The Legend of 年
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| Underwater-living monster 年 |
Long, long ago 年 did not mean year, but was the name of a deep
underwater-living monster. Every year the monster woke up from a deep sleep to
eat people. Nobody knew how to drive it back until…
One year, the people in a valley
decided to go onto the nearby mountains to avoid being devoured by the hungry 年. Only an old lady stayed behind. She wanted to look as good
as possible when the 年 came, so she wore her red wedding
dress. The old woman also wanted the 年 to eat a plump woman, not a starving
one, so she ate a big meal.
When the 年 came, it found all the houses empty except for one. The 年 opened the door, and closed it again because it couldn’t stand the light.
The stove’s bamboo made an exploding sound, which scared the 年 away. This lady was smart, so she knew that it could be
frightened away by loud sounds and bright light.
The day after the next day, people came back and
were worried about the old lady. When they entered, they were greeted by a
surprise. The old lady they thought was in the 年's belly
was waving at them. They asked her how she survived the 年 and she told everything that happened that night. Every year after that,
the people followed what she did, and the 年
never ever came back.
All along the 年 was afraid of 3 things: red, loud noises, and bright light. Nobody knew
them until the old woman used them to drive away the 年. It’s why
we wear perfect-looking clothes, not bad looking ones on Chinese New Year. It
is the reason we have red paper bags, not blue, green, black, teal, tan, or
yellow ones.
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| Happy Chinese New Year |
Celebrating New Year
- Gordon
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| Monster 年 |
Today, I’m going to talk about a legend. Once upon a time, a
monster called 年 (translation is year) haunted a village. To celebrate
New Year, 年 touches a kid’s head. When a kid is touched by 年, they will be a bad kid. So, one New Year, kids were going
to sleep. Their parents didn’t want bad kids. They put 10 red bags full of
shiny coins and secretly shot up firecrackers. 年
was coming. He saw the
redness, shiny, and heard the loudness. 年 screamed.
He saw all his weaknesses. 年 never ever dared to come back and
haunt the village anymore. The end. That
is the happy ending of the story.
This year is the year of Ram. We still
hang up red lanterns to scare away 年. After this, it became a tradition.
That is why Chinese New Year is the most important holiday in Chinese history.
BECAUSE TODAY IS THE YEAR OF RAM, WE WILL MAKE A RAM. Isn’t
that fun?
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| Cherry Blossom |
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