43．According to the traditional Chinese lunar calendar（陰歷），Chinese Spring Festival，also known as Chinese New Year，begins with the New Moon and ends on the Full Moon，which is from the New Year Day to the Lantern Festival.The date is changed according to the Chinese lunar calendar every year.
The origin（起源） of the Spring Festival is hard to say clearly.However，it is believed that the word"Nian"，was first the name of a monster（怪獸）.It ate humans at the night before the beginning of a new year.People were very scared.Accidentally，people found that Nian was afraid of three things，red，fire and loud noise.So later，people would get together on New Year's Eve when Nian was about to arrive，and stick（貼） red paper cuttings，hang red lanterns and set off fireworks，in order to drive away the monster.The three special things did help.In this way，Nian never came back again.From then on，when the monster is driven away，people will always happily say to each other，"This year has passed."
There are many traditional activities in the most important festival for Chinese，such as sticking red paper cuttings and hanging red lanterns.The most important one is having family dinner on New Year's Eve together with all the family members.No matter how difficult the trip is，no matter how far they are away from home，people will come back home at the end of this year.Home，for every Chinese，is the only destination（目的地） at this time.Of course，in the family dinner，delicious food is also an important part.Jiaozi and tangyuan are special food for New Year.People think if one can eat the jiaozi with a coin，he or she can have good luck next year.For tangyuan，people in the north of China like eating sweet ones，while salty ones in the south of China.
| The Spring Festival |
| Time |
New moon：the first day of the month |
| Full moon：the （1） day of the month |
| Origin（Nian） |
It ate humans on New Year's （2） . |
| It was afraid of three things. |
| People did the three things to prevent Nian from eating humans. |
| （3） |
Activities |
a.Stick red paper cuttings |
| b.Hang red lanterns |
| c.Have family dinner.People will deal with all the problems and （4） getting together to have family dinner. |
| Special food |
a.Jiaozi：The person can have good luck after eating the jiaozi with a coin. |
| b.Tang yuan：It has（5） in different parts of China. |
