern China will eat jiaozi for breakfast, because they think that "jiaozi" means "saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new" in pronunciation. Also, jiaozi is shaped like a gold ingot in ancient China. So people eat them in the hope of getting money and treasure.

People in southern China eat rice cakes (New Year cakes made of glutinous rice flour) at this time, because as a homonym, rice cakes mean "higher and higher, year after year." The first five days after the Spring Festival are a good time for relatives, friends, classmates and colleagues to exchange greetings, gifts and chat leisurely.

Setting off fireworks used to be the most typical custom in the Spring Festival. People think that this crackling helps to drive away evil spirits. However, once the government takes safety, noise and pollution into consideration, such activities are completely or partially banned in big cities. Instead, some people buy tapes with firecrackers to listen to, some people break small balloons to get sound, while others buy firecrackers crafts to hang in the living room.

The lively atmosphere not only pervades every household, but also permeates the streets. A series of activities such as lion dance, dragon dance, Lantern Festival and temple fair will last for several days. After the Lantern Festival, the Spring Festival will be over.

There are 56 nationalities in China. Ethnic minorities and Han people celebrate the Spring Festival almost on the same day, and they have different customs.