Chinese New Year Celebrations and Customs

2. Part A Name(名称) What do we usually call 春节 ? Chinese New Year Lunar New Year the Spring Festival

3. 过年 春联 年画 灯笼 烟花 爆竹 拜年 1.celebrate the spring festival 2.spring festival couplets 3.new year paintings 4.lantern 5.fireworks 6.firecrackers 7.pay new year’s call / give new year’s greetings Warm-up(准备工作) Vocabulary :(相关词汇)

4. 大扫除 团圆饭 年夜饭 守岁 去晦气 祭祖宗 压岁钱 舞狮 杂耍 1.spring cleaning 2.family reunion dinner 3.the dinner on new year’s eve 4.staying-up 5. get rid of the ill-fortune 6.offer sacrifices to one’s ancestors 7.pocket money; red envelope 8.lion dance 9.variety show

5. Part B(1) Group Celebrations（集体庆祝活动） • How does group usually celebrate it ? dancing, singing, playing, lion dance, variety shows, stilt-walking(踩高跷）

6. Part B (2) Family Celebrations家庭庆祝活动 • How does family celebrate the Spring Festival ? getting together, family reunion, feasts, watching CCTV New Year’s show playing cards/majiang ,giving gifts to… making New Year’s visits, sending New Year’s greetings, giving pocket money to worshipping ancestors and deceased（已去世的） family members putting up New Year couplets（对联）

7. Part B (3) Children Celebrations • getting red envelope/ pocket money / gifts from parents / relatives • setting off fireworks/ firecrackers • playing games

8. Part C Food • What do we usually eat during the Spring Festival ? • various dishes: chicken ; fish; pork… • dumplings • steamed bread • niangao

9. Customs Of The Spring Festival The Spring Festival is a traditional Chinese festival and also the most important one of the whole year. Through the development of thousands of years, a series of customs are still the same as before.

10. Sweeping the Dust( 扫尘) “Dust” is homophonic(同音) with “chen”（尘）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. This custom shows a good wish of putting away old things to welcome a new life.

11. Pasting/putting up Spring Couplets(贴春联) On the eve of the Spring Festival, every household will paste on doors a spring couplet written on red paper to give a happy and prosperous(繁荣的) atmosphere of the Festival.

12. Pasting Paper-cuts and “Up-sided Fu”(贴窗花和“福”字) Paper-cuts, usually with lucky patterns, give a happy and prosperous atmosphere of the Festival and express the good wishes of Chinese people looking forward to a good life. In addition to pasting paper-cuts on windows, it is common for Chinese to paste the character “fu（福）”, big or small, on walls or doors. “Fu” shows people’s yearning(向往) toward a good life. Some people even invert(倒置）the character “fu” to mean that blessing has arrived because “inverted(倒转的)” is a homonym(同音) for “arrive” in Chinese.

13. Staying Up Late on New Year's Eve(守岁) The tradition of staying up late to see New Year is originated from an interesting folk tale. In ancient China there lived a monster named Year, who was very terrible. Year always went out from its burrow(洞穴) on New Year’s Eve to eat people. Therefore, on every New Year’s Eve, every household would have supper together. After dinner, no one dared go to sleep and all the family members would sit together, chatting and emboldening(壮胆) each other. Gradually the habit of staying up late on New Year’s Eve is formed. Thus in China, “celebrating the Spring Festival” is also called “passing over the year (guo nian)”.

14. 看春节联欢晚会 The CCTV New Year's Gala The New Year’s Gala is a variety show held by China Central Television (CCTV) since 1983. For every year at the turn of the Lunar New Year, the program begins at 8:00PM and lasts five or six hours. It brings laughter to billions of people and creates many popular words. For over twenty years, its value has gone far beyond a variety show. It is essential entertainment for the Chinese both at home and abroad. Many Chinese would like to watch the gala while having the dinner on New Year’s Eve.

15. Burning Firecrackers放鞭炮 The firecracker is a unique(特有的) product in China. In ancient China, the sound of burning bamboo tubes was used to scare away wild animals and evil spirits. With the invention of the gunpowder, “firecracker” is also called “鞭炮biānpào” and used to create a joyful atmosphere. The first thing every Chinese household does is to burn firecrackers and fireworks, which means saying farewell/goodby to the old year and usher(迎接) in the new.

16. New Year's Visit and Gift Money(拜年和压岁钱) On the first day of the Chinese lunar year, everybody puts on their best clothes and pays formal calls on their relatives and friends, wishing them all the luck in the coming year. Juniors will greet seniors, wishing them health and longevity(长寿), while seniors will give juniors some gift money as a wish for their safety in the coming year. When friends meet, they will wish each other happiness and prosperity with a big smile. With the development of the new technology, there is a change on the way of giving New Years greetings. In recent year, it is common to send New Years greetings by such modern means of communication as telephones, emails and text messages.

17. Eating “jiaozi” (吃饺子) On New Year’s Eve, the whole family will sit together to make jiaozi and celebrate the Spring Festival. The shape of jiaozi is like gold ingot from ancient China. So people eat them and wish for money and treasure. The tradition of having jiaozi is very important during the Spring Festival. You cannot have a complete Spring Festival without having jiaozi.

18. Oral Exercise(口头练习） How do you celebrate the Spring Festival ?

19. The task of this term: 1.Finish modules7-8( about 2 months) 2.Prepare for the graduation examination The requirements: 1.vocabulary accumulation 2.taking notes 3.an dictionary 4.exercising in time

21. Thank you!