New Year's Eve is an important night for families. They stay home and say good-bye to the old year. Some families put red paper over the door. They say this keeps good luck inside their house.

除夕夜对于家庭来说是一个重要的夜晚。他们待在家里，告别过去的一年。一些家庭在门上贴上红纸。他们说这样可以让好运留在家里。

The family has a special dinner. They eat many foods. One thing that is eaten is fish. The Chinese word for fish is yu. It sounds like a Chinese word that means "greatplenty." This is why people eat fish.

家庭有一顿特别的晚餐。他们吃很多食物。其中一样是鱼。中文中鱼的发音是"yu"，听起来像“余”，意味着"富足，繁荣"的中文词。这就是人们吃鱼的原因。

Children stay up late. Families make wishes, tell stories, and play games. Children are given lai see before midnight. This is money in a red envelope. Lai see money is good luck.

孩子们熬夜。家人们许愿、讲故事和玩游戏。午夜前孩子们会得到压岁钱。压岁钱就是放在红包里的钱，代表好运。

除夕来源

New Year's Eve, or the last night of the year in Chinese lunar calendar, is called Chuxi.

新年前夜，或中国农历一年的最后一个晚上，被称为除夕。

New Year's Eve,in the literal sense in Chinese,means seeing off the old year and ushering in a new year. It symbolizes the end of the old year and the beginning of a new year.Chu means'remove',and Xi means 'night'. Because the day often falls on the lunar twelfth month 29 or 30, it is also known as Chinese New Year's Eve.

岁末的最后一天称为“岁除”，意为旧岁至此而除，另换新岁。除，即去除之意;夕，指夜晚。除夕因常在农历十二月廿九或三十日，故又称该日为大年三十。

Legend has it that in ancient times, there was a monster called "Nian" that would come to the world on the last day of each year. In order to drive away the monster, people learned to set off fireworks and put on offerings to worship their ancestors and pray. Over time, these customs gradually evolved into New Year's Eve celebrations.

相传在远古时期，有一只叫做“年”的怪兽会在每年的最后一天来到人间作祟，为了驱赶这只怪兽，人们学会了燃放烟花爆竹，还摆上了供品来祭祖祈福。随着时间的推移，这些习俗逐渐演变成了除夕的庆祝活动。

风俗习惯

守岁

Stay up late on New Year's Eve

"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.

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。

年夜饭

Family reunion dinner

The New Year's Eve dinner is not only a simple meal, but also a link to tie the family together. Every dish of the family reunion dinner represents an expectation for the next year.

年夜饭不仅是简单的一顿饭，更是把一家人系在一起的纽带，每一道菜中都寄托了一家人对来年的期待。

拜祖先

Worship ancestors

In ancient times, every districts of China held sacrificial rites to heaven and ancestors. For sacrifice offering to heaven, the rite has become simple nowadays.

在古时候，中国的各个地区都会举行祭拜天地和祖先的仪式。如今拜天地的仪式已经被简化。

People usually lay a table and put fruits, food, wine on it. And then burn some paper money and incenses. The offerings include chicken, fish and round decorated cakes.

人们通常会摆上一张桌子，放上水果、食物和酒，烧纸钱、点香。祭品通常包括鸡、鱼和年糕。

请门神

Please door god

Every year on New Year's Eve, people paste up images of the Door God on their doors. The Door God, or guardian of the threshold, is a very old deity.

每年除夕，人们都会在门上贴上门神的形象。门神，作为家庭的守护神是非常古老的神。

In addition to door gods, images of the gods of Blessings, Prosperity, and Longevity, as well as the Ten Thousand Deities and the Three-Treasures Buddha, are often hung in living rooms and bedrooms. These guardian deities were thought to protect the household from evil influences and repel demons.

除了门神之外，在客厅和卧室里还经常挂着祝福、繁荣和长寿之神的形象，以及万神和三宝佛。人们认为这些守护神可以保护家庭免受邪恶影响并击退恶魔。

压岁钱

Lucky Money

It is the money given to kids from their parents and grandparents as New Year gift.

这是孩子们的父母和祖父母给他们作为春节礼物的钱。

The money is believed to bring good luck, ward off monsters. 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.

压岁钱据说能带来好运，能驱魔。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。

传统美食

年糕

Rice cake

Rice cake is one of the favorite foods of the southerners. It is not only delicious, but also means "rising year after year".

年糕是南方人喜爱的食物之一，它不仅好吃，还寓意着“年年高升”。

鱼

Fish

There must be a fish on the table on New Year's Eve, because"fish" sounds like "yu", meaning "more than every year".

除夕的饭桌上一定要有一道鱼，因为“鱼”谐音“余”，寓意着“年年有余”。

八宝饭

Eight treasure rice

Eight treasure rice is a traditional food made of glutinous rice and various nuts, red dates, lotus seeds and other ingredients, symbolizing good luck and harvest.

八宝饭是一种由糯米和各种果仁、红枣、莲子等食材制成的传统美食，象征着吉祥如意和丰收。

春饼

Spring cake

Spring cake is one of the favorite foods of southerners. It is a pancake made with flour. People will wrap various vegetables and meat in the spring cakes and eat them together.

春饼是南方人喜爱的食物之一，它是用面粉烙制而成的薄饼。人们会在春饼中包裹着各种蔬菜和肉类，一起食用。

福橘

Fu orange

Fu orange is one of the favorite foods of southerners. It means "blessing" and "auspicious".

福橘是南方人喜爱的食物之一，它寓意着“福气”和“吉利”。