Feb. 7 is Chinese New Year which is now popularly known as Spring Festival!!
It starts from the Begining of Spring (the first of the twenty-four terms in coodination with the changes of Nature). The Chinese word is "Guo Nian". "Guo" means pass-over; "Nian" was originally the name of a beast that prey on people the night before the beginning of a new year.

The beast Nian had a very big mouth that would swallow a great many people with one bite. People were very scared. One day, an old man came to subdue Nian. He said, "I hear say that you are very capable, but can you swallow the other beasts of prey on earth instead of people ?" So, it did swallow many of the beasts of prey on earth that also scared people.

Now that Nian is gone and other beasts of prey also fled into forests, people begin to celebrate their peaceful life. Before the old man left, he had told people to put up red paper decorations on their windows and doors at each year's end and make a big noise to scare away Nian in case it came back again, because red is the color the beast feared the most.

From then on, the tradition of pass-over the conquest of Nian is carried on from generation to generation. The term "Guo Nian", which may mean "Subdue the Nian" becomes today "Celebrate the (New) Year".

At the night before the Chinese New Year, family will be together to celebrate the new year, and they eat the traditional Chinese Food-Dumpling and play the firecracker!!It is the happiest day for me when I was a child, as the children always can get the new stuffs as well as the money for a lunar New Year gift.
I love the dumpling made by my mother!!

Susan