Spring Festival couplets knowledge

Spring Festival couplets are also called "appropriate", "spring stickers", "couplets" and "couplets". They use neat, dual, concise and delicate words to describe the background of the times and express good wishes, which is a unique literary form in China. Every Spring Festival, no matter in urban or rural areas, every household should choose a pair of red Spring Festival couplets and stick them on the door to add festive atmosphere to the festival.

The folk custom of pasting Spring Festival couplets began in the Song Dynasty and prevailed in the Ming Dynasty. According to historical records, Zhu Yuanzhang of Ming Taizu loves couplets. He not only writes by himself, but also often encourages his officials to write. One year on New Year's Eve, he sent a message: "A pair of Spring Festival couplets must be added to the door of public officials or scholars." On New Year's Day, I was very happy to see the Spring Festival couplets that complement each other. He went to a house and saw that there were no Spring Festival couplets on the door, so he asked why. It turns out that the owner kills pigs, and he is worried that no one can write Spring Festival couplets. Zhu Yuanzhang immediately wrote down the Spring Festival couplets of "splitting the road of life and death with both hands and cutting off the root of right and wrong with one knife" and gave them to this family. From this story, we can see that Zhu Yuanzhang vigorously advocated Spring Festival couplets, and it was precisely because of his vigorous advocacy that it promoted the popularization of Spring Festival couplets.

By the Qing Dynasty, the ideological and artistic quality of Spring Festival couplets had been greatly improved. Liang Zhangju's monograph Poetry of Spring Festival couplets discusses the origin of Spring Festival couplets and the characteristics of various works. Spring Festival couplets had become a literary and artistic form at that time.

There are many kinds of Spring Festival couplets, which can be divided into door heart, frame pair, cross string, spring strip and bucket square according to the place of use. The "door core" is attached to the center of the upper end of the door panel; The "door frame pair" is attached to the left and right door frames; "Cross-dressing" is posted on the crossbar of the door; "Spring strips" are posted in corresponding places according to different contents; "Dou Jin", also known as "door leaf", is a square diamond, often attached to furniture and screen walls.

Spring Festival couplets belong to a kind of couplets. Couplets are divided into Spring Festival couplets, birthday couplets, elegiac couplets, door couplets, hall couplets, temple couplets, scenery couplets, business couplets, game couplets and so on, and Spring Festival couplets are just one of them. The so-called couplets are those hung or pasted on the colonnade or doorframe in front of the main hall, so they are also called couplets. This kind of couplet is two equal strings of words, which stand opposite each other and have a certain connotation. That is to say, there is no limit to the number of words in couplets, but they must be equal, meaningful in content, regular in level and level, and neat in antithesis. Those who meet these conditions are couplets, otherwise they are not couplets.

Couplets are a unique literary form with a long history in China. Originally originated from the word peach. Taofu is two red wooden boards hung on doorframes in ancient China, with figures or handwriting painted or engraved on them to ward off evil spirits. Fu Tao appeared before the Qin and Han Dynasties. At that time, every New Year, there was a custom of hanging or carving "Shen Tu" and "Lei Yu" Fu Tao around the gate.

So why can mahogany avoid evil and exorcise evil spirits? According to China's ancient myth "Shan Hai Jing", there was a mountain in ancient times that was a ghost world, called the ghost domain. At the gate of this ghost town, there is a big peach tree whose crown can cover the sky for three thousand miles. There is a golden rooster living in the tree, which is responsible for the dawn every day. Whenever the golden rooster crows in the morning, the ghost who travels at night must return to the ghost domain. On both sides of the gate of the ghost domain stood two gods. Their names were Shen Tu and Lei Yu. If ghosts do unnatural things at night, Shen Tu and Lei Yu will immediately catch them, tie them up with ropes and send them to the tiger, so all ghosts are afraid of Shen Tu and Lei Yu. In this way, Shen Tu, Lei Yu and Taomu were used to exorcise evil spirits and avoid disasters. They carved the shapes of Shen Tu and Lei Yu on mahogany, or carved their names on mahogany boards and hung them at the door to ward off evil spirits and prevent harm. This kind of red board is called "peach symbol".

