Traditional Culture Encyclopedia - The 24 Solar Terms - How did the New Year in China come about? What are the representative things?

How did the New Year in China come about? What are the representative things?

Spring Festival:

In China, the beginning of the Lunar New Year is called the Spring Festival. It is the most solemn traditional festival of China people, and it also symbolizes unity, prosperity and new hope for the future. According to records, the people of China have celebrated the Spring Festival for more than 4,000 years, which was initiated by Yu Shun. One day more than two thousand years BC, Shun became emperor and led his men to worship heaven and earth. Since then, people have regarded this day as the beginning of a year, that is, the first day of the first month. It is said that this is the origin of the Lunar New Year, which was later called the Spring Festival. The Spring Festival used to be called New Year's Day. The month in which the Spring Festival is held is called January. & gt& gt& gt

However, the dates of New Year's Day in China are inconsistent: January in Meng Chun is used as the first month of Xia Dynasty, December in Shang Dynasty, October after Qin Shihuang unified the six countries, and the Qin calendar used in the early Han Dynasty. Liu Che, Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty, thought that the calendar was too chaotic, so he ordered his ministers Gong Sunqing and Sima Qian to draw up a "solar calendar", which stipulated that the first month of the lunar calendar was the first year, and the first day of the first month was the first day of the year, which was New Year's Day. Since then, China has been using the Gregorian calendar (also known as the lunar calendar) until the end of the Qing Dynasty, which lasted for 2080.

19 12 When Sun Yat-sen became the interim president of the Republic of China in Nanjing, he announced that China would adopt the Gregorian calendar, also known as the solar calendar and the new calendar. And decided to take 1 91265438+10/month1as the first year of the Republic of China. January 1st is called New Year's Day, but not New Year's Day.

1949 On September 27th, the first plenary session of China People's Political Consultative Conference decided to adopt the world calendar year while establishing the People's Republic of China (PRC). In order to distinguish between the solar calendar and the lunar calendar, the first day of the solar calendar is called "New Year's Day" and the first day of the first lunar month is officially renamed as "Spring Festival" because the "beginning of spring" in the 24 solar terms is just around the lunar year.

The earth goes around the sun once, which is called a year in the calendar, and it goes on and on, never ending. However, according to the different seasons, people take the first day of the first month of the summer calendar as the beginning of the year. Every year, after midnight (12 o'clock) on February 30th (February 29th of the lunar calendar), the Spring Festival officially arrives.

Near the Spring Festival, people buy new year's goods. On New Year's Eve, the whole family get together for dinner. New Year pictures and Spring Festival couplets; Welcome the new year.

With the founding of New China, the Spring Festival celebrations are more colorful. It not only retains the past folk customs, excludes some activities with feudal superstition, but also adds many new contents. Give the Spring Festival a new flavor of the times. 1949 65438+February 23rd The government of People's Republic of China (PRC) and People's Republic of China (PRC) stipulates that there will be three days off during the Spring Festival every year.

China is a multi-ethnic country, and each ethnic group has different ways to celebrate the New Year. The customs and habits of the Han nationality, Manchu nationality and Korean nationality for the Spring Festival are similar. The family is reunited. People eat rice cakes, jiaozi and various sumptuous meals, set off firecrackers and wish each other well. Celebrations during the Spring Festival are extremely colorful, including lion dance and dragon dance, as well as walking on stilts and running dry boats. In some areas, people follow the activities of worshipping ancestors and gods in the past and pray for good weather, peace and good harvest in the new year. Ancient Mongols called the Spring Festival "White Festival" and the first month was Bai Yue, which means good luck. Tibetans celebrate the Tibetan calendar year. Hui, Uygur, Kazak, etc. Celebrate Eid al-Adha. The Spring Festival is also a grand festival for Miao, Dong and Yao people.