(The Chinese version is on the bottom. 中文版在最底下。)
Lunar New Year commonly referred to as Chinese New Year (元旦 yuán dàn, 新年 xīn nián, 過年 guò nián, 春節 chūn jié、新春 xīn chūn、元正 yuán zhēng) is the beginning of a calendar year whose months are Moon cycles, based on the lunar calendar or Chinese lunisolar calendar. So every year the Lunar New Year falls on a different day in the Gregorian or solar calendar. Here are a few examples of the Lunar New Year: January 25, 2020; February 12, 2021; February 1, 2022; January 22, 2023; February 10, 2024; January 29th, 2025. Lunar New Year is particularly celebrated in countries within East and Southeast Asia (ESEA), being influenced by the Chinese lunisolar calendar. However, each celebration may have different and unique interpretations, zodiacs or traditions. For Chinese, each year in the Lunar calendar is represented by one of 12 zodiac animals which are the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. The old Chinese story behind this was that the Jade emperor (玉皇大帝 yù huáng dà dì) ordered a race to select the 12 animals to be his personal guards. The animals arrived in the order of the cycle. In addition to the animals, five elements of metal, wood, water, fire and earth are also mapped onto the traditional lunar calendar. Each year is associated with an animal that corresponds to an element. When you combine these five elements with the 12-year cycle of animal signs, you get a 60-year cycle. If you are interested in the Five Elements and the Chinese Zodiac, I have a separate post that provides a brief introduction.
There are many theories about the origin of the Lunar New Year. Some people say that it comes from the wax sacrifices/harvest thanksgiving ceremony (蠟祭 là jì) 4,000 or 5,000 years ago. Animals were sacrificed to the God of Agriculture and the gods and ancestors to pray for good weather, no disasters, and a prosperous harvest in the new year. Another reason is similar to the previous one, it is related to the celebration of harvest. The ancient Chinese character "年" (nián), which means "year", with a harvest on the top and a human being on the bottom, indicates that farmers carry their harvests when the crops are ripening, which is a symbol of a good harvest. Since the Chinese have a long-standing custom of celebrating harvests. The custom gradually evolved into a festival. The most common theory is the legend of the "Nian Beast" (年獸 nián shòu). The Nian beast is cruel and ferocious. It comes out once a year and goes from house to house in the middle of the night to eat people. In order to avoid being hurted by "Nian", people reunited with their families to resist the Nian beast. Later, people discovered that although the Nian beast was ferocious, it was afraid of the color red, fire and loud noises, so every household would put up a red board on the door. When Nian came out at night, people would knock the pots and pans in the house to make noisy sounds and burn bamboo branches, making a crackling sound, outside the door to drive away the Nian beast. To prevent "Nian" from appearing again, everyone stayed up all night until the next day. Waiting till everything was fine, then everyone was happy to congratulate each other saying 恭喜 (gōng xǐ) and celebrate. Many New Year customs seem to be originated from this legend, such as posting Spring Festival couplets (貼春聯 tiē chūn lián), setting off firecrackers (放鞭炮 fàng biān páo), staying up late (守歲 shǒu suì), paying New Year greetings (拜年 bài nián), saying congratulations (說恭喜 shuō gōng xǐ), etc.
