Why do we have to keep the New Year's Eve on New Year's Eve?

There are two meanings to the ancient New Year's observance: the elderly observing the New Year's observance for "resigning the old year", which has the meaning of cherishing the time; and the young observing the New Year's observance for prolonging the life of their parents.

Watch the New Year

The custom is commonly known as the "New Year's Eve", the folk in the New Year's Eve have the habit of watching the New Year's Eve. The New Year's Eve vigil, that is, the last night of the old year does not sleep, stay up to meet the new year's custom, also known as New Year's Eve vigil, commonly known as "boiled year".

Since the Han Dynasty, the time of the transition between the old and new year is usually the middle of the night. On the night of New Year's Eve, men and women, young and old, would gather together in bright lights to observe the New Year's Eve.

Therefore, keeping the New Year's Eve is one of the customs of the Spring Festival.

There are three different legends about the year-keeping.

One is, to welcome the grandmother of Zao Wang. According to legend, the Jade Emperor's youngest daughter, who became the "Grandmother Zaowang", was well aware of the people's plight, and often brought food, drink, clothing, and other things from the sky to distribute to the people under the pretext of visiting her mother's home. From the 23rd day of the lunar month, "Zaowang Granny" began to collect the things needed for the New Year's Eve dinner, until New Year's Eve to collect all the things, in order for people to have a good year, rushed back to earth overnight, people keep the New Year's Eve in order to meet her.

There is also a legend that says, "The New Year's Eve is the year of the dead". This is also one of the most often heard of a legend, that is, in order to once a year to the beast, every New Year's Eve, people will be "year" rampant this night, as a pass to boil, in order to kill time, the family reunion and conversation, and pray for a safe passage through the meaning of the night. After a long time, the custom of New Year's Eve is formed.

The New Year's Eve is also said to drive away the evil plague and disease. Legend has it that evil demons and plague viruses are afraid of light and fire, so people light up the night of New Year's Eve and set off firecrackers, etc., in order to drive away the evil plague and disease that are unfavorable to people.

Expanded

1, the folklore of the New Year's Eve is mainly manifested in the New Year's Eve lights all night. New Year's Eve, in addition to the age of the fire, there is also the custom of "lighting the year", that is, on New Year's Eve, all the lamps and candles. Over the New Year's Eve, all the houses are lighted on the lamps and candles, but also special lamps and candles under the bed, called "shine the wastage", said so after the light, it will make the next year home wealth.

2, word source

Word: shǒu suì

Pinyin: shǒu suì

To stay awake all night on the eve of the lunar New Year's Eve and welcome the arrival of the new year is called shǒu suì

To keep watch over the new year is called shǒu suì.

Jin Zhou Chu, "Records of Wind and Land:" ."

Translation: On the night of New Year's Eve, people give gifts to each other, which is known as "feed the year"; they invite each other for food and wine, which is known as "farewell"; people stay up all night to welcome the coming of the new year, which is known as "observance of the year. The night of New Year's Eve is known as the "New Year's Gift", and the invitation to drink and eat is known as the "New Year's Farewell".

Meng Haoran of the Tang Dynasty wrote a poem titled "The Night of the New Year's Eve", which reads: "Every family should be awake during the New Year's Eve vigil, and I would like to think about how the soul of a dream comes to the house."

Translation: It's hard to bear spending the New Year's Eve in wandering, and tomorrow the year will be renewed and it will be a new year.

Xu Yunuo, "A Broken Shoe": "After the New Year's Eve, we were cold and hungry, and were about to prepare some hot water to drink, when suddenly the county magistrate came again and forced us to go to the city.

Reference:

Baidu Encyclopedia New Year's Eve