Spring Festival Customs in Qin during the Warring States Period

The Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods had a very important influence on the folk culture of later generations, and most of the traditional festivals of the Chinese nation originated in this era, or have such and such origins.

The Qin Dynasty celebrated New Year's Day (Spring Festival) on the first day of October, which was subsumed into the next year from October onwards, and the Qin emperors would go to the heaven every October to pray for good weather in the coming year. The Qin Dynasty holiday honoring the dead was the third day of the first month of the lunar calendar.

Customs related to the Spring Festival

New Year's Eve is the last day of the year, and according to the Lu Shi Chun Qiu. According to the "Lu Shi Chun Qiu. Jidong Ji" written by Lu Bu Wei, the ancient people used to beat drums on the day before New Year's Day to expel the "plague ghosts", which is the origin of the "New Year's Eve" festival.

On the eve of the Spring Festival, every household would use peach stalks to carve the images of Shentan and Yubi, and hang them in front of the door on the day before the New Year's Eve, to avoid the intrusion of demons and ghosts. Later, people smacked of carving wooden people trouble, directly in the peach wood to draw two gods, mentioning the name of God Tantui, Yubi, in the afternoon of New Year's Eve hanging on both sides of the door, in order to suppress the evil spirits, this is the original peach talisman. On the peach wood has a role in warding off evil records, the earliest from the "Zuo Zhuan", which recorded the ancient people with peach wood made bow for the removal of the disaster ceremony. Zhuangzi: "insert peach branches in the household, even under the ash. Children enter without fear, and ghosts fear." It can be seen that the ancient people on the special beliefs of peach wood originated in the spring and autumn and warring states period. Such as the "warring states policy . Qi Ce III" said that when Meng Chang Jun intended to enter the Qin, Su Qin told him the fable of the earth puppet and the peach stalk, to dissuade him, which has the earth puppet people say peach stalk: "Today, the peach stalk of the east country of the child also, carving and peeling the child as a human being." It can be known that in the Warring States period there was already the practice of chipping peach wood for people.

Pre-Qin that the Spring Festival is unlucky days, this day will also hold Nuo dance, drive away ghosts and evil spirits. Sweep the dust to gather feasts, sacrifices to ancestors.