How did the Spring Festival couplets come into being?

It is said that Meng Changjun, the monarch of Shu after the Five Dynasties, was a monarch who liked to be unconventional. On New Year's Eve at the end of 964, he had a whim to let a bachelor named Xin write two sentences on the mahogany board and hang them on the door frame of his living room as peach symbols. These two sentences are "Qing Yu in the New Year, Changchun in the First Festival". Enjoy the legacy of the previous generation in the new year. The next sentence is to the effect that festivals indicate that spring will always be there. Since then, the form and content of Fu Tao have changed, not only by replacing "Shen Tu" and "Lei Yu" with parallel couplets, but also by expanding the connotation of Fu Tao, not only to ward off evil spirits and disasters, but also by adding the content of praying and wishing. This became the earliest Spring Festival couplets in China.

In the Song Dynasty, it was quite common to write couplets on mahogany boards. Wang Anshi wrote in his poem "January Day" that "firecrackers are one year old, and the spring breeze sends warmth into Tu Su. Thousands of families always exchange new peaches for old ones, which reflects the grand occasion of hanging peach symbols on New Year's Eve every year. At the same time, with the appearance of the door god and the peach symbol symbolizing happiness and auspiciousness written on red paper, the mission of exorcising evil spirits and avoiding disasters shouldered by the previous peach symbol has gradually shifted to the door god, and the content of the peach symbol has also evolved into expressing people's good wishes for good luck and good harvest in the coming year.

The word "Spring Festival couplets" appeared in the early Ming Dynasty. When Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, was emperor, he liked ostentation and extravagance, and he also liked the peach symbols posted by the big family on New Year's Eve every year, so he wanted to promote them. One year before New Year's Eve, he issued an imperial edict requiring every household in Jinling to stick Spring Festival couplets written in red paper on their doorframes to welcome the Spring Festival. On the morning of New Year's Day, Zhu Yuanzhang made a tour incognito and went door to door to check the Spring Festival couplets. Whenever he sees a well-written Spring Festival couplets, he is very happy and full of praise. Zhu Yuanzhang was very angry when he saw that the family did not post Spring Festival couplets. He asked why. The attendant replied: this is a master who is engaged in killing pigs and cutting pigs. He is very busy during the New Year, and he hasn't had time to find someone to write. Zhu Yuanzhang ordered people to bring pen, ink, paper and inkstone, and wrote a pair of Spring Festival couplets for this family: "Split the road of life and death with both hands, and cut off the root of right and wrong with one knife." After writing, I will continue to patrol. After a period of time, Zhu Yuanzhang passed by here again when he returned to the palace. He saw that the butcher's house had not posted his Spring Festival couplets, so he asked what was going on. The host respectfully replied, "This pair of Spring Festival couplets was written by the emperor himself. We hang high in nave and burn incense every day. " Zhu Yuanzhang was very happy, so he ordered his attendants to give the family thirty taels of silver. It can be seen that the naming and promotion of "Spring Festival couplets" was promoted by Zhu Yuanzhang in every household by means of administrative orders and imperial edicts.

With the passage of time, Spring Festival couplets have become a broad concept, and many sub-categories have appeared. According to the place of use, it can be divided into several types, such as frame pair, anti-string, spring strip and bucket square. The "frame pair" is attached to the left and right doorframes, which is our common Spring Festival couplets; "Anti-string" is posted on the crossbar of the door, which is the anti-string of Spring Festival couplets; According to different contents, "Spring Articles" are simple articles posted in corresponding places, such as "Looking up to see happiness", "Going in and out safely" and "Congratulations on getting rich" posted in the hospital during the New Year; "Dou Jin", also known as "door leaf", is a square diamond, often attached to furniture, single doors or screen walls. The word "fu" that everyone likes to post upside down during the Spring Festival belongs to this kind of "fighting for money".

