The origin of the Spring Festival and the five customs

The Spring Festival refers to the traditional Lunar New Year in the cultural circle of Chinese characters, commonly known as the "Chinese New Year Festival". The traditional names are New Year, New Year and New Year, but they are also verbally called New Year, Celebrating New Year and New Year. This is the most solemn traditional festival of the Chinese nation.

The Spring Festival begins in Yu Shun. One day more than 2000 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. It is said that this is the origin of the Lunar New Year, which was later called the Spring Festival.

folklore

So how did the year come from? There are mainly two kinds of folk sayings: one is that there was a fierce monster called Nian in ancient times, which went door to door on the thirtieth day of the twelfth lunar month, foraging for human flesh and killing creatures. On the night of the thirtieth day of the twelfth lunar month, Nian came to a village. It happened that two cowboys were fighting for a whip. Nian suddenly heard the sound of whipping in mid-air and ran away in fear. It fled to another village and saw a bright red dress drying in front of the door. It didn't know what it was, so it turned around and ran away. Later, he came to a village, looked into the door of a family, and saw that the lights were brightly lit and dizzy, so he had to slip away again, with his tail between his legs. From this, people realized that Nian has the weakness of being afraid of noise, red and light, so they thought of many ways to resist it and gradually evolved into the custom of celebrating the New Year today.

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.

Theory of perpetual calendar creation

According to legend, there was a young man named Wan Nian in ancient times. Seeing that the festivals at that time were chaotic, he had an accurate plan. But he couldn't find a way to calculate the time. One day, he was tired of chopping wood on the mountain and sat in the shade. The movement of the shadow inspired him. He designed a sundial to measure the time of the day. Later, inspired by the dripping spring water on the cliff, he began to make a five-layer clepsydra to calculate the time. Over time, he found that every 360 days, the four seasons would cycle once, and the length of the weather would be repeated.

At that time, the monarch was called Zu Ti, who was often troubled by the unpredictable weather. Ten thousand years later, he took the sundial and the clepsydra to see the emperor and explained to Zu Ti the truth about the movement of the sun and the moon. Zu Ti was very happy after hearing this and felt reasonable. So I left for ten thousand years and built the Sun and Moon Pavilion in front of the Temple of Heaven, as well as the sundial platform and the Leaky Pot Pavilion. I hope I can accurately measure the laws of the sun and the moon, calculate the exact time in the morning and evening, and create a calendar to benefit people all over the world.

On one occasion, Zu Ti went to learn about the progress of the perpetual calendar. When he boarded the altar of the sun and the moon, he saw a poem engraved on the stone wall next to the Temple of Heaven:

Sunrise and sunset 360, start all over again.

Vegetation is divided into four seasons, and there are twelve circles in a year.

Knowing that the perpetual calendar was created, I personally boarded the Sun Moon Pavilion to visit the perpetual calendar. Wan Nian pointed to the astronomical phenomena and said to Zu Ti, "It's been twelve months now, the old year has passed and the new year has begun again. Please make a festival for you. " Zu Ti said, "Spring is the first year of a year, so let's call it Spring Festival". It is said that this is the origin of the Spring Festival.

After years of long-term observation and careful calculation, he worked out an accurate solar calendar. When he showed his successor the solar calendar, he was covered with silver whiskers. The monarch was deeply moved. In order to commemorate the achievements of 10 thousand years, he named the solar calendar "perpetual calendar" and named it the birthday star of the sun, moon and moon. In the future, people will hang up the Shou Xingtu during the Chinese New Year, which is said to commemorate the venerable ten thousand years. [2]

You fairies will get together and say

There are fairy tales about celebrating the Spring Festival in Handan, Hebei Province.

Legend has it that Wang Xia rules the world, the weather is favorable, the country is prosperous and the people are safe, the people have ample food and clothing, live and work in peace and contentment, and have a good life! But later, I don't know how many years passed, and I don't know which dynasty it was. The world was in chaos. Sometimes it is dry, sometimes it is waterlogged, sometimes it is windy, and sometimes it rains heavily. Some people are poor, some are rich, some are rich, and some are slaves.

At that time, there was a rich man in the village, and his family hired several people looking for Han (that is, long-term workers). One day, after dinner, people offered sacrifices to the kitchen god. When Xiaomi saw the cold, he quietly knelt in front of the kitchen god and prayed: "The kitchen god has appeared. Don't be sunny on cloudy days, and don't be bright when it is dark; Don't commit suicide if you are sick. " No, that's just what the rich hear. After Xiaomi left cold, the rich man knelt in front of the kitchen king and prayed, "The kitchen king shows his spirit, when it is dark, when it is dark, it is bright." If you want to get sick, tell him to get sick in his spare time and not to make a living when he is busy. "

Kitchen God was dozing off. Didn't hear clearly; In a daze, I remembered "Cloudy, sunny, rainy, windy, sick, painful …", so I kept them firmly in mind.

