春节的习俗是什么？

春节的时间是农历正月初一。但一般至少要到农历正月十五才结束。春节是中国的民俗，是中国四大传统节日之一。春节，又称之为过年，意味着新的一年开始。春节有哪些习俗呢？

春节习俗 Spring Festival Traditions

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

The Spring Festival is the most important festival for the Chinese people and is when all family members get together, just like Christmas in the West. All people living away from home go back, becoming the busiest time for transportation systems of about half a month from the Spring Festival. Airports, railway stations and long-distance bus stations are crowded with home returnees.

The Spring Festival falls on the 1st day of the 1st lunar month, often one month later than the Gregorian calendar. It originated in the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600 BC-c. 1100 BC) from the people's sacrifice to gods and ancestors at the end of an old year and the beginning of a new one.

Strictly speaking, the Spring Festival starts every year in the early days of the 12th lunar month and will last till the mid 1st lunar month of the next year. Of them, the most important days are Spring Festival Eve and the first three days. The Chinese government now stipulates people have seven days off for the Chinese Lunar New Year.

民俗二三事