Is the Spring Festival one of the four solar terms?

China New Year is now commonly called the Spring Festival, because it begins in beginning of spring (the first of the 24 solar terms, which adapts to the changes of nature). Its origin is too old to trace back. Several explanations are pending. However, everyone agrees that the word "nian" only means "nian" in modern Chinese. It was originally the name of a monster, which began to prey on people the night before the start of the new year.

There is a legend that the monster Nian has a big mouth and can swallow many people in one bite. People are very scared. One day, an old man came to save them and offered to subdue Nian. He said to nian, "I heard that you are very capable, but can you swallow other beasts on the earth instead of your opponent?" Therefore, it really devours many carnivores on the earth, and these animals also harass people and their livestock from time to time.

After that, the old man disappeared riding the Nian beast. He proved to be an immortal god. Now that Nian has gone, other wild animals in the forest are also afraid, and people begin to enjoy their peaceful life. Before the old man left, he told people to put red paper decorations on their windows and doors at the end of each year to scare off Nian and prevent it from sneaking back again, because red is the color that wild animals are most afraid of.

Since then, the tradition of observing the year of conquest has been passed down from generation to generation. The word "Chinese New Year" may mean "surviving the New Year" and has become "celebrating the New Year" today, because "Guo" has both the meaning of "past" and "observation" in Chinese. If Nian has a chance to escape, the custom of pasting red paper and setting off firecrackers to scare it away still exists. However, people today have long forgotten why they do all this, except that they feel that colors and sounds increase the excitement of celebration.

It is difficult to know when the Spring Festival originated, but it is generally believed that it originated from the activities of offering sacrifices to gods and ancestors at the end of the Yin and Shang Dynasties (La Worship) in China. According to legend, there was a custom of Spring Festival as early as Yao and Shun times. The first month of the lunar calendar is the beginning of a year. In most cases, beginning of spring is in the first month or the middle of the first month (in a few cases, beginning of spring is in the late twelfth month). The time of the festival is considered to be related to the influence of agricultural labor; Oracle Bone Inscriptions's "Nian" and both have mature images of ears of grain.

The spelling of "Nian" in Oracle Bone Inscriptions is "He" at the top and "Ren" at the bottom. The word "year" in the bronze inscription is the same as the word "year" in Oracle Bone Inscriptions, and it is also related to food and people. Xiao Zhuan's Nian wrote "Going to Grain and Going to Thousand" and "Explaining He Zi's Supplement"; What about the word "people" under the word "year"? From Oracle Bone Inscriptions's point of view, the word "nian" seems to be a line on a person's head.

There is another legend:

In ancient China, there was a beast called Nian, which had long tentacles and a ferocious face. Nian lived on the seabed for many years, and climbed ashore every New Year's Eve, devouring livestock and killing people. Therefore, every New Year's Eve, people in the village fled to the deep mountains to avoid the harm of the "Nian" beast. One year on New Year's Eve, an old beggar came from outside the village. The villagers were in a hurry and panic. Only an old woman in the east of the village gave the old man some food and suggested that he go up the mountain quickly to avoid Nian beast. The old man lifted his beard and said with a smile, "If my mother-in-law lets me stay at home for one night, I will definitely drive Nian beast away." The old woman continued to persuade and begged the old man to laugh without saying a word.

At midnight, Nian beast broke into the village. It found that the atmosphere in the village was different from previous years: the old woman's house at the east end of the village had red paper on the door and bright candles in the room. The beast Nian trembled and let out a long whistle. As we approached the door, there was a sudden explosion in the yard, and Nian trembled and dared not go any further. It turns out that Nian was most afraid of red, fire and explosion. At this time, my mother-in-law's door was wide open, and I saw an old man in a red robe laughing in the hospital. "Nian" was frightened to disgrace and fled in confusion. The next day was the first day of the first month, and the people who came back from refuge were very surprised to see that the village was safe and sound. At this time, the old woman suddenly realized and quickly told the villagers the promise of begging for the elderly. The story soon spread in the surrounding villages, and people all knew the way to drive away the "Nian" beast. Since then, every year on New Year's Eve, every family has posted red couplets and set off firecrackers. Every household has a bright candlelight, so it is better to wait for the New Year. In the early morning of the first day, I want to say hello to my relatives and friends. This custom has spread more and more widely, and has become the most solemn traditional festival among the people in China.

