元旦的英文 篇一
New Year's Day
New Year's Day, also known as the 1st of January, is a special day that marks the beginning of a new year in the Gregorian calendar. It is widely celebrated across the world with various festivities and traditions. In different cultures, New Year's Day holds different meanings and customs, making it a unique and significant holiday for people of all backgrounds.
The origins of New Year's Day can be traced back to ancient civilizations. The practice of celebrating the start of a new year dates back thousands of years, with the earliest recorded celebrations found in Mesopotamia around 2000 BCE. These early celebrations were often associated with agricultural cycles and the hope for a prosperous year ahead.
Over time, the observation of New Year's Day spread to different parts of the world and took on different forms. In Western countries, the holiday is often celebrated with parties, fireworks, and the making of New Year's resolutions. It is a time for people to reflect on the past year and set goals for the upcoming one. Many cities also organize grand parades and concerts to welcome the new year with joy and excitement.
In Asian cultures, New Year's Day is celebrated with unique traditions and customs. For example, in China, the holiday is known as the Spring Festival or Lunar New Year. It is the most important holiday in the Chinese calendar and is marked by family gatherings, feasts, and the iconic lion and dragon dances. The celebration lasts for 15 days and is filled with symbolic rituals and activities to bring good luck and fortune for the year ahead.
In Japan, New Year's Day, or "Oshogatsu," is a time for prayer and reflection. People visit temples and shrines to offer their respects and make wishes for the new year. Traditional foods, such as mochi (rice cakes) and soba (buckwheat noodles), are consumed to bring good luck and longevity. The Japanese also engage in the custom of sending New Year's cards, known as "nengajo," to friends and family.
No matter where or how it is celebrated, New Year's Day represents a fresh start and a time for renewal. It is a day filled with hope, joy, and the anticipation of new beginnings. Whether it's making resolutions, spending time with loved ones, or participating in cultural traditions, the essence of New Year's Day lies in the celebration of life and the embracing of opportunities that lie ahead.
元旦的英文 篇二
The Meaning of New Year's Day
New Year's Day, also known as the 1st of January, is more than just the beginning of a new year. It is a symbolic day that holds deep meaning for people around the world. Beyond the celebrations and festivities, New Year's Day is a time for reflection, gratitude, and setting intentions for the future.
One of the main reasons New Year's Day holds such significance is its connection to the concept of time. Time is a universal force that affects everyone, regardless of age, race, or background. It moves forward in a constant flow, and New Year's Day serves as a marker to acknowledge this continuous progression. It allows us to pause and take stock of our lives, to reflect on the past year's successes and challenges, and to envision our hopes and dreams for the year to come.
New Year's Day is also a time for gratitude. It is an opportunity to express appreciation for the experiences and opportunities we have had throughout the past year. It is a chance to acknowledge the lessons learned, the personal growth achieved, and the relationships cultivated. Gratitude opens our hearts and minds, allowing us to embrace the present moment and welcome the new year with a sense of contentment and fulfillment.
Moreover, New Year's Day is a time for setting intentions and goals. It is a chance to envision the kind of life we want to create for ourselves and to take the necessary steps to achieve it. Many people make New Year's resolutions, committing to positive changes in their lives, whether it be adopting healthier habits, pursuing personal passions, or improving relationships. Setting intentions allows us to align our actions and values, guiding us towards a more purposeful and fulfilling life.
In addition to personal reflections, New Year's Day also holds cultural and societal significance. It is a time for communities to come together and celebrate, to share traditions and customs that have been passed down through generations. It is a day when people connect with their roots, honor their heritage, and strengthen their sense of belonging.
Ultimately, New Year's Day is a day of hope and optimism. It is a day to leave behind what no longer serves us and embrace the endless possibilities of the future. It is a time to renew our commitment to personal growth, to cultivate meaningful relationships, and to contribute positively to the world around us.
As the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Eve, let us remember the true essence of New Year's Day. Let us embrace the opportunity for reflection, gratitude, and setting intentions. Let us celebrate the passage of time and the endless possibilities that lie ahead. May the new year bring us all joy, happiness, and fulfillment. Happy New Year!
元旦的英文 篇三
元旦 New Year's Day
元旦的英文简介:
Yuandan is the first day of the lunar calendar. It is the day when the earth has circled the sun for one round and is beginning another circling. It represents a new beginning when people send off the old days and welcome the new ones. As the first day of the year, Yuandan has been considered to be the most important festival since the ancient times.
Customs
1. Kaisui(beginning of the year): According to the Chinese traditional custom, starting from haishi(9p.m. to 11p.m.)of the last evening of the twelfth lunar month, each family must prepare offering s to deities at the altar. At the same time, they too prepare food for the New Year day: The whole family will then stay awake together to attend to the year(called shou sui). After haishi, zishi(11p.m. to 1a.m.)will come, and this is the arrival of New Year(Yuandan). At this moment, people begin the celebration with fireworks. Vegetarian and sweet foods will then be placed are the altar for offerings, and incense be burned to welcome the deities. In the ancient times, it was believed that haishi connected the two years and thus was called kaisui.
At the same night, some families will follow the instruction in Tongshu and place preparing altar in the direction of the "fortune deity" during the "fortune time" to receive the deity. If the direction of the "fortune deity" is at the "ill position", people will choose to receive "happy deity" or "noble deity" instead.
