On 19 February 2015, more than a billion people will kick-off 15 days of festivities to celebrate the Lunar New Year – one of the most important festivals for people in China, many parts of Asia and in cities and towns worldwide. Although celebrated in different ways around the world, Lunar New Year is a time for families to get together, honour deities and ancestors, and ring in the new lunar calendar. Legend has it that the festival, which has origins dating back to the 14th Century, started when a mythical creature, called a Nian, arrived to Peach Blossom village on the first day of the new year to eat livestock, crops and even children. An old wise man advised the villagers to hang red paper and set off firecrackers to scare the Nian away. From then on, the Nian never returned to the village and peace reigned.

　　2015年2月19日，超过十亿人将开始为期15天的农历新年庆祝活动---它是中国人民、多数亚洲地区和世界各地的城镇最重要的节日之一。虽然世界各地的庆祝方式各不相同，然而共同之处在于农历新年是家人团聚、庆祝、祭祖的欢乐时刻，也是共同迎来新篇章的时刻。相传，这个节日的由来可以追溯到14世纪的一个叫做“年”的神秘生物，它在新年的第一天来到桃花村，吃牲畜、庄稼甚至是小孩儿。一位老智者建议村民贴红纸、放鞭炮把年吓走。从此以后，年再也没有回到村里，村子恢复了平静。

　　涨姿势 看世界各地华人如何过春节

　　Year of the goat羊年

　　Lunar New Year is closely tied to the Chinesezodiac, which assigns each year to a different animal on a 12-year cycle. The Chinese zodiac, together with the corresponding animal symbols, was first created between 206 BC to 220 AD. According to Chinese belief, each animal zodiac has its own lucky numbers, days and colours. In 2015, the year of the goat, experts predict that the numbers two and seven, and colours brown, red and purple will bring good luck to those born in the next 12 months.

　　与农历新年紧密联系在一起的是中国的生肖，每一年都由不同的动物代表，12年一个轮回。中国的十二生肖以及相应的动物符号，最早创建于公元前206到220年间，根据中国人的信仰，每种动物生肖都有自己的幸运数字、幸运日和幸运颜色。2015羊年，在这一年出生的人，专家们预测他们的幸运数字是2和7，幸运颜色是棕色，红色和紫色。

　　Traditions and rituals传统和仪式

　　Before the holiday approaches, people commonly practice some form of spring cleaning to rid their homes of huiqi, or “inauspicious breaths”, collected in the previous year. Traditionally, a clean house is meant to appease the Kitchen God, who will descend from heaven for his annual inspection. Many people also worship their ancestors in ancestral halls and temples, visit tombs of the deceased and place couplets and scrolls printed with lucky messages on household gates. Most festivalgoers wear new clothes, cut their hair and clear all their debts. In fact, many of the Lunar New Year rituals are meant to welcome the new year with a clean slate, which brings good luck to the household and long life to the family.

　　随着节日的临近，人们一般会进行某种形式的春季大扫除，以消除上一年聚集在家中的“晦气”或不吉利的气息。按照传统，干净的房子是为了迎接灶神，他每年会从天界下凡进行年检。许多人也会在节日期间去祠堂和庙宇祭拜祖先，扫墓，张贴写有美好祝词的春联和卷轴。大部分庆祝节日的市民会穿上新衣服、修剪头发并清偿债务。事实上，许多农历新年的仪式都是为了用崭新的一面去迎接新的一年，从而给全家带来幸运和长寿。

　　Red blessings红色祝福

　　Most Lunar New Year decorations and traditions centre around the colour red, which symbolises good luck and wards off evil spirits in Chinese and other Asian societies. Most people even dress in bright red. Black, on the other hand, represents bad luck. During the holiday, married couples often give hong bao, or “red packets”, to all children as monetary gifts. The amount of money in the envelope usually ends with an even digit for good luck. As a child growing up in Singapore, I would collect up to $1,000 Singapore dollars from all the red packets gifted by my extended family. It was undoubtedly my favorite time of the year.

