How did the Zhou Dynasty celebrate the New Year?

In the Zhou Dynasty, November in winter was the first month. Up to now, there is no record of sacrifice in the first year of Zhou Dynasty.

Zhou Dynasty's "Poetic Style in July": "The rice was harvested in October, so we celebrated our birthday with spring wine. ... washing the floor in October, ... killing the lamb, ... long live. " Literature records the gathering scene of people making wine and slaughtering sheep after the bumper harvest in October, which is not a custom activity at the beginning of the year.

The record of year-end sacrifice appeared in the Han Dynasty, which was the first great development period after the reunification of China. The economic and cultural exchanges between the North and the South also make customs and habits merge with each other, providing good social conditions for the spread and popularization of holiday customs. Since then, the records of year-end sacrifices have gradually appeared in the literature.

For example, Mao Cui in the Eastern Han Dynasty mentioned in the April People's Decree: "The first month is the right day. Bow to your wife and ancestors. " People's custom activities to celebrate the New Year in China are becoming more and more extensive and rich.

Extended data:

Traditional customs:

1, Spring Festival couplets:

(1) According to the records of literary works such as Jade Candle Collection and Yanjing Age, the original form of Spring Festival couplets is what people call "Fu Tao". Another source of Spring Festival couplets is spring stickers. The ancients posted the word "Yichun" every day when they were in beginning of spring, and later they gradually developed into Spring Festival couplets.

(2) Spring Festival couplets are also called couplets, couplets, couplets and peach symbols. They depict the background of the times and express good wishes with neat, dual, concise and delicate words, which are unique literary forms in China.

(3) 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.

2. New Year pictures:

(1) Spring Festival pictures are also common in urban and rural areas. Thick black and colorful New Year pictures add a lot of prosperous and joyful festive atmosphere to thousands of families. New Year pictures are an ancient folk art in China, which reflects people's simple customs and beliefs and places their hopes on the future.

(2) With the rise of block printing, the content of New Year pictures is not limited to monotonous themes such as door gods, but has become rich and colorful.

(3) Window grilles and the word "Fu": In the folk, people also like to stick various paper-cuts on the windows-window grilles.

(4) Window grilles not only set off the festive atmosphere, but also integrate decorative, ornamental and practical functions. At the same time, some people have to write "Fu" on doors, walls and lintels. Others elaborate the word "Fu" into various patterns, such as longevity, longevity peach, carp yue longmen, abundant grains, dragons and phoenixes, and so on.

3. New Year's Eve:

(1) New Year's Eve, also known as New Year's Eve, reunion dinner, etc. Especially the New Year's Eve dinner. The New Year's Eve dinner originated from the ancient ritual vessels at the end of the year, and it is a reunion dinner after offering sacrifices to the gods and ancestors. New Year's Eve is the highlight of the year, which is not only colorful, but also very interesting.

(2) before eating the reunion dinner, worship the gods and ancestors, and then eat after the worship ceremony. Generally, there are chicken (meaning to have a plan), fish (meaning to have more than one year), oyster sauce (meaning to have a good market), Nostoc flagelliforme (meaning to get rich), yuba (meaning to get rich), lotus root (meaning to be smart), lettuce (meaning to make money), raw garlic (meaning to be able to count) and sausage (meaning to be long-lasting) for good luck.

(3) China people's New Year's Eve is a family reunion dinner, which is the most abundant and important one in a year.

4. Shounian:

(1) Celebrating Lunar New Year's Eve is one of the annual customs with a long history. The folk custom of observing the new year is mainly manifested in that every household lights a New Year's fire and gets together to keep the "New Year's fire" from going out and wait for the moment to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new year.

On New Year's Eve, the lights were on all night. It is said that all houses light candles, especially under the bed, which is called "wasting light". It is said that after such lighting, the family's wealth will be more abundant in the coming year.

(3) In ancient times, the customs of north and south were different. In some places in ancient times, the custom of keeping the old age was mainly to stay up on New Year's Eve. For example, in the book "Local Records" written at the beginning of the Jin Dynasty, it is said that on New Year's Eve, everyone gives gifts to each other, which is called "giving the old".

(4) Young and old get together and wish a complete song called "Age Division"; Sleeping all the year round, waiting for dawn, is called "guarding the age". On New Year's Eve, the whole family get together, eat New Year's Eve, light candles or oil lamps, sit around the fire and chat, and keep vigil all night, which symbolizes driving away all evil diseases and expecting good luck in the new year.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Lunar New Year