喜迎中國年：過年缺不了的8件事兒

By Jim Harbert 譯 / 蔚然

喜迎中國年：過年缺不了的8件事兒

8 Traditional Customs for Chinese New Year

By Jim Harbert 譯 / 蔚然

春節慶祝活動是一年中最重要的慶祝活動。中國人慶祝春節的方式可能略微不同，但其愿望幾乎是相同的，他們希望其家人和朋友來年健康和幸運。

Chinese New Year Celebration is the most important celebration of the year. Chinese people may celebrate the Chinese New Year in slightly different ways but their wishes are almost the same; they want their family members and friends to be healthy and lucky during next year.

春節慶祝活動通常持續15天。慶?；顒影ù汗澋哪暌癸?、放鞭炮、給兒童壓歲錢、春節鐘聲和春節問候。大多數中國人將在春節的第7天停止慶?；顒?，因為全國性節假日通常在這一天結束，但在公共場所的慶?；顒涌赡茏罱K持續到正月十五。

Chinese New Year Celebration usually lasts for 15 days. Celebratory activities include Chinese New Feast, firecrackers, giving lucky money to children, the New Year bell ringing and Chinese New Year Greetings. Most of Chinese people will stop the celebrating in their home on the 7th day of New Year because the national holiday usually ends around that day, however celebrations in public areas can last until the 15th day of New Year.

房屋打掃

春節打掃房屋這個非常古老的習俗甚至可以追溯到幾千年前?；覊m在傳統上與“舊”聯系在一起，所以打掃房屋和掃除灰塵意味著辭“舊”迎“新”。春節的前幾天，中國的各家各戶都打掃房屋，掃地、清洗日用品、清除蛛網和疏浚溝渠。人們興高采烈做所有這些事情，希望來年好運。

House Cleaning

To clean houses on the New Year Eve is a very old custom dating back to thousands of years ago. The dust is traditionally associated with “old” so cleaning their houses and sweeping the dust mean to bid farewell to the “old” and usher in the “new”. Days before the New Year, Chinese families clean their houses, sweeping the floor, washing daily things, cleaning the spider webs and dredging the ditches. People do all these things happily in the hope of a good coming year.

房屋裝飾

房屋裝飾之一就是在門上貼對聯。在春聯上，抒發良好的祝愿。春聯通常是成對張貼，因為雙數在中國文化中是好運氣和吉祥的象征。

House Decoration

One of the house decorations is to post couplets on doors. On the Spring Festival couplets, good wishes are expressed. New Year couplets are usually posted in pairs as even numbers are associated with good luck and auspiciousness in Chinese culture.

在中國北方，人們習慣于在窗戶上貼剪紙。人們既在窗戶上貼剪紙，又在大門上貼上大大的紅色漢字“福”字，一個紅色“福”字意味著好運和財富，因此習慣上在婚禮、節日之類的吉祥場合中，人們都會在門或墻上貼“?！弊?。

People in north China are used to posting paper-cut on their windows. When sticking the window decoration paper-cuts, people paste on the door large red Chinese character “fu”.A red "fu"means good luck and fortune, so it is customary to post "fu"on doors or walls on auspicious occasions such as wedding, festivals.

Waiting for the First Bell Ringing of Chinese New Year

The first bell ringing is the symbol of Chinese New Year. Chinese people like to go to a large squares where there are huge bells are set up on New Year’s Eve. As the New Year approaches they count down and celebrate together. The people believe that the ringing of huge bell can drive all the bad luck away and bring the fortune to them. In recent years, some people have begun going to mountain temples to wait for the first ringing. Hanshan Temple in Suzhou, is very famous temple for its first ringing of the bell to heraldChinese New Year. Many foreigners now go to Hanshan Temple to celebrate Chinese New Year.

等待春節的第一聲鐘鳴

第一次鐘聲是春節的象征。中國人喜歡到一個大廣場，那里有為除夕設置的大鐘。隨著春節的臨近，他們開始倒計數并一起慶祝。人們相信大鐘的撞響可以驅除霉運，帶來好運。近年來，有些人開始去山上寺廟等待第一次鐘聲。蘇州的寒山寺就非常著名，它的鐘聲宣布春節的到來?，F在有許多外國人也去寒山寺慶祝春節。

熬夜（“守歲”）

守歲意味著除夕夜睡得很晚甚至不睡覺。年夜飯后，家人聚坐一起，愉快聊天，等待春節的到來。

Staying up Late ("Shousui")

Shousui means to stay up late or all night on New Year's Eve. After the great dinner, families sit together and chat happily to wait for the New Year’s arrival.