China people's Spring Festival couplets complex

If the history of posting Spring Festival couplets in China has been two thousand years since the Qin and Han Dynasties, why do people in China always have a soft spot for posting Spring Festival couplets? This involves the traditional thinking concept of China people. As the saying goes, "A year's plan lies in spring." Our people have an optimistic thinking concept since ancient times, that is, they hope for the future and pray that the future will bring them good luck. No matter whether you are happy, proud or unhappy in the past year, you always hope that the next year will be better, so when the Spring Festival comes, posting Spring Festival couplets is just the best choice to achieve this goal. With the help of Spring Festival couplets, express joy and happiness for the coming year, or express expectations and high hopes for the new year. In their traditional concept, a good start in a year is the most pleasant and auspicious thing. Therefore, every Spring Festival, they express their good feelings and good expectations for the future by posting Spring Festival couplets. At the same time, China people attach great importance to festive, auspicious and lively activities, such as eating well, drinking well, wearing new clothes, setting off firecrackers, visiting relatives and friends, etc. These are all reflections of festive psychology, and posting Spring Festival couplets is only an external means to strengthen people's festive psychology and render the atmosphere.

Requirements for writing Spring Festival couplets

Spring Festival couplets are a new style derived from China's ancient parallel prose and a traditional literary form of China's poetry. It is different from ancient parallel prose and poetry, and it is a unique independent style. Although the antithetical couplets in regular poems or parallel prose are often wonderful couplets, they can only be called couplets if they exist independently of regular poems or parallel prose. Its most striking feature is that it is paired in form, and the two couplets are "pairs" with each other, and they take care of each other and are closely related in content. The upper and lower couplets must have a complete and unified structure and clear and concise language. The specific requirements are as follows:

First, the number of words in the upper and lower couplets should be equal.

For example: "The Spring Festival is rich every year, good years and peace, and step by step." This pair of Spring Festival couplets has seven words each, and the number of words in the upper and lower couplets is equal, which is the most basic requirement of Spring Festival couplets. But there are other phenomena. 19 16 After the death of Yuan Shikai, the national people rushed to tell each other, rejoicing and dancing. A scholar in Sichuan claimed to go to Beijing to send Yuan Shikai an elegiac couplet. Hearing this, the villagers were surprised and puzzled. They opened the couplet he wrote and read:

Yuan Shikai is eternal.

Long live the people of China

It makes people laugh after reading it. The literati deliberately asked, "What are you laughing at?" An outspoken young man said, "How can the word' Yuan Shikai' in the first part of the League be compared with the word' China people' in the second part?" The scholar laughed at Chi's voice and said, "Yes, Yuan Shikai is sorry for the people of China!" Although this story is about "elegiac couplet", and "elegiac couplet" also belongs to a kind of couplets, which shows that the number of words in the upper and lower couplets must be equal regardless of Spring Festival couplets or other couplets. If not, it can only be a very individual alternative.

Second, the upper and lower conjunctions should be consistent and the part of speech should be consistent.

In other words, the phrases that make up the upper couplet are several words respectively, and the corresponding phrases of the lower couplet must also be several words respectively. The part of speech of upper and lower conjunctions indicates the category nature of words, such as nouns, verbs and adjectives. , should be arranged equally, both identity and relativity. As just listed, "the Spring Festival is rich every year, and the good years are peaceful and step by step." Each couplet consists of three phrases, namely: Spring Festival-Prosperity-Good Year, Good Year-Peace-Good Life. The upper and lower conjunctions are the same. "Xin" and "home" in this pair of Spring Festival couplets are adjectives. Spring, age, wealth and peace are all nouns. Niannian and Bubu are adverbs, and Hao and Gao are verbs. This requirement is mainly to better express the ideological content in symmetrical artistic language.

Third, the top and bottom should be harmonious.

