春節源自何時很難考究，不過一般認為起源於中國殷商時期的年頭歲末祭神、祭祖活動(臘祭);傳說最早在堯舜時就有過春節的風俗。農曆的正月是一年的開始，而正月上旬或中旬，大部分情況正好是春季的開始(少部分情況立春是在農曆臘月下旬)。節日的時間相信和農業勞作影響有關;甲骨文和金文中的年字都有穀穗成熟的形象。
“年”的甲骨文寫法為上面部分為“禾”字，下面部分為“人”字。金文的“年”字也與甲骨文相同也從禾、從人。小篆的“年”寫作“上禾下千”，《說文解字·禾部》;“年”字下面的“人”字又作何解釋呢?從甲骨文看，“年”字好像是人頭上頂著穀物。
還有一種傳說：
中國古時候有一種叫“年”的獸，頭長觸角，凶猛異常。“年”長年深居海底，每到除夕才爬上岸，吞食牲畜傷害人命。因此，每到除夕這天，村村寨寨的人們扶老攜幼逃往深山，以躲避“年”獸的傷害。有一年除夕，從村外來了個乞討的老人。鄉親們一片匆忙恐慌景象，只有村東頭一位老婆婆給了老人些食物，並勸他快上山躲避“年”獸，那老人把鬍子撩起來笑道：“婆婆若讓我在家呆一夜，我一定把‘年'獸趕走。”老婆婆繼續勸說，乞討老人笑而不語。
半夜時分，“年”獸闖進村。它發現村裡氣氛與往年不同：村東頭老婆婆家，門貼大紅紙，屋內燭火通明。“年”獸渾身一抖，怪叫了一聲。將近門口時，院內突然傳來“砰砰啪啪”的炸響聲，“年”渾身戰慄，再不敢往前湊了。原來，“年”最怕紅色、火光和炸響。這時，婆婆的家門大開，只見院內一位身披紅袍的老人在哈哈大笑。“年”大驚失色，狼狽逃躥了。第二天是正月七年級，避難回來的人們見村裡安然無恙,十分驚奇。這時，老婆婆才恍然大悟，趕忙向鄉親們述說了乞討老人的許諾。這件事很快在周圍村裡傳開了，人們都知道了驅趕“年”獸的辦法。從此每年除夕，家家貼紅對聯、燃放爆竹;戶戶燭火通明、守更待歲。七年級一大早，還要走親串友道喜問好。這風俗越傳越廣，成了中國民間最隆重的傳統節日。
另外還有一種說法：
古時候，有一種叫“年”的野獸,比現在的大象還大幾倍，比老虎還凶幾十倍。專門吃人，而且一吃就是幾十個人，被它吃的人數也數不過來。老百姓可遭了殃。有一天，“年”又來了，有個年輕人恨極了，說：“與其讓它吃掉，還不如和它拼了，反正都是一死。”他拿把劈斧衝了上去，好多年輕人也跟著衝了上去。可他們不是“年”的對手，年輕人都被“年”吃掉了。此後，“年”變得更凶惡了，老百姓個個怨氣沖天，恨聲震地。
沖天的怨氣驚動了天上的太白金星，震地的恨聲驚動了地下的地王菩薩。太白金星和地王菩薩一商量，就派神農老祖到大地收“年”。神農手執打獸鞭，對準“年”的屁股就是一鞭。凶猛的“年”竟乖乖伏地不動了。神農奔上幾步，一隻腳踏在“年”頭上，怒吼道：“畜牲，你吃人無數，作孽極深，今天你的末日到了。”說罷，從腰間拿下兩片瓜缽，對準“年”就一合。比象還大的“年”竟一下合在瓜缽裡了。神農把裝 “年”的缽埋在地底下，臨走時他再三叮囑說：“這缽埋在地下，將來會長出瓜來，這瓜不能破，一定要說它不破。”後來，那個埋缽的地方真的長出瓜來，百姓就按照神農“不”的話音，把它叫成“北瓜”。神農除“年”的那天正巧是農曆十二月三十日，百姓便把這一天叫做“過年”，即避過“年”和除去“年”的意思。這天，北瓜供在堂上，以示壓邪，並敲鑼打鼓，鳴竹張燈，以紀念神農老祖的功德。 大概是後人根據年俗傳統附會的。不太可能是“年”的起源。
古時春節曾專指二十四節氣中的立春，也被視為一年的開始。後來改為夏曆正月七年級(農曆正月七年級)開始為歲首。從明代開始，新年節日一般要到正月十五日(元宵節)之後才結束，有些地方的.新年慶祝活動甚至到整個正月結束為止。春節入選中國世界紀錄協會中國最大的節日。位居中國三大傳統節日春節、端午節、中秋節之首。
中華民國成立後，民國政府廢除傳統農曆(陰曆，實為陰陽曆)改行歐洲的格利高裡歷(陽曆)，曾試圖禁止人民慶祝農曆新年，但因民間的堅持而未果。在袁世凱主政期間，將格利高裡歷的1月1日定為新年元旦，以農曆正月七年級為“春節”，但老百姓照舊“過新年”，作家們照舊以“過元旦”來稱呼過農曆新年。
“春節”一詞真正廣為流行還是在1949年中華人民共和國建立之後，農曆新年現在也被稱為農曆年、舊曆年。日本陰曆天保暦在明治維新後明治6年(1873年)1月1日起停用，改用太陽曆計日，原來的陰曆便稱之為舊暦，人民的慶祝活動也只在西曆元日起的三天國定假日，雖然如此，日本人仍然依照傳統習俗過年，只是更改過年的日期，把過年的傳統習俗改為格里曆新年進行，但原琉球國領地衝繩縣以及奄美諸島等地區仍有舊正月的慶祝活動。同樣受中華文化影響的如韓國及越南，即使官方曆法改用了西曆，官方及民間仍然有農曆春節的慶祝活動。
The Origin of Chinese New Year
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.
