The Spring Festival is a traditional Chinese festival and also the most important one of the whole year. Through the evolvement of thousands of years， a series of customs are spreading far and wide.
春節是中國的傳統節日，也是壹年中最重要的節日。經過數千年的演變，壹系列的春節習俗正在向四面八方傳承。
1、Sweeping the Dust?掃塵?
“Dust” is homophonic with "chen”in Chinese，which means old and past. In this way， "sweeping the dust” before the Spring Festival means a thorough cleaning of houses to sweep away bad luck in the past year. This custom shows a good wish of putting away old things to welcome a new life.?
In a word， just before the Spring Festival comes， every household will give a thorough cleaning to bid farewell to the old year and usher in the new.
“塵”與漢語中的“陳”同音，意思是舊的和過去的。所以春節前的“掃塵”，就是要徹底打掃房屋，掃除過去壹年的黴運。這種習俗顯示了壹種良好的願望，即把舊東西收起來，迎接新的生活。總而言之，就在春節到來之前，每家每戶都要徹底打掃，告別舊年，迎來新的壹年。
2、Pasting Spring Couplets?貼春聯?
“The Spring Couplet”， also called "couplet” and "a pair of antithetical phrases”， is a special form of literature in China. The Spring Couplet is composed of two antithetical sentences on both sides of the door and a horizontal scroll bearing an inscription，usually an auspicious phrase，above the gate.?
The sentence pasting on the right side of the door is called the first line of the couplet and the one on the left the second line. On the eve of the Spring Festival，every household will paste on doors a spring couplet written on red paper to give a happy and prosperous atmosphere of the Festival.?
In the past，the Chinese usually wrote their own spring couplet with a brush or asked others to do for them， while nowadays， it is common for people to buy the printed spring couplet in the market.
“春聯”，又稱“對聯”、“壹對對立的短語”，這是中國文學的壹種特殊形式。春聯是由兩邊門上的兩個對句和壹個水平的書卷組成的，書卷上有銘文，通常是壹個吉祥的短語。貼在門的右邊的句子叫做對聯的第壹行和左邊的第二行。在春節前夕，每戶人家都要在門上貼用紅色紙張寫的春聯，營造節日的歡騰氣氛。在過去，中國人通常用毛筆寫他們自己的春聯，或者請別人代他們寫，而現在，人們在市場上買印刷的春聯是很常見的。
3、 Staying Up Late on New Year‘s Eve?守歲
The tradition of staying up late to see New Year in originated from an interesting folk tale. In ancient China there lived a monster named Year，who was very ferocious. Year always went out from its burrow on New Year’s Eve to devour people. Therefore， on every New Year’s Eve，every household would have supper together.?
After dinner，no one dared go to sleep and all the family members would sit together，chatting and emboldening each other. Gradually the habit of staying up late on New Year’s Eve is formed. Thus in China， "celebrating the Spring Festival” is also called "passing over the year (guo nian)”。 However，now there are less and less people in cities who will stay up late to see New Year in.
熬夜等待新年的傳統起源於壹個有趣的民間故事。在古代中國住著壹只名叫“年”的怪物，它非常兇猛。新年前夕，新年總是從洞穴裏出來，吞噬著人們。因此，每逢除夕，每戶人家都要壹起吃晚飯。晚飯後，沒人敢睡覺，全家人坐在壹起聊天，相互壯膽。新年前夕熬夜的習慣逐漸形成。因此，在中國，“春節”也被稱為“壹年過”。然而，現在城市裏越來越少的人會熬夜看新年。