When is the Spring Festival?

There are many traditional festivals in China, among which the Spring Festival is my favorite. Every Spring Festival, people like to put up Spring Festival couplets, beat gongs and drums, and put up lanterns and decorations. The activities to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new are very lively. This is the happiest time for children, and everyone's face is filled with festive joy. So, when is the Spring Festival? What date is it? Come and have a look with me.

When is the Spring Festival in 2023?

The Spring Festival in 2023 is 65438+1October 22nd in Gregorian calendar in 2023, which is the first day of the first lunar month. There is only one Spring Festival in 2023, because this year is a leap February, not a leap January, so there are no two Spring Festivals. What year is 2023? The year 2023 is the average year of the Gregorian calendar, ***365 days and 53 weeks. At the same time, it is a lunar calendar.

Introduction of Spring Festival

Spring Festival generally refers to New Year's Eve and the first day of the first month. But among the people, the traditional Spring Festival refers to the sacrificial ceremony from the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month or the 23rd or 24th of the twelfth lunar month to the 15th of the first lunar month in La Worship, with New Year's Eve and the first day of the first lunar month as the climax. During the Spring Festival, Han people and many ethnic minorities in our country will hold various activities to celebrate. The main contents of these activities are offering sacrifices to gods and buddhas, paying homage to ancestors, saying goodbye to the old year and welcoming the new year, and praying for a bumper harvest. The activities are rich and colorful, with strong national characteristics.

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.

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.

Spring Festival has different names in different times. In the pre-Qin period, it was called "going to Japan", "January Day", "changing the year" and "offering the year". In the Han Dynasty, it was also called "Three Dynasties", "Sui Dan", "Zheng Dan" and "Zhengri". Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties were called Chen Yuan, Yuan Ri, Fuehrer and Sui Dynasty. In the Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties, it was called New Year's Day, Yuan, New Year's Day and Singapore dollar. In the Qing Dynasty, it was always called "New Year's Day" or "Yuan Day".

19 12 When Sun Yat-sen became the provisional president of the Republic of China in Nanjing, he announced the abolition of the old calendar and used the Gregorian calendar to mark the year of the Republic of China. 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. However, people still use the old calendar, that is, the summer calendar, and still celebrate the traditional New Year on February 18 of that year (the first day of the first month of the year of Renzi), and other traditional festivals remain unchanged. In view of this, in July of 19 13 (the second year of the Republic of China), Yuan Shikai at that time approved the first day of the first month as the Spring Festival, and agreed that the Spring Festival would be a routine holiday, which would be implemented the following year. Since then, the beginning of the summer calendar has been called "Spring Festival". The current title of Spring Festival travel rush is only 95 years old.

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, Yi and Yao people.

How do people in China spend the Spring Festival?

Nowadays, many people want to return home during the holidays, and the passenger pressure during Spring Festival travel rush is unprecedented. "Spring Festival travel rush fever" can also be called a major phenomenon in Spring Festival travel rush. Let's introduce the custom of Chinese New Year in China.

stay up late or all night on New Year's Eve

Keeping the Lunar New Year's Eve is one of the most important activities, and the custom of keeping the Lunar New Year's Eve has a long history. The earliest record can be found in the Local Records of the Western Jin Dynasty: on New Year's Eve, all parties give gifts to each other, which is called "the year of giving back"; Wine and food are invited, which is called "not old"; Young and old get together to drink and wish a complete song called "age division"; Everyone stays up all night, waiting for dawn. This is the so-called "shou sui".

On New Year's Eve, the whole family get together, eat New Year's Eve, light candles or oil lamps, sit around the stove and chat, wait for the time to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new year, and keep vigil all night, which symbolizes driving away all evil diseases and epidemics and expecting good luck in the new year. This custom gradually became popular. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong, wrote a poem "Shou Sui": "Cold words and winter snow, warm with spring breeze". To this day, people are used to celebrating the New Year's Eve. In ancient times, observing the age has two meanings: the old man's observing the age means "resigning from the old", which means cherishing time; Young people keep their age in order to prolong the life of their parents. Since the Han Dynasty, the time for the alternation of the old and new years is generally at midnight.

sweep the dust

"On the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, dust sweeps the house". According to Lv Chunqiu, China had the custom of sweeping dust during the Spring Festival in the Yao and Shun era. According to the folk saying: Because of the homonym of "dust" and "Chen", sweeping dust in the Spring Festival means "getting rid of the old and not being new", and its original intention is to sweep away all bad luck and bad luck. This custom has placed people's desire to break the old and create new ones and their prayers to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. Whenever the Spring Festival comes, every household should clean the environment, clean all kinds of electrical appliances, remove and wash bedding curtains, sweep six yards, dust cobwebs and dredge culverts in open channels. Everywhere is filled with the joyful atmosphere of cleaning and welcoming the Spring Festival cleanly.

paste up Spring Festival couplets

Spring Festival couplets are also called door couplets, spring stickers, couplets, couplets and peach symbols. They depict the background of the times and express good wishes with neat, dual, concise and delicate words, which are unique literary forms in China. Every Spring Festival, no matter in urban or rural areas, every household should choose a pair of red Spring Festival couplets and stick them on the door to add festive atmosphere to the festival. This custom began in the Song Dynasty and was popular in the Ming Dynasty. By the Qing Dynasty, the ideological and artistic quality of Spring Festival couplets had been greatly improved. Liang Zhangju's monograph Poetry of Spring Festival couplets discusses the origin of couplets and the characteristics of various works.

