traditional Chinese festival

traditional Chinese festival--Chinese New Year

The traditional Chinese holidays are an essential part of harvests or prayer offerings. The most important Chinese holiday is the Chinese New Year.

中国的传统节日在收获或祈祷祭中必不可少的一 部分。中国最重要的节日是春节。

According to tales and legends, the beginning of the Chinese New Year started with a mythical beast called the Nian. Nian would come on the first day of New Year to eat livestock, crops, and even villagers, especially children. To protect themselves, the villagers would put food in front of their doors at the beginning of every year. 据传说，中国新年的开始，一个神秘的野兽叫年。年会在新 年的第一天吃家畜，农作物，甚至村民，尤其是儿童。为了 保护自己，村民们会把食物放在他们的门前每年年初。据说， 年吃他们准备的食物后，就不会攻击人。

It was believed that after the Nian ate the food they prepared, it wouldn't attack any more people. One day a villager decided to get revenge of the Nian. A god visited him and told him to put red paper on his house and to place firecrackers. The villagers then understood that the Nian was afraid of the color red. When the New Year was about to come, the villagers would hang red lanterns and red spring scrolls on windows and doors. People also used firecrackers to frighten away the Nian. From then on, Nian never came to the village again. The Nian was eventually captured by Hongjun Laozu, an ancient Taoist monk. 一天一个村民决定找年的复仇。一个神来拜访他，并告诉他把红纸在 他的房子前并放鞭炮。村民们由此而知年兽害怕红色。当新的一年即 将到来，村民们将挂起红灯笼，在窗户和门上贴上红色的春联。人们 也用鞭炮来吓跑年。从那时起，年就不来村里了。