English stories about the Spring Festival

China New Year is now commonly called the Spring Festival, because it begins in beginning of spring (the first of the 24 solar terms, which adapts to the changes of nature). Its origin is too old to trace back. Several explanations are pending. However, everyone agrees that the word "nian" only means "nian" in modern Chinese. It was originally the name of a monster, which began to prey on people the night before the start of the new year.

There is a legend that the monster Nian has a big mouth and can swallow many people in one bite. People are very scared. One day, an old man came to save them and offered to subdue Nian. He said to nian, "I heard that you are very capable, but can you swallow other beasts on the earth instead of your opponent?" Therefore, it really devours many carnivores on the earth, and these animals also harass people and their livestock from time to time.

After that, the old man disappeared riding the Nian beast. He proved to be an immortal god. Now that Nian has gone, other wild animals in the forest are also afraid, and people begin to enjoy their peaceful life. Before the old man left, he told people to put red paper decorations on their windows and doors at the end of each year to scare off Nian and prevent it from sneaking back again, because red is the color that wild animals are most afraid of.

Since then, the tradition of observing the year of conquest has been passed down from generation to generation. The word "Chinese New Year" may mean "surviving the New Year" and has become "celebrating the New Year" today, because "Guo" has both the meaning of "past" and "observation" in Chinese. If Nian has a chance to escape, the custom of pasting red paper and setting off firecrackers to scare it away still exists. However, people today have long forgotten why they do all this, except that they feel that colors and sounds increase the excitement of celebration.