Spring Festival is here, well almost.

When we talk about this national festival, tradition is the word that first comes to mind: house cleaning, cooking lots of food, hanging scrolls with couplets on doors for good luck, lighting fireworks to bid adieu to the past year and greet the new one.

Traditions are important. A country that loses its traditions loses its national identity. Yet it does not mean that we have to follow all traditions blindly. Some have to change with time.

The ambiance of festivity the family reunion at the dinner table creates on Lunar New Year's Eve is what the Chinese look forward to for an entire year. Raising toasts to family members' achievements in the past year and to wish them good luck for the next is perhaps the time Chinese people cherish the most.

Returning home for family reunions during Sprig Festival is a good tradition, for only at home where family members come together can we enjoy the real festive spirit. That explains why hundreds of millions of people squeeze their way into trains and buses to travel from their workplace to hometowns.

The hardships and suffering people endure to reach home are worthwhile because the moments of joy and gaiety we experience on Lunar New Year's Eve stays with us for the rest of our lives.

But setting off fireworks is a controversial tradition. It was banned in urban areas for several years to prevent accidents and injuries as well as to save people from air and noise pollution. Though the ban has been lifted in many places, people should exercise special caution while lighting fireworks.

Excessive drinking and hogging down dozens of dishes do no one's health any good. Even playing mahjong without a break for long can be harmful.

Spring Festival, for some people, is a time to indulge in "good things in life". But not all long-practised "good things" turn out to be good.

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle and giving harmful habits a silent burial, this Spring Festival will do us a world of good, for over-indulgence is a vice. Let us enjoy the festival in moderation so that we can reminisce the moments of bliss later in life.

(China Daily 02/08/2013 page8)