守岁 Staying Up Late on New Year's Eve

         The tradition of staying up late to see New Year in originated from an interesting folk tale. In ancient China there lived a monster named Year, who was very ferocious. Year always went out from its burrow on New Year’s Eve to devour people. Therefore, on every New Year’s Eve, every household would have supper together. After dinner, no one dared go to sleep and all the family members would sit together, chatting and emboldening each other. Gradually the habit of staying up late on New Year’s Eve is formed. Thus in China, “celebrating the Spring Festival” is also called “passing over the year (guo nian)”. However, now there are less and less people in cities who will stay up late to see New Year in.

    守岁的传统源自于一个有趣的民间故事。在中国古代有一个叫作‘年’的凶猛怪物，在除夕夜‘年’会从地洞里出来吃人。因此在除夕夜，每家每户都会一起吃晚饭，晚饭以后没人敢睡觉，所有的家庭成员会坐在一起聊天互相壮胆。逐渐在除夕夜守岁的习惯形成了，因此在中国，庆祝春节也被叫作过年。然而在城市里很少有人以守岁来欢迎新年。