Folk stories of the Spring Festival

1, 30 years old, common name "endure the year". There is an interesting story among the people: in Archean, there was a fierce monster scattered in the deep mountains and forests, which people called "Nian". Nian has a ferocious appearance and a ferocious nature. It specializes in eating birds, animals and scale insects, and changes its taste every day, from kowtowing insects to living people, which makes people talk about "Nian".

Slowly, people mastered the activity law of "Year". It turns out that every 365 days in 2008, I will go to places with many people to taste fresh food, and the haunt time is after dark. When the rooster crowed at dawn, it returned to the mountains. After calculating the ravaging date of Nian, men and women regarded this terrible night as an obstacle and called it Nian Guan.

And came up with a set of "New Year's Day holiday" method. Every night, every household prepares dinner in advance, turns off the fire, cleans the stove, then ties up all the chicken coops and cowsheds, then seals the door and hides in the house to eat the "New Year's Eve".

Because this dinner has ominous meaning, it is very rich. In addition to inviting the whole family to have dinner together to show a harmonious reunion, they will also worship their ancestors before eating and pray for their safe passage through the night. After dinner, no one dared to sleep, so they sat together and got up the courage to chat.

It was getting dark, and Nian escaped from the depths of the forest and touched into the village. I saw that the door of every house was closed, the door was full of sesame stalks, and there was no one in the street. After turning for more than half a night, I found nothing, so I had to chew sesame stalks to satisfy my hunger. After a while, the rooster crowed, and these cruel and stupid monsters had to go home disgruntled.

The people who survived the "Nianguan" were overjoyed, thanked the ancestors of heaven and earth for their blessing, congratulated each other on not being eaten by Nianguan, opened the door and set off firecrackers, and the neighbors and relatives gathered to congratulate each other. When people meet, they bow to each other and congratulate each other, glad that they have not been eaten by Nian beast. After many years, nothing happened, and people relaxed their vigilance against Nian beast.

On the night of the 30th, Nian beast suddenly jumped into a village. A village was almost eaten up by Nian beast, and only a pair of newly-married couples in red curtains were safe and sound. There are also some children who lit a pile of bamboo in the yard and are playing. The fire is red, and bamboo explodes after burning. Nian beast turned here, saw the fire and turned around and ran away.

From then on, people know that Nian beast is afraid of red, light and noise. At the end of each year, every household sticks red paper, wears red robes, hangs red lights, beats gongs and drums, and sets off firecrackers, so that Nian Beasts dare not come again.

However, villagers in some places don't know that Nian beast is afraid of red and is often eaten by Nian beast. This incident later spread to the sky in Wei Zi. In order to save people, he is determined to destroy Nian beast.

One year the beast came out, knocked it down with a fireball and chained it to a stone pillar with a thick chain. From then on, every New Year, people always burn incense and ask Zixing to come down to keep safe. This phenomenon has gradually become the custom of "celebrating the New Year" and "greeting the New Year".

According to legend, there was a young man named Wan Nian in ancient times. Seeing that the festivals at that time were chaotic, he had a plan to make them accurate. 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.

After years of long-term observation and careful calculation, he worked out an accurate solar calendar. When he showed his successor the solar calendar, he was covered with silver whiskers.

The monarch was deeply moved. In order to commemorate the achievements of 10 thousand years, he named the solar calendar "perpetual calendar" and named it the birthday star of the sun, moon and moon. In the future, people will hang up the Shou Xingtu during the Chinese New Year, which is said to commemorate the venerable ten thousand years. In memory of him, the beginning must be "Year".

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.

In order to pray for the longevity of the family, people in some places still keep the habit of sticking up doors. It is said that there are two door gods posted on the gate, and all monsters will be afraid. In the folk, the door god is a symbol of justice and strength. The ancients thought that people with strange looks often had magical temperament and extraordinary skills.

They are honest and kind, and it is their nature and responsibility to catch ghosts and demons. Zhong Kui, a ghost hunter who is highly regarded by people, is such a strange look. Therefore, the folk door gods are glaring and ferocious, holding all kinds of traditional weapons in their hands, ready to fight with ghosts who dare to come to the door.

Because the doors of China's house are usually two opposite doors, the door gods are always paired. After the Tang Dynasty, besides peace, people also regarded Qin and Weichi Gong, two military commanders in the Tang Dynasty, as gatekeepers.

According to legend, there was a monster named Nian in ancient China, with 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.

On New Year's Eve this year, people in Taohua Village were taking refuge in the mountains when an old beggar came from outside the village. He was leaning on crutches, carrying a bag on his arm, with elegant silver whiskers and staring at Matthew.

Some villagers sealed windows and locked doors, some packed their bags, some herded cattle and drove sheep, and people shouted boo everywhere, which was a scene of panic. At this time, who still has the mind to take care of this begging old man?

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 the beast Nian. The old man smiled and said, "If my mother-in-law lets me stay at home for one night, I will definitely drive Nian away.

When the old woman looked at him carefully, she found that he was young, healthy, energetic and had an extraordinary world outlook. But she continued to persuade and begged the old man to laugh without saying a word. My mother-in-law had no choice but to leave home and take refuge in the mountains. At midnight, Nian beast broke into the village. It found that the atmosphere in the village was different from previous years: the old woman at the east end of the village had red paper on her door and the room was bright with candlelight. The "Nian" beast shook all over and gave a long cry.

Nian stared at her mother-in-law's house for a while, then screamed and rushed over. When we were near 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 villagers flocked to the old woman's house together, only to see red paper on her mother-in-law's door, a pile of unburned bamboo still exploding in the yard, and several red candles still glowing in the house.

In order to celebrate the auspicious arrival, the villagers put on new clothes and hats one after another and went to relatives and friends' homes to congratulate and say hello. The story soon spread in the surrounding villages, and people all knew the way to drive away the "Nian" beast. This custom is becoming more and more common.

In Guanzhong area of Shaanxi, there are legends about the Spring Festival. Legend has it that the Jade Emperor sent Maitreya Buddha from the Heavenly Palace to assist in exploration in order to rule the world. When the Tathagata knew this, he thought: I am the Buddha, why not let me go?

So, I went to the Jade Emperor Theory. The Jade Emperor was speechless and had to say, "Let's discuss it." Taking advantage of the discussion, the Jade Emperor thought of a solution.

He invited Maitreya Buddha and Tathagata Buddha, put two pots of flowers in front of them, and said, "You two should each handle one pot of these two pots of flowers. Whoever blooms first will come down to earth to rule the world." Tathagata is thoughtful and thoughtful, knowing that the Jade Emperor must be partial to Maitreya, because he guessed that the Jade Emperor was afraid that what he said was unacceptable, so he used offering flowers as an excuse to do it.

I'm afraid the jade emperor secretly arranged these two pots of flowers, so he also came up with a subtotal. He took the opportunity of Maitreya's closing his eyes to thank him and quietly changed the position of the two pots of flowers.

The next day, the Tathagata bloomed, so Maitreya took care of the world for one day, which was the first day of the first month. Legend has it that Maitreya has a kind heart. On this day, he told people to eat, dress and sleep well, so on the first day of the first month, people spent the day happily.