In the expression of couplets, we should pay attention to the relative melody, that is, the tone is even and gentle. This is mainly for the sake of harmonious phonology, scattered ups and downs, and pleasing to the ear. According to legend, Ji Xiaolan once went south to Hangzhou, and a friend gave a banquet to welcome him. During the dinner, the host and guest answered each other. Ji Xiaolan is very witty, and his friends convince him that he is an orphan in the north. Xiaolan disapprovingly said: "Northern talents are all over the Great Wall; Where does the man's words start? " A friend said, "I went to the north a few years ago and brought a couplet. No one can match me." Xiaolan was dubious and asked, "Dude, which sentence did you make the other party unable to answer?" His friend read the first part fluently:

The twin towers are faint, with seven floors in all directions.

Ji Xiaolan laughed after hearing this, and said, "It's because they feel disdainful to answer such a simple sentence that they can't be right!" The friend asked inexplicably, "So, how should the bottom line be right?" Ji Xiaolan blurted out:

Shake hands, five fingers are three long and two short.

After listening to this, this friend not only found the bottom line, but also admired Ji Xiaolan's extraordinary intelligence. This pair of "twin towers" is vague, with seven floors extending in all directions; The couplets with one hand swaying and three long fingers and two short fingers achieve the artistic effect of harmonious sound and rhyme, scattered ups and downs and pleasing to the ear.

Fourth, avoid crossing your hands.

The so-called "crossing hands" means semantic repetition and a waste of pen and ink. For example, the Spring Festival couplets commonly used by merchants in the old days have a word: "Business is booming all over the world, and financial resources are flourishing up to three rivers". This pair of Spring Festival couplets is even and neat, which complements the atmosphere of "Congratulations on getting rich" in firecrackers and is well received by the business community. However, further study will reveal that "connecting the four seas" and "reaching the three rivers" have the same meaning, and the semantics are repeated, so the term of couplets is called "fighting". Seven words combined with a * * * only have fourteen words, six of which express the contents of three words, resulting in semantic repetition. Couplets are the most concise style in the article, and it is absolutely not allowed to waste pen and ink. In order to provide more information with fewer words, it is necessary to avoid two conjunctions saying the same meaning. For example, in Spring Festival couplets, using "Zhen Gan Kun", "Shocking the earth", "Normal light" and "Teng Rui Qi" is also a semantic repetition, which belongs to the problem of crossing hands.

Fifth, choose the antithesis of couplets.

Cross-dressing, also known as cross-dressing, cross-linking. Except for elegiac couplets and birthday couplets, most of them should be used. Cross-linking is closely related to the content of couplets. A good horizontal shawl can play a icing on the cake. In other words, crossing is the sublimation of the content of couplets, the theme of couplets and the finishing touch. In writing skills, horizontal style can be divided into three forms:

First, couplets are freehand brushwork, with titles such as "New Year" and "Happy New Year". , and the purpose of posting couplets is to directly call the roll;

Second, couplets are freehand brushwork, and banners are the crowning touch. For example, the cross of "Prosperity in the New Year, Peace in the New Year, Step by Step" is "Auspicious High Star", which reveals that the key to realizing the content of couplets is "auspicious high star", which is the finishing touch; Third, couplets complement each other, such as "reducing the burden and loving the people, the vast east wind often sends warmth;" The horizontal comment of "helping the poor and helping the needy, always caring for the rain and dew, spring rain" is "bright future", which complements the couplets, not only reveals the people's incomparable gratitude to the CPC Central Committee for "always being warm" and "always caring", but also praises the great future and glory of the party. The reverse string is mostly four words. In the past, the cross-linking was written horizontally from right to left. Now it is often written from left to right, and writing from right to left is a formal way of writing. The horizontal shawl should be stuck in the middle of the lintel, and its font should be consistent with the style of the upper and lower couplets, echoing up and down.

How to choose Spring Festival couplets?

Spring Festival couplets have a wide range of contents, and almost every household sticks them during the Spring Festival. Not only that, even some restaurants, hair salons, hotels, grocery stores and other businesses and enterprises have posted Spring Festival couplets. This involves how to choose Spring Festival couplets.