Since I was from Taiwan, I would present the Lunar New Year information based on Chinese culture that I know. The Chinese attach great importance to the Lunar New Year and start preparing for it and and do New Year’s shopping (辦年貨 bàn nián huò) as early as the wax month (蠟月 là yuè) (twelfth lunar month). Doing New Year shopping means buying some necessities needed for the New Year, whether they are food, clothing or things. When I was young, my mother was into aesthetics and would take us to a tailor to make new clothes and also to buy new shoes. My family will eat sweet Laba congee/eight treasure porridge (臘八粥 là bā zhōu/八寶粥 bā bǎo zhōu) around the Laba Festival (臘八節 là bā jié) (the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month). In order to welcome the Lunar New Year, houses are thoroughly cleaned in advance to sweep away any bad luck and hope for opening the way for good fortune to come. It is customary to choose the 28th day of the 12th lunar month as the day to "wash the dirt" (洗邋遢 xǐ lā tà), which is pronounced with the phonetic sound of "easy to get rich" (易發 yì fā). Many families also buy flowers to decorate their halls and bring good luck. Common New Year flowers include: peach blossoms (symbolizing good luck), kumquats (symbolizing auspicious), daffodils (symbolizing wealth), bamboo (symbolizing promotion), silver willows (symbolizing silver, buildings, and wealth), sunflowers (symbolizing good years), eggplant (symbolizing good health), and lily (symbolizing well-being). Many houses post red paper and banners (called spring couplet 春聯, chūn lián) inscribed with calligraphy messages of good health and fortune in front of, and inside, homes. For example: 「天增歲月人增壽」(tiān zēng suì yuè rén zēng shòu)「春滿乾坤福滿堂」(chūn mǎn qián kūn fú mǎn táng) “Heaven adds another year of time, and people add another year of life; Spring comes to the world, bringing best wishes to your household.” Spring couplets are usually two direct couplets, and the last characters of each couplet have different tones and rhymes. The correct way to paste it is: the oblique tone (仄聲 zè shēng) (rising tone 上聲, departing tone 去聲, entering tone 入聲) of the last character is the opening couplet line (上聯 shàng lián), and it should be pasted on the right. The last word in level tone (平聲 píng shēng) (even tone) is the capping line (下聯 xià lián), which is attached to the left. People also like to paste the word "福" (fú, blessing) upside down (倒 dào), which sounds the same as "福到"(fú dào) which means blessings are coming. The evening preceding the New Year’s Day (除夕 chú xī) is frequently regarded as an occasion for Chinese families to gather for New Year’s Eve meal (年夜飯 nián yè fàn) or the annual reunion dinner (團圓飯 tuán yuán fàn). This meal is comparable to Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. Foods symbolizing prosperity, abundance and good luck are prepared for this special meal. The featured foods include glutinous new year cake (年糕 nián gāo) with a homophonous meaning of “increasingly prosperous year in year out” (年年高昇 nián nián gāo shēng). My family usually takes Ningbo rice cake as the staple food and red bean rice cake as the dessert. The other featured foods is dumplings (餃子 jiǎo zǐ) which symbolize wealth because their shape resembles a Chinese yuan bao (元寶 yuán bǎo, ancient form of money). Moreover, the bank notes of the Song Dynasty were called Jiaozi. My family usually also eats spring rolls (春捲 chūn juǎn) or popiahs (潤餅 rùn bǐng) as well as ten assorted vegetables (十錦菜 shí jǐn cài). Some people also eat these food: cabbage (白菜 bái cài) - hundreds of wealth (百財 bǎi cái), lettuce (生菜 shēng cài) - wealth (生財 shēng cái), dried bean curd (腐竹 fǔ zhú) - wealth (富足 fù zú), tofu (豆腐 dòu fǔ) - wealth (都富 dōu fù), dried tofu (豆腐乾 dòu fǔ gān) - blessing and government officer (有福又有官 yǒu fú yòu yǒu guān), rapeseed plant (油菜 yóu cài) - wealth (有財 yǒu cái), garlic chives (韭菜 jiǔ cái) - long wealth (久財 jiǔ cái), dried blackmoss (髮菜 fǎ cài) - fortune (發財 fā cái), celery (芹菜 qín cài) - descendants are diligent (子孫都勤快 zǐ sūn dōu qín kuài), white radish (菜頭 cài tóu) - good fortune (好彩頭 hǎo cǎi tóu). My dad would make special Shanghai smoked fish (熏魚 xūn yú), braised crucian carp with Scallion (蔥燒鯽魚 cōng shāo jì yú) and grilled baked bran (烤麸 kǎo fū). Among Chinese cultures, fish (魚 yú) is typically included as a last course of a New Year’s Eve meal for good luck and it should not be finished. In the Chinese language, the pronunciation of “fish” (魚 yú) is the same as that for the word “surplus” (餘 yú) or “abundance (裕 yù).” After the New Year's Eve dinner, some families will serve glutinous rice balls (湯圓 tāng yuán) as dessert, which symbolizes family reunion and celebration. After dinner, people stay up late on Lunar New Year's Eve which is known as 守歲 (shǒu suì) (also known as "Longevity Night" 長壽夜 cháng shòu yè). People believe that shousui 守歲 can add on to one’s parents’ longevity so there is still a tradition of staying up late on Lunar New Year's Eve. As soon as midnight passes on New Year's Eve, you will hear the sound of firecrackers being set off everywhere. Firecrackers are set off to ward off evil spirits, avoid disasters, and pray for blessings. However, due to concerns about fire hazards, many areas have now banned setting off firecrackers and the New Year atmosphere has diluted a lot.
