一、Chinese New Year
I like the Chinese new year better than any other festival.This is a time especially for rest and joy.I need not study.I wear good clothes and eat good food.I have a good time from morning till night.To be frank with you,I am as happy as a king.The Chinese new year lasts as long as fifteen days.It gives us more pleasure than we have imagined.After that we have to resume our normal work.
二、Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year starts with the New Moon on the first day of the new year and ends on the full moon 15 days later.The 15th day of the new year is called the Lantern Festival,which is celebrated at night with lantern displays and children carrying lanterns in a parade.
The Chinese calendar is based on a combination of lunar and solar movements.The lunar cycle is about 29.5 days.In order to "catch up" with the solar calendar the Chinese insert an extra month once every few years (seven years out of a 19-yearcycle).This is the same as adding an extra day on leap year.This is why,according to the solar calendar,the Chinese New Year falls on a different date each year.
New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are celebrated as a family affair,a time of reunion and thanksgiving.The celebration was traditionally highlighted with a religious ceremony given in honor of Heaven and Earth,the gods of the household and the family ancestors.
The sacrifice to the ancestors,the most vital of all the rituals,united the living members with those who had passed away.Departed relatives are remembered with great respect because they were responsible for laying the foundations for the fortune and glory of the family.
The presence of the ancestors is acknowledged on New Year's Eve with a dinner arranged for them at the family banquet table.The spirits of the ancestors,together with the living,celebrate the onset of the New Year as one great community.The communal feast called "surrounding the stove" or weilu.It symbolizes family unity and honors the past and present generations.
三、Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year is the longest and most important celebration in the Chinese calendar.Chinese months are reckoned by the lunar calendar,with each month beginning on the darkest day.New Year festivities traditionally start on the first day of the month and continue until the fifteenth,when the moon is brightest.In China,people may take weeks of holiday from work to prepare for and celebrate the New Year.