greeting season:

春节 the spring festival

农历 lunar calendar

正月 lunar january; the first month by lunar calendar

除夕 new year‘s eve; eve of lunar new year

初一 the beginning of new year

元宵节 the lantern festival

customs:

过年 guo-nian; have the spring festival

对联 poetic couplet: two successive rhyming lines in poetry

春联 spring festival couplets

剪纸 paper-cuts

年画 new year paintings

买年货 special purchases for the spring festival ; do spring festival shopping

敬酒 propose a toast

灯笼 lantern: a portable light

烟花 fireworks

爆竹 firecrackers (people scare off evil spirits and ghosts with the loud pop.)

红包 red packets (cash wrapped up in red paper, symbolize fortune and wealth in the coming year.)

舞狮 lion dance (the lion is believed to be able to dispel evil and bring good luck.)

舞龙 dragon dance (to expect good weather and good harvests)

戏曲 traditional opera

杂耍 variety show; vaudeville

灯谜 riddles written on lanterns

灯会 exhibit of lanterns

守岁 staying-up

拜年 pay new year‘s call; give new year‘s greetings; new year‘s visit

禁忌 taboo

去晦气 get rid of the ill- fortune

祭祖宗 offer sacrifices to one‘s ancestors

压岁钱 gift money; money given to children as a lunar new year gift

culture note: in the old days, new year‘s money was given in the form of one hundred copper coins strung together on a red string and symbolized the hope that one would live to be a hundred years old. today, money is placed inside red envelopes in denominations considered auspicious and given to represent luck and wealth

辞旧岁 bid farewell to the old year

扫房 spring cleaning; general house-cleaning

blessing:

treasures fill the home business flourishes peace all year round wishing you prosperity

harmony brings wealth may all your wishes come true everything goes well the country flourishes and people live in peace

money and treasures will be plentiful wishing you every success promoting to a higher position safe trip wherever you go

祝你新的一年快乐幸福: wish you happiness and prosperity in the coming year!

事业成功，家庭美满: wish you success in your career and happiness of your family!

food names:

年糕 nian-gao; rise cake; new year cake

团圆饭 family reunion dinner

年夜饭 the dinner on new year‘s eve

饺子 jiao-zi; chinese meat ravioli

汤圆 tang-yuan; dumplings made of sweet rice, rolled into balls and stuffed with either sweet  o spicy fillings

八宝饭 eight treasures rice pudding

糖果盘 candy tray:

什锦糖 assorted candies - sweet and fortune

蜜冬瓜 candied winter melon - growth and good health

西瓜子 red melon seed - joy, happiness, truth and sincerity

金桔 cumquat - prosperity

糖莲子 candied lotus seed - many descendents to come

糖藕 candied lotus root - fulfilling love relationship

红枣 red dates - prosperity

花生糖 peanut candy - sweet

Legend of Spring Festival The Spring Festival is the most important and biggest festival in China just as Christmas to people in the West. It is the first day of the lunar calendar and usually occurs somewhere between January 30 and February 20. Year of the Dog Eleventh in the cycle, Dog Years follow the Rooster years and recur every twelfth year. The Chinese New Year does not fall on a specific date, so it is essential to check the calendar to find the exact date on which each Dog Year actually begins. Customs • New Year's Eve • Spring Couplets • Temple Fair • Red Packets • Pay A New Year Call • Sacrifice to Kitchen God

New Year's Eve Dinner On the night of New Year's Eve, Chinese families come together for a celebration dinner. This custom is also called "surrounding the hearth," from the custom in earlier times of eating dinner around the family hearth. Dumpling

Chuxi (New Year's Eve) is the last evening of the twelfth lunar month. In Chinese, Chu literally means remove o change, and Xi means night. Thus Chuxi implies that the old year ends at this night, and the new one begins tomorrow.

The reunion dinner, sacrificing to the ancestors, watching Spring Festival Party on CCTV, and staying up till 12 o'clock, are the major activity in Chuxi.

A reunion dinner is held among family members, ranging in size from as many as ten courses, to small and simple. Dumplings, stews, pig's head, boiled eggs, and fish are some of various kinds of food served on New Year's Eve dinner in China. Other dishes such as chicken, fish and beancurd cannot be excluded, for in Chinese, their pronunciations, respectively "ji", "yu" and "doufu ," mean auspiciousness, abundance and richness.

After the dinner, the whole family sit together, chatting and watching TV, and stay stay up late till the morning to guard the year. The houses are lit up brightly with lamps both outside and inside of the house. 

Another custom still practiced in modern China on New Year's Eve is cleaning the house. This is done to welcome the coming of the New Year.

On each New Year's Eve, each family also sticks on their doors spring couplets and blow up firecrackers. Early in the morning of the 1st of the first lunar month they go to their relatives and friends' to send their regards and congratulations.

Spring Couplets

On the Chinese New Year, families in China decorate their front doors with poetic couplets of calligraphy written with fragrant India ink, expressing the feeling of life's renewal and the return of spring.     

It is said that spring couplets originated from "peach wood charms", door gods painted on wood charms in earlier times. During the Five Dynasties (907-960), the Emperor Meng Chang inscribed an inspired couplet on a peach slat, beginning a custom which gradually evolved into today's popular custom of pasting-up spring couplets.

In addition to pasting couplets on both sides and above the main door, it is also common to hang calligraphic writing of the Chinese characters for "spring", "wealth" and blessing. Some people will even invert the drawings of blessing ( ) since the Chinese for "inverted" is a homonym in Chinese for "arrive", thus signifying that spring, wealth o blessing has arrived.

金玉满堂 Treasures fill the home
生意兴隆 Business flourishes
岁岁平安 Peace all year round
恭喜发财 Wishing you prosperity
和气生财 Harmony brings wealth
心想事成 May all your wishes come true
吉祥如意 Everything goes well
国泰民安 The country flourishes and people live in peace
招财进宝 Money and treasures will be plentiful
一帆风顺 Wishing you every success
步步高升 Promoting to a higher position
出入平安 Safe trip wherever you go