小年到，开始忙年喽Xiao Nian: When China's Spring Festival preparation gets real and busy 春节是中华民族最盛大的传统佳节，俗称“过大年”。春节前大约一周左右，称之为“小年”。小年开始，年味渐浓，家家户户都在为春节做着准备。“忙”，是精髓，用老百姓的话说，“年就是要忙活,越忙越红火”。那咱们就来看看，春节前的“忙年”，到底在忙些什么呢？The Spring Festival is the most celebrated traditional festival of the Chinese nation, commonly known as the Chinese New Year. Xiao Nian, or the Preliminary Eve, falls on about a week before the Chinese New Year. It marks the start of the Spring Festival season when every family is drumming up preparation for the annual festival. “Busy” is the keyword, as the festival is about a lot of activities and “the busier the festival, the more prosperous the new year will be.” Now let’s take a look at what the Chinese people are busy doing before the Spring Festival. 祭灶神。小年没有特定的某一天，北方为农历年的腊月二十三，南方为二十四。在过去的时光里，人人家中有灶台，不管南方北方，都要在小年当天祭灶神。传说这日是“灶王爷上天”之日，要制作糖瓜等甜黏的食物做供品，让灶神嘴甜一些上天多说好话。如今，祭灶王的人越来越少了，但过小年吃糖瓜的习俗一直流传下来。Worship the Kitchen God. There is no set day for Xiao Nian, as it is celebrated by people in the north on the 23rd day of the last month on Chinese lunar calendar, while on the 24th day by people in the south. In the past, every household across China had a hearth in their home, and they would offer sacrifices to the Kitchen God on Xiao Nian. Legend has it that Kitchen Gods come back to heaven on Xiao Nian and report people’s good and bad deeds to the ruler of the heaven. Families often offer sweet foods like candy to “bribe” the dieties into saying good things about the family. Nowadays, fewer and fewer people keep the worship tradition, but the custom of eating Tanggua, ball-like candies made of barley sugar, is still alive today. 办年货。要说最有年味的，办年货当属第一，这可是中国寻常百姓家不可或缺的头等大事。包括吃的、穿的、戴的、用的、耍的、供的、送的、干的、鲜的、生的、熟的，统名之曰“年货”。每到这时，各地的超市、集市都十分红火热闹。如今，办年货也正在成为一种仪式，让人在忙碌的喜悦中感到年的到来，在琐碎却温暖的仪式里，传递脉脉温情。Shop for the Spring Festival. The most festive Spring Festival tradition is the Chinese New Year shopping, a top priority for ordinary Chinese families during this period. Special purchases for the Spring Festival cover a wide arrange of goods including food, clothing, toys, sacrifices and others.Now Spring Festival shopping is also becoming a kind of ritual, enabling people to enjoy the arrival of the Chinese New Year amid trivial but heart-warming activities. 扫尘。家家户户都要进行大扫除，清除所有污浊，将不顺、不快一并清扫干净，扫地出门，以一番新的气象迎接新年的到来。Clean up the home. Every household would carry out a sweeping cleaning to remove all the dirt, cleaning up the unfavorable and unpleasant things and emotions to embrace the new year with a fresh look. 贴年红。每逢春节，无论城市还是农村，家家户户都要挑漂亮的红春联贴于门上，内容十分讲究，增加喜庆的节日气氛。在乡村人家，大都会贴门神等年画，寓意吉祥。而窗花则是花样最多的剪纸艺术，各式图案贴在打扫一新的屋子里，更添喜气。Put up red couplets and other festive decorations. Every Spring Festival, both urban and rural households will choose beautiful red couplets with auspicious content and put them up on the door. In rural families, New Year paintings such as Door Gods are among other popular decoration choices. The paper-cuts for window decorations boast the most paper-cutting patterns, which will add good luck and festivity to the cleaned room. 备吃食。北方人民蒸馒头、烙烧饼、包饺子，南方人民打年糕、做汤圆，忙的不亦可乎。更少不了杀猪宰羊，鸡鸭鱼肉，备好过年的肉食。做传统的地方美食，炸肉、腊肠、火腿……让人垂涎欲滴，吃货们必定“每逢春节胖三斤”。 Cook wheaten or rice-made food and Prepare the Spring Festival meat. People in the north will cook steamed buns, bake wheat cakes and make dumplings, while people in the south will make rice cakes and glutinous rice balls. Pork, mutton, chicken and duck meat... all kinds of meat are prepared and stocked for the festival. Each place has its own local delicacy made of meat, such as fried meat, marinate sausage and ham. Such mouthwatering food will surely fatten foodies. 这些风俗背后，都有着一个个动人的传说，一段段妙趣横生的历史故事。希望这片中国红能将中国的吉祥如意传递到更远的地方，感染到更多的人。Behind these customs are legends full of human interest and long-standing and profound historical stories. Hopefully these festive local traditions can bring China’s good luck to all parts of the world and touch more people. 来源：中国网 长按识别二维码可关注该微信公众平台