　　多数农历新年的装饰品和传统物品都被红色围绕着，在中国和其他亚洲国家，红色象征着好运和驱散恶灵，很多人甚至穿着鲜艳的红色衣服。另一方面，黑色，则代表着霉运。节日期间，已婚夫妇常给孩子们派发红包(一种礼金)。红包中的钱数通常为偶数寓意好运。作为一个在新加坡长大的孩子，我收到的整个大家庭的红包合计起来有近1000新元。这绝对是我一年中最喜爱的时刻。

　　An occasion to dance欢哥乐舞时节

　　During the Lunar New Year, lion dance troupes from Chinese martial art schools often perform the traditional custom of cai qing, literally meaning "plucking the greens". The lion performs a dance like a curious cat, and plucks an auspicious green vegetable, usually lettuce, which is tied to a red packet and hung on a pole. In Mandarin, the word cai or “vegetable” is a homophone for “fortune”, and the dance is believed to bring businesses good fortune. Versions of the lion dance are also found in South Korea, Japan, Tibet, Indonesia and Vietnam.

　　在农历新年期间，来自中国武术学校的醒狮队经常会表演“采青”的传统习俗，即采取绿色。舞狮者像一只好奇的猫一样的舞蹈，他们会采摘一种吉祥的绿色蔬菜，通常为生菜，然后把蔬菜绑在一个红包里挂在杆子上。在普通话里，菜或蔬菜与财富的财谐音，而舞蹈被认为会给生意带来好运。不同版本的狮舞在韩国、日本、西藏、印度尼西亚和越南也有。

　　A family reunion家庭团聚时刻

　　For ethnic Chinese, the reunion dinner on the eve of Lunar New Year is often the biggest and most elaborate meal of the year, with the whole family gathering for this special occasion. A reunion dinner usually features long noodles, symbolising long life. A type of black hair-like algae, fa cai, is also found in many dishes as its name sounds similar to "prosperity". Fish is the last course of the meal, but it is intentionally not finished. The reason for this stems from a Chinese saying, “nian nian you yu” (meaning every year there is leftover), which is a homophone for “being blessed every year". On the final day of the New Year, families gather to make round dumplings shaped like the full moon to symbolise family reunion and perfection.

　　对于传统的中国人来说，农历新年的除夕团圆饭往往是一年中最盛大、最精致的一餐，全家人在这一特殊时刻团聚在一起。团圆饭通常都有长面条，象征着长寿。一种黑色 毛发状藻类，即发菜也见于很多菜品之中，因为它的名字听起来与发财相近。鱼是最后一道菜，并且有意不吃完此菜，其原因源于中国的说法“年年有余”（意思是每年都有结余），跟“年年富裕”谐音。在新年的最后一天，全家人聚在一起包饺子，饺子形状似满月，寓意全家团圆美满。

　　Singapore's biggest street parade新加坡最大的街头游行

　　The Chingay parade is a uniquely Singaporean celebration that has grown from being a traditional Chinese New Year procession to being Asia’s largest street parade. The name “Chingay” is a Hokkien phrase that means “the art of costume and masquerade”. Since the first parade in 1973, Chingay has evolved into a diverse festival with global influences, involving 2,000 performers from Singapore and other countries such as Ghana, Brazil and Slovenia. “To me, Chingay represents the ethnic diversity of Singapore. There are performances from many different ethnic groups and cultures,” said Tay Yan Ping, a percussionist from Singapore-based Lila Drum Productions, who has performed twice at Chingay. “I am definitely proud to have been a part of Chingay, especially in my home country!”

