Hi Vivian, Here 過 means "to go across" or "to go past". Here it means that it's the new year - yesterday it wasn't, but today it is so you have "crossed the threshold". Does that make sense? You could change 過 to 是 in your sentence and the meaning would largely be the same. You can also use 過 in constructions such as 過河 - to cross a river 過日子 - to live your life 過節 - to celebrate a festival Laurence

今天是新年 today is new year 今天过年we are celebrating new years today 是only indicates a date，being neutral. 过节，过 is a verb, more commonly used when it comes to a festival，because for a special date people wants to do something to celebrate it and go through this period of time meaningfully. Actually, for other festivals people don't necessarily have to do something to celebrate it, but 年is like Christmas in China and almost certain that everybody would at least do something. That's why other dates you could also say IS, but for 年 people always mention it in a way that indicating the process to spend it, instead of this date just being what it is.

The sentence doesn't mean "today _is_ New Year" it means: 今天 过 新年,大家都 来 = Today (we) celebrate New year, all (everyboday) came

There are many meanings of 过. In this case, it denotes movement of crossing over something or event and from context, it means celebrate, "moving across that date". 过日子, is to "move across the days" i.e. pass the days. So in different context, 过 must be translated differently. It is just like the English word, "fine"... a fine day, a $100 fine, a fine piece of jewelry, fine food and so in Chinese, it must be translated as 美好的一天, 百元罚款, 精美首飾, fine food, 美食.

This question is so funny.I can't explain this question in English.