Spring Festival

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  Spring Festival is the most important festival for Chinese people who entrust it with wishes of good luck. It has more than 4,000 years of history. It is called the Spring Festival because it marks the beginning of spring and the end of winter. Spring Festival marks a new year on the lunar calendar and represents the desire for a new life. So it is also called Chinese New Year.

    Before the Spring Festival, families will do thorough cleaning, and new year shopping. People will also make decorations, such as window paper-cuts, write Spring Festival couplets.

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   Spring Festival is the time for Family Reunion. Being one of the traditional festivals, it is the time for the whole families to reunite together, which is similar with Christmas Day to the westerners.

    Spring Festival lasts 15 days. On Chinese New Year's Eve, people will having reunion dinner. People eat dumplings when the bell tolls midnight on New Year's Eve. Dumpling is pronounced as (jiao zi) in Chinese means change of the year and the day. During the Spring Festival, people visit relatives and friends.

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   People set off firecrackers during the Spring Festival. According to legend, firecrackers could drive off monsters. Setting off firecrackers is also the favorite activity of children in the Spring Festival. Red envelope, also known as lucky money, is prepared for children by adults and the elderly and given to the kids.

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    Lion dances and dragon dances are a popular tradition during Spring Festival. Both dance traditions date back well over a thousand years. Both lion and dragon dances are celebrated as mythical, powerful, and auspicious — especially during Spring Festival.

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        The Spring Festival is always the most important festival for Chinese people no matter at home or abroad.

 



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