春节马上就要到了，一年一度的春节是中国人心中最重要的日子，不过身在北美，如何向外国人解释这个大日子，如何让他们了解春节的习俗、融入到中国新年的喜庆氛围中呢?小编就帮你整理了如何用英语简单介绍春节，再见到外国人，不怕没什么好说的啦!我们的目标是：让全世界都欢庆春节!
春节是什么——What is it Spring Festival?
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 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.
春节，又叫农历新年，是中国民间最隆重、最热闹的一个节日，是举家欢庆团团圆圆的大好时节，就像西方的圣诞节一样。春假是每年农历正月初一，通常比公历新年那要晚一个月。它起源于殷商时期年头岁尾的民间祭祖活动。严格来讲，春节不只是一天的庆祝，而是从农历的12月底到新年的正月十五，不过最重要的几天当属除夕夜和新年头三天。春节是法定假日，大家一般都会放七天假，又叫做黄金周。
春节习俗都有啥?——Spring Festival Traditions
大扫除——Spring Cleaning
“Dust”(尘) is homophonic with “chen”(陈)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 what Chinese people always called “Ci Jiu Ying Xin” : saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new.
“Dust”与“尘”是谐音(尘在汉语中的意思是旧的和过去的)。这样，“在春节前扫尘”是指彻底清洁房屋扫除过去一年的厄运。勤劳勇敢的中国人民相信，只有把旧的坏运气赶走了，才能迎接美好新生活。所有的大扫除必须要在除夕夜之前完全，干干净净整整齐齐迎接新年，就是我们常说的辞旧迎新。
贴窗花——Paper Cut
After the thoroughly clean up, people will paste paper-cut decorations and 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 even invert the character “fu(福)” to signify that blessing has arrived because “inverted” is a homonym for “arrive” in Chinese.
在大扫除之后，大家会在家中门窗上贴上窗花。通常带有吉祥图案的窗花，传递节日喜庆和热闹的气氛和表达中国人期待幸福生活的美好愿望 。除了贴窗花，在墙上，门上和房子周围的门框上贴大小福字是中国人表达对美好生活渴望的普遍习俗。一些人甚至倒贴福字来表示福到了，因为在汉语中“倒”是“到”的谐音。
贴春联——Spring Couplet
“The Spring Couplet”, also called “couplet” and “a pair of antithetical phrases”, is a special form of literature in China. The Spring Couplet is composed of two antithetical sentences on both sides of the door and a horizontal scroll bearing an inscription, usually an auspicious phrase, above the gate. Whether the family is rich or poor, educated or ignorant, everyone must put on the Spring Couplet to symbolize the hopes for the coming new year.
“春联”或“对联”对立在中国是一种特殊的文学形式。春联是由贴在门口两侧两组对仗的句子组成，在门上面的横批通常是一个吉祥的短语。不论是大富大贵还是贫困潦倒，诗书之家还是乡野村夫，每家每户都要在新年在门前贴春联，以寄托对新年的美好祝愿。
年夜饭/团圆饭——Family Reunion Dinner
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. 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.
春节是一个合家团圆的日子，在除夕夜，全家都合家团圆一起共享除夕大餐。这顿饭通常是全家总动员，每个人都要参与，也通常是一年之中最丰盛美味的一餐。在年夜饭中，有一些美好象征意义的美食是必备的:
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.
年糕在中文的发音里意味着年年高升。因此中国人总认为，如果一个人地位越高，其财富就越多。
饺子, 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. When 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.
饺子的形状酷似一个元宝，并且在传统观念里认为饺子吃得越多，那么来年钱就挣得越多。在做饺子的时候，人们喜欢在一些饺子里放上硬币，吃到硬币的幸运儿就意味着来年会有特殊的好运。
