春节快乐！ Happy Spring Festival！

正月初一是春节，中国新年的开始。

The first day of the first lunar month is Spring Festival, the beginning of a new year for China.
    春节的来历有一种传说，中国古时候有一种叫“年”的怪兽，头长触角，凶猛异常，“年”长年深居海底，每到除夕才爬上岸，吞食牲畜伤害人命。因此，每到除夕这天，村村寨寨的人们扶老携幼逃往深山，以躲避“年”兽的伤害。后来有一年除夕，从村外来了个乞讨的老人，告知了人们驱赶“年”兽的办法。“年”最怕红色、火光和炸响。从此每年除夕，家家贴红对联、燃放爆竹，户户烛火通明、守更待岁。

There is a legend about the origin of the Spring Festival. In ancient China, there was a monster called Nian, with long antennae and unusual ferocity. Nian lived deep in the sea for many years. He did not climb ashore until New Year's Eve, devouring livestock and hurting people's lives. Therefore, on New Year's Eve, people take the old and the young to escape to the mountains to avoid the harm of the Nian. Later on New Year's Eve, an old beggar from outside the village told people how to drive out the Nian. Nian was most afraid of red, fire and explosion. Sincethen, on every New Year's Eve, families stick red couplets and set offfirecrackers. Households have bright candles and wait for the new year.

春节打扫房屋这个非常古老的习俗可以追溯到几千年前。灰尘在传统上与“旧”联系在一起，所以打扫房屋和扫除灰尘意味着辞“旧”迎“新”。人们还会在门上贴对联。在春联上，抒发良好的祝愿。春联通常是成对张贴，因为双数在中国文化中是好运气和吉祥的象征。在中国北方，人们习惯于在窗户上贴剪纸。人们既在窗户上贴剪纸，又在大门上贴上大大的红色汉字“福”字，一个红色“福”字意味着好运和财富。

To clean houses on the New Year Eve is a very old custom dating back to thousands of years ago. The dust is traditionally associated with "old" so cleaning their houses and sweeping the dust mean to bid farewell to the "old" and usher in the "new". One of the house decorations is to post couplets on doors. On the Spring Festival couplets, good wishes are expressed. New Year couplets are usually posted in pairs as even numbers are associated with good luck and auspiciousness in Chinese culture. People in north China are used to posting paper-cut on their windows. When sticking the window decoration paper-cuts, people paste on the door large red Chinese character "fu". A red "fu" means good luck and fortune.

大年三十，全家团聚吃年夜饭，看春节晚会，还要“守岁”。家家户户吃饺子，长辈给小孩发红包。央视春晚已成为中国新年庆典不可缺少的部分。

On Spring Festival Eve, the whole family enjoys a big feast at night while watching the Spring Festival Gala. They stay up late and wait to ring in the New Year. A must-eat food is dumplings. Elders give kids red packets, or red envelopes, with cash in them. The CCTV Spring Festival Galahas been an integral part of the Chinese New Year rituals.

哈尔滨医科大学国际教育学院祝大家春节快乐、虎年吉祥！

The College of International Education, Harbin Medical University, wishes everyone a Happy Spring Festival and a good luck in the Year of the Tiger!