What does the holiday mean?

这个节日有什么含义吗？

The term "pass year" is used for the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year). The word "Year" in Chinese characters used to mean a horrible beast. To combat the beast, the Chinese hang "good luck" wishes on red paper on the door and use fireworks in the belief that the beast fears red and fire. This tradition in many ways resemble the Western belief of using garlic and crosses to fight vampires.

中文中“过年”这个词组用以表示对春节（中国新年）的庆祝。“年”这个字在中文里是一种恐怖的怪兽。因为“年”害怕红色和火，所以中国人会在门上悬挂“春联”写上美好祝福，并放鞭炮来赶跑它。这个传统有点类似西方人用大蒜和十字架吓跑吸血鬼的传统。

Why New Year is so special?

为什么新年那么特别呢？

The Chinese zodiac features 12 animals in the sequence of Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. This year is the year of Snake. Each animal represents a different "personality". According to legend, people held a conference with all the animals, informing them that they would pick the 12 to represent the zodiac. However, in spite of being fast, the cat was not picked as its then-close friend, the rat, did not wake it. This action sparked off a rivalry that continues till this day.

中国的十二生肖代表了十二种动物，他们的顺序是：鼠、牛、兔、龙、蛇、马、羊、猴、鸡、狗和猪。今年是蛇年。每一种动物有他们自己的“性格”。根据传说，人们当初和动物们开了一个会，最先到会的动物们就可以进入十二生肖。而身为猫最好的朋友，老鼠却没有把猫叫醒去开会。因此，它们之间的战争一直持续到今天。

What do people do?

那人们在新年都干啥呢？

Eat, eat again, and then eat some more! As the old Chinese saying goes: food is everything.

吃、接着吃、再吃更多东西！就跟一句中国古话说的那样：食物即一切

The tradition is to have different main courses everyday from the 1st day of the New Year to the 15th day of the New Year, from Jiao Zi (dumplings), noodles, spring rolls, sticky rice cakes, and Tang Yuan (stuffed rice balls). Besides culinary satisfaction, each food has a meaning as well: for instance, Jiao Zi looks like gold, implying a wealthy year ahead.

传统就是，从新年第一天开始直到正月十五，每天都要吃不同的主菜。从饺子、面条、春卷、年糕到汤圆。除了祭好五脏庙以外，每一种食物也有含义：比如饺子看起来就像金元宝，这意味来年的丰衣足食。

Besides eating, young people visit older family members and kids are blessed with a red pack of "lucky" money. And then, people gather and eat again (!), leading to a lot of advertisements about fitness right after the Chinese New Year holiday.

除了吃以外，年轻人要去拜会家里的老人家，而小盆友们就有大把压岁钱拿。跟着，人们又聚在一起吃，所以节后中国就会出现很多减肥广告……

Happy Chinese New year!!!

春节快乐！

资料来源：新概念英语网校