Why is the Spring Festival called Spring Festival?

In ancient times, people thought there were two kinds of monsters, one called "Xi" and the other called "Nian". The former is a bad beast, specializing in doing bad things, while the latter is a good beast, specializing in doing good things. The former likes cold and the latter likes hot, so the former appears in winter and the latter comes out in spring.

Because the Spring Festival is the time when winter and spring alternate, and it is the time to sleep and wake up in the middle of the year, so people drive away bad animals and welcome good animals here. The last day of winter is called "New Year's Eve", which means to drive away the former and welcome the new year is to welcome the latter.

Extended data:

In ancient times, people began a "busy year" on the 23rd or 24th of a year, and the New Year didn't end until January19th. In modern times, people set the Spring Festival on the first day of the first lunar month, but it generally doesn't end until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month (Lantern Festival).

The Spring Festival is a happy and peaceful festival for friends and relatives to get together, and it is a bond for people to deepen their feelings. Holiday greetings convey family ethics between relatives and villages, which is of great significance to maintain the development of the Spring Festival.

Headed by Hundred Festivals, the Spring Festival is the most solemn traditional festival of the Chinese nation, which not only embodies the Chinese nation's ideological beliefs, ideals and aspirations, life, entertainment, cultural psychology, but also shows activities such as blessing, eating and entertainment in a carnival way. Influenced by China culture, some countries and regions in the world also have the custom of celebrating the Spring Festival.

According to incomplete statistics, nearly 20 countries and regions have designated the Spring Festival in China as a legal holiday in all or part of the cities under their jurisdiction. Spring Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival are also called the four traditional festivals in China. The folk custom of Spring Festival was approved by the State Council to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Spring Festival