What is the origin of "New Year's Day"?

The origin of New Year's Day

In modern times, New Year's Day refers to the first day of the year. Since the introduction of the Western calendar into our country, the term New Year's Day has been exclusively used for the New Year, while the traditional Old Calendar year is called the Spring Festival.

Before this, New Year’s Day always referred to the first day of the lunar year. Yuan means "beginning" and "beginning", and Dan refers to "days". New Year's Day collectively refers to the "initial days", which is the first day of the year. On September 27, 1949, the First Plenary Session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference decided: "The Chinese People's Republic of China will adopt the AD calendar system for its calendar year," which is what we call the Gregorian calendar. In order to distinguish the two new years of the lunar calendar and the solar calendar, In view of the fact that the "beginning of spring" in the 24 solar terms of the lunar calendar happens to be around the Lunar New Year, the first day of the first lunar month was renamed the "Spring Festival", and the first day of the first lunar month was designated as "New Year's Day". Only then did New Year's Day become the national holiday. happy holiday.

Celebrating the beginning of the New Year and celebrating New Year's Day can be said to be a common custom in various countries and regions around the world. In our country, it is also listed as a legal holiday. Our country and most countries and regions in the world adopt the Gregorian calendar system and designate January 1st as the beginning of the new year, called "New Year's Day".

Since countries around the world are located at different longitudes and have different times, the date of "New Year's Day" is also different. For example, Tonga, an island country in Oceania, is located on the west side of the date line. It is the first place in the world to start a new day and the first country to celebrate New Year's Day. Western Samoa, located east of the date line, is the latest place in the world to start a new day. According to the Gregorian calendar, our country is the 12th country in the world to start the New Year.

The origin of the Chinese New Year

The date of the Chinese New Year is not the same in different dynasties. The Xia Dynasty was on the first day of January, the Shang Dynasty was on the first day of December, the Zhou Dynasty was on the first day of November, and the Qin Dynasty was on the first day of October. In the first year of Taichu in the Western Han Dynasty (104 BC), Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty accepted the suggestion of Sima Qian and others to use the "Taichu Calendar", restored the Xia calendar, which is the lunar calendar, with the first month as the beginning of the year, and set the twenty-four solar terms into the calendar. Although the calendar has been modified in subsequent dynasties, it is still basically based on the "Taichu Calendar", with the first month of Mengchun in the lunar calendar as the beginning of the year, and the first day of the first lunar month as New Year's Day and New Year's Day, which is the first day of the New Year.

After the Revolution of 1911, the Qing Dynasty was overthrown, and Sun Yat-sen established the government of the Republic of China in Nanjing. Representatives of the provincial governors held a meeting in Nanjing to discuss calendar issues. The meeting reached the consensus of "following the lunar calendar, so it follows the agricultural season; following the Western calendar, so it is convenient for statistics", and decided to use the Gregorian calendar, designate January 1 of the Gregorian calendar as the "New Year", and call the first day of the first lunar month the "Spring Festival" , but it has not been officially named and promoted. On September 27, 1949, the first plenary session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference passed the use of the "Gregorian calendar method", designated January 1 of the Gregorian calendar as "New Year's Day", and designated the first month of the lunar calendar as "Spring Festival", and stipulated that There is a three-day holiday during the Spring Festival, allowing people to celebrate the Lunar New Year enthusiastically.

In the course of more than two thousand years of history, my country's New Year rituals and customs have experienced the development process of germination, finalization, fission, and transformation.

In the pre-Qin period, New Year customs were in their infancy. The celebration at this time is mainly the "December Festival" held at the end of the year's farming work to repay God's gifts. The Book of Songs in July records the festival customs during the turn of the old year and the new year in the Western Zhou Dynasty. The poem says, "Enjoy the wine, kill the lamb every day, enter the other court, drink wine, and live forever." It means that people dedicated wine and lambs to the gods to repay the gods for their protection and blessings throughout the year. The celebrations at this time did not have a unified day due to the different calendars adopted by various princes and states. It was roughly during the slack season in winter, and it was the prototype of later New Year customs.

New Year customs were finalized in the Han Dynasty. After the great social turmoil during the Warring States Period and the late Qin Dynasty, the policy of "rest and recuperation" was implemented in the early Western Han Dynasty. Social production was restored and developed, social order was relatively stable, people's interest in life increased, and a series of festival customs were formed. After the implementation of the "Taichu Calendar", the calendar became stable for a long time, and the first day of the first lunar month was established as the date of the New Year.

As a result, the worshiping gods, sacrifices and celebrations that were originally held on different days in late winter and early spring in various regions were gradually unified on the first day of the first lunar month. With the development of society, from the Han Dynasty to the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the custom of celebrating the New Year on the first day of the first lunar month has become more and more popular. Activities such as burning firecrackers, changing peach charms, drinking Tusu wine, watching the New Year's Eve, and enjoying lanterns have all appeared. New Year has become the largest event in our country. festival.

New Year customs underwent fission in the Tang Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty was an era of prosperous ideology and culture, and it was also an era of frequent cultural exchanges at home and abroad. New Year customs gradually liberated themselves from the mysterious atmosphere of prayer, superstition, and absolution, and transformed into an entertainment-based and ceremonial festival. Firecrackers on New Year's Day are no longer a means to ward off ghosts and evil spirits, but have become a way of joy and celebration; the focus of celebrating the New Year has shifted from worshiping gods to entertaining people, to people's own entertainment and enjoying life. Therefore, it can be said that only after the Tang Dynasty did the New Year truly become a "good festival" celebrated by the whole world and celebrated by hundreds of millions of people.

New Year customs changed during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. This transformation is mainly reflected in two aspects: First, the etiquette and entertainment aspects are strengthened. People pay homage to each other during the New Year, and dignitaries send each other name cards or visit each other's doors to pay their respects. Common people also pay attention to "reciprocity" by giving gifts and paying New Year greetings to each other. Second, the entertainment aspect is further enhanced. During the New Year, various entertainment activities such as lion playing, dragon dancing, acting, storytelling, stilt walking, and land boats are colorful and dazzling. People from Beijing visit Changdian, people from Guangzhou visit the flower market, people from Suzhou listen to the bells of Hanshan Temple, and people from Shanghai visit the Temple of the City God... Recreational activities in various places have their own characteristics, and various entertainment activities emerge in endlessly, which is dazzling. The New Year customs at this time perfectly integrate Chinese traditional culture and become a folk expo that showcases thousands of years of customs and culture in our country.

With a history of more than two thousand years, Chinese New Year customs have been prevalent in Chixian, China, and have penetrated into everyone’s life and molded the soul of every descendant of Yan and Huang. During the New Year, at the end of the lunar calendar, people rush home to reunite with their relatives, worship their ancestors, eat dumplings, pay New Year greetings, and enjoy lanterns. These have become common habits of the people of the Yan and Huang Dynasties.

Chinese New Year customs have also spread to other surrounding countries, such as Japan, Vietnam, North Korea, South Korea and other countries. They celebrate the New Year in a similar way to us.