中國文化博覽:中華民俗之掃塵守歲
sweeping the dust
掃塵
每年從農曆臘月二十三日起到除夕止，我國民間把這段時間叫做"迎春日"，也叫"掃塵日"。掃塵就是年終大掃除，北方稱"掃房"，南方叫"撣塵"。在春節前掃塵，是我國人民素有的傳統習慣。大江南北，到處洋溢着歡歡喜喜搞衛生、乾乾淨淨迎新春的氣氛。
"Dust" is homophonic with "chen"（塵）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.
“Dust”與“塵”是諧音（塵在漢語中的意思是舊的和過去的）。這樣，“在春節前掃塵”是指徹底清潔房屋掃除過去一年的厄運。此習俗表達了收拾舊事物，歡迎新生活的美好願望。總之，就在春節到來之前，爲了告別舊年迎接新年，家家戶戶都會徹底打掃一下房屋。
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.
守歲的傳統源自於一個有趣的民間故事。在中國古代有一個叫作“年”的兇猛怪物，在除夕夜“年”會從地洞裏出來吃人。因此在除夕夜，每家每戶都會一起吃晚飯，晚飯以後沒人敢睡覺，所有的家庭成員會坐在一起聊天互相壯膽。逐漸在除夕夜守歲的習慣形成了，因此在中國，慶祝春節也被叫作過年。然而在城市裏很少有人以守歲來歡迎新年。
