The story of Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year is just around the corner! Are you excited like me? Well,this 2012 is Dragon New Year,at here,I wish all of you guys a Happy Dragon Year! But did you hear ''Nian'' story before?And did you know why Chinese people like to play firecrackers when CNY?  Well,I will tell about this story form the started to the end.

Chinese New Year is the Grandest festival for Chinese people.The spring festival also called as ''nian''.But this ''nian'' word was once the name of a furious monster that lived on human beings in the ancient time.The legend says,long ago,there was a monster called Nian.It was born with sharp teeth and a long, powerful tail. It spent most of the year in the deep ocean. But on the lunar year end, it came out to the villages, destroyed all the crops, and swallowed people and other living things alive. People were so terrified that at the end of every year, they would flee to remote mountains to avoid suffering from the disaster.It was the last day of one year (later called Spring Festival Eve), an old man walked into a village. All the other villagers were so busy getting ready for their escape that no one paid attention to the newcomer. The old man walked slowly along the street, looked around in satisfaction and showed no intent of running away. A benevolent granny saw the man and persuaded him to flee with her. But the newcomer insisted to stay and asked for sheltering in the granny’s house, saying “if you let me stay, I can assure you that Nian (the beast)will never come again.Shaking her head with regret, the granny allowed him to stay and fled away with other villagers.

Then,Nian (the beast) ran into the village after mid-night. But he found something was different.Red colour paper was pasted on the gate of the granny’s house and the room was lit with candlelight,making it as bright as daytime.Glaring at granny’s house, Nian ran toward it with great anger. But when it was almost at the door, cracking sound of firecrackers came from inside the house.Nian trembled all over in great fear when it heard the sound. Though the beast was fierce and cruel, it was extremely afraid of the color red candlelight and the sound of firecrackers.At this time, the old man was wearing red clothes from top to bottom and came out the house laughing fearlessly at the beast. Turning pale with fear, the wild beast fled in halter-skeeter.Frightened villagers returned to their homes on the very next day (later called Chinese New Year’s Day) and to everyone’s biggest surprise, the old man was still alive. After knowing the secret of beating off the beast, villagers began wearing new clothes, sending regards to neighbours, friends and relatives to congratulate them for escaping the disaster.

The next year, every family pasted red papers on gate,set off firecrackers and put candlelight in red lanterns  to light their rooms on Spring Festival Eve. On Chinese New Year’s Day, everyone puts on their best clothes and send rewards to each other.Gradually, these activities became custom and were passed down from generation to generation.Well,this is how the CNY come from.Finished story!

 At here,I wish all of you a

Happy Chinese Dragon New Year!!!