Why is there a Spring Festival?
The first day of the first lunar month is the Spring Festival, also known as the lunar year, commonly known as "Chinese New Year". This is the biggest and most lively ancient traditional festival among the people of China. The Spring Festival is the most important festival of the Han nationality. However, China is a multi-ethnic country. Besides the Han nationality, there are more than a dozen ethnic minorities such as Manchu, Mongolian, Yao, Zhuang, Bai, Gaoshan, Hezhe, Hani, Daur, Dong and Li who also celebrate the Spring Festival. The Spring Festival has a long history, which originated from the activities of offering sacrifices to gods and ancestors in the beginning and end of the Shang Dynasty. There are also many legends about this year. The ancient Spring Festival was called "January Festival", "New Year's Day" and "New Year's Day". After the Revolution of 1911, the first day of the first lunar month was officially named Spring Festival.
The Spring Festival, as its name implies, is the Spring Festival. Spring has come, Vientiane is renewed, and a new round of sowing and harvesting season is about to begin again. People have enough reasons to welcome this festival by singing and dancing. So, before the festival, a New Year message with red paper and yellow characters was posted on the frontispiece. When Miss Chun comes to the door, she will read a sentence to express her best wishes for the New Year. With this idea, good luck really came. The same moral things are hanging red lanterns, sticking the word "Fu" and sticking the statue of the God of Wealth. The word "Fu" must be posted backwards, and passers-by will say "Fu has fallen", which means "Fu has arrived". The Spring Festival is a festival for family reunion. Children who leave home will have to travel thousands of miles back to their parents' home at this time. The night before the real Chinese New Year is called Reunion Night, and the whole family will sit around and wrap up jiaozi. Jiaozi's practice is to mix dough first, and the word "harmony" means "combination"; Jiaozi in jiaozi is homophonic with "dumpling", and "harmony" and "dumpling" have the meaning of reunion, so jiaozi is used to symbolize reunion. The festive atmosphere will last for a month. There are ceremonies such as offering sacrifices to stoves and ancestors before the first day of the first month; In festivals, there are ceremonies to give lucky money to children and to pay New Year greetings to relatives and friends. Half a month after the festival is the Lantern Festival. At that time, lanterns were all over the city and tourists were all over the streets. After the Lantern Festival, the Spring Festival is over. .
Another name for the Spring Festival is China New Year. What is "year"? It is a fictional animal, which will bring bad luck to people. "Year" came, the trees withered and the grass stopped growing; After the New Year, everything grows and flowers are everywhere. How to spend the year? Firecrackers are needed, so there is a custom of setting off firecrackers.
So how did the year come from? There are two main folk sayings. There is a saying: According to legend, there was a monster named Nian in ancient China, which had long tentacles and was ferocious. Nian lived on the seabed for many years, and climbed ashore every New Year's Eve, devouring livestock and killing people. Therefore, on New Year's Eve, people in the village fled to the deep mountains to avoid the harm of Nian beast. On New Year's Eve this year, people in Taohua Village were taking refuge in the mountains when an old beggar came from outside the village. He was leaning on crutches, carrying a bag on his arm, with elegant silver whiskers and staring at Matthew. Some villagers sealed windows and locked doors, some packed their bags, some herded cattle and drove sheep, and people shouted hisses everywhere, which was a scene of panic. At this time, who still has the mind to take care of this begging old man? Only an old woman in the village east gave the old man some food and suggested that he go up the mountain quickly to avoid the "Nian" beast. The old man said with a smile, if my mother-in-law lets me stay at home for one night, I will definitely drive the Nian beast away. The old woman looked at him carefully in surprise and found that he was handsome, energetic and different. But she continued to persuade and begged the old man to laugh without saying a word. My mother-in-law had no choice but to leave home and take refuge in the mountains. At midnight, Nian beast broke into the village. It found that the atmosphere in the village was different from previous years: the old woman at the east end of the village had red paper on her door and the room was brightly lit. The beast Nian trembled and let out a long whistle. Nian stared at her mother-in-law's house for a while, then screamed and rushed over. When we were near the door, there was a sudden explosion in the yard, and Nian trembled and dared not go any further. It turns out that Nian was most afraid of red, fire and explosion. At this time, my mother-in-law's door was wide open, and I saw an old man in a red robe laughing in the hospital. "Nian" was frightened to disgrace and fled in a hurry. The next day was the first day of the first month, and the people who came back from refuge were very surprised to see that the village was safe and sound. At this time, the old woman suddenly realized and quickly told the villagers the promise of begging for the elderly. The villagers flocked to the old woman's house together, only to see red paper on her mother-in-law's door, a pile of unburned bamboo still exploding in the yard, and several red candles still glowing in the house. In order to celebrate the auspicious arrival, ecstatic villagers put on their clothes and hats and went to relatives and friends' homes to congratulate and say hello. The story soon spread in the surrounding villages, and people knew how to drive away animals. Since then, every year on New Year's Eve, every family has posted red couplets and set off firecrackers. Every household has a bright candlelight, so it is better to wait for the New Year. In the early morning of the first day, I want to say hello to my relatives and friends. This custom has spread more and more widely, and has become the most solemn traditional festival among the people in China. Another way of saying this is that China ancient calligraphy books put the word "Nian" in the Grain Department, indicating that the weather is good and the crops are abundant. Because cereal crops are usually harvested once a year. So "nian" was extended to the name of that year.
