農曆新年知多d（一） 過年

Chinese New Year (1)

（The English version is available below)

 

今年的農曆新年來得早，1月22日便要「過年」了！為甚麼我們會說「過年」而不是「賀年」？

 

相傳在很久以前，有隻殘暴兇狠的怪獸叫「年」，每到歲末便會跑出來吃人。有一次在大年三十，年獸出山為害，被一戶人家門口曬的紅色大衣嚇跑；到了另一處，被燈火和噪音嚇得抱頭鼠竄。久而久之，人們發現年獸會害怕紅色和噪音，於是便在歲末開始穿紅衣、貼春聯、放鞭炮來嚇走年獸。

 

「過年」指的就是過了「年」這一關，又稱作「年關」。年關將近的除夕夜，家家戶戶會祭拜祖先祈求平安，並聚在一起吃頓豐盛的晚餐，再一起通宵守歲。在大年初一時，人們會互相探訪，祝賀沒有遭遇到年獸的傷害，這也是年初一何以要走春拜年的緣故。而過年亦稱「春節」，在民國之後，正式將農曆正月初一易名為春節，並延用至今。

 

所謂「年關難過年年過」，只要我們常存感恩之心，跟眾生廣結善緣，知足常樂，每一年也是豐盛的一年！

 

Know more about the Chinese New Year 1 : Celebrating The Chinese New Year

 

The Lunar New Year is earlier this year, which is on 22 January. In Chinese, we call it "Celebrate the New Year” instead of “Happy New Year”. Why do we say so?

 

According to the legend, there was a cruel and ferocious beast named "Nian". It will come from the mountain to kill innocent people at the end of each year. Nevertheless, the Nian beast was not only frightened of the red coat hanging at the door of a family, it was also frightened by the lights and noise and finally fled. Over time, people realized that the Nian Beast was afraid of red and noise, so they began to wear red clothes, put up Spring Festival couplets and set off firecrackers at the end of the year to scare Nian Beast away.

 

In English, the true meaning of “Nian” is year. "Guo Nian" refers to celebrating a year, also known as passing a difficult time. On New Year’s Eve, every family would worship their ancestors to pray for safety and get together to have a sumptuous dinner, then stay up all night to cherish the moment as well as to prolong the life of their parents.

 

On the first day of the new year, people would visit each other to congratulate that they had not been harmed by the Nian beast. This is why the first day of the new year is celebrated in spring. Chinese New Year is also known as "Spring Festival". After the Republic of China, the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar was officially renamed Spring Festival, and it has been used to this day.

 

The so-called “each difficult time or each year was managed to pass through safely”, means that every year will be a prosperous year for us if we are grateful for what we are having, foster good relationships with others, be contented and happy always.