大年初三 老鼠嫁女儿

　　Chinese New Year on my fingertip 指尖上的新年：大年初三 老鼠嫁女儿

　　Today is the 3rd day of the 1st month in Lunar Calendar. 今天是大年初三。

　　After being busy visiting and receiving guests for two days, Chinese people can rest for a while. 在前两天忙于走亲访友之后，人们在今天可以稍稍休息一下了。

　　Actually, it is considered an unlucky day to have guests or go visiting. People will go to rest earlier at night and get up late in the morning. 实际上，在大年初三会亲友是一件并不吉利的事儿。人们会在今夜早早歇息，在早上也晚点起来。

　　The folklore is the 3rd day is for rat marriage day (老鼠娶亲，lao shu qu qin). So people will restrict night activities in order to give rats time for their wedding. 俗语说，大年初三，老鼠娶亲，所以人们会在晚上减少活动，以便给老鼠们嫁女的时间。

　　People will leave rice, cakes or peanuts in the corners for the rats to take. They wish to build up a good rapport with rats hopping rats will give them a peaceful year. 人们会把米饭、蛋糕或者花生放在角落，让老鼠拿走。人们希望与老鼠建立融洽和谐的关系，以便老鼠可以给人们太平的一年。

　　This folk belief is probably due to the fact that rats can be disastrous to Chinese people in old days. 这个民间信仰主要是源于在旧时代，老鼠往往给人们带来灾难。

　　Rat’s wedding is a very famous Chinese festival story and there are many poems, painting and performances on this topic。老鼠娶亲在中国传统故事中十分著名，所以经常出现在各种诗歌、画作以及表演之中。

(沪江英语)