1、This PPT is a simple introduction for Chinese Lunar new year.Spring FestivalThe Chinese New Year Ram Year Transport during the Spring Festival Time for Celebration Laba Festival Preliminary Eve Special Purchases for the Spring Festival Sweeping the Dust Pasting Spring Couplets Pasting Paper-cuts and
2、 “Up-sided Fu” Pasting New Year Prints Dinner on the Eve Staying Up Late on New Years Eve The CCTV New Years Gala Setting off Firecrackers Breakfast in the New Year New Years Visit and Gift Money Temple Fair Lantern Festival Activity of Lantern FestivalContentsRam/Sheep/Goat Year Chinese ancestors i
3、nvented the 10 Tian Gan (or heavenly stems) and 12 Di Zhi (or 12 earthly branches) for chronological purpose. Later, people used 12 animals to symbolize the 12 earthly branches in order to make things easier to memorize and the animals (Chinese Zodiac Sign) in order are the mouse, ox, tiger, rabbit,
4、 dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. You might found out that many Chinese people strongly believe that the time of a persons birth is primary factor in determining that persons characteristics. 2015 is Chinese Ram Year. So we call this lunar new year the “Spring Festival of R
5、am Year”. 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. All people living away from home go back, becoming the busiest time for transportation systems of about half a month from the Spring Festi
6、val. Airports, railway stations and long-distance bus stations are crowded with home returnees, so transport in this special time is an unavoidable social problem.Transport during the Spring Festival Period The Spring Festival falls on the 1st day of the 1st lunar month, often one month later than t
7、he Gregorian calendar. It originated in the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600 BC-c. 1100 BC) from the peoples sacrifice to gods and ancestors at the end of an old year and the beginning of a new one. The preparing work for Spring Festival starts every year in the early days of the 12th lunar month and will las
8、t till the mid 1st lunar month of the next year. Excitement and happiness are palpable this time of the year, and they reach the peak on lunar new years eve.Time for celebration On the 8th day of the 12th lunar month, many families make laba porridge, a delicious kind of porridge made with more than
9、 8 kinds of ingredients, such as glutinous rice, millet, seeds of Jobs tears, jujube berries, lotus seeds, beans, longan and gingko (the ingredient is different from place to place). As a result, we also call this day “Laba Festival”.Laba FestivalSome large Buddhist temples would offer Laba porridge
10、 to general public to show their faith to Buddha. The 23rd day of the 12th lunar month is called Preliminary Eve. At this time, people offer sacrifice to the kitchen god. Now however, most families make delicious food to enjoy themselves.Preliminary Eve After the Preliminary Eve, people begin prepar
11、ing for the coming New Year. This is called “Seeing the New Year in”. Store owners are busy then as everybody goes out to purchase necessities for the New Year. Materials not only include edible oil, rice, flour, chicken, duck, fish and meat, but also fruit, candies and kinds of nuts. Whats more, va
12、rious decorations, new clothes and shoes for the children as well as gifts for the elderly, friends and relatives, are all on the list of purchasing.special purchases for the Spring FestivalSweeping the Dust “Dust” is homophonic with “chen” in Chinese, which means old and past. In this way, “sweepin
13、g 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. In a word, just before the Spring Festival comes, every household will give a thorough cleaning to bid f
14、arewell to the old year and usher in the new.Pasting Spring Couplets“The Spring Couplet”, also called “couplet” or “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 scrol
15、l bearing an inscription, usually an auspicious phrase, above the gate. The sentence pasting on the right side of the door is called the first line of the couplet and the one on the left the second line. 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 atmosphere of the Festival. In the past, the Chinese usually wrote their own spring couplet with a brush or asked others to do for them, while nowadays, it is common for people to buy the printed spring couplet in the market.
