Things related to traditional festivals

Lunar New Year's Eve in December

(New Year's Eve is called New Year's Eve. In addition, the original meaning is "go" and it is extended to "change" [alternate]; The original meaning of the word "evening" is "sunset" and it is extended to "night". Therefore, New Year's Eve means "get rid of the old year here and get a new year tomorrow". "Except" means to get rid of the old cloth and make a new one. New Year's Eve originated from the "expulsion" in the pre-Qin period. According to Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals and Dong Jiji, on the day before the New Year, the ancients used drums to drive away the "ghost of plague" so that there would be no disease or disaster in the coming year. This is the origin of "New Year's Eve" Festival. In ancient times, there were many nicknames for "New Year's Eve", such as "except the night", "except the night", "except the year" and so on. Although there are many names, they always mean to send the old to welcome the new and eliminate disasters and diseases. )

the Spring Festival; Chinese New Year

The first day of the first lunar month.

(It is the first year of the lunar calendar, commonly known as "Chinese New Year". The origin of the Spring Festival has a history of about 4000 years in China. This is the most lively and grand traditional festival in China. The ancient Spring Festival refers to the "beginning of spring" season in the twenty-four solar terms of the lunar calendar. It was not until the Southern and Northern Dynasties that the Spring Festival was changed to the end of the year, generally referring to the whole spring. At this time, spring returns to the earth and everything is renewed. People regard it as the beginning of a new year. In the early years of the Republic of China after the Revolution of 1911, after the lunar calendar was changed to the Gregorian calendar, the first day of the first month was designated as the Spring Festival. It was not until1September 27th, 949 that the China People's Political Consultative Conference officially designated the New Year on the first day of the first month as the "Spring Festival", so many people still call it the Spring Festival. )

Year:

People often call the Spring Festival "Chinese New Year", but the original meaning of "Year" is completely different from today. It is said that in ancient times, there was one of the fiercest beasts in the world called Nian. It is bigger than a camel. Run faster than the wind and roar louder than thunder. Once out, people eat people, animals are injured, and people's lives are seriously threatened. In order to punish Nian, the gods locked it in the mountains and allowed it to come out only once a year. In the long-term practice, people find that Nian has three fears-fear of red, fear of noise and fear of fire. So, one year on the thirtieth night of the twelfth lunar month, everyone posted red paper at the door, kept beating gongs and drums and setting off firecrackers, and lit lights all night in the house at night. Take a look at the evening of "Nian", and every family is brightly lit; Hearing this, the sound of shooting was everywhere, scaring it into the village. During the day, it sneaked down the mountain again, only to find that the doors of every household were still red and drums were everywhere, which scared it to turn around and run back. From then on, Nian never came again. It is said that he starved to death in the deep forest. Later, people turned the prevention of "Year" and "Drive Year" into a safe and steady New Year. "Nian" is gone, but the custom of Chinese New Year is still there. Bright red Spring Festival couplets, brilliant lights, crisp firecrackers, loud gongs and drums, year after year. )

The fifth day of the fifth lunar month is a traditional folk festival in China-Dragon Boat Festival, which is one of the ancient traditional festivals of the Chinese nation. The Dragon Boat Festival is also called Dragon Boat Festival and Duanyang. In addition, there are many nicknames for the Dragon Boat Festival, such as: Noon Festival, Chongwu Festival, May Festival, Magnolia Festival, Daughter's Day, Tianzhong Festival, Dila Festival, Poet's Day, Dragon Boat Festival and Doll's Day. Although the names are different, on the whole, the customs of people everywhere are more similar than different.

Celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival has been a traditional habit of China people for more than two thousand years. Due to the vast territory, numerous nationalities and numerous stories and legends, not only many different festival names are produced, but also different customs exist in different places. Its contents mainly include: daughter going back to her mother's house, hanging Zhong Kui statue, welcoming the ghost boat, hiding in the afternoon, sticking leaves in the afternoon, hanging calamus and wormwood, traveling in all diseases, wearing sachets, preparing sacrificial bowls, dragon boat races, competitions, hitting the ball, swinging, drawing children with realgar, drinking realgar wine, drinking calamus wine, eating poisonous cakes, salted eggs, zongzi and seasonal fresh fruits. Some activities, such as dragon boat racing, have made new progress, breaking through the boundaries of time and region and becoming international sports events.

