th chins nw yar is now popularly known as th spring fstival bcaus it starts from th bgining of spring (th first of th twnty-four trms in coodination with th changs of natur). its origin is too old to b tracd. svral xplanations ar hanging around. all agr, howvr, that th word nian, which in modrn chins solly mans "yar", was originally th nam of a monstr bast that startd to pry on popl th night bfor th bginning of a nw yar.on lgnd gos that th bast nian had a vry big mouth that would swallow a grat many popl with on bit. popl wr vry scard. on day, an old man cam to thir rscu, offring to subdu nian. to nian h said, "i har say that you ar vry capabl, but can you swallow th othr basts of pry on arth instad of popl who ar by no mans of your worthy opponnts?" so, it did swallow many of th basts of pry on arth that also harrassd popl and thir domstic animals from tim to tim.aftr that, th old man disappard riding th bast nian. h turnd out to b an immortal god. now that nian is gon and othr basts of pry ar also scard into forsts, popl bgin to njoy thir pacful lif. bfor th old man lft, h had told popl to put up rd papr dcorations on thir windows and doors at ach yar's nd to scar away nian in cas it snakd back again, bcaus rd is th color th bast fard th most.from thn on, th tradition of obsrving th conqust of nian is carrid on from gnration to gnration. th trm "guo nian", which may man "surviv th nian" bcoms today "clbrat th (nw) yar" as th word "guo" in chins having both th maning of "pass-ovr" and "obsrv". th custom of putting up rd papr and firing fir-crackrs to scar away nian should it hav a chanc to run loos is still around. howvr, popl today hav long forgottn why thy ar doing all this, xcpt that thy fl th color and th sound add to th xcitmnt of th clbration.