When I was young, early in the morning on the first day of the Lunar New Year (New Year's Day 大年初一 dà nián chū yī, 元旦 yuán dàn), we would worship our ancestors (祭祖 jì zǔ) first. Our family was relatively simple, that is, bowing to the portraits of my deceased maternal grandparents. Next comes the New Year greetings (pay a New Year call)(拜年 bài nián), which is a way for people to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new year, and to express good wishes to each other. Usually, the younger generation pays New Year greetings to the elders, or goes to the homes of relatives, friends, bosses, etc. to pay New Year greetings. When I was very young, my family lived in the school staff dormitory. My father would go with a group of teachers to pay New Year's visits to other teacher's homes early in the morning. Then he would take us, all dressed up, from the distant countryside (in the 1960s, transportation was inconvenient, so everywhere seemed very far away) to pay New Year's visits to my grandfather in Taipei, where we would gather at Grandpa's house to have a meal with my uncle's family. Although all three of our families live in the Greater Taipei area, due to the lack of transportation and our busy schedules, it seemed that the only time we got together in the early days was during the Chinese New Year. During the Chinese New Year period, my father and his classmates from Hsinchu Normal College would get together to visit their teachers. (Dad's experience of fleeing with his brother and his connection with his Hsinchu Normal College classmates can be seen in this post.) Of course, the happiest people during the Chinese New Year are the children, because the elders will give red envelopes (紅包 hóng bāo) to the children. The red envelopes are filled with money and are a form of blessing. In our family, on New Year's Eve, our parents would put red envelopes with money (壓歲錢 yā suì jiǎn) under our pillows to give us a surprise when we got up on New Year's Day. Some red envelopes contain chocolate coins. The money in a red envelope can be of any amount, specifically numbers ending with 8, which sounded as fā (發), meaning prosperity. However, it is usually not to use odd denominations or not leave no money because it means bad luck. Or use numbers with 4 which sounds as sǐ which means death. When visiting other people’s homes for New Year greetings, they often bring gifts such as oranges symbolizing wealth and good fortune, apples symbolizing peace, cakes, biscuits, chocolates and candies. Gifts are best wrapped in red or gold paper to symbolize good luck. However, there are some things that are forbidden, such as a clock (時鐘 shí zhōng)(homonymous for 送終 sòng zhōng "to send off at funeral"), a green hat (symbolizing a wife's unchastity), shoes (鞋 xié) (homonymous for 邪 xié "evil"), pears (梨 lí) (homonymous for 離 lí "leave or separation"), handkerchiefs (which means "wiping away tears"), umbrellas (傘 sǎn) (homonymous for 散 sǎn "scattering"), and any sharp objects (such as scissors and knives, which symbolize the breakup of a relationship). The host who is being visited usually prepares a candy tray, which is divided into many small compartments to hold snacks to entertain the guests. These snacks may include melon seeds (meaning 多子多孫 "many children and grandchildren" or 磕窮 get rid of poverty), sweetened dried lotus seeds (連生貴子 "giving births to precious children"), sweetened dried lotus roots (年年都有 "best wishes every year"), sweetened winter melon (好頭好尾 "good beginning and good ending"), sesame cookies also known as "open smile" (deep fried dough) (笑口常開 "laughing all year round"), sweetened coconut slices and sweetened coconuts (有爺有子、三代同堂 having a father and a son, three generations living under one roof), sweetened kumquats (有金有吉 - 財源廣進 "gold and good luck" - making money), sweetened water chestnuts (馬到成功、飛黃騰達 instant success, rapid advance), etc. The color red is commonly worn throughout Chinese New Year; traditional beliefs held that red could scare away evil spirits and bad fortune. The wearing of new clothes is another custom which symbolizes a new beginning in the year, and enough things to use and wear in this time.
