Information about the Spring Festival

Spring Festival couplets for a hundred years, heaven and earth return to vitality and unify the mountains and rivers, peace and harmony: the country is peaceful and the people are safe

Spring rain moistens all things, red plums are dotted with embroidery on thousands of mountains and mountains: full of spring

Yigan Two purifications, elimination of old habits, five lectures, four beauties, new trends, Hengpiao: bid farewell to the old and welcome the spring

All lakes and seas are filled with spring scenery, thousands of rivers and mountains are full of splendor, Hengpiao: everything is renewed

Everything goes smoothly, auspicious stars bring everything to go well, blessings come to the door, Hengpiao: wealth is abundant

Good luck all year round, treasures from all directions come into the house: everything will be prosperous at home

The green bamboos are divided into three parts, and the red plums are reporting spring to all families: Spring is back to the earth

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The red plum blossoms are in bud, the snow is green in winter, and the willows are sprouting catkins to welcome the new year: Celebrate the Spring Festival

The sun rises, the river flowers are as red as the fire, and when spring comes, the rivers are as green as blue. Horizontal batch: Birds are singing and the flowers are fragrant

Spring is full The bursts of joyful singing in the world are filled with joy and joy: Five blessings are everywhere

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊ There is a custom of "Spring Festival".

As for the origin of the "Spring Festival", there is a legend: In ancient China, there was a beast called "Xi", which had long tentacles on its head and was extremely ferocious. "Xi" lives deep on the bottom of the sea for many years, and only climbs ashore on a specific day (now called New Year's Eve) to devour livestock and harm human lives. Therefore, every New Year's Eve, people in villages and villages help the elderly and children flee to the mountains to avoid the harm of the "Xi" beast. One New Year's Eve, an old man came begging from outside the village. The villagers were in a hurry and panic. Only an old woman in the east of the village gave the old man some food and advised him to go up the mountain quickly to avoid the "Xi" beast. The old man lifted up his beard and said with a smile: "If my mother-in-law lets me stay at home all night, I will We must drive away the Xi beast." The old woman continued to persuade, but the beggar man smiled and said nothing.

At midnight, the "Xi" beast broke into the village. It found that the atmosphere in the village was different from previous years: at the east end of the village, the old woman lived in her husband's house, with red paper on the door and brightly lit candles in the house. "Xi" beast trembled all over and screamed strangely. When they were near the door, there was a sudden "bang bang bang bang" explosion sound in the courtyard. "Xi" trembled all over and did not dare to move forward. It turns out that "Xi" is most afraid of red, fire and explosions. At this time, the door of my mother-in-law's house opened wide, and an old man in a red robe was seen laughing in the courtyard. "Xi" turned pale with fright and ran away in embarrassment. The next day was the first day of the first lunar month. People who had returned from the refuge were surprised to see that the village was safe and sound. At this time, the old woman suddenly realized and hurriedly told the villagers about the beggar's promise to the old man. This incident quickly spread in the surrounding villages, and people all knew how to drive away the "Xi" beast. From then on, every New Year's Eve, every family puts up red couplets and sets off firecrackers; every household lights up candles and watches the New Year's Eve. Early in the morning on the first day of the Lunar New Year, we also visit relatives and friends to say hello. This custom spreads widely and has become the most solemn traditional festival among Chinese people.

It is said that the "Spring Festival" originated from the activities of worshiping gods and ancestors (December Festival) at the beginning and end of the year during the Yin and Shang Dynasties in China. In the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty, there was an annual custom of celebrating the harvest and worshiping ancestors at the turn of the old and new years, which can be considered the prototype of the "year". However, the name "Nian" appeared later, and the name of "Nian" started from the Zhou Dynasty [1]. When ancient emperors succeeded to the throne, in order to show the authority of the "Emperor", they often established their own calendar[2]. The time of year was not officially fixed until the Western Han Dynasty and continues to this day. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (140 BC to 87 BC) succeeded to the throne and decided to restructure the calendar to unify it. Sima Qian suggested the creation of the Taichu calendar and set the Spring Festival in the first month of Mengchun. The calendar we use today was revised by many dynasties after Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. However, the first day of the first lunar month is "New Year's Day", which is the most solemn festival of the Chinese nation and has been inherited on a fixed date.

Concept

The concept of Spring Festival and New Year [3] originally came from agriculture. The Chinese New Year has a long history and has a history of thousands of years. The origin of the "Spring Festival" is inseparable from agricultural production. Around the Neolithic period, ancestors discovered the law of the alternation of spring, summer, autumn and winter based on the growth cycle of crops, and thus came up with the concept of "year".

