The Spring Festival is the most important festival for the Chinese people and is when all family members get together, just like Christmas in the West. 

The Spring Festival falls on the 1st day of the 1st lunar month, often one month later than the Gregorian calendar. It originated in the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600 BC-c. 1100 BC) from the people's sacrifice to gods and ancestors at the end of an old year and the beginning of a new one.

Strictly speaking, the Spring Festival starts every year in the early days of the 12th lunar month and will last till the mid 1st lunar month of the next year. Of them, the most important days are Spring Festival Eve and the first three days. Most people will have a week off , thus, this time is known as golden week.

春節(jié)，又叫農(nóng)歷新年，是中國(guó)民間最隆重、最熱鬧的一個(gè)節(jié)日，是舉家歡慶團(tuán)團(tuán)圓圓的大好時(shí)節(jié)，就像西方的圣誕節(jié)一樣。

春季是每年農(nóng)歷正月初一，通常比公歷新年要晚一個(gè)月。它起源于殷商時(shí)期年頭歲尾的民間祭祖活動(dòng)。

嚴(yán)格來講，春節(jié)不只是一天的慶祝，而是從農(nóng)歷的12月底到新年的正月十五，不過最重要的幾天當(dāng)屬除夕夜和新年頭三天。春節(jié)是法定假日，大家一般都會(huì)放七天假，又叫做黃金周。

“Dust”（塵）is homophonic with “chen”（陳）in Chinese, which means old and past. In this way, “sweeping the dust” before the Spring Festival means a thorough cleaning of houses to sweep away bad luck in the past year. Chinese People believe that in order to receive the new luck, you have to swipe the bad luck. All the cleaning has to be done before the end of New Year’s Eve, that’s what Chinese people always called “Ci Jiu Ying Xin”: saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new.

“Dust” 與“塵”是諧音（塵在漢語(yǔ)中的意思是舊的和過去的）。這樣，“在春節(jié)前掃塵”是指徹底清潔房屋掃除過去閏年的厄運(yùn)。勤勞勇敢的中國(guó)人民相信，只有把舊的壞運(yùn)氣趕走了，才能迎接美好新生活。所有的大掃除必須要在除夕夜之前完成，干干凈凈整整齊齊迎接新年，就是我們常說的辭舊迎新。

After the thoroughly clean up, people will paste paper-cut decorations on the windows and doors. Paper-cuts, usually with auspicious patterns, give a happy and prosperous atmosphere of the Festival and express the good wishes of Chinese people looking forward to a good life. It is common for Chinese to paste the character “fu（福）”, big and small, on walls, doors and doorposts around the houses. “Fu（福）” shows people’s yearning toward a good life. Some people’s yearning toward a good life. Some people even invert the character “Fu（福）” to signify that blessing has arrived because “inverted” is a homonym for “arrive” in Chinese.

在大掃除之后，大家會(huì)在家中門窗上貼上窗花。通常帶有吉祥圖案的窗花，傳遞節(jié)日喜慶和執(zhí)鬧的氣氛和表達(dá)中國(guó)人期待幸福生活的美好愿望。除了貼窗花，在墻上，門上和房子周圍的門框上巾大小福字是中國(guó)人表達(dá)對(duì)美好生活渴望的普遍習(xí)俗。一些人甚至倒貼福字來表示福到了，因?yàn)樵跐h語(yǔ)中“倒”是“到”的諧音。

The Spring Festival is a time for the Chinese to have family reunion, on Chinese New Year’s Eve (Chu Xi), the whole family must sit at the table to eat the New Year’s Supper together. This meal is usually made from scratch with the entire family working together, and this meal is usually the most sumptuous meal of the year. In the New Year’s Supper, it is essential that some dishes contain the family wishes for the New Year.

春節(jié)是一個(gè)合家團(tuán)圓的日子，在除夕夜，全家都合家團(tuán)圓一起共享除夕大餐。這頓飯通常是全家總動(dòng)員，每個(gè)人都要參與，也通常是一年之中最豐盛美味的一餐。在年夜飯中，有一些美好象征意義的美食是必備的

年糕，or the New Year’s Cake, is very common in Southern China, it Is made of sticky rice. In Chinese, niangao sounds like “getting higher year by year”. In Chinese people’s mind, the higher you are, the more prosperous your business is.

年糕在中文的發(fā)音里意味著年年高升。因此中國(guó)人總認(rèn)為，如果一個(gè)人地位較高，其財(cái)富就越多。

餃子，or the stuffed Dumpling, is a very common Northern Chinese Dish, Chinese dumplings look like silver ingots. Legend has it that the more dumplings you eat during New Year celebration, the more money you can make in the New Year. Ehen making these dumplings, coins and pennies are usually put into selected few, those lucky family members that happen to eat those special dumplings are believed to have special good fortune in the upcoming year.

餃子的開關(guān)酷似一個(gè)元寶，并且在傳統(tǒng)觀念里認(rèn)為餃子吃得越多，那么來年錢就掙得越多。在做餃子的時(shí)候，人們喜歡在一些餃子里放上硬幣，吃到硬幣的幸運(yùn)兒就意味著來年會(huì)有特殊的好運(yùn)。

Lighting Firecrackers used to be one of the most important customs in the Spring Festival celebration. However, concerning the danger and the negative noises that lighting firecrackers may bring, the government has banned this practice in many major cities. But people in small towns and rural areas still hold to this traditional celebration. Right as the clock strike 12 o’ clock midnight of New Year’s Eve, cities and towns are lit up with the glitter from fireworks, and the sound can be deafening.

放鞭炮曾是春節(jié)慶祝活動(dòng)中最重要的習(xí)俗之一。然而，擔(dān)心燃放鞭炮可能會(huì)帶來危險(xiǎn)和煩人的噪音，政府已在許多大城市下令禁止燃放鞭炮。但在小城鎮(zhèn)和地區(qū)的人們?nèi)匀粓?jiān)持這種傳統(tǒng)的慶?；顒?dòng)。除夕夜一旦撞響午夜12點(diǎn)鐘，城市和鄉(xiāng)鎮(zhèn)都被煙花的閃閃光芒映亮，鞭炮聲震耳欲聾。

Children love Spring Festival because they can receive red packet! A red packet is simply a red envelope with lucky money in it, which symbolizes luck and wealth. In traditional Chinese cultural, red is considered a lucky color, red packet is believed to ward off evial spirits and to bring good fortune to the receiver. Traditionally, older generations give the red packet to the younger generation. Nowadays, this practice extends to close friends, neighbors, and even some companies give away year- end bonus in the red packets.

孩子們最愛過春節(jié)，因?yàn)榇汗?jié)有紅包！紅包就是在一個(gè)紅包的小紅包里裝上壓歲錢，寓意為幸運(yùn)和財(cái)富。在中國(guó)傳統(tǒng)文化中，紅色是幸運(yùn)色，大家相信紅包能幫人趕走霉運(yùn)， 帶來幸福富貴。在過去，都是長(zhǎng)輩給晚輩紅包，但是現(xiàn)在這個(gè)概念已經(jīng)擴(kuò)大到朋友之音，有些公司也會(huì)把年終獎(jiǎng)金放到紅包里面發(fā)放。