Shops and streets are beautifully decorated and every household is busy at shopping and preparing for the festival. On the 8th day of the twelfth lunar month, many families will make the Laba Congee, a kind of congee made from more than eight treasures, including the glutinous rice, lotus seed, beans, gingko, millet and so on. Two weeks before the festival the whole country is permeated with a holiday atmosphere. One is seeing off the old year and greeting the new. Two features distinguish it from the other festivals. The custom of putting up red paper and firing firecrackers to scare away 'Nian' had been well preservedĮqual to Christmas of the West in significance, the Spring Festival is the most important holiday in China. The term ‘Guo Nian', which may mean ‘Survive the Nian' becomes today's ‘Celebrate the New Year', as the word ‘Guo' in Chinese having both the meaning of ‘pass-over' and ‘observe'. Before the old man left, he had told people to put up red paper decorations on their windows and doors at each year's end to scare away ‘Nian' in case it sneaked back again, because red is the color that the beast feared most.įrom then on, the tradition of observing the conquest of ‘Nian' is carried on from generation to generation. Now that ‘Nian' had gone and other beasts of prey are scared off into the forests, people began to enjoy their life in peace and happiness. After that, the old man who turned out to be an immoral fairy disappeared riding the beast ‘Nian'. He said to ‘Nian' that ‘I hear that you are quite capable, but can you swallow other beasts on earth instead of people who are by no means of your worthy opponents?' Hence, ‘Nian' did swallow many of the beasts of prey on earth that also harassed people and their domestic animals from time to time. One day, an old man came to their rescue, offering to subdue ‘Nian'. It had a very big mouth that would swallow many people with one bite. It is widely believed that the word ‘Nian'(in Chinese means 'year'), was first the name of a monster beast that started to prey on human being at the night before the beginning of a new year. The origin of the Spring Festival now is too old to be traced. The last day (the 15th day of the first lunar month) of the New Year is known as the Lantern Festival.The actual date is not a fix date, instead it is changed according to the Chinese lunar calendar every year,learn more about the C hinese new year date, please transfer to the page. According to the traditional Chinese lunar calendar, Chinese Spring Festival, also known as Chinese New Year, begins with the New Moon and ends on the Full Moon, which is from the first day to the 15th day of the first month in a new year.
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