When is New Year's Day?

The origin of New Year's Day

New Year's Day in ancient China is not the current "Gregorian calendar"-Gregorian calendar 1 month 1 day. From the first day of the twelfth lunar month in Yin to the first day of the first lunar month in Han, there have been many repeated changes. During the Republic of China, 19 12, 1 When Sun Yat-sen took office as interim president in Nanjing at the beginning of the year, it was a "timely farmer" and "convenient for statistics". The first day of the first lunar month is designated as the Spring Festival, and the first day of the solar calendar is changed to 1 as "New Year's Day", but it is still called "New Year's Day". It was not until after liberation that the Central People's Government promulgated and uniformly used "National Statutory Holidays and Remembrance Days", designated the Gregorian calendar 1 as New Year's Day, and decided to have a national holiday on this day. At the same time, in order to distinguish the two New Years, and in view of the fact that the "beginning of spring" in the 24 solar terms of the lunar calendar is just around the Lunar New Year, the first day of the first lunar month is called the "Spring Festival".

The "yuan" of "New Year's Day" refers to the beginning, which means the first. The beginning of each number is called "Yuan": "Dan", pictographic, with the top "Sun" representing the sun and the bottom "One" representing the horizon. "Dan" means that the sun rises from the horizon of Ran Ran, symbolizing the beginning of a day. People put "Yuan" and "Dan" together, which means the first day of the New Year. New Year's Day is also called "three yuan", that is, year yuan, month yuan and hour yuan. The word "Chinese New Year" originated from the Three Emperors and Five Emperors. The Book of Jin written by Tang Fang and others uploaded: "Chasing the emperor takes the first month as the yuan, which is the spring of New Year's Day." That is, the first month is Yuan and the first day is Dan. Lan Ziyun, a native of the Southern Dynasties, once wrote the poem "Jieya": "Four Qi New Year's Day, long life begins today."

There is also a legend that more than 4,000 years ago, when Yao and Shun were in the heyday, when Emperor Yao was in power, he worked hard for the people and did a lot of good things, which was very popular among the people. However, due to his son's incompetence, he did not pass on the throne of "emperor" to his son, but passed it on to Shun, who has both ability and political integrity. Yao said to Shun, "You must pass on the throne in the future, and you will be relieved when I die." Later, Shun passed the throne to Yu, who made great contributions to flood control. Yu also loves the people and has done many good things for the people like Shun, and is deeply loved by the people. Later, after Yao's death, people took the day of offering sacrifices to heaven and earth and the first emperor Yao as the beginning of the year, and called the first day of the first month "New Year's Day" or "Jacky", which was the ancient New Year's Day. On New Year's Day, emperors of all dynasties held ceremonies to celebrate, offer sacrifices and pray for blessings, such as offering sacrifices to gods and ancestors, writing couplets on doors, writing blessings and dancing dragon lanterns. People have gradually formed entertainment celebrations such as offering sacrifices to Buddha, ancestor worship, posting couplets, setting off firecrackers, celebrating the New Year, having a family reunion dinner and numerous "social fires". Lan Xin, a poet in the Jin Dynasty, once wrote a poem "Jacky": "Jiaqing was born here in Jacky. Fairy plays for thousands of years, and small and big have fun. " Describe the celebration of New Year's Day.

After the Republic of China, although 65438+1 October 1 was designated as the New Year, at that time, only institutions, schools and ocean trips had holidays1day. The common people do not admit it, but also inherit the old habit of taking the first day of the lunar calendar as the New Year. Therefore, there are no celebrations on the streets and among people in old Beijing. After liberation, the first day of 1 was renamed as "New Year's Day". The government still celebrated the Spring Festival for three days around the winter leisure period in beginning of spring according to the lunar calendar used for thousands of years, and held a "temple fair" by the people to inherit the people's wishes and thousands of years of folk customs.

The meaning of the new year

1. In ancient China, the first day of the New Year was called "New Year's Day" or "Yuan Day", "Chang Yuan", "Yuan Shuo" and "Yuan Chun". The specific dates were different before the Western Han Dynasty. In the first year of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty, Sima Qian created the "taichu calendar", taking the first day of the first month as New Year's Day, which was followed from generation to generation until the Republic of China.

2. After the Gregorian calendar was introduced into China, the first day of the Gregorian calendar was regarded as the year of the Republic of China. 1949, China People's Political Consultative Conference decided to take the first day of the solar calendar as the "New Year's Day" and renamed it the "Spring Festival" on the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar.

"Yuan" has the meaning of beginning, "Dan" refers to the time of dawn and also refers to a day. New Year's Day is the first day of the year. The word "New Year's Day" comes from Xiao Ziyun's poem "Jieya" in the Southern Dynasties: "Four Qi New Year's Day, a long life begins today." Song Wu's "Liang Lumeng" Volume 1 "First Month" entry: "The first day of the first month is called New Year's Day, and the custom is called New Year's Day. This is the first one. " ; In the Han Dynasty, Cui Yuan called "Jacky" in Sanzi Chai Ming. In the Jin Dynasty, Yang Du Fu called it ""; The Northern Qi Dynasty called it "Yuan Chun" in Huangxia Ci of Hui Yuan Ge Xiang. Tang Dezong Shili called it a "new moon" in the poem "Returning to the DPRK to watch the war and return to camp". Traditionally, New Year's Day refers to the first day of the first month of the summer calendar. There are different names in Chinese dialects, some are called "New Year's Day", some are called "Big Day", some are called "New Year's Day", and generally they are also called "the first day of the first month".