The lunar calendar was produced during the Xia and Shang dynasties. The moon cycle was used as the month, and the year was divided into twelve months. The day when the moon was not visible was called the new moon of each month. The first day of the first lunar month was called the first day of the year, which is the first day of the year. start. "Nian" is written in oracle bone inscriptions with the character "禾" in the upper part and the character "人" in the lower part. The word "year" in bronze inscriptions is also the same as that in oracle bone inscriptions, and it comes from grain and people. The word "year" in Xiaozhuan is written as "秊". "Shuowen Jiezi·Hebu" says: "秧 means the grain is ripe. Conghe means from Qian Sheng." The character "人" in Xiaozhuan has been changed into "Qian", so Xu Shen used this explanation, and the character "Qian" originally meant a decorated person, so this explanation is not contradictory [4]. "He" is the general name for grains and cannot be mistakenly interpreted as "wheat". The quality of the annual harvest is mainly determined by the growth and harvest of "Grain". And the word "Grain" in the oracle bone inscriptions that have been excavated almost always looks like it is bent down under heavy pressure. It can be seen that it symbolizes Get a bumper harvest in grain production. What is the explanation for the word "人" under the word "年"? Judging from the oracle bone inscriptions, the character "Nian" looks like a person carrying a heavy load of millet on his head.

Origin

The Spring Festival was known as "Zhengdan", "New Year's Day", "Sanyuan", "Sanshuo", etc. It was not until the victory of the Revolution of 1911 in modern China that the Nanjing Provisional Government in order to adapt to Farming time and the convenience of statistics, it is stipulated that the lunar calendar should be used among the people, and the Gregorian calendar should be implemented in government agencies, factories, mines, schools and groups. The first day of the first month of the Gregorian calendar is called "New Year's Day", and the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar is called "Spring Festival". According to research, the Spring Festival title was officially named after the Revolution of 1911 [5]. During the Wuchang Uprising in October 1911, the revolutionary Hubei military government issued the "Encyclical of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on the Switch to the Gregorian Calendar in the Republic of China" on December 31, clearly referring to the New Year's Day (lunar calendar) as the "Spring Festival". On September 27, 1949, when New China was about to be founded, the first plenary session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference approved the use of the world's common Gregorian calendar and designated the first day of the first month of the Gregorian calendar as New Year's Day, commonly known as the Gregorian year; the lunar calendar The first day of the first lunar month is usually around the beginning of spring, so the first day of the first lunar month is definitely called the "Spring Festival", commonly known as the lunar year. It further clarifies that the first day of the first lunar month is called the "Spring Festival", and the name "Spring Festival" is officially included in the Chinese Festival Code, truly Widely popular to this day. **** The big month is the 30th and the small month is the 29th), which is called "New Year's Eve". It is connected with the Spring Festival (the first day of the first lunar month) and is a day for people to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. Since the big month in the lunar calendar has thirty days and the small month has only twenty-nine days, the date of New Year's Eve is also different. But this day is often called "New Year's Eve" regardless of whether it is twenty-nine or thirty. On New Year's Eve, the whole family gets together to eat the New Year's Eve dinner (the last meal of the year in the lunar calendar). After the New Year's Eve dinner, there is a custom of giving out New Year's Eve money and staying up late (staying up late on New Year's Eve), which means staying up from the last day of the lunar year to the third day of the next year. one day.

At the end of each year during the Zhou and Qin Dynasties, a "Dan Nuo" ceremony would be held in the palace to beat the drums to drive away the ghosts of plague and disaster, which was called "Zhu Chu", and later also called the day before New Year's Eve. It is the Little New Year's Eve, that is, the Little New Year's Eve; New Year's Eve is the Great New Year's Eve, that is, the New Year's Eve.

Set a heaven and earth table

It is said that this night is when the gods in the sky descend to the realm, so there is a custom among the people to receive the gods. The Heaven and Earth Table is a temporary altar table specially designed for New Year's Eve and is mainly used to receive gods. Households that do not have a large Buddhist hall generally pay special attention to it because they usually make less offerings to the Buddha. At the end of the year, they have to pay a big reward to the gods and Buddhas. The content of the Heaven and Earth Table is different from that of the permanent Buddhist hall. Except for the hanging money, incense candles, five offerings, and large offerings, most of the worshiped idols are temporary, such as "100%", which is a woodcut A picture album of gods and goddesses; "Eighteen Buddhas and Gods in the Three Realms of Heaven and Earth"; a full-scale god code printed with watercolor woodcut on large yellow rough-edged paper; portraits of the three stars of fortune, wealth and longevity, etc. Some of the above statues are burned immediately after receiving the gods, such as "100%", while others are not burned until the fifth day of the festival, or even during the Festival of Lights. The location of the heaven and earth table is not uniform. If the main room is spacious, it can be placed in the house; if there is no space in the house, it can be placed in the courtyard.

