过年习俗之腊月二十四

After worshipping the kitchen god, people begin to thoroughly clean their houses to sweep away bad luck and welcome good luck. Dusting shows the good wish of putting away old things and welcoming a new life, making everything look fresh in the new year.

祭灶后，人们便开始大扫除，扫尘除灾，以迎祥纳福。扫尘亦有辞旧迎新之意，求的是万象更新的新年新气象。

Why do people clean house during the last month of the year? According to Chinese folk beliefs, during the last month of the year ghosts and deities must choose either to return to Heaven or to stay on Earth. It is believed that in order to ensure the ghosts and deities' timely departure, people must thoroughly clean both their persons and their dwellings, down to every last drawer and cupboard.

为什么人们在一年的最后一个月打扫房子？根据中国民俗，在一年的最后一个月，鬼神必须选择返回天堂或留在人间。人们相信，为了确保鬼神及时离开，人们必须彻底清洁他们的人和他们的住所，包括每一个抽屉和橱柜。

Furthermore, as New Year's Eve approaches, all family affairs must be put in order, in order to ensure a fresh start in the new year. Spring Festival falls during the off season for farming, making this a convenient time of year for a thorough house cleaning.

此外，随着除夕的临近，所有的家庭事务都必须井然有序，以确保新的一年有一个新的开始。春节是农业的淡季，这是一年中彻底打扫房子的好时机。

New Year's cleaning includes organizing the yard, as well as scrubbing the doors, windows, and interior of the house. Old couplets and paper cuts from the previous Spring Festival are taken down, and new window decorations, New Year's posters, and auspicious decorations are pasted up.

新年的清洁工作包括整理庭院，以及擦洗门窗和室内。旧的春联和剪纸被取下，新的窗饰、新年海报和吉祥装饰被贴上。

Preparations for Spring Festival include stocking up on necessary provisions. At noon on New Year's Eve Day, shopkeepers everywhere put up their shutters and lock their doors, not to reopen until the end of Spring Festival several weeks later. Therefore, everything needed to make offerings to the ancestors, entertain guests, and feed the family over the long holiday must be purchased in advance.

春节的准备工作包括储备必要的食品。除夕中午，各地的店主都关上了百叶窗，锁上了门，直到几周后的春节结束才重新开门。因此，长假期间供奉祖先、招待客人和养家糊口所需的一切都必须提前购买。

Before setting out to the market, a Spring Festival shopping list must be made, including items such as meat, poultry, and eggs; fruit and vegetables; rice and flour; cigarettes, alcohol, sugar, and tea; red paper, images of celestial horses and the Kitchen God, incense and candles, snacks, new calendars, and toys. Also not to be forgotten are new clothes for the children and firecrackers to welcome in the New Year.

在出发采购前，一定要列一份春节购物清单，包括肉禽蛋、果蔬、米面、烟酒糖茶；还要买香、蜡烛、零食、日历、玩具；给孩子们的新衣服和迎新年的鞭炮也不能忘。

After the Spring Festival provisions have been brought home, it's time to make further preparations for the holiday. These may include slaughtering pigs, packing blood sausage, making tofu, steaming New Year's sticky rice cakes, and making fry bread. This must all be done in advance, since no cooking may be done from New Year's Eve until well into the first month of the new year.

春节食品带回家后，是时候为节日做进一步的准备了。这些可能包括屠宰猪、包装血香肠、制作豆腐、蒸年糕和制作油炸面包。这一切都必须提前完成，因为从除夕开始直到新年结束才可以做饭。

As a result, starting at Little New Year, families everywhere are caught up in preparations for the New Year's holiday. A saying popular in Beijing vividly expresses the holiday spirit of China's Spring Festival: "Eat sticky candy on the twenty-third; sweep clean the house on the twenty-fourth; fry up tofu on the twenty-fifth; stew some mutton on the twenty-sixth; kill the rooster on the twenty-seventh; set dough to rise on the twenty-eighth; steam mantou buns on the twenty-ninth; stay up all night on New Year's Eve; pay holiday visits on New Year's Day."

因此，从新年伊始，各地的家庭都忙于准备新年假期。北京流行的一句谚语生动地表达了中国春节的节日精神：“23号吃粘糖；24号打扫房间；25号煎豆腐；26号炖羊肉；27号杀公鸡；28号生面团；29号蒸馒头；除夕熬年夜；初一去拜年。”

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