The Origin of the Spring Festival

The activities of offering sacrifices to gods and ancestors during the Spring Festival in the early and late Yin and Shang Dynasties.

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.

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 "Lantern Festival" and "Lantern Festival"

In modern folk customs, celebrating the Spring Festival is also called Chinese New Year. In fact, the origin of Chinese New Year and Spring Festival is very different.

So how did the year come from? There are mainly two kinds of folk sayings: one is the legend, the ancient China.

Sometimes there is a monster called Nian, which has long tentacles on its head and is fierce and abnormal. Nian lived on the seabed for many years, and climbed ashore every New Year's Eve, eating livestock and hurting people's lives. Therefore, every New Year's Eve, people in the village fled to the deep mountains to avoid the harm of the "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 smiled and said, "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. In the middle of the night, 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 a fire was lit in the room, with bright lights. In 2000, "the beast trembled all over and made strange noises." Years "stared at her mother-in-law's house for a while, and then screamed and rushed over. As we approached the door, there was a sudden explosion in the yard. Nian trembled and dared not go any further. It turns out that Nian was most afraid of red, fire and explosion. "At this moment, the door of her mother-in-law's house was wide open, and an old man in a red robe was laughing in the yard. Nianbo was frightened to disgrace and fled in confusion.

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, only to find red paper on the door of her mother-in-law's house, a pile of unburned bamboo still exploding in the yard, and several red candles still glowing in the house. In order to celebrate the arrival of Youxiang, ecstatic villagers put on their clothes and hats and went to their relatives and friends' homes to congratulate and say hello. The story soon spread in the surrounding villages. 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 ancient calligraphy books in China put the word "Nian" in the Ministry of Grain, which means good weather and good harvest. Because cereal crops are usually harvested once a year. "Year" is extended to the name of the 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 lunar month had to be renamed as "Spring Festival" in order to distinguish between farmers and farmers.

"New Year's Day" and "New Year". After the Revolution of 1911, the first day of the first lunar month was officially named Spring Festival.