There are many kinds of Spring Festival couplets, which can be divided into door heart, frame pair, cross string, spring strip and bucket square according to the place of use. The "door core" is attached to the center of the upper end of the door panel; The "door frame pair" is attached to the left and right door frames; "Cross-dressing" is posted on the crossbar of the door; "Spring strips" are posted in corresponding places according to different contents; "Dou Jin", also known as "door leaf", is a square diamond, often attached to furniture and screen walls.

New Year picture

Hanging New Year pictures during the Spring Festival is also very common in urban and rural areas. Thick black and colorful New Year pictures add a lot of prosperity and festive atmosphere to thousands of families. New Year pictures are an ancient folk art in China, which reflects people's simple customs and beliefs and places their hopes on the future. New Year pictures, like Spring Festival couplets, originated from "door gods". With the rise of block printing, the content of New Year pictures is not limited to monotonous themes such as door gods, but has become rich and colorful. Some New Year pictures workshops have produced classic color New Year pictures, such as Fu Lushou's Samsung, God bless the people, the bumper harvest of grains, the prosperity of six animals, and the blessing of welcoming the spring, in order to meet people's good wishes of celebrating and praying for the New Year. There are three important producing areas of Chinese New Year pictures: Taohuawu in Suzhou, Yangliuqing in Tianjin and Weifang in Shandong; Three schools of New Year pictures have been formed, each with its own characteristics.

The earliest existing collection of New Year pictures in China is the woodcut New Year pictures of the Southern Song Dynasty, which depict four ancient beauties: Wang Zhaojun, Zhao, Ban Ji and Lvzhu. The most popular folk painting is the Year of Marrying the Rat. It depicts an interesting scene in which a mouse marries a bride according to human custom. In the early years of the Republic of China, Zheng of Shanghai combined the monthly calendar with the New Year pictures. This is a new form of New Year pictures. This new year's picture, which was combined into one, later developed into a calendar and has been popular all over the country.

Stick the window grilles and the word "fu" upside down.

In the folk, people also like to stick various paper-cuts on the windows-window grilles. Window grilles not only set off the festive atmosphere, but also integrate decoration, appreciation and practicality. Paper-cutting is a very popular folk art in China, which has been loved by people for thousands of years. Because it is often pasted on the window, it is also called "window grilles". With its unique generalization and exaggeration, window grilles show auspicious things and good wishes incisively and vividly, and decorate festivals with colorful colors.

While putting up Spring Festival couplets, some people have to put large and small "Fu" characters on doors, walls and lintels. Sticking the word "Fu" during the Spring Festival is a long-standing folk custom in China. The word "Fu" symbolizes good luck and wishes for a happy life and a bright future. In order to fully reflect this yearning and wish, some people simply put the word "Fu" upside down, indicating that "Fu has arrived" and "Fu has arrived". Others elaborate the word "Fu" into various patterns, such as longevity, longevity peach, carp yue longmen, abundant grains, dragons and phoenixes, and so on.

Pay new year's call

On the first day of the new year, people get up early, put on the most beautiful clothes, dress neatly, go out to visit relatives and friends, and wish each other good luck in the coming year. There are many ways to pay New Year's greetings, some of which are led by the same patriarch from door to door. Some colleagues invited several people to pay New Year greetings; Others get together to congratulate each other. This is called "group worship". Because it takes time and effort to pay New Year greetings at home, some elites and scholars later congratulated each other with stickers, thus developing the later "New Year cards". When paying New Year greetings during the Spring Festival, the younger generation should first pay New Year greetings to their elders and wish them health and longevity. The elders can distribute the lucky money prepared in advance to the younger generation. It is said that lucky money can kill evil spirits, because "old" and "special" are homophonic, and the younger generation can spend a year safely with lucky money. There are two kinds of lucky money, one is to put colored rope in the shape of Jackie Chan at the foot of the bed, which was recorded in Yanjing year; The other is the most common, that is, parents wrap the money distributed to their children in red paper. Lucky money can be given in public after the younger generation pays New Year's greetings, or it can be secretly put under the child's pillow by parents when the child falls asleep on New Year's Eve. It is still very popular for elders to give lucky money to younger generations.