2. There is an apparent difference in the custom of food taking on Yuandan between the Chinese in the northern and southern regions. The northern Chinese has the habit of taking jiao zi(dumpling made of flour with vegetable and meat wrapped inside). Some people may put a sweet or a coin inside jiao zi, hoping to have a sweet year after tasting the sweet and a wealthy year after tasting the coin. on the other hand, the southern Chinese have the taboo for killing on Yuandan. Therefore, they do not take meat in tee morning of Yuandan, so as to avoid bloodshed or mutual slaughter. In order to evade misfortune, they have the first meal of this day without meat. Instead, they take vegetarian food for the sake of virtue.
3. What is special during the New Year is that parents or elders will distribute red packets(ang pao or ya sui qian)to the children. People in the ancient times were more particular in giving away the red packets: the distribution took place on the eve of New Year so that the kids could suppress the past year and enter the New Year. Ya sui has the meaning of overcoming the unpredictable future. Representing the wishes for the healthy psychological growth of the children, ya sui qian symbolises the elders' hope to see their children overcome all the unpredictable elements brought by the "year".
4. There is an extraordinary number of taboos on Yuandan. Each place has its own customs of taboo. Here, we will mention only a few common taboos in Fujian Province, Guangdong Province and Southeast Asia:
In the past, people commonly believed that fortune was hidden in the house. So, w\sweeping of floor must be done in the direction moving inwards, and there was no clearance of rubbish at night. Particularly on the New Tear day, in order to keep fortune from flowing out, there was no sweeping. Some families kept this taboo until the fifth or even the fifteenth day. If anything was broken, the pieces were wrapped up in order not to let the fortune slip away and were disposed only the fifth day.
Yuandan(in more serious families, the period extends from the 1st to the 15th day) marks the new beginning. In the hope that New Year brings good beginning, people should utter neither unkind words nor vulgar language. Making noises, fighting, quarreling and especially weeping are avoided to deter misfortune. There are even taboos of taking medicine and having sneeze, for it is believed that they can lead to sickness throughout the year. Taboos of the past also concerned the use of knife and the breaking of things. If a thing was broken, the word "break" or any other word importing similar meaning was not used. Instead, words like "failing to the floor and blossoming like flowers" which delivered pleasant senses were used to suggest good connections.
On Yuandan, neither lending and nor giving of money to others is done so that there will be no out-flowing of money during the year. There is also the saying that if a male sleeps in the afternoon, his career will breakdown, and if a female has an afternoon nap, the kitchen will collapse.
5. Ancient rite: In the past, there was a rite called he zheng(proper greeting)during New Year. When a person paid a New Year visit to friends or relatives, he took along a piece of paper or card on which the name of the host was written wit Chinese brush. The receiver of this greeting card would normally paste it on the wall of his main hall to show his respect to and appreciation for the visitor. The quantity of greeting card received reflected the person's public relationship with others, while the names and status of the people who gave the greeting cards indicated the host's boundary of social network and standard of living. Nowadays, because of easy communication, convenient transportation system and wider social network, when people send their greetings they tend to follow the Western style. The greeting is now done by mail and even by email. Today, he zheng is done by simply bringing along red packets and food presents when making a visit.
To be in line with the custom of to giving away money on the first day, families in some places do not pay New Year call to others. Instead, the whole family simply goes out to enjoy themselves or stayed at home for family happiness.
6. In the past, there was a superstition that when a person left his house in the New Year, he must take the correct first step. A particular person would look for the fortunate direction in accordance with the day, month and year of this birth basing on the explanation of Chinese calendar. On Yuan Dan, when a person stepped out of his house, he must go in the fortunate direction and avoid the unfortunate direction. Even people of less particularity also consulted Chinese calendar to find out where the fortunate directions and fierce deities were before the first step out of their houses.
Meaning
From the above mentioned customs, we can see that there are especially many taboos during Chinese New Year. On Yuan Dan in particular, there are more taboos on speech and behaviour than those on other ordinary days. Similarly, there are more activities in pursuit of good cause than usual. On probing the activities and taboos, we hav
e no difficulty to understand that the theme behind is always related to fortune, wealth and goodness, and that people usually concern themselves with a good beginning for the year.Some taboos may look superstitious on the surface, but they do produce efficacy. If we practise them circumspectively, they will yield practical results. For example, the prohibition of bad words, quarrel, weeping and crying, together with the emphasis on thinking positively even when things are broken, provide some normative rules for people to follow. This gives people the opportunity to mend their ways, to develop good attitudes, and to form a habit of thinking positively and looking at the good side of things. The prohibition of sweeping and disposing the rubbish in the first five days forces people to arrange their things and clear away the rubbish properly at the end of each year, so that no unwanted things will be carried forward to the new year. At the same time, the taboo also compels people to learn to be thrifty. This is because to prevent accumulated things from becoming rubbish, people must be careful in the use of any paper or other things, and thus avoid waste of things.
The avoidance of medicine and sneeze on the first day looks like a joke and is absurd as far as the patient is concerned. However, because of the taboos, people will be conscious enough to take serious care of their health during the windy and snowing season. Thus, they will avoid falling sick in the New Year and wasting away the precious spring hours.
Nowadays, people have abandoned the custom of bringing along greeting cards when they go for New Year house visits. However, Chinese Malaysians still maintain the habit of sending New Year greeting cards by post before the New Year.
There are even non-Chinese sending New Year greeting cared in English or Malay languages to their Chinese friends. Moreover, the Chinese like to use colourful New Year cared to decorate their houses, so as to strengthen the New Year atmosphere. Like the ancient days' greeting cards for he zheng which were displayed in the main hall, these modern New Year cards also reflect the social position of the persons who receive the cards. Thus, in the way, the ancient rite of he zheng has developed in Malaysia with a Malaysian colour.