Although there was a custom of Spring Festival in ancient China, it was not called Spring Festival at that time. Because the Spring Festival referred to at that time refers to the "beginning of spring" among the 24 solar terms. The Northern and Southern Dynasties generally referred to the Spring Festival as the whole spring. It is said that the Lunar New Year was officially named Spring Festival after the Revolution of 1911. Because the solar calendar was used at that time, the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar had to be renamed the Spring Festival in order to distinguish between farmers and farmers.
Regarding the origin of "Nian", there is a folk legend: in ancient times, there was a monster named "Nian", who often gathered people to make trouble, killing people and setting fires. People tried many ways, but they couldn't kill it. Just as the people told them every day not to do it, the land was ineffective, and they were ready to move out, a strong man appeared, and he was willing to give his life and die together in exchange for the people to live and work in peace and contentment. Later, the strong men launched a life-and-death struggle with Nian in the place where Nian frequented. In the end, Nian was killed and the strong man died unfortunately. In order to remember this strong man and congratulate him on his rebirth, people held various grand celebrations, set off firecrackers and put up door gods to exorcise evil spirits on the day he was killed in 2008, which gradually formed a habit and passed it down. Since then, human beings have said "Chinese New Year".
Year is the common name of the Spring Festival. Speaking of spring, you will naturally think of summer, autumn and winter, and even think that there are 24 solar terms and 365 days in a year. So, who makes the disorderly world orderly and the chaotic world clear? It's emperor Yao. It was Emperor Yao who first stood at the forefront of scientific research, stepped into the dark nature, sought and pursued laws, sought light and gained insight into the world.
"China Ancient History Five Thousand Years of Romance" records that Yao, who became a leader, was as broad as the sky and omnipotent; Wisdom is as subtle and omniscient as God. ..... Yao put Li Zhonghe in charge of observing astronomical phenomena and divining providence. After a long time, he and Li actually became two astronomers! They also pass on their astronomical knowledge to Hehe, so that more people can understand astronomical phenomena. After Yao appointed Hou Ji as a farmer, farming became more and more developed, and he felt that sowing and harvesting must master the four seasons, and mastering the four seasons must understand the astronomical phenomena. Therefore, Yao called, He, and others, and ordered a careful observation of the astronomical phenomena, and made a calendar according to the operation of the sun, the moon and the stars, so that people could engage in production on time. He ordered Xi Zhong to live on the eastern seashore, observe and record the position and time of sunrise, and take the day and night as the vernal equinox; Uncle Xi was ordered to live in Du Ming in the south and observe how the sun moves south to determine the summer solstice. Life and species live in the valley of ignorance in the west, measuring sunsets to determine the autumnal equinox; Life and uncle live in a hidden capital in the north, observing the direction of the sun moving from south to north to determine the winter solstice. After finishing his homework, Yao said, "I tell you, about 366 days can be a cycle, and the rest days can be solved by leap months, so that we can determine the spring, summer, autumn and winter." After determining the four seasons, you can naturally determine the year. "
Looking through the Book of Records of the Historian Yao Dian, we can know: (Emperor Yao) "xi He is the one who is ordered to respect heaven. The calendar is like the sun, the moon and the stars, and the police teach the people. The teacher ordered the west, ... the emperor said: consultation! If the evening is harmonious, there will be six days in 360 years, four o'clock in the leap month, and the age of adulthood ... "Thus, it is indisputable that Emperor Yao decided on the lunar calendar.
New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve refers to the night on the last day of the twelfth lunar month, which is connected with the Spring Festival (the first day of the first month). The word "except" in "New Year's Eve" is "go; Easy; "Alternating" means that New Year's Eve means "the month is poor and the old year is exhausted". People want to get rid of the old department and the old year, and the coming year means getting a new year. This is the last night of the Lunar New Year. Therefore, the activities during this period are all around changing the old for the new, eliminating disasters and praying for blessings.
During the Zhou and Qin Dynasties, a ceremony of "exorcism" was held in the palace at the end of each year to beat drums to drive away epidemic ghosts, which was called "banishment". Later, the day before New Year's Eve was called "small exorcism". New Year's Eve is a big festival, that is, New Year's Eve.