Chinese New Year

The Chinese character nian (年) or xin nian, Chinese New Year, means "harvest."The Spring Festival always falls sometime before or after lichun (the beginning of Spring, 立春). There is a folktale that tells the origin of nian.
A long time ago there lived a frightful demon named nian (年) who had a large horn, a huge mouth, and sharp teeth, and he did evil things wherever he went. The heavenly gods always locked him up in a prison somewhere in a remote mountain, and he was permitted to leave the prison only once each year. When the demon left prison, he would come down to the villages and look for food, sometimes even eating local people. During this time, villagers would hide inside their houses and place some of their livest6ek outside, hoping to satisfy the demon's appetite.
Later local people discovered that the demon was afraid of red color, flames, and loud noises. So in the evenings, when he was released, people would light up their house, set off firecrackers, and beat gong and drums. The next day everybody would rejoice and congratulate each other on avoiding the disaster.