admin 2012-01-30 03:44:02 0 Comments 》 The Chinese New Year is
now popularly known as the Spring Festival because it starts
from the Begining of Spring (the first of the twenty-four terms
in coodination with the changes of Nature). Its origin is too
old to be traced. Several explanations are hanging around. All
aGREe, however, that the word Nian, which in modern Chinese
solely means "year", was originally the name of a monster beast
that started to prey on people the night before the beginning of
a new year. One legend goes that the beast Nian had a very big
mouth that would swallow a GREat many people with one bite.
People were very scared. One day, an old man came to their
rescue, offering to subdue Nian. To Nian he said, "I hear say
that you are very capable, but can you swallow the other beasts
of prey on earth instead of people who are by no means of your
worthy opponents?" So, it did swallow many of the beasts of prey
on earth that also harrassed people and their domestic animals
from time to time. Afte