Chinese new year

ouplets
The Spring Couplet”, also called “couplet” and “a pair of antithetical phrases(对立的短语 )”. On the eve of the Spring Festival, every household will paste on doors a spring couplet of auspicious phrases written on red paper to express their good wishes and give a happy and prosperous atmosphere of the Festival. In the past, the Chinese usually wrote their own spring couplet with a brush or asked others to do for them, while nowadays, it is common for people to buy the printed spring couplet in the market.
Festival Time
It comes on the first day of Chinese lunar calendar and lasts for almost half of a month. But in folk custom, this traditional holiday lasts from the 23rd day of the twelfth month to the 15th day of the first month (Lantern Festival) in the lunar calendar. Among these days, the Eve and the first day of Spring Festival holiday is the peak time.
Legends & Origin After that, the old man disappeared riding the beast Nian. He turned out to be an immortal god. Now that Nian is gone and other beasts of prey are also scared into forests, people begin to enjoy their peaceful life. 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 the beast feared the most. From then on, the tradition of observing the conquest of Nian is carried on from generation to generation. The term "Guo Nian", which may mean "Survive the Nian“, becomes "Celebrate the (New) Year" as the word "guo" in Chinese having both the meaning of "pass-over" and "observe".
Having Reunion Dinner
A reunion dinner is a must for everyone on Chinese New Year's Eve. It is like a magnet that draws all the family members back home. Reunion dinner is less of a ceremony and more of a promise that the family will once again unite despite their work and studies outside. The feast is always well prepared and sumptuous. Essentials of the feast include fish (representing an abundant year), lettuce (representing vigorous), shallot (representing wisdom), celery (representing diligence), chicken and duck.
Having reunion Having Jiaozi(吃饺子) dinner
Pasting Spring Pasting couplets Couplets(the 贴春联 )
off Setting Setting off Firecrackers( 放鞭炮firecrackers )
Pasting New Year Pasting paper-cuts Prints( 贴年画 )
Pasting Paper-cuts and the Gate God
Paper-cuts, usually with auspicious patterns, give a happy and prosperous atmosphere of the Festival and express the good wishes of Chinese people. An inverted character “fu（福）”, meaning the arrival of good fortune or happiness, on walls, doors around the houses is the most popular paper-cut.
In Taoism and folk-custom, the Gods of the Gate, one of the most popular gods, guard houses. Ancient people pasted their pictures on the door to drive away evil and keep their houses safe. Now their pictures are pasted on the doors during the Spring Festival.
New year’s visit and Gift Money(拜年和压 岁钱)gift money
New Year‘s Visit and
Sweeping the Dust
“Dust” is homophonic with “chen”（尘）in Chinese, which means old and past. In this way, “sweeping the dust” on Dec. 24th means a thorough cleaning of houses to sweep away bad luck in the past year. This custom shows a good wish of putting away old things to welcome a new life. In a word, just before the Spring Festival comes, every household will give a thorough cleaning to bid farewell to the old year and usher in the new.
Chinese New Year
Introduction
Chinese New Year, also called Spring Festival, has more than 4,000 years of history. Being one of the traditional Chinese festivals, it is the grandest and the most important festival for Chinese people. It is also the time for the whole families to get together, which is similar with Christmas Day to the westerners. Originating during the Shang Dynasty (about 17th - 11th century BC), it celebrates family reunion and hopes the advent of spring and flowers blossoming. It is full of colorful activities. People from different regions and different ethnic groups celebrate it in their unique ways.
Happy New Year
Why do people put up red paper and fire firecrackers in the Spring festival?
Major customs and activities
Sweeping the Dust(扫 Sweeping the dust 尘 )
Happy New Year