《剪纸迎春》英译

剪纸迎春

立春之日，悉剪彩为燕以戴之，帖“宜春”二字。

（南朝 梁）宗懔《荆楚岁时记》

立春之日，士大夫家剪纸为小幅，或悬于佳人之首，或缀于花下。

（唐）段成式《酉阳杂俎》

Papercuttings¹ to Welcome Spring

On the first day of Spring people cut patterns of swallows out of colourful silk to be worn on the hair and put characters which mean “pleasant spring” on their doors.

Zong Lin (Southern Dynasties, the State of Liang):

Stories of the Jing and Chu Times

On the first day of Spring², the families of officials and scholars cut small pieces of paper [into patterns of birds and flowers], some to be worn on the hair of the beauties, some to be attached to flowers and plants.

Duan Chengshi (Tang Dynasty):

You Yang Records of a Myriad Things

1. Papercuttings: sometimes also called floral window decorations, the making of which dates far back to the Western Jin Dynasty (around the 3^rd century). At that time, people cut swallow patterns out of colourful silk or paper to celebrate spring. This practice, originally a method of praying for luck, later became popular in all parts of China. Now paper-cutting, is a common, traditional folk art for decorative purpose.

2. the first day of Spring: one of the 24 solar terms, or divisions of the solar year according to the Chinese calendar. The Chinese take this day as the beginning of spring.

（姚红 译）