First of all, Spring Festival couplets should highlight healthy aesthetic concepts and aesthetic pursuits.

Whether residents or units paste Spring Festival couplets, they should reflect a healthy aesthetic taste and pursuit. Some of this aesthetic pursuit focuses on the prosperity of the motherland. For example, "A hundred flowers bloom in the spring, and everything glows when the sun is warm", "There are good people and good deeds everywhere in good times and good scenery, and new songs are made every day in the new society and new atmosphere". This kind of Spring Festival couplets summarizes the prosperity of the motherland, eulogizes the new look of the new era, and reveals the praise of the creators of Spring Festival couplets for the ever-changing and beautiful life of the motherland. Some Spring Festival couplets express their beautiful pursuit and yearning for the future, such as "two years old one night, two years old one night." "Tianzeng Life Insurance, Chunman Skill." This kind of family Spring Festival couplets is an expression of blessings and wishes for the coming year, hoping that everything will go well and be lucky in the new year.

Secondly, it is best to post Spring Festival couplets to show your personality.

Since posting Spring Festival couplets is to entrust some kind of wishes and blessings, different people, different industries and different identities will have different wishes and blessings from others, so posting Spring Festival couplets should conform to their own characteristics. For example, "Spring is good in Miao Zhuang; People are rich in new rice. " This is the Spring Festival couplets that reflect farmers' wishes and blessings for the new year. "Department stores are full of beautiful things, and cabinets are full of goods in spring, summer, autumn and winter; Louxing, full of east, west, north and south buildings. " This is the Spring Festival couplets to promote business prosperity. "A piece of chalk, drizzling, peaches and plums all over the world; Three-foot platform, swaying spring breeze caressing the beam. " This is the Spring Festival couplets posted by teachers' families. This kind of Spring Festival couplets, which embodies their own characteristics, highlights their incomparable love and loyal professionalism. Of course, families and units can post Spring Festival couplets that praise the country's prosperity, express their love for the motherland and socialism, and enthusiastically eulogize the future of the country and society. There is no doubt about it. When we say to show individuality, we mainly emphasize not to post Spring Festival couplets in series. In other words, as a worker's family, if a pair of "struggling to raise pigs, three people will live a sweet life; Sweating on the farm will make people laugh when the fruits come in autumn.

Third, post Spring Festival couplets.

Sticking Spring Festival couplets should conform to the traditional rules, and the Spring Festival couplets should be pasted vertically. The upper part should be attached to the right hand side (the left side of the door) and the lower part should be attached to the left hand side (the right side of the door). Upper and lower couplets cannot be posted backwards. For example, "Spring blossoms in full bloom, and China shines in full bloom on warm days" cannot be labeled as "China shines in full bloom on warm days and flowers bloom in spring". From the content point of view, there is a causal relationship between the first half and the second half, because "spring blossoms" make everything in China shine in warm days. If you post it backwards, it will reverse the causal relationship and make people feel awkward to read. From the perspective of flat lines, we can judge the upper and lower couplets from the flat lines of the upper and lower sentences of Spring Festival couplets. The ending word "Yan" of this pair of Spring Festival couplets is four tones, that is, flat tones. The suffix "Hui" in the bottom couplet is a sound, that is, a squeak. Generally speaking, if the suffix is three or four tones, it is the upper part, and if the suffix is one or two tones, it is the lower part. But some couplets end with a flat tail and a lower tail. Don't think that all endings are superior endings. In this case, we should judge the upper and lower couplets from the contents of the Spring Festival couplets. This requires us to read the couplets carefully when posting and really understand the contents of the couplets.

In addition, the size of Spring Festival couplets should be coordinated with their own portals. It is best to paste Spring Festival couplets with a width of/kloc-0.5 to 20 cm on the portal of residents' homes, and it is best for merchants to paste Spring Festival couplets with a width of 20 to 30 cm according to the width of the portal, which is harmonious and generous. As for the gates of some tall buildings, if the Spring Festival couplets are posted, the width of the Spring Festival couplets should not exceed 40 cm.