春节是与家人团聚的时间。年夜饭是所有家庭成员聚在一起“必须”的宴会。除夕宴会上吃的食物根据不同的地区各不相同。在中国南方,习惯吃“年糕”(糯米粉制成的新年糕点),因为作为一个同音字,年糕意味着“步步高升”。在北方,年夜饭的传统饭是“饺子”或像月牙儿形的汤圆。
守岁意味着除夕夜不睡觉。年夜饭后,家人聚坐一起,愉快聊天,等待春节的到来。
压岁钱,是孩子们的父母和祖父母给他们作为春节礼物的钱。压岁钱据说能带来好运,能驱魔;因此,就有了“压岁钱”的称呼。父母和祖父母先把钱放入特制的小红包里,年夜饭后或当孩子们来拜年时,将红包发给他们。他们之所以要把钱放到红包里,是因为中国人认为红色是个幸运色。他们想给自己孩子既有压岁钱还有幸运色。
参考译文:
Spring Festival is a time for family reunion . The New Year's Feast is "a must" banquet with all the family members getting together. The food eaten on the New Year Even banquet varies according to regions. In south China, It is customary to eat "niangao" (New Year cake made of glutinous rice flour) because as a homophone, niangao means "higher and higher every year". In the north, a traditional dish for the feast is "Jiaozi" or dumplings shaped like a crescent moon.
Shousui means to stay up late or all night on New Year's Eve. After the great dinner, families sit together and chat happily to wait for the New Year's arrival。
Lucky Money,It is the money given to kids from their parents and grandparents as New Year gift. The money is believed to bring good luck, ward off monsters; hence the name "lucky money". Parents and grandparents first put money in small, especially-made red envelopes and give the red envelopes to their kids after the New Year's Feast or when they come to visit them on the New Year. They choose to put the money in red envelopes because Chinese people think red is a lucky color. They want to give their children both lucky money and lucky color.
[春节习俗英语翻译]