Traditional Festivals Major festivals Chinas major festivals the

中國人的傳統節日 Traditional Festivals

中國的重要節日 Major festivals • 中國的重要節日有：春節、清明節、端午 節、中秋節、重陽節。 • China's major festivals: the Spring Festival, Tomb Sweeping Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid Autumn Festival, Double Ninth Festival.

中國新年 Chinese New Year • 春節又稱中國新年，春節的慶祝是從農曆 一月一日到農曆一月十五日。 • Spring Festival is also known as Chinese New Year. The celebration of Spring Festival starts from Lunar Year January 1 to January 15.

除夕 New Year's Eve • 中國新年的前一天晚上叫除夕，全家人在 一起吃年夜飯、守歲，所以年夜飯也叫團 圓飯或圍爐。 • The night before Chinese New Year is called New Year's Eve. The family eats dinner together, stay up, so the dinner on the New Year’s Eve is also known as reunion dinner or dinner around furnace.

年夜飯 Dinner on the New Year’s Eve • 年夜飯裏，通常會有許多象徵吉祥好 運的年菜例如：魚和年糕等食物 。 • In the dinner on the New Year’s Eve, there usually are many dishes that are symbols of good luck, such as: fish and rice cakes and many other foods.

魚 Fish • • 魚的發音和餘一樣，因此「年年有餘」就 用來表示飯桌上的食物整年都不匱乏。 Pronunciation of “fish” is same as “more”. So "more than enough every year" stands for the food on the table will not lack throughout the year.

年糕 New Year Cake • 年糕是過春節時的一種應景食物，吃了年 糕，代表每個人在新的一年各方面的表現 都能步步高升。 • New Year Cake is a kind of occasional food for the New Year. Everyone eats the New Year cakes can rise higher and achieve higher performance in all aspects in the New Year.

傳統習俗 Custom • 中國人過年有許多的傳統習俗如：寫春聯， 貼窗花，吃年夜飯，給紅包， 拜年， 祭祖 等。 • There are many traditional practices in the Chinese New Year, such as: writing couplets, stickers window grilles, eat New Year’s Eve dinner, give red envelopes, New Year’s greetings, ancestor worship and so on.

春聯 Spring couplets • 春聯是一種在春節時使用的傳統裝飾物，把賀年 時說的吉祥話用書法寫在紅色紙上，以增加節日 的喜慶氣氛。 • Spring couplets are used as traditional ornaments in the Chinese New year. Auspicious New Year’s greetings are written on red paper with the calligraphy, to increase the festive atmosphere.

春聯張貼 Posting Spring Couplets • 春聯貼於大門左右柱或壁上，分為上聯和 下聯，格律規則與一般對聯相同，張貼時 上聯在右，下聯在左。 • Spring couplets are posted on columns or walls around the door, with the first and the second line, sharing the same metrical rule with the general couplets. When posting the first line is on the right, and the second line on the left.

壓歲錢 Lucky money • 春節時小孩子會給長輩拜年，長輩就會給 小孩子紅包，叫「壓歲錢」。 • In Spring Festival children will greet the elders, and the elders will give children red envelopes, called "lucky money".

新年的傳說故事 Legendary stories • 中國新年的傳說故事中以年獸和十二生肖 的故事最有名。 • The most famous legendary stories of Chinese New Year are the story of Nian beast and the story of zodiac animals.

年獸 Nian beast • • 年獸的故事中相傳年獸害怕紅色的東西和 很大的聲響，因此貼春聯和放鞭炮就成為 過年時的習俗 。 According to the legendary story of Nian beast, Nian was afraid of red stuffs and big noise, so it became Chinese New Year customs to post couplets and set off firecrackers.

十二生肖 Zodiac • • 十二生肖是指鼠牛虎兔龍蛇馬羊猴雞狗豬 十二種動物。每一生肖代表一年，每十二 年一個循環。 Zodiac animals include: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig twelve animals. Each animal represents one year. A cycle is twelve years.

元宵節 Lantern Festival • • 農曆一月（正月）十五是元宵節，又稱為 上元節，是春節慶祝的最後一天。 January (first month) 15 th of the lunar calendar is the Lantern Festival. It is the last day of Chinese New Year celebration.

元宵節的習俗 Custom of the Lantern Festival • • 元宵節的習俗有吃元宵（元宵在中國南方 又稱為湯圓）、看花燈、猜燈謎。 The custom of the Lantern Festival includes eating Yuan Xiao (also known as glutinous rice balls in southern China), seeing lanterns, and solving lantern riddles.