Setting off firecrackers

There is a folk saying in China that "open the door and set off firecrackers". That is, when the new year comes, the first thing for every household to open the door is to set off firecrackers to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. Firecracker is a specialty of China, also known as "Firecracker", "Firecracker" and "Firecracker". Its origin is very early, and it has a history of more than two thousand years. Setting off firecrackers can create a festive and lively atmosphere, which is a kind of entertainment in festivals and can bring happiness and good luck to people. With the passage of time, firecrackers are more and more widely used, and there are more and more varieties and colors. Every major festival and happy celebration, as well as marriage, building, opening, etc. We should set off firecrackers to celebrate and make good luck. At present, Liuyang, Hunan, Foshan and Dongyao, Yichun and Pingxiang, Jiangxi, Wenzhou, Zhejiang and other regions are famous fireworks towns in China. The firecrackers produced have many colors and high quality, which are not only sold well all over the country, but also exported to all parts of the world.

The customs of the Spring Festival

(1) Open the door and set off firecrackers.

On New Year's morning, when the first cock crows, every family will get up. The first thing for every household to open the door is to set off red firecrackers, that is, the paper used to make firecrackers must be red, so as to ensure that red scraps of paper can be scattered everywhere after the explosion. After the firecrackers, there are red chess pieces everywhere, which are called "full house" and symbolize the prosperity of the new year. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. This is the saying of "setting off firecrackers". And the broken red firecrackers in the yard can't be swept away. It is said that the first day of the first month is the birthday of a broom, so you can't use a broom on this day, otherwise it will ruin your fortune, attract a "broom star" and cause bad luck. If you have to sweep the floor, you must sweep from around the house to the center. This is called "gathering wealth", which is said to be gathering wealth. At the same time, you can't throw water on the garbage on this day, for fear of breaking the money. Nowadays, many places have the custom of cleaning on New Year's Eve. Don't put a broom or take out the garbage on New Year's Day. Prepare a large barrel of waste water to avoid splashing outside that day.

(2) Full water tank.

After setting off firecrackers, men in every family have to do one thing, that is, carry water. Men carry buckets with poles to draw water from the well. They must fill the pitcher with water. It is said that this custom originated in the Tang Dynasty. One year, firecrackers were set off during the Spring Festival, which triggered a big fire. Because there was not enough water to put out the fire, the fire destroyed a lot of materials and brought great psychological fear to the people. Therefore, in the coming Spring Festival, every household will take water on the first day of the New Year to prevent such a fire from happening again. Later, it evolved into the custom of the Spring Festival. There are also some explanations that this is because of the accumulation of wealth, because the tank is full of water, which can be seen as a manifestation of family prosperity and people's longing for a better life. This custom has been preserved in the vast rural areas. But with the acceleration of urbanization, there are not many wells in rural areas, and this custom is about to die out.

(3) New Year greetings.

New Year greeting is a traditional folk custom in China, and it is a way for people to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, and express their best wishes to each other. In ancient times, the original meaning of the word "Happy New Year" was to pay New Year greetings to the elderly, including kowtowing to the elderly, congratulating them on a happy New Year and greeting their lives. In case of friends and relatives of the same generation, you should also salute and congratulate. The wind of the Han people's New Year greetings began in the Han Dynasty. It was very popular after the Tang and Song Dynasties, and some people who don't have to go in person can use famous cards to congratulate them. It was called "thorn" in the Eastern Han Dynasty, so the business card was also called "famous thorn". After the Ming Dynasty, many people put up a red paper bag at the door to collect famous posts, which was called "Menben". Now it's time to visit new friends' homes and neighbors' homes, not the original "door book" and so on. On the first day of junior high school, people get up early. After eating, they put on their most beautiful clothes and dressed neatly. They went out to visit relatives and friends and wished each other a happy New Year. There are many ways to pay New Year's greetings, some of which are led by the same patriarch from door to door. Some colleagues invited several people to pay New Year greetings; Others get together to congratulate each other. This is called "group worship". Because it is time-consuming and laborious to pay New Year greetings at home, some people later congratulated each other with various patches, thus developing the later "New Year cards". With the development of the times, the custom of New Year greetings is constantly adding new contents and forms. Now, in addition to following the previous way of greeting the New Year, there are centuries-old courtesy telegrams, telephone calls, online videos and other etiquette.

There are many rules to follow in New Year's greetings. The younger generation should first pay New Year greetings to their elders and wish them health and longevity. The elders can distribute the lucky money prepared in advance to the younger generation. It is said that lucky money can kill evil spirits, because "old" and "precious" are homophonic, and the younger generation can spend a year safely with lucky money. There are two kinds of lucky money, one is to put colored rope in the shape of Jackie Chan at the foot of the bed to show the love of the elders for the younger generation; The other is the most common, that is, parents wrap the money distributed to their children in red paper. Lucky money can be given in public after the younger generation pays New Year's greetings, or it can be secretly put under the child's pillow by parents when the child falls asleep on New Year's Eve. It is still very popular for elders to give lucky money to younger generations.

The warm atmosphere of the festival permeates not only every household, but also the streets and alleys all over the country. In some places, there are customs such as lion dancing, playing dragon lanterns, performing social fires, visiting flower markets and temple fairs. During this period, lanterns are all over the city and tourists are all over the streets. It was very lively and unprecedented, and the Spring Festival didn't really end until after the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first month.

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