In fact, the traditional Lunar New Year does not just refer to New Year's Day. Because China is a large country and has many ethnic groups and local areas, the definitions are not all the same, and the ways of celebration are also different. More often they are closely related to traditional folk beliefs. Since I came to the United States young, I don't know much about traditional folk beliefs. So, I can only pick a few customs from Taiwan to give an introduction briefly. “Weiya” (尾牙 wěi yá, year-end banquet) falls on the 16th day of the twelfth month of the lunar calendar. It is a day when people express gratitude for their hard work over the past year and pray for good fortune in the coming year. On this day, some people will worship the Lord of the Land (土地公 tǔ de gōng), and then entertain employees and customers with a banquet. There is a popular custom that the employer will point the head of the chicken that is the main dish of the banquet at the person who is about to be fired. I don't know whether it is true or not. On this day, it is also popular to eat Gua Bao (刈包 yì bāo) and popiah (潤餅 rùn bǐng) in northern Taiwan. Because Gua Bao looks like a wallet, and popiah looks like copper coins wrapped in paper, eating it at the end of the year has the connotation of getting rich and prosperous. Little New Year's Eve (小年夜 xiǎo nián yè) is the day before New Year's Eve. On New Year's Eve, the whole family will be reunited, and usually family members from out of town will go home early. Therefore, on the day before New Year's Eve, almost everyone has gathered and started to reunite around the fire (圍爐 wéi lú, or means eating hot pot), so it is called Little New Year's Eve. The second day of the first lunar month is the day when a married woman visits her birth parents (回娘家 huí niáng jiā) (Traditionally, married daughters didn't have the opportunity to visit their birth families frequently.) The third day of the first lunar month is the Tengu Day (天狗日 tiān gǒu rì) in the lunar calendar. It is said that it is easy to have quarrels with others on that day. To prevent quarrels, everyone does not go out to pay New Year greetings to relatives and friends. It is also said to be the day when the rat gets married, so you must turn off the lights and go to bed early so as not to disturb the rat's wedding. It is considered an unlucky day to have guests or go visiting. The fourth day of the first lunar month is the "God Day" (接神日 jiē shén rì) which is the day when the