How did China's birthday come about?

Everyone has one day in a year as his own holiday, and that is his birthday. On this day, or invite three or two friends to KTV to sing, or have dinner with family, or hold a grand birthday party. According to the folk custom in China, birthdays under 40 are usually called "birthday celebration", and those beyond this limit are called "birthday celebration". However, in any case, the pace of life is fast now, and people are more and more interested in finding some reasons to have a holiday, among which "birthday" is one of the best excuses. So when friends and relatives get together, they should eat birthday noodles, cut cakes and drink. Why not?

People have always had different views on the origin of birthday culture. As early as the pre-Qin Dynasty, it was recorded in the Book of Rites Internal Rules: "Zi Sheng: Men set the door arc on the left and women set the door arc on the right." The "arc" here refers to the bow, and the "Xun" refers to the handkerchief worn on the body, which means that when a child is born, a bow is hung on the left side of the door if it is a boy, and a handkerchief is hung on the right side of the door if it is a girl. Since then, every year on this day, people have to hold a banquet to celebrate, usually called "birthday". So, why are people alive?

The first statement: Celebrate the continuation and prosperity of life.

In Wan Zhuan, there is such a passage: "I fell in love with Gaozu (Liu Bang) and Wanzhuang, studied books and fell in love with each other. Li Zhongjia's two families love each other, have children on the same day, and care for each other to celebrate mutton wine. " Later generations analyzed that Lu Wan's father and Liu Bang's father lived in the same room, which was regarded as the difference between life and death. Their wives gave birth to a baby boy on the same day. After learning the news, the villagers specially prepared gifts to congratulate them, and the date of "congratulations" is probably the first birthday anniversary of the two children, which is what we call birthdays. It can be seen that the custom of birthday was very popular in the late Qin Dynasty.

The second statement: thank your mother for giving life.

As the saying goes, "the child's birthday is a hard day for the mother." No matter how pregnant in October, every life comes into this world, and as a child's mother, she has to endure great physical and psychological pain. Therefore, there is a folk saying that the original meaning of birthday is "mourning for my parents who gave birth to me" and "toil" means toil and hardship. I hope to remember my mother's pain in labor and childbirth through her birthday and experience the hardships of her parents' feeding. In "The Emperor Gaozu of Sui Shu", Emperor Wendi of Sui once wrote a letter: "June 13th is my birthday, so it is advisable to make Emperor Wu Yuan, Empress Yuan and Ming beheaded in the sea." The "Emperor Wu Yuan" and "Empress Yuan Ming" here are the biological parents Lu of Emperor Wen of Sui Dynasty. On his birthday, Emperor Wendi of Sui asked the whole country to be vegetarian in memory of his parents. Coincidentally, it is also recorded in Yan Family Instructions and Wind Exercises that the birthday of Emperor Liang Yuan of the Southern Dynasties was on the sixth day of the eighth lunar month, and a "fasting lecture" was held in the palace every day. It is worth noting that in the same article, it was also mentioned that in some areas of the south of the Yangtze River, birthdays were celebrated by wine. This move was denounced by the author as: "Those uneducated people, although lonely, all their days are for eating, and their mouths are full of vocal music." It can be seen that in northern China during the Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties, birthdays were mostly due to the Confucian concept of filial piety, mostly serious and formal ceremonies, full of sadness. According to historical records, after the Five Dynasties, Emperor Taizong and Emperor Gaozu couldn't hold on to their birthdays. Birthdays were more like a commemorative ceremony. However, the custom of celebrating birthdays every year has quietly become popular in some places in southern China.

The third statement: eliminate disasters and exorcise evil spirits.

This statement originated from a folklore: there was a teenager with a poor family and only an old mother in her seventies. Once, the teenager suddenly got an unknown serious illness, and the family had no money to treat him. When he was dying, someone told him a way that the Eight Immortals would pass by one day and they could prepare drinks for their help. The boy followed the plan, so he saw the Eight Immortals and cured the strange disease. When he left, the Eight Immortals told him, "Today is the day of your rebirth. Celebrate it every year and you will live a long life. " After the news spread, buying wine for a living gradually became the custom of local guests, and it also spread. Although this is a legend, it can also be seen that birthdays have the meaning of eliminating disasters and diseases in many people's hearts and praying for peace in the coming year.

As we all know, birthdays are accompanied by the whole process of life, witnessing the crying sound when life first came into the world, and also recording the traces of time passing. Everyone has a special feeling for birthdays. In fact, birthdays are not only personal, that is to say, a person can never have only one birthday a year. With the development of society and the expansion of communication circles, people have to deal with various birthday occasions at any time. Take a city with a population of 3.65 million as an example. Every day, 10000 people celebrate their birthdays: friends' birthdays, parents' birthdays, lovers' birthdays, bosses' birthdays, company colleagues' birthdays and important customers' birthdays. In addition, "July 1st" is the birthday of the Party, "August 1st" is the birthday of the army, "November 11th" is the birthday of the motherland, and there are celebrations of schools, companies, shops and so on. However, regardless of the purpose and effect, birthdays have become an inseparable part of people's lives. Under the unified concept of birthday, there are huge business opportunities and immeasurable consumption power. Looking at the past from different angles, we get different market segments, and each market is equally charming.

"Life must be full of joy, never empty his golden cup at the moon! "Birthdays are a time for singing and laughing, for calling friends, and for drinking! Birthday is inseparable from wine, and birthday is inseparable from wine. Seeing this market demand, Sichuan Jiannanchun Group carefully created the first birthday wine in China-"Birthday Wine". Its appearance is the necessity of market segmentation and the demand of the development of the times.