各国华人春节.doc

各国华人春节 Ringing in the new year敲响新年的钟声 On 19 February 2015, more than a billion people will kick-off 15 days of festivities to celebrate the Lunar New Year – one of the most important festivals for people in China, many parts of Asia and in cities and towns worldwide. Although celebrated in different ways around the world, Lunar New Year is a time for families to get together, honour deities and ancestors, and ring in the new lunar calendar. Legend has it that the festival, which has origins dating back to the 14th Century, started when a mythical creature, called a Nian, arrived to Peach Blossom village on the first day of the new year to eat livestock, crops and even children. An old wise man advised the villagers to hang red paper and set off firecrackers to scare the Nian away. From then on, the Nian never returned to the village and peace reigned. 2015年2月19日，超过十亿人将开始为期15天的农历新年庆祝活动---它是中国人民、多数亚洲地区和世界各地的城镇最重要的节日之一。虽然世界各地的庆祝方式各不相同，然而共同之处在于农历新年是家人团聚、庆祝、祭祖的欢乐时刻，也是共同迎来新篇章的时刻。相传，这个节日的由来可以追溯到14世纪的一个叫做“年”的神秘生物，它在新年的第一天来到桃花村，吃牲畜、庄稼甚至是小孩儿。一位老智者建议村民贴红纸、放鞭炮把年吓走。从此以后，年再也没有回到村里，村子恢复了平静。 Year of the goat羊年 Lunar New Year is closely tied to the Chinesezodiac, which assigns each year to a different animal on a 12-year cycle. The Chinese zodiac, together with the corresponding animal symbols, was first created between 206 BC to 220 AD. According to Chinese belief, each animal zodiac has its own lucky numbers, days and colours. In 2015, the year of the goat, experts predict that the numbers two and seven, and colours brown, red and purple will bring good luck to those born in the next 12 months. 与农历新年紧密联系在一起的是中国的生肖，每一年都由不同的动物代表，12年一个轮回。中国的十二生肖以及相应的动物符号，最早创建于公元前206到220年间，根据中国人的信仰，每种动物生肖都有自己的幸运数字、幸运日和幸运颜色。2015羊年，在这一年出生的人，专家们预测他们的幸运数字是2和7，幸运颜色是棕色，红色和紫色。 Traditions and rituals传统和仪式 Before the holiday approaches, people commonly practice some form of spring cleaning to rid their homes of huiqi, or “inauspicious breaths”, collected in the previous year. Traditionally, a clean