年夜飯

春節是與家人團聚的時間。年夜飯是所有家庭成員聚在一起“必須”的宴會。除夕宴會上吃的食物根據不同的地區各不相同。在中國南方，習慣吃“年糕”（糯米粉制成的新年糕點），因為作為一個同音字，年糕意味著“步步高升”。在北方，年夜飯的傳統飯是“餃子”。

New Year Feast

Spring Festival is a time for family reunion. The New Year's Feast is "a must" banquet with all the family members getting together. The food eaten on the New Year Eve banquet varies according to regions. In south China, It is customary to eat "niangao" (New Year cake made of glutinous rice flour) because as a homophone, niangao means "higher and higher every year". In the north, a traditional dish for the feast is "Jiaozi".

燃放鞭炮

放鞭炮曾是春節慶祝活動中最重要的習俗之一。然而，擔心燃放鞭炮可能會帶來危險和煩人的噪音，政府已在許多大城市下令禁止燃放鞭炮。但在小城鎮和農村地區的人們仍然堅持這種傳統的慶?；顒?。除夕夜一旦時鐘撞響午夜12點鐘，城市和鄉鎮都被煙花的閃閃光芒映亮，鞭炮聲震耳欲聾。一家人熬夜就為這個歡樂的時刻，孩子們一手拿鞭炮，一手拿火機，興高采烈地點放著他們在這個特殊節日的快樂，盡管有時他們被嚇得捂著耳朵。

Setting Firecrackers

Lighting Firecrackers used to be one of the most important customs in the Spring Festival celebration. However, concerning the danger and the negative noises that lighting firecrackers may bring, the government has banned this practice in many major cities. But people in small towns and rural areas still hold to this traditional celebration. Right as the clock strikes 12 o'clock midnight of New Year's Eve, cities and towns are lit up with the glitter from fireworks, and the sound can be deafening. Families stay up for this joyful moment and kids with firecrackers in one hand and a lighter in another cheerfully light their happiness in this especial occasion, even though they plug their ears.

春節的問候（拜年）

在春節第一天或此后不久，大家都穿著新衣服，鞠躬向親戚和朋友打招呼并恭喜（祝賀），彼此祝愿在新的一年里好運，幸福。在中國農村，有些村民可能有數以百計的親戚，所以他們不得不拿出兩個多星期來走親訪友。春節第一天，按習慣，小一輩人要拜見老一輩，祝愿他們健康長壽。

因為探親訪友花費大量時間，所以，現在有些忙碌的人就送春節賀卡來表達他們的良好祝愿，而不是親自去拜訪。

New Year Greetings(Bai Nian)

On the first day of the New Year or shortly thereafter, everybody wears new clothes and greets relatives and friends with bows and Gongxi (congratulations), wishing each other good luck, happiness during the new year. In Chinese villages, some villagers may have hundreds of relatives so they have to spend more than two weeks visiting their relatives.

On the first day of the new year, it’s customary for the younger generations to visit the elders, wishing them healthy and longevity. Because visiting relatives and friends takes a lot of time, now, some busy people will send New Year cards to express their good wishes rather than pay a visit personally.

壓歲錢

這是孩子們的父母和祖父母給他們作為春節禮物的錢。壓歲錢據說能帶來好運，能驅魔，因此，就有了“壓歲錢”的稱呼。父母和祖父母先把錢放入特制的小紅包里，年夜飯后或當孩子們來拜年時，將紅包發給他們。他們之所以要把錢放到紅包里，是因為中國人認為紅色是個幸運色。他們想給自己孩子既有壓歲錢還有幸運色。（China Daily 孫曄供稿）

Lucky Money

It is the money given to kids from their parents and grandparents as New Year gift. The money is believed to bring good luck, ward off monsters; hence the name "lucky money". Parents and grandparents first put money in small, especially-made red envelopes and give the red envelopes to their kids after the New Year's Feast or when they come to visit them on the New Year. They choose to put the money in red envelopes because Chinese people think red is a lucky color. They want to give their children both lucky money and lucky color.