There are many opinions about the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival, such as: in memory of Qu Yuan; In memory of Wu Zixu's theory; In memory of Cao E; From the three generations of summer solstice festival; The theory of exorcising evil days on the moon, the theory of national totem sacrifice in wuyue, the theory of commemorating Nu Wa and so on. Each of the above has its own source. According to more than 100 ancient books and archaeological studies by experts listed in Wen Yiduo's Dragon Boat Festival Examination and Dragon Boat Festival History Education, the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival is a totem festival held by Wuyue people in the ancient south of China, earlier than Qu Yuan. However, for thousands of years, Qu Yuan's patriotic spirit and touching poems have been deeply rooted in people's hearts, so people "cherish it and mourn it, talk about it in the world, and tell it through the ages." Therefore, the theory of commemorating Qu Yuan has the widest and deepest influence and occupies the mainstream position. In the field of folk culture, China people associate dragon boat racing and eating zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival with commemorating Qu Yuan.

Today, the Dragon Boat Festival is still a very popular grand festival among the people of China. Dragon Boat Festival is now a national legal holiday.

Dragon Boat Festival

Dragon Boat Festival is an ancient traditional festival, which started in China during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period and has a history of more than 2,000 years. Dragon Boat Festival has many origins and legends. Here are only the following four:

The fifth day of the fifth lunar month, commonly known as "Dragon Boat Festival". Ending means "beginning" and "beginning". The fifth day can be called Dragon Boat Festival. In the lunar calendar, the earthly branch marks the moon, the shade is built in the first month, February is the base, and May is noon in turn, so May is called noon month, and "five" is connected with "noon", and "five" is also the yang number, so the Dragon Boat Festival is also called Dragon Boat Festival, Worship for Wu, Duanyang and Zhongtian. According to historical records, the word "Dragon Boat Festival" first appeared in the local custom of Jin people and Zhou Dynasty: "Dragon Boat Festival in midsummer, cooking millet." Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional festival of Han nationality in China. The necessary activities of this day gradually evolved into: eating zongzi, dragon boat racing, hanging calamus and mugwort leaves, smoking Atractylodes rhizome and angelica dahurica, and drinking realgar wine. It is said that eating zongzi and dragon boat racing is to commemorate Qu Yuan, so after liberation, the Dragon Boat Festival was named "Poet's Day" to commemorate Qu Yuan. As for hanging calamus, wormwood leaves, smoked atractylodes rhizome and angelica dahurica, drinking realgar wine is said to suppress evil spirits. Although the Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated every year, its origin is not very clear. To sum up, there are roughly the following statements.

First, in memory of Qu Yuan. This theory originated from the records of Wu Jun's "The Peace of Continuation of Qi" in the Southern Liang Dynasty and "The Time of Jingchu" in the Northern Zhou Dynasty. It is said that Qu Yuan threw himself into the river on the fifth day of May. Trapped by dragons after death, the world mourned. He throws colorful silk zongzi into the water every day to drive away the dragon. It is also said that after Qu Yuan threw himself into the Miluo River, the local people immediately rowed for rescue, and all the way to Dongting Lake, but Qu Yuan's body was not found. It was raining at that time, and the boats on the lake gathered at the pavilion on the shore. When people learned that it was to salvage the sage Dr. Qu, they went out in the rain and rushed into the vast Dongting Lake. In order to mourn, people rowed on rivers, and later it gradually developed into a dragon boat race. Eating zongzi and racing dragon boats on the Dragon Boat Festival seems to be related to commemorating Qu Yuan, as evidenced by Wen Xiu's poem "Dragon Boat Festival" in the Tang Dynasty: "The festival is divided into Dragon Boat Festival, and it is rumored that it is Qu Yuan. It is ridiculous that the Chu River is empty and cannot be washed directly. "

Second, Ying Tao said. This sentence comes from Cao E tablet in the Eastern Han Dynasty. During the Spring and Autumn Period, after the death of Wu Zixu, a loyal minister of the State of Wu, he became Shen Tao, and the world mourned and sacrificed, so there was the Dragon Boat Festival.

Third, the Dragon Boat Festival said. This statement comes from Wen Yiduo's Dragon Boat Festival Examination and Dragon Boat Festival History Education. He believed that the fifth day of May was the day when the "Dragon" tribe in ancient wuyue held totem sacrifices. The main reason is: (1) Eating zongzi and dragon boat racing are the two most important activities of the Dragon Boat Festival, both of which are related to dragons. Zongzi thrown into the water is often stolen by mosquitoes and dragons, and dragon boat races. (2) The relationship between race crossing and ancient wuyue is particularly deep. Besides, Wuyue people have the custom of tattooing constantly to look like a dragon. (3) The ancient folk custom of "tying the arm with colored silk" on the fifth day of May should be a relic of the tattoo custom of "Like a dragon".

