We call the Spring Festival Nian, but did you know that Nian was once the name of a terrible, scary monster? A long time ago, the monster Nian lived in the mountains. It looked like an ugly dragon, and got angry easily. Nian ate animals. But in winter, it could not find food. So it came to many villages and ate people. People were so afraid of Nian that they locked their doors before evening came during the winter. One day, an old man came to a village. He told people there that Nian was afraid of three things—red color, fire and noise. He told people to play drums and gongs (铜锣), make big fires and set off fireworks (放鞭炮) to make Nian go away. On a moonless, cold night, Nian went to the village again. As soon as it opened its big mouth, people made loud noises and made fires. Nian was really afraid and ran away. Wher-ever it went, there was noise and fire. When Nian was tired and could not run anymore, people killed the monster. After that, on the coldest day of winter, people beat drums and gongs, and set off fire works to celebrate the death of the monster of Nian. They put up red lanterns (灯笼) and have a big dinner without sleeping during the night, and greet each other happily in the next morning.
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