The Origin and Meaning of New Year's Day

China's New Year's Day is said to have started in Zhuan Xu, one of the three emperors and five emperors, with a history of more than 3,000 years. The word "New Year" first appeared in the poems of the Book of Jin. In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, it was also recorded in Xiao Ziyun's poem Jieya.

The word "Chinese New Year" is a "local product" in ancient China. The custom of "Nian" in China has a long history. "Year, the harvest is ripe", that is, people celebrate the harvest festival. 65438+ 10 1 Every New Year's Day is the beginning of the New Year.

"New Year's Day" is a compound word. According to a single word, "yuan" means the first or beginning, and the original meaning of "Dan" is dawn or morning. During the cultural relics excavation in Dawenkou, China found a picture of the sun rising from the top of the mountain with clouds in the middle. According to textual research, this is the oldest writing method of the word "Dan" in China. Later, the simplified word "Dan" appeared on the bronze inscriptions in the Yin and Shang Dynasties.

In the Xia Dynasty, the first month was Meng Xiyue (January), and the Xia Dynasty produced the "summer calendar", which is now the "lunar calendar". The first day of the first lunar month is "Nian", which is called "New Year's Day".

Since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, it has been stipulated that Meng Xiyue (January) is the first month, and Meng Xiyue (the first day of the first month in the summer calendar) is called New Year's Day, which has been used until the end of the Qing Dynasty. But this is the summer calendar, that is, the lunar calendar or lunar calendar, and it is not what we call New Year's Day today.

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New Year's Day custom:

On New Year's Day, the ancient emperors in China held ceremonies of offering sacrifices to gods, ancestor worship, couplets, writing blessings and dancing dragon lanterns, and so on. Folk activities such as offering sacrifices to Buddha, ancestor worship, putting up Spring Festival couplets, setting off firecrackers, observing the New Year and having a reunion dinner, and numerous "social fires" gradually took shape.

China's ancient New Year's Day diet is also rich and colorful. The Chronicle of Jingchu's Age records that Jingchu paid tribute to him on New Year's Day in the Southern Dynasties, and then he drank pepper and cypress wine, peach soup, Tu Su wine, chewed chewing gum (táng) and five coriander, sprinkled powder, and ate ghost pills, each with an egg. Among them, there are peach soup drinks, food and medicine, all of which have their own special meanings.

At present, the custom is that various organizations will organize various cultural activities, schools will organize New Year's Eve parties, companies will generally raise banners to celebrate New Year's Day, better units will offer some benefits, hold New Year's Eve parties, get together for dinner, or social organizations will organize New Year's Eve parties, theater parties and other programs.

Baidu Encyclopedia-New Year's Day