Information about the origin of the Spring Festival

There is a legend about the origin of the Spring Festival, which says that in ancient China there was a monster called "Nian", which had tentacles and was very fierce. "It lived deep under the sea for many years, and only climbed ashore on New Year's Eve to devour livestock and hurt people. Therefore, every New Year's Eve, the people of villages and hamlets fled to the mountains with their young and old to avoid the harm of the "year" beast. One year, on New Year's Eve, an old man came from outside the village begging for money.

The townspeople were in a hurry and panicked, only the east end of the village, an old woman gave the old man some food, and advised him to go to the mountains to avoid the "year" beast, the old man stroked his beard and laughed and said: "Granny, if you let me stay at home for a night, I will certainly put the 'year' beasts away.

The old man smiled and said, "If you let me stay at home for one night, I will definitely drive the 'year' beast away."

The old woman still continued to persuade, begging the old man smiled but did not say. In the middle of the night, the "New Year" beast broke into the village. It realized that the atmosphere in the village was different from that of previous years: in the old woman's house at the east end of the village, there was a big red paper on the door, and the house was lit up by candles.

The beast shivered and gave a strange cry. Near the door, the yard suddenly came "bang bang pop" sound, "year" trembling, and do not dare to come forward. The original, "year" is afraid of red, fire and explosions.

Then, the door of my mother-in-law's house opened wide, and I saw an old man wearing a red robe laughing in the courtyard. The "Nian" was so shocked that he fled in disarray. The next day was the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar, and the people who had returned from their refuge were amazed to see the village safe and sound.

Then the old woman came to her senses and rushed to tell the townspeople about the old man's promise. The story spread quickly in the surrounding villages, people know the way to drive away the "New Year" beast. From then on, every New Year's Eve, home red couplets, firecrackers; household candles brightly, to keep the night. Early in the morning on the first day, but also to go to friends and relatives to say hello. This custom has become more and more widespread, and has become the grandest traditional festival of Chinese folklore. p>Customs of Spring Festival: Offering Zaos

The God of Zaos is the bodhisattva enshrined in every family's kitchen and is honored as "Zaojun Sishimen". As early as in the Xia Dynasty, he was a great god honored by the people. According to the Book of Rites, Kong Yingda, "Zhuanxu's son, Ri Li, Zhu Rong, sacrificed to the god of the stove."

Or drilling wood for fire "flint", Shennong's (Emperor Yan Di) of the "fire officer", the Yellow Emperor for the stove "Su Jili" for the stove God, is the five emperor of the nine days of the East Kitchen Division stove Wang Fu Jun".

The god of Zao is responsible for managing what is done in the kitchen and reporting it to the emperor, and is honored as the protector of the family. Zaowang niche is located in the north or east of the stove room, the statue of the god, or the statue of the god on the wall, the book "East Lord", "earth monitoring God" and other words, on both sides of the couplet for: "good things to say in heaven, the lower world of safety The two sides of the couplet reads: "The heaven says good things, the lower world keeps safe," blessing the safety of the family.

On the night of New Year's Eve, Mr. Zao returned to earth with the good and bad fortune that the family deserved. Each family should put on a new statue of Zaojun, light a new stove lamp, put on the offerings, burn incense and paper in front of the stove niche, which is regarded as "receiving the stove", and Zaojun began his guardianship work again.

Customs of the Spring Festival: dusting

"On the 24th day of the Lunar New Year, dusting and sweeping the house." That is to say, when the Spring Festival is approaching, every family should clean the furniture, dismantle and wash the bedding, so as to welcome the New Year in a clean and tidy manner. This custom, from the Yao and Shun era has been the Spring Festival dust sweeping custom. In the Book of Rites, there is "where inside and outside, the chicken first crowing, ...... sprinkled sweeping room hall and the court" of the record.

The book of Zhou "secret house" has "ditch dredging, building clean, no filth, no plague" records, indicating that people in ancient times have long known that filth, dust and disease transmission related to foam.

"Lv's Spring and Autumn Annals" in: "the year in addition to the day, beat the drum to drive the plague ghosts, known as the removal, also known as wood difficult." Later, gradually evolved into the end of the year cleaning, called "sweeping year". To the Tang Dynasty, "sweeping the year" style prevailed.

Baidu Encyclopedia - Spring Festival