Why do you keep your birthday on New Year's Eve?

In our country, people have the habit of keeping watch on New Year's Eve. Watching the new year begins with eating New Year's Eve dinner. This New Year's Eve dinner should be eaten slowly, starting with lighting lanterns, and some families have to eat it until late at night. According to Zonggu's records of Jingchu's age, there was a custom of New Year's Eve dinner at least in the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

The custom of observing the old age not only includes the feeling of farewell and nostalgia for the fleeting time, but also expresses the good hope for the coming New Year. The ancients wrote in the poem "Shousui": "Invite Shousui Arong's family to spread red candles to green gauze; Thirty-six years have passed, and I am more willing to cherish my youth from this night. "It is human nature to cherish the years, so the great poet Su Shi wrote a famous sentence:" There will be no years next year, and I am worried about waste; "Do your best tonight, young people can still boast!" This shows the positive significance of keeping old on New Year's Eve.

Keep your age at 30, commonly known as "endure the year." Why is it called "Endure the Year"? There is an interesting story from generation to generation among the people: It is said that there was a fierce monster in the ancient wild times, and people called it "Nian". Every New Year's Eve, Nian beast will climb out of the sea to kill people and animals, destroy the countryside and bring disaster to people who have worked hard for a year. In order to avoid the Nian beast, people close the door early on the 30th night of the twelfth lunar month, dare not sleep, wait until dawn, and drink to kill time and courage. On the first morning of the new year, you dare not go out until the Nian beast comes out. When people saw it, they bowed to each other, congratulated each other, and were glad that they had not been eaten by Nian beast. After many years, nothing happened, and people relaxed their vigilance against Nian beast. On the evening of 30th one year, Nian beast suddenly fled to a village in the south of the Yangtze River. 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 a few childish people who lit a pile of bamboo in the yard and were playing. The fire is red. Bamboo exploded after burning. Nian beast turned here and saw the fire turn and flee. 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. In The Book of Songs Xiaoya Tingliao, there is a record of "the light of Tingliao". The so-called "pavilion" is a torch made of bamboo poles. After the bamboo pole burns, the air in the bamboo joint expands, and the bamboo cavity bursts, making a crackling sound, which is the origin of "firecrackers". However, villagers in some places don't know that Nian beast is afraid of red and is often eaten by Nian beast. This story later spread to Zixing in the sky. 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.

The above is the origin of the legendary New Year's Eve.

On the night of "two years old in one night, two years old in class five", families get together and get together. The family sat together and the table was full of tea and fruit. If you are young, you can't get a big plate of apples, which is called "peace". In the north, some families still have to provide a pot of rice, which was cooked before the New Year. It's called "annual meal", which means that there are leftovers every year, which can't be eaten all year round, and this year we still eat the grain of the previous year. This new year's rice bowl is usually cooked with rice and millet. As the saying goes in Beijing, for the sake of yellow and white, it is called "two rice". This is called "golden rice with gold and silver, gold and silver everywhere". In many places, cakes, melons and fruits are prepared to win a lucky one: eating dates (spring comes early), persimmons (all the best), almonds (gratifying), longevity fruit (immortal) and rice cakes (getting higher every year). On New Year's Eve, the family ate happily, talking and laughing. Some vulgar families push pai gow, roll dice, bet on stud and play mahjong, and the noise of laughter and laughter has become the climax of New Year's Eve.

The whole world is looking forward to the arrival of the zero new year.