Fourth, the theory of evil day. In the pre-Qin period, it was generally believed that May was a poisonous month and the fifth was an evil day. Midsummer in Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals stipulates that people should abstain from sex and fast in May. "Xia Zheng Xiao" records: "Store medicine this day to get rid of poisonous gas." It is recorded in "Da Dai Li" that "the livestock orchid takes a bath on May 5", and there are many legends that the fifth day is the taboo day for bathing to exorcise evil spirits. The famous Meng Changjun in Historical Records and Biography of Meng Changjun was born on May 5th. His father asked his mother not to have him, thinking that "a child born in May is longer than a family, which is not good for parents." "Custom Pass" was lost. "It is said that on May 5th, a child was born, and the male harmed his father and the female harmed his mother". Wang Chong, the author of Lun Heng, also described: "The first month and May are taboos; Kill your father and your mother in May of the first month. " Wang Zhene, a general of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, was born on the fifth day of May. His grandfather named him "Zhen Xie". Evonne and Song Huizong were born on the fifth day of May, and were fostered outside the palace since childhood. It can be seen that it is a common phenomenon to regard the fifth day of May as an evil day in ancient times. It can be seen that this day has been an unlucky day since the pre-Qin period. In this way, it is logical to insert calamus and mugwort leaves to exorcise ghosts, smoke atractylodes rhizome and angelica dahurica and drink realgar wine to avoid the epidemic on this day.

Fifth, the summer mentioned on the solstice. Liu Deqian, who holds this view, put forward three main reasons in The Origin of Dragon Boat Festival and Interesting Talk about Traditional Festivals in China: (1) The authoritative book The Story of the Years of Jingchu did not mention the festival custom of eating zongzi on the fifth day of May, but was written on the solstice festival in summer. As for Du Jing, Du Taiqing's Jade Candle Collection in the Sui Dynasty listed it as an entertainment activity from summer to the sun, which shows that it was not necessarily to salvage Qu Yuan, a great poet who threw himself into the river. (2) Some contents in the custom of Dragon Boat Festival, such as "stepping on a hundred herbs", "fighting a hundred herbs" and "picking herbs", have nothing to do with Qu Yuan. (3) The first explanation of the Dragon Boat Festival in Beautiful Scenery at the Age of Years is: "The sun shines, and the Dragon Boat Festival is in midsummer, so it can also be called midsummer festival. Therefore, the earliest origin of the noon festival is the summer solstice. There are many controversies, and the theory of commemorating Qu Yuan has the most extensive influence. Because of Qu Yuan's outstanding personality and art, people are willing to attribute this anniversary to him.

Sixth, the memory of Nu Wa said. In Qingyang, Gansu, there has always been a strong custom of the Dragon Boat Festival. This day is a festival for women to play with threads and dress up dolls, so it is called Doll's Day or Daughter's Day. There is an embroidered big blue wow on the back of the doll, or there is a snake on the back. Plus the five poisons, wearing a tiger hat, covered with tiger shoes, decorated with double beards on the chest, wearing various styles of sachets filled with herbs (these were later collectively referred to as Qingyang sachets). Wrists and ankles are tied with five-color threads and twisted into flower ropes, all made by women's hands. When and which generation did this custom inherit? It is just an intangible cultural heritage (Qingyang sachet was listed as the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage in 2002). If these folk spoken words and dolls are verified with some historical records of Dongli Zhao Xi, it is not difficult to find the contextual relationship between them and China humanities. "Wa" is homophonic with "Wa", and "Nu Wa" is homophonic with "Nu Wa". There is a folk saying that Dragon Boat Festival is a doll festival and Nuwa Festival is Nuwa Festival. It is speculated that the custom of Dragon Boat Festival in Qingyang, the birthplace of China, should be a way for local people to recall human childhood, commemorate Nu Wa and convey maternal love. The potential relationship between maternal love and childlike innocence has a mysterious call to a generation and accumulated into a folk consciousness. It originated in Nianshi for a long time, which is far older than the present research era. This is the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival, which laid the foundation for the formation of China's grand cultural system with the word "five characters" and became the thinking framework of Chinese descendants about the origin of nature.

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