Eating New Year’s Eve dinner

While the children are playing and setting off firecrackers, it is also the busiest time for housewives in the kitchen. The New Year dishes have been prepared a few days ago, and The New Year's Eve dinner is always cooked by the chef on New Year's Eve. In the north, dumplings for the New Year's Day are also made on the 30th night. At this time, every chopping board was busy chopping meat and chopping vegetables. At this time, the sound of chopping boards came from every house, the sound of firecrackers came from the streets and alleys, the sound of abacus and accounts came from the small shops, and mixed with the laughter everywhere, one after another, filled with ears, intertwined into a cheerful New Year's Eve movement.

Eating New Year’s Eve dinner is the most lively and happy time for every household during the Spring Festival. On New Year’s Eve, the table is filled with sumptuous New Year’s dishes. The whole family is reunited, sitting around the table and having the reunion dinner together. The sense of fulfillment in my heart is really indescribable. People not only enjoy the table full of delicacies, but also enjoy the happy atmosphere. There are big dishes, cold basins, hot stir-fries, and snacks on the table. Generally, two things are indispensable, one is hot pot. One is fish. The hot pot is boiling, steaming, warm and sultry, indicating that it is prosperous; "fish" and "yu" are homophonic, symbolizing "abundance in auspicious celebrations" and "abundance every year". There are also radish, commonly known as cabbage, which is used to wish good luck; lobster, fried fish and other fried foods are used to wish prosperity for the family, just like "fire cooking oil". The last part is usually a sweet dish, wishing you a sweet life in the future. Even if you don’t know how to drink alcohol on this day, you should drink a little bit.

There are many famous New Year’s Eve dinners, which vary from north to south, including dumplings, wontons, long noodles, yuanxiao, etc., and each has its own specialties. Northerners are accustomed to eating dumplings during the Chinese New Year [6], which means "Geng Sui Jiao Zi" (Geng Sui Jiao Zi), the alternation between the old and the new. And because the white flour dumplings are shaped like silver ingots, serving them on the table symbolizes "making a fortune in the new year, and the ingots rolling in". When making dumplings, some people also wrap a few coins that have been sterilized in boiling water, saying that whoever eats them first will make more money. Eating wontons during the New Year means taking the beginning of the new year. Legend has it that the world was in a state of chaos before it was created, and that the four directions of the universe were created only after Pangu created the world. Long noodles are also called longevity noodles. Eating noodles in the New Year is a wish for a hundred years of longevity.

Watching the Spring Festival Gala

Although this is not an ancient custom, after entering the 1980s, due to the popularity of television, the Spring Festival Gala became an indispensable part of the Chinese people Cultural "Feast"! Every year, more than one billion people around the world watch the Spring Festival Gala on TV or the Internet!

Watching the New Year

Since the Han Dynasty, the transition time between the old and the new year has generally been at midnight. Watching the year old on New Year's Eve is one of the most important annual activities. The custom of keeping the year old has been around for a long time. The earliest record can be found in the "Feng Tu Zhi" written by Zhou Chu in the Western Jin Dynasty: On New Year's Eve, each person gives gifts to each other, which is called "giving the year old"; , the blessings are complete, which is called "dividing the year"; everyone stays up all night, waiting for the dawn, which is called "keeping the year old".

“One night is two years old, five o’clock is divided into two days.” On New Year’s Eve, the whole family gets together, has New Year’s Eve dinner, lights candles or oil lamps, sits around the fire and chats, waiting to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new year. At this time, the all-night vigil symbolizes driving away all evil plagues and looking forward to auspiciousness in the new year. This custom gradually became popular. In the early Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, wrote a poem about "keeping the year old": "The cold leaves the winter snow, and the warmth brings the spring breeze." To this day, people are still used to staying up late on New Year's Eve to welcome the new year.

In ancient times, staying up late had two meanings: older people staying up late meant "saying goodbye to the old year", which meant cherishing time; young people staying up late meant to prolong the life of their parents.