While speaking, a year passed, and on the 23rd night of the twelfth lunar month, all the immortals went to heaven to appear before the Jade Emperor, and of course the Kitchen God also went. He went earlier than anyone else, because he kept thinking about the prayers of the rich man and Xiaomi Han. When the Jade Emperor saw it, he said without a word, "Your Majesty, the little god has something to say. At present, the world is in disorder of yin and yang, and people can't survive because of wind and rain. You should send a great god to treat as soon as possible ... "

Hearing this, the Jade Emperor was surprised: "Is this true?" "Really." "Really?" "Really." Therefore, the Jade Emperor soon issued an imperial decree: to appoint a great god to take charge of the people's food, clothing, housing and transportation. Imperial edict, you all look at me, I look at you, no one will accept the imperial edict.

At this time. Suddenly, outside the worse gate, he shouted, "The gods stand back and I'll do it!" " "I looked up and saw a bald, chubby, paunchy, grinning god-Maitreya. This Maitreya Buddha is broad-minded and generous. He looked at the scenery outside the worse gate all day. He just wanted to do something good for people, so he automatically took on this important task.

It is said that the first thing Maitreya did when he came to earth was to let people live a good year, eat well, dress well and not have to work. As a result, at every party, people will obey his wishes and hold new year's goods, which is really lively. Maitreya also made special provisions: 24. Sweep the house; Twenty-five, grinding bean curd; Twenty-six, steamed bread; Twenty-seven, shopping; Twenty-eight, killing pigs; Twenty-nine, playing yellow wine; Thirty, eat flat food. At the same time, all the immortals should be invited and the preparations should be complete. On the first day of the first year, that is, the first day of the new year, every household will set up five watches, set off firecrackers, dress neatly, congratulate each other and have fun. At the same time, we have to visit relatives and friends and visit the graves to worship our ancestors. ...

In this way, the world is truly peaceful. The Jade Emperor brushed aside the clouds and looked down at the world. This is a happy scene, and he is naturally happy. A few days later, on the fifth day, it was just dawn and suddenly there was a noise. It turned out to be Jiang Taigong's wife (people called her a dirty god, who specializes in toilets and dirt), and she was quarreling with Maitreya with a big belly.

It turns out that on New Year's Eve, when people invite God, they forget the dirty God. She was angry and went to Maitreya to make trouble. Maitreya smiled, but did not answer. The foul air is so unpleasant that his hair is almost torn off. Maitreya saw that the situation was about to get serious and said, "Let's do it! Today is the fifth day, let people put more guns on you and pack a jiaozi, which costs a lot of money! " -this is the origin of "breaking five".

I don't want to. These guns arrived at the Heavenly Palace, where the Jade Emperor was playing chess. When he heard the gunshot, he thought something had happened in the world. He sent the God of Wealth to travel around the world. The god of wealth is the god in charge of gold and silver treasures in heaven. When I came to the world, I forgot to go back when I saw incense, foil and paper everywhere.

The Jade Emperor also sent Guan Cang to the world. He was the god in charge of the warehouse. He saw that every household was filled with fragrant steamed buns, and he didn't want to return to heaven.

The Jade Emperor sent several immortals to earth, but there was still no reply. It's been half a month, and the jade emperor's chess game is over. It suddenly occurred to him that several immortals who had been sent down didn't come back, so he went to the world to see for himself. When he saw people wearing new clothes; Eating rice, white flour and meat dishes, doing nothing and being very angry, I called Maitreya to drink: "I told you to take care of people's affairs, but who told you to let people eat and dress well and not live?" Maitreya smiled and said, "Your Majesty, calm down. You asked me to take care of people's food, clothing, housing and transportation, but you didn't let me let people work! " In a word, the Jade Emperor was silent. The jade emperor thought about it, and he was right. Now that he has done it, he can only do it once a year. After the spring, he will go to work in the fields. So since then, the old convention has been left, and there is a Spring Festival once a year.

After that, Maitreya can't go back to the worse gate. To this day, there are still statues of him in some temples. People say that Maitreya can't be blamed. After all, he wants to do good for people. So people burned incense for him as usual.