　　“妆艺大游行”是新加坡独有的庆祝活动，它从传统中国新年游行发展成亚洲最大的街头游行。其名字“妆艺”是一个闽南词语，意思是“服装和化妆舞会的艺术”。自从1973年的第一次游行，妆艺大游行已经演变成影响全球的多样化节日，参与游行的2000名表演者分别来自新加坡和其它诸如加纳、巴西和斯洛文尼亚等国家。“对我来说，妆艺大游行代表新加坡种族的多样性。这里有来自不同民族和文化的表演者”郑堰坡说，他是来自新加坡制作莉拉鼓的一个打击乐手，曾在妆艺大游行表演过两次。“我非常自豪能成为妆艺的一员，尤其是在我的祖国。”

　　Tossing up good fortune好运折腾来

　　On the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, also known as renri or “human day”, ethnic Chinese in Malaysia and Singapore practise the culinary tradition of lo hei, a Cantonese phrase meaning “tossing up good fortune”. Families and friends gather to toss up the ingredients of this raw fish salad, while chanting auspicious well wishes out loud for good luck. It’s believed the higher the participants toss the ingredients, the greater their fortune will be. The salad is usually made up of white and green radish, carrots, pickled ginger, radish and slices of raw fish (commonly salmon), drenched with a fragrant dressing of plum sauce and five spice powder. This is an essential tradition in my home, and even though lo hei often results in a mess, everyone in the family enjoys the fun that comes with tossing food around.

　　在农历新年的第七天，也被称为人日或“人天”，马来西亚和新加坡的华裔盛行一道节日的庆祝菜式,捞起(粤语,意为好运折腾来)。家人和朋友团聚在一起搅拌生鱼沙拉的原料，同时高喊吉祥祝福语以祈求好运。据传参与者折腾的越高，他的好运越大。沙拉通常是由白色和青色的萝卜、胡萝卜、生姜、萝卜和生鱼片（一般为三文鱼）组成，用含有五香粉和香酱片的梅子酱浸湿。这是我家乡的重要传统，即使捞起经常导致一片混乱，大家都很享受折腾实物的这一乐趣。

　　Freedom to celebrate in Indonesia在印尼自由地庆祝

　　Under the authoritarian ruler Suharto from 1966 to 1998, Chinese Indonesians were not allowed to publicly celebrate Lunar New Year. In 1998, however, Suharto stepped down, ending 32 years of rule and ushering in Indonesia’s era of reform. Lunar New Year was then declared a national holiday in 2002. “Over the past few years, Chinese culture has been more accepted in Indonesia,” said Lim Mui Suan, a native Indonesian from Pontianak. “These days, New Year decorations and goodies are much more available and we can even light fireworks in public.”These Chinese immigrant communities brought the unique traditions of their hometowns to Indonesia.

　　在苏哈托独裁的统治时间，从1966到1998，印度尼西亚的华裔不允许公开庆祝农历新年。然而，1998年，苏哈托下台，结束了其32年的统治，开创了印尼的改革时代。2002年，农历新年被定为全国性的节日。“在过去的几年中，中国文化越来越多地被印尼当地人所接受。”廉梅算，一位来自坤甸的印尼当地人说道：“近年来，新年装饰品和糖果已随处可见，我们甚至可以公开放烟花。”这些中国移民团体为印尼带来他们家乡独特的传统。

　　Filipino Chinese unite菲律宾华裔联欢

　　For centuries there has been a significant Chinese presence in the Philippines. Filipinos of pure Chinese descent are called “Tsinoy”, while Filipinos with some Chinese ancestry are “Sangleys” – in total, they make up between 18% to 27% of the total Philippine population. The country’s biggest Lunar New Year celebrations are held in Manila’s Chinese district, Binondo, with massive lion dance parades and street performances.

　　数百年来，菲律宾始终存在一个显著的华裔团体。纯中国血统的菲律宾人被称为Tsinoy，同时，中国与菲律宾混血的被称为Sangleys，他们占菲律宾总人口的18%到27%。该国最大的农历新年庆祝活动在马尼拉的华人区岷伦洛举行，那里有大规模的舞狮游行和街头表演。