Joining the Gods

Joining the Gods is a distinction between the old and new years, but the time of receiving the Gods is not uniform. Some ceremonies begin as soon as Zizheng arrives, some begin to receive the gods at "Zizheng" time, that is, at midnight, and some begin after "Zizheng". After offering sacrifices to the stove, all the gods returned to the heavenly palace and ignored the secular affairs of the world. At midnight on New Year's Eve, that is, when the new year came, they came to the human world again to take care of matters. The ceremony of receiving the gods is held in front of the heaven and earth table, and is presided over by the eldest member of the family. Because the directions in the heaven where the gods live are different, the directions from the lower world are naturally different. As for which god to pick up and where the god comes from, you must check the "Constitution" in advance and lead the whole family to hold incense in the courtyard to pick up the god according to its direction. For example, the "Constitution" in the Xinwei year states: "The God of Wealth is due east, the God of Fortune is due south, the God of Nobility is northeast, the God of Joy is southwest, the God of Taisui is southwest, etc."

After kowtowing according to the direction, stand still until the incense is gone, kowtow again, and finally remove the incense roots, idols, ingots, etc., and put them into the money and grain basin that has been prepared in the courtyard to burn them, along with pine branches, sesame straw, etc. Firecrackers went off during the reception, and the atmosphere was extremely intense.

Trampling on the evil spirit

After receiving the god, spread sesame straw from the street door to the house door, and people walk on it and make a crackling sound, which is called "trampling on the new year", also known as "trampling on the evil spirit". It's called "trampling on evil spirits". Since "broken" and "haunted" have the same pronunciation, it means starting to drive away evil spirits in the new year.

Receive the God of Wealth

In the old days, since the opening of the Wealth Gate at midnight during the Spring Festival, people would send gifts to the God of Wealth. They would hold a piece of paper printed on the God of Wealth outside the door and shout: "Send to the God of Wealth." Here he comes!" At this time, the owner of the house welcomed the arrival of the God of Wealth and gave the visitor a reward. The person giving the gift to the God of Wealth should say some auspicious words, such as "The gold and silver treasures are rolling in!" "There are a pair of golden lions on the left and a pair of golden phoenixes on the right."

In addition, there were people wearing red robes, gauze hats, beards, and yellow bags on their bodies, pretending to be the God of Wealth, followed by a few gongs and drums, distributing images of the God of Wealth from house to house. , to ask for reward money. Every time they come to someone's door, they sing "The left compartment is full of gold and silver, the right room is full of treasures" and other auspicious words. It is not until the owner happily takes the statue of the God of Wealth and gives them some money that they thank them repeatedly. , and beat more vigorously for a while. Amidst the sound of gongs and drums, they moved to other houses.

The first day of the first lunar month

The first day of the first lunar month was originally called "New Year's Day". The original meaning of "Yuan" was "head", which was later extended to "beginning". This day is the first day of the year, the first day of spring, and the first day of the first month, so it is called "Sanyuan"; because this day is also the dynasty of the year, the dynasty of the moon, and the dynasty of the sun, it is also called the "Three Chaos"; And because it is the first new moon, it is also called "Yuan Shuo". The first day of the first lunar month is also known as Shangri, Zhengchao, Sanshuo, and Sanshi, which means the beginning of the year, month, and day.

Open the door and firecrackers

On the morning of the Spring Festival, when the door opens, firecrackers are set off first, which is called "opening the door and firecrackers." After the sound of firecrackers, the ground was filled with red, as bright as clouds and brocade, which was called "Man Tang Hong". At this time, the streets were full of auspiciousness and joy.

New Year greetings

On the first day of the New Year, men all get up early, put on their most beautiful clothes, dress up neatly, go out to visit relatives and friends, and pay New Year greetings to each other. I wish you good luck in the coming year. There are many ways to pay New Year's greetings. Some are led by the head of the same clan and several people go from house to house to pay New Year's greetings. Some are colleagues inviting a few people to pay New Year's greetings. There are also people who gather together to congratulate each other, which is called "group worship". Since it was time-consuming and laborious to pay New Year greetings at home, some upper-class figures and scholar-bureaucrats later used name stickers to congratulate each other, thus developing the later "New Year cards".

