Preceding days 春節(jié)前
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On the days before the New Year celebration Chinese families give their home a thorough cleaning. There is a Cantonese saying "Wash away the dirt on ninyabaat" (年廿八，洗邋遢), but the practice is not usually restricted on nin'ya'baat (年廿八, the 28th day of month 12). It is believed the cleaning sweeps away the bad luck of the preceding year and makes their homes ready for good luck. Brooms and dust pans are put away on the first day so that luck cannot be swept away. Some people give their homes, doors and window-frames a new coat of red paint. Homes are often decorated with paper cutouts of Chinese auspicious phrases and couplets. Purchasing new clothing, shoes, and receiving a hair-cut also symbolize a fresh start.
In many households where Buddhism or Taoism is prevalent, home altars and statues are cleaned thoroughly, and altars that were adorned with decorations from the previous year are also taken down and burned a week before the new year starts, and replaced with new decorations. Taoists (and Buddhists to a lesser extent) will also "send gods" (送神), an example would be burning a paper effigy of Zao Jun the Kitchen God, the recorder of family functions. This is done so that the Kitchen God can report to the Jade Emperor of the family household's transgressions and good deeds. Families often offer sweet foods (such as candy) in order to "bribe" the deities into reporting good things about the family.
The biggest event of any Chinese New Year's Eve is the dinner every family will have. A dish consisting of fish will appear on the tables of Chinese families. It is for display for the New Year's Eve dinner. This meal is comparable to Christmas dinner in the West. In northern China, it is customary to make dumplings (jiaozi 餃子) after dinner and have it around midnight. Dumplings symbolize wealth because their shape is like a Chinese tael. By contrast, in the South, it is customary to make a new year cake (Niangao, 年糕) after dinner and send pieces of it as gifts to relatives and friends in the coming days of the new year. Niangao literally means increasingly prosperous year in year out. After the dinner, some families go to local temples, hours before the new year begins to pray for a prosperous new year by lighting the first incense of the year; however in modern practice, many households hold parties and even hold a countdown to the new lunar year. Beginning in the 1980s, the CCTV New Year's Gala was broadcast four hours before the start of the New Year.
春節(jié)英語祝福語
Wishing you all the happiness of the holiday season.
祝節(jié)日幸福如意。
Hope all your New Year dreams come true!
愿你所有的新年想都成真!
Hope you enjoy the happiness of New Year and all the trimmings.
祝你享盡新年佳節(jié)的快樂和新年的禮品。
Warm hearted wishes for a happy New Year filled with all your favorite things.
傳統(tǒng)佳節(jié)之際，獻上殷殷祝福，祝新年萬事如意!
I wish you a happy New Year. All affection and best wishes to you and yours.
以我所有的愛心與真誠祝你及全家圣誕快樂。
In the season of joy I present my sincere wishes and kind thoughts. May the kind of New Year outshine all the rest.在這歡樂的時節(jié)給你我最真的祝福和親切的思念，愿你今年的新年比往年更璀璨。
May the New Year be a time of laughter and real enjoyment for you. Best wishes.
愿新年不僅是你歡笑的時刻，更是你歡喜的日子。祝福你。
May the glow of New Year candle fill your heart with peace and pleasure and make your New Year bright.Have a love filled New Year!
愿新年的燭光帶給你祥和與喜悅，祝你新年充滿愛。
May the bright and festive glow of New Year candle warm the days all the year through. Hoping you will have a wonderful time enjoying New Year that is happy in every way.
愿明亮喜慶的新年燭光溫暖一年中的每個日日夜夜，祝你歡歡喜喜度新年!