The Spring Festival

Fang Huawen

　　The last day of the old year, Daniansanshi in Chinese, is called Farewell Day, as the old year is sent away this day. On the night of this day (Eve of lunar New Year), the family members sit together, chatting, sipping tea, cracking melon or sunflower seeds, eating fried dough twists and other snack foods. People, who work in other parts of the country, will come back to join their families. Their major activity on the eve now is to watch Spring Festival Galas, which usually last from 8 to 12 at night. While watching, chatting, they enjoy themselves very much. Many families make dumplings then, eating some, keeping the rest for the next day. Of course, people eat not only dumplings, but also varieties of refreshments in Spring Festival, such as candy cakes, sweet soup balls, jujube buns and so on. Children will eat as much as they can at sight of so many delicious things, and some will spoil their stomachs with too much eating. Money is handed out to the young as lucky gifts either on the eve or on New Year’s Day. It is one of the reasons that children long for Spring Festivals as they can make a small fortune out of the sizable sums of gift money which almost all children might get.

　　Even before the dawn of New Year’s Day comes, firecrackers crack everywhere, as noisily as bean frying. Parents boil dumplings for their kids, who will clean their mouths and dash out when having eaten enough. The little ones gather in streets, setting off all kinds of firecrackers, named Rockets, Rolling Mines, Fairy Scattering Flowers, Knights in Red and so on. There are so many of them! The adults, however, are busy paying New Year calls from door to door. Leaders of companies will carry on the tradition of “enjoying with the mass”, paying visits to his men, saying blessing words, like “happy Spring Festival” and “wishing you prosperity”.

　　The custom of paying New Year’s visits comes from ancient times. As the legend goes that there was a monster called Nian, who would come out of the mountains in search of people for food. People were so scared that they put meat at door for the monster, and they themselves hid in houses. The next day they’d open the doors and congratulate each other on being alive. Later they’d not only say blessing words when they paid visits, but also change New Year’s cards printed with beautiful pictures or smart words.