After that, the old man disappeared riding the beast Nian. He turned out to be an immortal god. Now that Nian is gone and other beasts of prey are also scared into forests, people begin to enjoy their peaceful life. Before the old man left, he had told people to put up red paper decorations on their windows and doors at each year's end to scare away Nian in case it sneaked back again, because red is the color the beast feared the most.
From then on, the tradition of observing the conquest of Nian is carried on from generation to generation. The term "Guo Nian", which may mean "Survive the Nian" becomes today "Celebrate the (New) Year" as the word "guo" in Chinese having both the meaning of "pass-over" and "observe". The custom of putting up red paper and firing fire-crackers to scare away Nian should it have a chance to run loose is still around. However, people today have long forgotten why they are doing all this, except that they feel the color and the sound add to the excitement of the celebration.
春節英文介紹
春節是中國的傳統節日，中華民族最大的節日春節就快到啦，如果身邊有在中國過春節的外國朋友，我們要如何用英語向他們介紹春節呢?在這裡我們用英語介紹一下春節，春節英文介紹很適合大家閱讀。
What does the holiday mean?
這個節日有什麼含義嗎?
The term "pass year" is used for the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year). The word "Year" in Chinese characters used to mean a horrible beast. To combat the beast, the Chinese hang "good luck" wishes on red paper on the door and use fireworks in the belief that the beast fears red and fire. This tradition in many ways resemblethe Western belief of using garlic and crosses to fight vampires.
中文中“過年”這個片語用以表示對春節(中國新年)的慶祝。“年”這個字在中文裡是一種恐怖的怪獸。因為“年”害怕紅色和火，所以中國人會在門上懸掛“春聯”寫上美好祝福，並放鞭炮來趕跑它。這個傳統有點類似西方人用大蒜和十字架嚇跑吸血鬼的傳統。
Why New Year is so special?
為什麼新年那麼特別呢?
The Chinese zodiac features 12 animals in the sequence of Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. This year is the year of Tiger. Each animal represents a different "personality". According to legend, people held a conference with all the animals, informing them that they would pick the 12 to represent the zodiac. However, in spite of being fast, the cat was not picked as its then-close friend, the rat, did not wake it. This action sparked off a rivalrythat continues till this day.
中國的十二生肖代表了十二種動物，他們的順序是：鼠、牛、兔、龍、蛇、馬、羊、猴、雞、狗和豬。今年是虎年。每一種動物有他們自己的“性格”。根據傳說，人們當初和動物們開了一個會，最先到會的動物們就可以進入十二生肖。而身為貓最好的朋友，老鼠卻沒有把貓叫醒去開會。因此，它們之間的戰爭一直持續到今天。
What do people do?
那人們在新年都幹啥呢?
Eat, eat again, and then eat some more! As the old Chinese saying goes: food is everything.
吃、接著吃、再吃更多東西!就跟一句中國古話說的那樣：食物即一切。
The tradition is to have different main courses everyday from the 1st day of the New Year to the 15th day of the New Year, from Jiao Zi (dumplings), noodles, spring rolls, sticky rice cakes, and Tang Yuan (stuffed rice balls). Besides culinarysatisfaction, each food has a meaning as well: for instance, Jiao Zi looks like gold, implying a wealthy year ahead.
傳統就是，從新年第一天開始直到正月十五，每天都要吃不同的主菜。從餃子、麵條、春捲、年糕到湯圓。除了祭好五臟廟以外，每一種食物也有含義：比如餃子看起來就像金元寶，這意味來年的豐衣足食。
Besides eating, young people visit older family members and kids are blessed with a red pack of "lucky" money. And then, people gather and eat again (!), leading to a lot of advertisements about fitness right after the Chinese New Year holiday.
除了吃以外，年輕人要去拜會家裡的老人家，而小盆友們就有大把壓歲錢拿。跟著，人們又聚在一起吃，所以節後中國就會出現很多減肥廣告……
Happy Chinese New Year
