Some Interesting Origins about Spring Festival

Eng: Spring Festival is coming! Have you been ready for the celebration?

英格：春節(jié)到！你準(zhǔn)備好如何慶祝了嗎？

Lish：I have done special purchases for the Spring Festival for several days.

麗斯：這些天我一直在買(mǎi)年貨呢。

Eng: What have you bought?

英格：你都買(mǎi)什么了??？

Lish： I have bought New Year paintings， fireworks，firecrackers and so on.

麗斯：買(mǎi)了一些年畫(huà)、煙花、爆竹等。

Eng:Do you know why we fire the firecrackers in Spring Festival?

英格：那你知道為什么過(guò)年的時(shí)候要放鞭炮嗎？

Lish： Certainly. Firework was first played to dispel ghosts and evil spirits and hanker for auspiciousness and happiness. It is said that a four-horned monster called Shan Sao and some other ghosts hiding in mountains came out to harm human beings and their livestock every 365 days. However， they were afraid of sound and light. People therefore played fireworks in order to drive away Shan Sao and evil spirits at the end of one year and the beginning of a year.

麗斯：當(dāng)然知道了。燃放爆竹的風(fēng)俗最早起因于驅(qū)鬼除邪，祈求一年的吉祥順利。傳說(shuō)，有個(gè)叫做“山臊”的四角怪獸和其他一些惡鬼平常藏在深山，每隔365天便出來(lái)傷害人畜。但是，這些無(wú)惡不做的壞東西害怕爆炸的聲音和亮光。于是，每到歲末年初，人們就爭(zhēng)著燃放鞭炮，用來(lái)驅(qū)趕“山臊”和惡鬼。

Eng: It must be a long history.

英格：那一定有很長(zhǎng)一段時(shí)間的歷史了。

Lish：The history of firework can be dated back to over 2，000 years ago. The earliest firework was called Ting Liao made up of something like bamboo sticks and would make stuttering sound when burned.

麗斯：爆竹有大約2000多年的歷史了。最早的爆竹叫“庭燎”，是用竹竿一類(lèi)的東西做成火炬，燃燒時(shí)發(fā)出噼噼啪啪的爆裂聲。

Eng: I saw a lot of families have put up red Spring Festival couplets on front gates of their houses.

英格：我看見(jiàn)許多人家的門(mén)上已經(jīng)貼上了紅色的“對(duì)聯(lián)”。

Lish：Well， have you got the origin about Spring Festival couplets?

麗斯：是啊，那你知道對(duì)聯(lián)的起源嗎？

Eng:Sure. Spring Festival couplets were not so called in the first place. Instead， they used to be called peach wood charms in the past.

英格：知道啊。剛開(kāi)始時(shí)不叫“對(duì)聯(lián)”的。在古代，人們是把“對(duì)聯(lián)”稱作“桃符”的。

Lish：Why？

麗斯：為什么呢？

Eng:It is a story. It is said that long ago， there was a mountain named Dusu in the East Sea. On the mountain there was a huge peach tree whose roots stretched outward， covering an area of 3，000 square kilometers. On the northeast top of the tree grew an arc-shaped branch bending down the ground， looking like a gate.

英格：有個(gè)故事。傳說(shuō)很久以前，在東海有一座很大的度朔山，山上有一棵大桃樹(shù)，樹(shù)根向四周伸開(kāi)，方圓足有3000多里。桃樹(shù)的東北頭有一根拱形枝干，彎彎的樹(shù)梢垂到地面，像一扇大門(mén)。

Lish：There must be some evil spirit or ghost in the mountain.

麗斯：山上一定有一些妖魔鬼怪吧。

Eng:You are right. To prevent evils and ghosts from disturbing the man's world， the Supreme Deity sent two divine generals to guard the branch and ordered every evil spirit or ghost should go through this gate-like branch whenever they wanted to go down the mountain.

英格：你說(shuō)對(duì)了。山上住著各種各樣的妖魔鬼怪。因?yàn)樗鼈兂錾綍r(shí)，必須經(jīng)過(guò)這個(gè)門(mén)口，所以天帝特地派了兩個(gè)神將把守在門(mén)口，不讓惡魔下山騷擾人間。

Lish：Is it the reason that people thought peach wood could be used to put down evil things?

麗斯：這就是人們認(rèn)為桃木具有鎮(zhèn)邪作用的原因吧？

Eng:Yes， then people began to decorate their gates with two carved deity figures made of peach wood. Later on， they thought it time-consuming to carve and simply hang peach wood boards and drew the figures on them. But some people thought it still very troublesome and began to write some auspicious words or drew charms on two pieces of paper and put them on their gates.

英格：是啊，于是民間便盛行用桃木雕刻出兩個(gè)神像裝飾在自己的大門(mén)上，用來(lái)鎮(zhèn)壓邪鬼。后來(lái)，人們簡(jiǎn)化為在兩塊桃木板上畫(huà)神像來(lái)代替神像雕塑。但是人們?nèi)匀挥X(jué)得很麻煩，于是干脆就用兩張紙畫(huà)上兩個(gè)神將或畫(huà)上符咒，或?qū)懮霞?，貼在門(mén)上，這就叫“桃符”。

Lish：Well， Spring Festival couplets came into being！

麗斯：噢，對(duì)聯(lián)就是這樣來(lái)的??！

Eng:I also need to prepare for the Spring Festival. Bye-bye! Wish you happiness and prosperity in the coming year!

英格：我也該準(zhǔn)備準(zhǔn)備過(guò)春節(jié)了。再見(jiàn)！祝你新的一年快樂(lè)幸福！

Lish：Wish you success in your school work and happiness of your family!

麗斯：祝你事學(xué)業(yè)成功，家庭美滿！

愛(ài)鏈culture

春節(jié)(Spring Festival)是中國(guó)民間最隆重傳統(tǒng)的節(jié)日。在夏歷正月初一，又叫陰歷年，俗稱“過(guò)年”、“新年”。春節(jié)的歷史很悠久，它起源于殷商時(shí)期年頭歲尾的祭神祭祖活動(dòng)。按照我國(guó)農(nóng)歷，正月初一古稱元日、元辰、元正、元朔、元旦等，俗稱年初一，到了民國(guó)時(shí)期，改用公歷，公歷的1月1日稱為元旦，把農(nóng)歷的1月1日叫春節(jié)。

能說(shuō)會(huì)用

date back:回溯至

如： This castle dates back to Roman times. 這個(gè)城堡可追溯到羅馬時(shí)代。

e趣味百科

年畫(huà)是中國(guó)畫(huà)的一種。是我國(guó)特有的一種繪畫(huà)體裁。大都用于新年時(shí)張?zhí)b飾環(huán)境，含有祝福新年吉祥喜慶之意。年畫(huà)是中華民族祈福迎新的一種民間工藝品，是一種承載著人民大眾對(duì)未來(lái)美好憧憬的民間藝術(shù)表現(xiàn)形式。歷史上，民間對(duì)年畫(huà)有著多種稱呼：宋朝叫“紙畫(huà)”，明朝叫“畫(huà)貼”，清朝叫“畫(huà)片”，直到清朝道光年間，文人李光庭在文章中寫(xiě)到：“掃舍之后，便貼年畫(huà)，稚子之戲耳?！蹦戤?huà)由此定名。

★編輯：呂曉軒