The legend of why red envelopes are given.
发红包的传说故事。
During the Chinese New Year period, the married or elderly give red envelopes to children or unmarried juniors.
在中国新年期间,已婚或年长的人,会给孩子或未婚的少年发红包。
A red envelope is also called "Yasuiqian", suppressing Sui money.
红包也叫作“压岁钱”。
Do you know why red envelopes are given?
你知道为什么要发红包吗?
According to a legend, on New Year's eve, besides the monster Nian,
根据传说,在除夕夜,除了年兽之外,
there was a demon named Sui, that came out to terrify children while they were asleep.
还有一个叫祟的妖怪,会在孩子们睡觉时跑出来吓唬他们。
It was said that the children who were touched by the demon would be too scared to cry out,
据说被这个妖怪碰过的孩子都会吓得不敢哭出来,
would get a terrible fever and even become mentally unstable.
会发烧,甚至精神不稳定。
To keep children safe from being harmed by Sui, parents would light candles and stay up the whole night.
为了保护孩子们的安全,家长们会点上蜡烛,通宵不睡。
On one New Year's eve, in an official family household, the parents gave their child eight coins to play with in order to keep him awake.
有一年的除夕夜,在一个官宦家庭中,父母为了让自己的孩子保持清醒,于是给了他八枚铜钱来玩。
So as to stop him being hurt by the demon,
为了不让孩子遭到妖怪的伤害,
the child wrapped the coins in red paper, open the packet, re-wrap it and reopen it, until he was too tired and fell asleep.
孩子要把铜钱用红纸包好,然后再打开红纸,再重新包好,再打开,直到最后累得睡着了。
Then the parents placed the packet with eight coins under his pillow.
然后这对父母就把装有八枚铜钱的小包放在了孩子的枕头下面。
When Sui tried to touch his head, the eight coins emitted a strong light and scared the demon away.
当祟要摸他的头时,这八枚铜钱突然发出耀眼的光,把妖怪给吓跑了。
The eight coins turned out to be eight fairies, and guarded the child the whole night.
这八枚铜钱原来是八位神仙化身而成,他们负责整夜守护着孩子。
From then on, giving red envelopes has become a way to keep children safe and bring good luck.
从此之后,发红包就成了一种保护孩子们安全和带来好运的方式了。