Traditional Chinese Festival.doc

Chinese New Year Lion dancers at Historic Chinatown Gate, Chinese New Year, Hing Hay Park, Seattle, Washington(February 3, 2011) Also called Lunar New Year, Spring Festival. Observed by Chinese communities worldwide[1] Type Cultural, Religious(Buddhist, Taoist,Confucian) Significance The first day of the Chinese calendar Celebrations Lion dances, fireworks, family gathering, family meal, visiting friends and relatives (拜年, bàinián), giving red envelopes, decorating with duilian(對聯, duìlián). Date Chinese lunar new year Chinese New Year is an important traditional Chinese holiday. In China, it is also known as the Spring Festival. Chinese New Year celebrations traditionally ran from Chinese New Years Eve, the last day of the last month of the Chinese calendar, to the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month, making the festival the longest in the Chinese calendar. Because the Chinese calendar is lunisolar（日与月的）, the Chinese New Year is often referred to as the Lunar New Year. Within China, regional customs and traditions concerning（关于，就。。。而言） the celebration of the Chinese New Year vary widely. Often, the evening preceding （adj在前的，陈述的 V 在。。之前） Chinese New Years Day is an occasion for Chinese families to gather for the annual每年的 reunion dinner. It is also traditional for every family to thoroughly彻底的 完全的 cleanse（V净化 ）the house, in order to sweep away any ill-fortune and to make way for good incoming luck. Windows and doors will be decorated with red colour paper-cuts and couplets对联 with popular themes of good fortune or happiness, wealth, and longevity长寿. Other activities include lighting firecrackers鞭炮 and giving money in red paper envelopes. Lantern Festival The Lantern Festival in China is a festival celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunisolar 阴与月的year in the lunar calendar marking the last day of the lunar New Year celebration. It is also known as the Yuanxiao Festival or Shangyuan Festival; During the Lantern Festi