Pasting Spring Couplet春聯(lián)：
“The Spring Couplet”, also called “couplet” and “a pair of antithetical phrases”, is a special form of literature in China. The Spring Couplet is composed of two antithetical sentences on both sides of the door and a horizontal scroll bearing an inscription, usually an auspicious phrase, above the gate. The sentence pasting on the right side of the door is called the first line of the couplet and the one on the left the second line. On the eve of the Spring Festival, every household will paste on doors a spring couplet written on red paper to give a happy and prosperous atmosphere of the Festival. In the past, the Chinese usually wrote their own spring couplet with a brush or asked others to do for them, while nowadays, it is common for people to buy the printed spring couplet in the market.
“春聯(lián)”也被稱為和“對(duì)聯(lián)”對(duì)立的一對(duì)短語(yǔ)，在中國(guó)是一種特殊的文學(xué)形式。春聯(lián)是由貼在門(mén)口兩側(cè)兩組對(duì)立的句子組成，在門(mén)上面的橫批通常是一個(gè)吉祥的短語(yǔ)。貼在門(mén)右側(cè)的句子被稱作對(duì)聯(lián)的上聯(lián)，左側(cè)的為下聯(lián)。除夕那天，每家都會(huì)在門(mén)上貼上紅紙寫(xiě)的春聯(lián)，傳遞出節(jié)日喜慶和熱鬧的氣氛。在過(guò)去，中國(guó)人通常用毛筆自己寫(xiě)春聯(lián)或者請(qǐng)別人寫(xiě)春聯(lián)，而現(xiàn)在，人們普遍在市場(chǎng)上買(mǎi)印刷好的春聯(lián)。
Set off firecrackers 放鞭炮：
The firecracker is a unique product in China. In ancient China, the sound of burning bamboo tubes was used to scare away wild animals and evil spirits. With the invention of the gunpowder, “firecracker” is also called “鞭炮biānpào” (“炮” in Chinese means gun) and used to foster a joyful atmosphere. The first thing every Chinese household does is to set off firecrackers and fireworks, which are meant to bid farewell to the old year and usher in the new. In the past few years, such an activity was completely or partially forbidden in big cities including Beijing due to fire and personal casualty caused by burning firecrackers. However, some Chinese thought that a Spring Festival without firecrackers was not lively enough and they burned firecrackers by stealth. So in recent years, the ban was canceled again. This shows that burning firecrackers is a very important activity during the Spring Festival.
Sweeping the dust掃塵：
“Dust” is homophonic with “chen”(塵)in Chinese, which means old and past. In this way, “sweeping the dust” before the Spring Festival means a thorough cleaning of houses to sweep away bad luck in the past year. This custom shows a good wish of putting away old things to welcome a new life. In a word, just before the Spring Festival comes, every household will give a thorough cleaning to bid farewell to the old year and usher in the new.
“Dust”與“塵”是諧音(塵在漢語(yǔ)中的意思是舊的和過(guò)去的)。這樣，“在春節(jié)前掃塵”是指徹底清潔房屋掃除過(guò)去一年的厄運(yùn)。此習(xí)俗表達(dá)了收拾舊事物，歡迎新生活的美好愿望。總之，就在春節(jié)到來(lái)之前，為了告別舊年迎接新年，家家戶戶都會(huì)徹底打掃一下房屋。