Ancient Writings Describing Traditional Festivals

1. "New Year's Day" Song - Wang Anshi

The sound of firecrackers marks the end of the year, and the spring breeze sends warmth into the Tuusu.

The pupil day of a thousand doors and tens of thousands of animals, always changing the new peach for the old one.

Translation: The old year is over with the sound of firecrackers; the warm spring breeze brings in the New Year, and people joyfully drink the newly brewed Tusu wine. The rising sun shines on thousands of families, who are busy removing the old peach talismans and replacing them with new ones.

2, "New Year's Eve" Song - Wen Tianxiang

The Qiankun is empty, the years go to the hall;

The end of the road is shocked by the wind and rain, and the poor side is full of snow and frost.

The life with the year wants to end, the body and the world are all forgotten;

No more Tusu dream, the night is not yet over.

Translation:

The Qiankun is empty, and the years are passing by.

Though life is the end of the road, anti-Yuan to save the country fierce battle once shook the wind and rain. But now, in the remote border area, I have tasted the cold, snow and frost.

Life is coming to an end with the years, and I have forgotten myself and the world.

No longer have I dreamed of drinking tusu wine in the New Year, I pick the lamp alone, y aware of the length of the night.

3. New Year's Eve by Song Ouyang Xiu

Last year on New Year's Eve, the lights in the flower market were like daytime.

The moon is at the tip of the willow, and the people are about after dusk.

This year on New Year's Eve, the moon and the lights are still the same.

I don't see anyone from last year, but my sleeves are wet with tears.

Translation:

Last year at the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first month, the lights of the flower market were as snowy as in the daytime. The moon rose above the willow tree tops, and he asked me to talk with him after dusk.

This year's Lantern Festival was the same as last year's, with moonlight and lights. I can't see last year's lover anymore, and I can't help but feel that I'm soaked to the skin with tears.

4, "New Year's Eve" Tang. Gao Shi

The cold light of the hotel will not let you sleep alone.

This is the first time I've ever thought about my hometown, and I'll be thinking about it in the morning.

Translation:

Facing the cold light of the hotel, I can't sleep alone, why do I feel miserable when I'm living in a foreign land?

My relatives in my hometown are thinking of me thousands of miles away, and it will be another year of gray hairs on my temples tomorrow.

5. Zhang Hu, "Night Lights on the Fifth Day of the First Moon"

Thousands of doors were opened and ten thousand lights were lit, and in the middle of the first month, the earth was moved to the capital.

Three hundred people danced with their sleeves, and the sound of words was heard in the sky.

Translation:

The 15th day of the first month of the lunar calendar was a very lively time in Chang'an, with every household going out to see the lanterns and the lights shining brightly everywhere.

There were many singing and dancing geisha*** in the palace, and the sound of singing, dancing and music on earth at this time went up to the clouds.

6, "New Year's Day" Tang - Cheng Wen good offices

Dai star first hold Zhu Yao goblet, the mirror can be surprised at the sideburns frost.

It is a good thing that I lost my smile in front of the lamp, but I should not be able to taste it first.

Translation:

When I came back at night, I toasted with all of you to the fact that I have increased my age and longevity, and without realizing it, I saw myself in the mirror with gray sideburns. I was smiling secretly at myself in the mirror, and it seemed that I was afraid that I would not be able to be the first to taste this Tusu wine.

7. New Year's Day in Jiyou, Song. Lu You

The rain of the night relieves the remaining snow, and the sunrise opens the accumulated shade.

Peach symbols are written with a brush, and pepper wine is drunk over the slanting flowers.

Translation:

The night's rain melted the remaining snow outside the house, and the sunrise in the morning drove away the continuous gloomy weather. Gingerly puffing heat into the pen to write the couplets, a sip of the pepper-infused wine finds the newly written flowers already tilted.

8, "New Year's Eve" Ming - Wen Zhengming

Not seeking to meet but to pass the visit, the famous paper toward the full my hut.

I also cast a few papers with people, the world is too simple not too false.

Translation:

I do not ask for a meeting, but only wish to be greeted by posters, so my house is filled with all kinds of expensive posters in the morning. I also cast obeisances to others in accordance with the trend, and people will only resent the simplicity and slowness, not the fact that it is really just an empty courtesy.

9. "Keeping the New Year's Eve" by Tang Du Fu

The Ajon family is keeping the New Year's Eve, and the pepper plate has already been glorified with flowers.

Qaizan noisy horses, columns of torches scattered forest crows.

The forty days of tomorrow are over, and the twilight of the flying day is slanting.

Translation:

Who can be more restrained, drunkenness is career. On New Year's Eve, I came to my brother's house to meet and observe the New Year, and at the feast I drank the wine of the year mixed with peppercorns. Friends and relatives sat around the table, horses made a noisy noise in the stables, and rows of torches scattered the crows in the forest. To-morrow my fortieth year will be over, and though I am in the prime of my life, the rest of my days will be like a drooping sunset. Who would want to be bound? Let's spend the rest of our lives drinking.

10, "Fengcheng Spring Festival Rhetoric" Qing - Cha Shenxing

Craftily cut streamers to win the trial of the Shilla, painted color and gold for the moth.

From now on, the scissors are idle for a month, and there are many needles and threads in the boudoir before the end of the year.

Translation:

The clever hands of the lady's chamber cut the gold-foil streamers, tried on the new silk clothes, and painted and traced the gold, and made the moths to wear on their heads. Since then, the scissors idle for a month, the end of the year, the end of the year, the boudoir needlework extraordinarily.

New Year's Day how to withstand the cold long, worried about scanning the field looking out at the vast. The dome of the sky, despite the emergence of a sunny day, the purple stranger is still confused in the Zhanwu. Generations of people who boasted of the world of gulls and herons? Where have you seen the land of water and clouds over the years? Looking forward still overlap the vague cold shadow, in the end is the snow marks, or frost?