如何用英语表达中国传统春节的习俗
1、贴对联
1、Posting couplets
春联也叫门对、春贴、对联、对子、桃符等，它以工整、对偶、简洁、精巧的文字描绘时代背景。
Spring
couplets are also called door-to-door couplets, spring stickers,
couplets, couplets and peach symbols. They describe the background of
the times in neat, dual, concise and exquisite words.
抒发美好愿望，是我国特有的文学形式。每逢春节，家家户户都会贴上对联，庆祝新年的到来。
Expressing good wishes is a unique literary form in China. Every Spring Festival, families will paste couplets to celebrate the arrival of the New Year.
这一习俗起于宋代，在明代开始盛行，到了清代，春联的思想性和艺术性都有了很大的提高。
This
custom began in the Song Dynasty and began to prevail in the Ming
Dynasty. By the Qing Dynasty, the ideological and artistic quality of
Spring Festival couplets had greatly improved.
2、扫尘
2、Sweeping dust
“腊月二十四，掸尘扫房子” ，据《吕氏春秋》记载，我国在尧舜时代就有春节扫尘的风俗。
"December
24, dust cleaning house," according to the "Lushi Spring and Autumn"
records, our country in the Yao and Shun times have the Spring Festival
dust-sweeping custom.
扫尘的意义在于要把一切穷运、晦气统统扫出门，希望来年的生活过得更加的美好。
The
significance of dust sweeping is to sweep out all the bad luck and bad
luck, hoping that the next year's life will be better.
3、拜年
3、pay New Year call
新年的初一，人们都早早起来，穿上最漂亮的衣服，打扮得整整齐齐，出门去走亲访友，相互拜年，恭祝来年大吉大利。
On
the first day of the New Year, people get up early, wear the most
beautiful clothes, dress neatly, go out to visit relatives and friends,
and greet each other with New Year's greetings.
春节拜年时，晚辈要先给长辈拜年，祝长辈人长寿安康，长辈可将事先准备好的压岁钱分给晚辈。
In
the Spring Festival New Year celebration, the younger generation should
first pay New Year's greetings to the elders, wishing them a long and
healthy life. The elders can distribute the money prepared in advance to
the younger generation.
据说压岁钱可以压住邪祟，因为“岁”与“祟”谐音，晚辈得到压岁钱就可以平平安安度过一岁。
It
is said that New Year's money can suppress evil spirits, because the
homonym of "age" and "haze" enables the younger generation to get lucky
money and live safely through the year.
Paste couplets(Chinese: 贴春联): it’s a kind of literature. Chinese people like to write some dual and concise words on red paper to express their new year’s wishes. On the arrival of New Year, every family will paste couplets.
Family reunion dinner(Chinese: 团圆饭): people travelling or residing in a place far away from home will back to their home to get together with their families.
Stay up late on New Year’s Eve(Chinese: 守岁): it’s a kind of way for Chinese people to welcome New Year’s arrival. Staying up late on New Year’s Eve is endowed with auspicious meaning by people. The old do it for cherishing their past time, the young do it for their parents’ longevity.
Hand out red packets(Chinese: 发红包): elders will put some money into red packets, and then hand out to the younger generation during spring festival. In recent years, electric red packets are popular among younger generation.
Set off firecrackers（放鞭炮）: Chinese people think the loud sound of the firecrackers can drive away devils, and the fire of the firecrackers can make their life thriving in the coming year.
Celebration Activities on Chinese New Year’s Eve
After dinner, people sit together before the TV to watch the New Year's program and chat with each other. About ten minutes before the ringing of the New Year's bell, people let out the fireworks to welcome back the Kitchen God from the Heaven, who is in charge of the fortune and misfortune of the household he dwells.
A new beginning on New Year’s Day
Some of the customs based on superstitions are quite interesting. For example, on New Year's Day, people will not sweep the floor, do washing or dump their garbage out of the house, lest these would do away with their fortune. On the Lunar New Year's Eve, people like to stick the Chinese character ‘Happiness' upside down on doors or walls, because ‘upside down' in Chinese is a homophone of ‘coming' or ‘arriving'.
The custom of pasting couplets on the doors has a long history. In the ancient times, people hung short branches of peach tree on the doors or at the front gates for the purpose of driving away the evil things. Later they became peach wood boards with some Chinese characters written on them. With the invention of paper, on each of which was written a verse line to welcome the New Year to express wishes for happiness and good fortune. During the long time development, spring couplets have become a special form of literature with their own characteristic.
After putting up couplets and pictures in the doors on the Lunar New Year's Eve, the last day of the twelfth moon in the Chinese lunar calendar , each family gathers for a sumptuous meal called ‘family reunion dinner'. People will enjoy the food and drink in abundance and Jiaozi.
The meal is more luxurious than usual. Dishes such as chicken, fish and bean curd is necessary, for in Chinese, their pronunciations sounds like ‘Ji', ‘Yu', and ‘Doufu', with the meanings of auspicious, abundant and rich. Sons and daughters working away from home come back to join their parents.