When paying New Year greetings during the Spring Festival, the younger generation should first pay New Year greetings to the elders and wish them longevity and health. The elders can distribute the New Year's money prepared in advance to the younger generation. It is said that the New Year's money can suppress evil spirits, because "year" and "evil spirits" "Homophonous", the younger generation can spend one year peacefully after receiving the lucky money. There are two types of New Year's money. One is made of colorful ropes threaded into a dragon shape and placed at the foot of the bed. This record is found in "Yanjing Years' Notes"; the other is the most common, which is given by parents wrapped in red paper. Children's money. New Year's money can be given to the younger generation in public after paying New Year's greetings, or parents can secretly put it under the child's pillow when the child is asleep on New Year's Eve. Nowadays, the custom of elders distributing lucky money to younger generations is still popular.

Accounting for the New Year

In the old days, the weather was cloudy and sunny in the first few days of the new year to predict the success of the year. The theory begins with "Sui Zhan" written by Dongfang Shuo of the Han Dynasty, which states that eight days after the end of the year, one day is the chicken day, the second day is the dog day, the third day is the pig day, the fourth day is the sheep day, the fifth day is the cow day, the sixth day is the horse day, and the seventh day is the horse day. The sun is a human being, and the eighth day is a grain. If the day is sunny, the object will flourish; if the day is cloudy, the object will not prosper. Later generations followed this custom and believed that the weather from the first to the tenth day of the lunar month was auspicious with clear weather, no wind and no snow. Later generations developed from accounting for age into a series of sacrifices and celebrations.

Drink Tusu wine

Tusu wine is a medicinal wine. In ancient customs, the whole family drank Tusu wine on Yuan Day to dispel unhealthy energy.

The method of making Tusu wine is: use one penny of rhubarb, one penny and five cents of platycodon, one penny and five cents of Sichuan pepper, one penny and eight cents of osmanthus heart, one penny and two cents of dogwood, and one or two pieces of saposhnikovia. Take it up at Yinshi, fry it with wine for four to five times and boil it. In ancient times, the way to drink Tusu wine was very unique. Most people always start drinking from the oldest ones; but when drinking Tusu wine, it is just the opposite, starting from the youngest ones. Probably the young ones grow up day by day and drink first to show their congratulations, while the older people drink later to show their retention as each year passes. The Song Dynasty writer Su Che's poem "Chu Ri" said, "I drink Tusu at the end of every year, and I am more than seventy years old before I know it." This is what this custom is about. This unique drinking order often evoked various emotions in ancient times, so it left a deep impression on people.

Gathering Wealth

It is said that the first day of the first lunar month is the birthday of the broom. You cannot use a broom on this day, otherwise it will sweep away luck, lose money, and attract the "broom star", causing bad luck. . If you must sweep the floor, you must sweep from the outside to the inside. It is also not allowed to pour water or take out garbage outside on this day, for fear of losing money. Today, many places still have a custom of cleaning up on New Year's Eve. On New Year's Day, no brooms are taken out, no garbage is taken out, and a large bucket is prepared to hold wastewater, and no spilling is allowed on that day.

**************** , holding a tiger ear, the Year of the Tiger will be more Tiger!

Spring Festival New Year greetings text message: I wish you the Year of the Tiger, the luck of the Tiger will accompany you, the bad luck will avoid you, the God of Wealth will follow you, good things will surround you, the glory will be yours, and happiness will be with you and me.

May you have 365 days in the Year of the Tiger, travel thousands of miles every day, be with beautiful women at night, live happily every day, be happy every moment, be wonderful every minute, and be happy every second! Good health, successful career, and great success!

New Year greeting messages: New Year is coming, New Year is coming, smile every day, have achievements, don’t be proud, work hard together, fire a cannon, good luck, fall from the sky, share together, everyone is happy. Good luck every day, may the stars shine every day.

New Year's greetings message: Songs for the Year of the Tiger send blessings: Tiger boy is very busy and misses you, the sound of the waves is still me and you, blessing you from the moon, good luck to you, happy wind meets you, love Like the tide rushing to you, Happy New Year and congratulations to you.

Busy New Year greetings: leaders are busy outside, people are busy at home; parents are busy caring, children are busy showing filial piety; lovers are busy giving gifts, newlyweds are busy wedding; friends are busy paying New Year greetings, relatives and friends are busy celebrating the New Year; everyone is busy worshiping ancestors, The country has hope.

The cold winter has passed and the earthquake has gone away. A hundred years of dreams come true, a thousand years of hard work. What do you want to look forward to now? The country will be prosperous, the people will be prosperous, and the people will be safe forever!

The tiger is chasing the rat, here to wish you good luck in the new year: struggle at the beginning of the year, gain in the middle of the year, and enjoy at the end of the year. Happy New Year!