There is another saying:

In ancient times, there was a beast called Nian, which was several times bigger than the current elephant and dozens of times fiercer than the tiger. It eats people, eating dozens of people in one bite, and countless people are eaten by it. The people have suffered. One day, Nian came again, and a young man hated it very much. He said: "It is better to fight it than to let it eat. They are all dead anyway. " He rushed up with an axe and many young people followed him. But they are no match for Nian. All the young people were eaten by Nian. Since then, "Nian" has become more vicious, and all people are angry and hate.

The resentment in the sky shocked the white Venus in the sky, and the hatred in the earthquake shocked the king and bodhisattva in the underground. As soon as Venus Taibai and Bodhisattva Wang Di discussed it, they sent the founder of Shennong to land to collect the new year. Shennong holds a whip, aiming at Nian's ass is a whip. The fierce Nian actually fell to a draw. Shennong ran a few steps, stepped on Nian's head and roared, "Bastard, you ate countless people and did terrible things. Today is your end. " Say, take out two melon bowls from the waist, aim at the word "year" and close them. Nian, bigger than an elephant, suddenly fell into a melon bowl. Shennong buried the bowl with Nian in the ground. When he left, he repeatedly told him: "This bowl is buried in the ground and will grow melons in the future. This melon can't be broken, so be sure to say it's not broken. " Later, a melon really grew in the place where the bowl was buried, and the people called it "North Melon" according to Shennong's "No" voice. The day when Shennong got rid of "Nian" happened to be December 30th of the lunar calendar, so people called this day "Nian", which means to avoid "Nian" and get rid of its meaning. On this day, the class consecrated the North Melon to show the suppression of evil, and beat gongs and drums and lanterns with bamboo poles to commemorate the merits of Shennong's ancestors. Probably it was added by later generations according to the old customs and traditions. It is unlikely to be the origin of "Year".

In ancient times, the Spring Festival especially referred to beginning of spring in the twenty-four solar terms, and was also regarded as the beginning of a year. Later, it was changed to the first day of the first month of the summer calendar (the first day of the first lunar month). Since the Ming Dynasty, the Chinese New Year generally didn't end until after the 15th day of the first month (Lantern Festival), and in some places the New Year celebrations didn't even end until the whole first month. World record association, China has chosen the Spring Festival as the biggest festival in China. It ranks first among the three traditional festivals in China: Spring Festival, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival.

After the founding of the Republic of China, the government of the Republic of China abolished the traditional lunar calendar and adopted the European Gregorian calendar. It tried to ban people from celebrating the Lunar New Year, but failed because of the people's insistence. During Yuan Shikai's reign, 65438+ 1 in the Gregorian calendar was designated as New Year's Day, and the first day of the first lunar month was designated as "Spring Festival", but people still celebrated the New Year and writers still called it "New Year's Day".

The word "Spring Festival" really became popular after the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. The Lunar New Year is now also called the Lunar New Year and the Old Calendar. In the sixth year of Meiji Restoration (1873), 1 stopped using the Japanese lunar calendar and used the solar calendar to measure the days. The original lunar calendar was called the old calendar, and people's celebrations began in the solar calendar only in the Three Kingdoms period. Even so, the Japanese still celebrate the New Year according to traditional customs, but in South Korea and Viet Nam, which are also influenced by China culture, even if the official calendar is changed to the western calendar, there are still official and folk activities to celebrate the Lunar New Year.