There are two folk stories in Spring Festival and Lantern Festival respectively.

Spring Festival; the Spring Festival; Chinese New Year

Story 1

According to legend, in ancient times, there was a young man named Wannian. Seeing that the festivals were chaotic at that time, he had an accurate plan. But he couldn't find a way to calculate the time. One day, he was tired of chopping wood up the mountain and sat in the shade to rest. 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. After ten thousand years of knowledge, he went to see the monarch with a sundial and a clepsydra, and explained to Zu Ti why the sun and the moon moved. Zu Ti rejoiced and felt right. 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. The vegetation is divided into four seasons and there are twelve laps 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.

Story 2

It is said that the custom of pasting Spring Festival couplets began in the post-Shu period about 1000 years ago. In addition, according to Jade Candles Collection and Records of Yanjing Years Old, the prototype of Spring Festival couplets is what people call "Fu Tao".

In ancient China mythology, it is said that there is a ghost world, in which there is a mountain, a big peach tree covering 3,000 miles, and a golden rooster at the top of the tree. Whenever the golden rooster crows in the morning, the ghost who travels at night will rush back to the ghost domain. The Gate of Ghost Domain is located in the northeast of Peach Tree District. There are two gods standing by the door, named Shen Tu and Lei Yu. If the ghost does something unnatural at night, Shen Tu and Lei Yu will immediately find it, catch it, tie it up with a rope made of Miscanthus and give it to the tiger. So all the ghosts in the world are afraid of Shen Tu and Lei Yu. So people carved them into peach trees and put them at their doorsteps to ward off evil spirits and prevent harm. Later, people simply carved the names of Shen Tu and Lei Yu on the mahogany board, thinking that this could also eliminate disasters. This kind of red board was later called "Fu Tao".

In the Song Dynasty, people began to write couplets on mahogany boards, one for killing evil spirits, the other for expressing good wishes, and the third for decorating the portal for beauty. They also write couplets on red paper symbolizing happiness and good luck, and stick them on both sides of doors and windows during the Spring Festival to express people's good wishes for good luck in the coming year.

On the fifteenth night of the first lunar month; Lantern Festival; night of the 15th of the first lunar month；Lantern Festival；yuanxiao

Story 1

The origin of Shangyuan Festival is recorded as years old in Miscellaneous Notes, which is a Taoist stereotype. Shangyuan means the first full moon night of the New Year. Taoism once called the 15th day of the first month the Shangyuan Festival, the 15th day of July the Zhongyuan Festival and the 15th day of October the Xiayuan Festival, which were collectively called the "Sanyuan Festival".

The gods worshipped by Wudou Midao, an important school of Taoism in the late Han Dynasty, were celestial officials, local officials and water officials. They said that God bless the people, the local officials forgive sins, and the water officials relieve Eritrea. They used three yuan to match the three officials, saying that Shangyuan Tianguan was born on the fifteenth day of the first month, Zhongyuan was born on the fifteenth day of July, and Xiayuan Shuiguan was born on the fifteenth day of October. In this way, the fifteenth day of the first month is called Shangyuan Festival.

In the Southern Song Dynasty, Wu said in a dream: "The fifteenth day of the first month is the day when God bless the people." Therefore, lanterns should be lit on the Lantern Festival.

Story 2

In addition to Taoism advocating Lantern Festival, Buddhism also uses the custom of burning lanterns in Lantern Festival to expand its influence.

The custom of burning lanterns in the Lantern Festival originated in the Han Dynasty. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, white horses came from the East, and Emperor Han Ming advocated Buddhism.

According to "A Brief History of Monks", on February 30th, 65438 in the west, that is, the 15th day of the first month in the east, Buddha Sakyamuni showed a change of spirit and surrendered to the gods and demons. In order to commemorate the changes of the Buddha, Buddhist monks will observe Buddhist relics, light lanterns to worship the Buddha and hold a lantern-burning ceremony on the fifteenth day of the first month.

Emperor Han Ming ordered lanterns to worship Buddha in palaces and temples that night, so that all the gentry and ordinary people could hang lanterns. Since then, this Buddhist etiquette has gradually formed a custom among the people.

Eating Yuanxiao on the fifteenth day of the first month, as a kind of food, has a long history in China. In the Song Dynasty, a novel Lantern Festival food was popular among the people. This kind of food was originally called "Floating Zi Yuan", later called "Yuanxiao", and merchants also called it "Yuanbao".

Yuanxiao is filled with white sugar, rose, sesame, red bean paste, osmanthus fragrans, walnut kernel, nuts and jujube paste, and wrapped in glutinous rice flour into a round shape, which can be both meat and vegetarian with different flavors. It can be boiled, fried and steamed, which means happy reunion. It's called Yuanxiao in the north and Tangyuan in the south.

Lantern Festival is also a romantic festival. In the feudal traditional society, Lantern Festival also provides unmarried men and women with opportunities to get to know each other. Young girls in traditional society are not allowed to go out freely, but they can go out to play together on holidays.

Lantern Festival lanterns are just an opportunity to make friends. Unmarried men and women can also find someone for themselves. During the Lantern Festival, it is also the time for young men and women to meet their lovers. ?