Part D Interaction

Spring Festival

Spring Festival is the Chinese New Year. It starts on the 1st and ends on the 15th of lunar January. Spring Festival celebrates the coming of spring. Several days before the New Year,every family prepares rich food, buys new clothes, and cleans the house. Many families buy or write Spring Festival couplets and put them on the door. People believe that everything must be new and clean for the Spring Festival celebration so that the New Year will bring happiness and good luck. In China, red represents luck.

On New Year’s eve, people set off fireworks from around midnight to see out the end of the previous year and welcome in the New Year, called shousui. On the first day of the New Year people usually stay at home. On the 2nd day people get up early and exchange New Year’s greetings with relatives, friends, neighbors, etc.

The tradition is to have different main courses everyday from the 1st day of the New Year to the 15th day of the New Year, from Jiao Zi (dumplings), noodles, spring rolls, sticky rice cakes, to Tang Yuan (stuffed rice balls). Each food has a meaning as well: for instance, Jiao Zi looks like gold, implying a wealthy year ahead.(https://www.daowen.com)

Paper-cuts, usually with auspicious patterns, give a happy and prosperous atmosphere of the Festival and express the good wishes of Chinese people looking forward to a good life.

Spring Festival is the most important festival in China. Children like Spring Festival very much, because they can have delicious food and wear new clothes. They can also get some money from their parents. This money is given to children for good luck.

Task One Write some auspicious words of Spring Festival.

Task Two Talk about some Spring Festival customs in your home town.