folk gods return to the mortal world. The fifth day of the first lunar month is the day of "separation" (隔開 gé kāi) (separated from the Spring Festival holiday, and the New Year's taboos are canceled), out from the New Year's celebration, the beginning of spring, the opening of the market or the start of work. The sixth day of the first lunar month, the birth of Zushigong (祖師公 zǔ shī gōng), and the ninth day of the first lunar month, the birth of Heavenly Grandfather (天公 tiān gōng, Jade Emperor) , are both days for worshiping different gods. Inviting a son-in-law on the eleventh day of the first lunar month. The fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the Lantern Festival (元宵節 yuán xiāo jié) /Shangyuan Festival (上元節 shàng yuán jié), which is an important celebration in the lunar new year. It is also called the "Little New Year". I will compile a post to introduce it in the future. The second day of the second lunar month is God of the Land’s birthday, and it is also the day for spring feast (喝春酒 hē chūn jiǔ). Only after this day does the generalized Lunar New Year officially end.
We were all dressed up and going to pay a New Year visit to families and relatives. 我們都穿戴整齊，準備去給家人和親戚拜年。 | |
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| New Year's goods and Spring Festival couplets 年貨及春聯 | |
農曆新年通常被稱為中國新年 (元旦、春節、新春、元正、過年...) 是基於農曆或中國陰陽曆，其月份是根據月亮週期來算。所以每年的農曆新年都在不同的公曆/陽曆日子，舉幾個農曆新年當例子：2020年是 1月 25日, 2021年是 2月 12日, 2022年是 2月 1日, 2023年是 1月 22日, 2024年是 2月 10日, 2025年是 1月 29日。受中國陰陽曆的影響，在東亞和東南亞 (ESEA) 國家都會特別慶祝農曆新年。然而每個文化慶祝活動可能有不同和獨特的解釋、生肖或傳統。中國農曆的每一年都以鼠、牛、虎、兔、龍、蛇、馬、羊、猴、雞、狗、豬 12 生肖中的一種來代表。這背後有一個古老的中國故事，玉皇大帝下令一場比賽，選出 12 種動物作為他的私人侍衛，動物們到達的順序就成了這個循環。除了動物外，金、木、水、火、和土五行，也對應到傳統的農曆上。每一年都與一種動物有關，而這動物又與一個元素相對應。當你將這五行與生肖的 12 年週期結合時，這就行成了 60 年的週期。如果你對五行和十二生肖感興趣，我有另一篇帖子提供簡單的介紹。
農曆新年的來源有許多說法，有人說是來自4、5千年前的蠟祭，殺牲畜祭農神兼及百神、先祖來祈求新一年可以風調雨順、無災無禍、收成興旺。還有一說與前一個理由類似，是跟慶祝豐收有關，因為「年」這個古字，上面是個禾，下面是個人，表示農作物成熟時農民扛着收穫，象徵豐收，由於中國人早有慶祝豐收的習俗，後來便逐漸演變成一個節日。另一個最普遍的說法就是「年獸」的傳說。年獸殘忍兇猛，一年出沒一次，半夜走家串戶吃人，人們為了躲避「年」，便舉家團圓一起抵抗年獸，之後人們發現年獸雖猛，但懼怕紅色、火光和巨響，因此家家戶戶會在門口貼上紅木板，到了晚上「年」出來了，便敲打屋內的鍋碗瓢盆發出嘈雜的聲音，並在門外燃燒一些竹枝發出噼噼啪啪的響聲來趕走年獸。為了防範「年」再出現，大家通宵守夜到第二天，等沒事了，大家都很高興地互相恭喜，大事慶祝。許多過年的習俗似乎都源自於這個傳說，像貼春聯、放鞭炮、守歲、拜年、說恭喜等等。
因為我來自台灣，所以我會根據我所知道的中國文化來介紹農曆新年。中國人很重視農曆新年，早在蠟月(農曆 12月)便開始準備過年事宜及辦年貨，辦年貨就是指買一些過年時需要的用品不管是吃的、穿的或用的。我小的時候，媽媽更講究會帶我們去訂做衣服，買新鞋。我們家在臘八節 (農曆十二月初八) 前後還會吃甜甜的臘八粥/八寶粥。大家為迎接農曆新年，房屋也會提前徹底打掃乾淨，除舊迎新以掃除任何厄運並為即將到來的的一年祈求好運開路，還有習俗選擇農曆十二月廿八日「洗邋遢」是取其諧音「易發」。許多人家也會買花來裝飾廳庭也討吉利。常見的年花有：桃花 (象徵好運)、金桔 (象徵吉利)、水仙花 (象徵財富)、竹子 (象徵節節高升)、銀柳 (象徵有銀有樓，大富大貴)、向日葵 (象徵好年頭)、茄子 (象徵健康)、百合 (象徵安康)。許多房子會在門前和門內會張貼春聯 (紅紙和橫幅)，上面寫著健康和財富的書法祝詞。例如：「天增歲月人增壽」「春滿乾坤福滿堂」。春聯通常為兩幅直聯，每聯的末字均有平仄聲韻之別。正確的貼法為：末字仄聲為上聯，貼在右邊。末字平聲為下聯，貼在左邊。人們也喜歡把「福」字倒著貼，音同福到。元旦前的晚上(除夕)常被視為是中國家庭聚在一起吃年夜飯/團圓飯的時候。這頓飯類似於感恩節或聖誕大餐，象徵繁榮，為這個特殊的大餐人們會準備有涵意和好運的食物。特色食品包括年糕，諧音 “年年高昇”，我們家通常會拿寧波年糕當主食，紅豆年糕當點心。另外還有餃子，因為它們的形狀像中國的元寶 (古時的錢)而且宋朝的銀票叫交子，它們象徵著財富。我們家通常還會吃春捲或潤餅及十錦菜。有些人家還會吃這些菜: 白菜-百財、生菜-生財、腐竹-富足、豆腐-都富、豆腐乾-有福又有官、油菜-有財、韭菜-九財、髮菜-發財、芹菜-子孫都勤快、菜頭（蘿蔔）-好彩頭、黃豆芽-如意菜。爸爸也會特地做熏鱼、蔥燒鯽魚及烤麸。在中國文化中，魚通常是年夜飯的最後一道菜，以求好運，而且不能吃完它，因為在漢語中，“魚”的讀音與“餘”或“裕”的讀音類似。吃完年夜飯，有些家庭會以湯圓作為飯後甜品，寓意一家團圓，歡慶滿堂。飯後就等著守歲 (又稱為「長壽夜」)，人們認為除夕夜熬夜可以延長父母的壽命，所以現在仍有守歲的傳統。一過了除夕夜午夜，就會聽到到處燃放鞭炮的聲音，放鞭炮是為了祛邪、避災、祈福。但是由於擔心火災隱患，許多地區現在已禁止放鞭炮，過年的氣氛淡化了不少。
小的時候，大年初一 (元旦) 一大早，我們會先敬拜祖先 (祭祖)，我們家比較簡單，就是向我的外公外婆的遺像行禮鞠躬。接著是拜年，這是人們辭舊迎新、互相表達美好祝福的一種方式，通常由輩分低的向長輩拜年，或者到親戚、朋友、上司...家中拜年。很小的時候住在學校教職員宿舍，爸爸早早就會跟一群老師結伴去一家家拜年，然後帶著穿戴整齊的我們，從遙遠的鄉下 (1960年代交通不便，到哪裡好像都很遙遠)到台北給爺爺拜年，並在爺爺家與伯父一家人聚餐，我們三家雖然都住在大台北地區，由於交通不便而且平日都忙，早期似乎只有過年的時候，大家才會聚在一起。在過年期間，爸爸和他的新竹師範同學們還會邀約一起去探望他們的老師。(爸爸與伯父逃難的經歷和與他的新竹師範同學的淵源，可在這篇帖子中看到)。當然，過年最高興的莫過於小孩，因為長輩會發紅包(壓歲錢)給孩子們，紅包裡面裝著錢，它是一種祝福的形式。我們家是在除夕時，爸媽會把紅包(包壓歲)放在小孩們的枕頭下讓我們元旦起床時有個驚喜。有些紅包會裝著巧克力硬幣。紅包中的錢可以是任何數字，特別是以 8 結尾的數字，聽起來像發，意思是富饒。但是通常不用面額為奇數或不放錢，因為意指運氣不好，尤其是帶 4 (聽起來像死）的數字，意思是死亡。去別人家拜年時，常帶的伴手禮像是橘子象徵財富和吉祥、蘋果意指平安、蛋糕、餅乾、巧克力和糖果。禮物最好用紅色或金色的紙包起來，象徵著好運。但是有些是禁忌的東西不能送，如時鐘（諧音「送終」）、綠帽子（象徵妻子不貞）、鞋（諧音 「邪」，在臺灣意為「遠別」）、梨（諧音「離」）、手帕（有「拭淚」之意）、傘（諧音「散」）以及任何尖銳的物體（如象徵著關係破裂的剪刀和小刀）。而被拜訪的主人家，通常會凖備一個糖餅盒仔或稱攢盒 (寓意「一團和氣」) ，裏面分成很多小格盛裝零嘴來招待客人，這些零食可能有瓜子 (寓意「多子多孫」或「磕窮」- 擺脫貧窮) 、糖蓮子 (「連生貴子」)、糖蓮藕 (「年年都有」)、糖冬瓜 (「好頭好尾」)、笑口棗又名「開口笑」(全年都笑口常開)、糖椰絲及糖椰角 (有爺有子、三代同堂)、糖柑桔 (「有金有吉」- 財源廣進)、糖馬蹄 (馬到成功、飛黃騰達)等等。在整個農曆新年通常穿紅色的衣服；傳統觀念認為，紅色可以驅邪避凶。穿新衣是另一個習俗，象徵著新的一年，有足夠的東西可以在這個時候使用和穿著。
其實傳統的農曆新年並不只是指元旦那一天，由於中國幅員遼闊、族群也多，定義不全相同，慶祝方式也有差別，許多時候與傳統民間信仰息息相關，由於我很早就來美國，又不了解傳統民間信仰，所以只能挑幾項臺灣的習俗，簡單介紹一下。「尾牙」是在農曆十二月十六，是人們感念一年辛勞並祈求來年利市的日子，這天有些人們會拜土地公，之後會以宴席款待受僱的員工與客戶。有個流傳的趣俗，僱主會將餐宴中的主菜白斬雞的雞頭對準即將解僱之人，不知是真是假。這天臺灣北部還流行吃刈包、潤餅，由於刈包形似錢包，而潤餅亦像是用紙包著銅錢，因此在尾牙時食用，有著發財、富潤的意涵。小年夜是大年夜（除夕）的前一日。在大年夜時全家要團圓，而通常外地的家庭成員都會提前回家，因此大年夜前一日，幾乎就已經全員到齊，開始圍爐團圓，因此稱為小年夜。正月初二為已婚女子歸寧 (回娘家) 之日。正月初三為農曆天狗日，據說當日容易與人發生口角爭執，為防招惹口舌是非，各人均不出外向親友拜年，又傳說是老鼠娶親之日，須早早熄燈就寢，勿打擾老鼠娶親的好事。這天被認為是不吉利的一天，不接待客人也不拜訪他人。正月初四為「接神日」- 民間眾神重降凡間的日子。正月初五為「隔開」(隔開了春節假期,新春的禁忌取消)、出年關、開春、開市或開工之日。正月初六祖師公生, 正月初九天公生皆為祭拜不同神明之日。正月十一請女婿。正月十五日為元宵節/上元節，為農曆過年中的一個重要慶典，又被稱為「小過年」，我以後會整理一篇帖子介紹它。農曆二月初二為土地公聖誕，也是喝春酒、請春酒之日，至此日後，廣義的農曆新年才正式結束。
XYZ/Inspirational Posts 其它雜類或勵志帖子
References 參考資料
- Wikipedia: Chinese New Year
- History: Lunar New Year 2024
- 維基百科: 春節
- 教育局教育多媒體: 農曆新年
- 維基百科: 台灣新年