The origin of Chinese New Year paper cutting?

In addition to the Chinese New Year, there is a Chinese New Year custom that is also very common, that is, window cutting, do you know? I'll tell you below, take a look together!

The invention of paper in China is in the Western Han Dynasty BC, before that it is impossible to have paper-cutting appeared, but at that time, people use thin sheet material, through the hollowing out of the carving technique made of handicrafts, but as early as in the non-appearance of the paper has been popular, that is, with the carving, skeletonizing, ticking, carving, cutting techniques in the gold foil, leather, silk, or even in the leaves of the tree cut patterns.

The Warring States period appeared to use leather skeletonization, silver foil skeleton carving, are the same with the paper-cutting, their appearance for the formation of folk paper-cutting laid a certain foundation. After the Song and Yuan, cut and paste window flowers to welcome the spring time from the spring to the Spring Festival, people use paper cutouts to express their joy of celebrating the spring to the earth, which is the origin of the later Spring Festival cut window flowers.

Window flowers is the characteristic art of farming culture, the rural life of the geographical environment, agricultural production characteristics and social customs, also makes this vernacular art has a distinctive Han folk interest and artistic characteristics. In the past, regardless of the north and south, during the Spring Festival, all stickers. Now the South only stick when you get married, the Spring Festival is generally not posted, while the North is still prevalent in the window decals.

The significance of the Chinese New Year window decals

One of them is to decorate the environment, rendering the atmosphere of the purpose, and to support the old and welcome the new, and to receive the blessing of auspicious wishes. Window flowers regardless of the subject matter, expression, cutting and engraving techniques are the most representative of the art of paper-cutting. Nearly, modern window *** has gradually formed an independent art category, but because they were originally from the folk festivities or folk activities in the clip art, and more than pasted on the white paper of the rural windows and is called "window". For everyone, window decoration is a wonderful title that can cause many feelings and emotions. On the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar, commonly known as the Spring Festival, this day, window decorations become an important part of the Chinese Spring Festival celebrations.

Secondly, the folkloric role of window flowers is the most concentrated, not only to beautify the living environment, but also to support the pursuit of the ideal of life and desire. Praying for a rich life, prosperity of future generations, longevity, and warding off evil spirits and welcoming good luck are the most expressed themes of window flowers, reflecting the ancient and rich cultural connotations of window flowers. As can be seen from the styles of window flowers circulating in the Jiangnan area, window flowers are more representative of the artistic language of paper-cutting than other paper-cutting styles. The craft characteristics of window flower paper-cutting have gone beyond the purely decorative function of folklore activities, thus changing the development pattern of a single form of paper-cutting. Such as Gansu's relief window cut paper, the use of paper tie craft; Hebei's stained window draws on the folk painting; Nantong silk window weaving paper and textiles organically combined together. Window flower paper-cutting as a festival of a folk activity content, not only beautify the residential environment, more importantly, become an object of aesthetic exchange.

Third, the window flower and the spring close relationship, is since ancient times the way people welcome spring. In order to welcome spring, people in many parts of China, especially in the north, like to put all kinds of window flowers on the windows. Tang Dynasty poet Li Shangyin once wrote in a poem: "Skeletonization of gold as a victory in the Jing custom, cut green for the people from the Jin wind".

Fourth, window flowers have considerable content to show the life of farmers, such as farming, weaving, shepherding, raising chickens and so on. In addition to this, the window flower has myths and legends, opera stories and other subjects. In addition, birds, flowers, insects and fish and zodiac images are also very common. Window decoration with its unique generalization and exaggeration will be decorated with festivals red hot and rich, joyful.

Spring Festival paper-cutting points

A comic strip, according to the sample cut out, will not have characteristics; a paper-cut works, along the form of painting, there is no creativity. This is what people often talk about: some paper-cutting "like painting", "like painting over the knife", known as "paper-cutting painting", that is, some paper-cutting lack of their own characteristics. Talk about this issue before, should first be sure that paper-cutting absorption of painting and other art nutrition is correct, the development of literature and art has always been the existence of mutual reference and influence, which is a kind of progress, not regression. But in the absorption process does not firmly grasp the characteristics of the art and the law of creation, it is easy to appear a kind of hard and uncomfortable, easy to detach from people's appreciation of the habit.

Paper-cutting "like painting" what are the specific performance? Roughly, there are these: modeling like painting sketching material, not in line with the special requirements of the processing of paper-cutting, the mechanical use of Western painting focus perspective composition, not good at playing the role of the performance of the scattered perspective, give up the paper-cutting summarize, generalize the decorative use of color, the pursuit of painting color "rich" and "real "as well as in the decorative treatment, can not skillfully use the programmed method of expression and so on. The emergence of such faults, generally speaking, is not mastered the special creative law of paper-cutting, or lack of in-depth understanding of folk paper-cutting and heritage and learning, consciously and unconsciously fall into the norms of painting.

Reflected to the realization, what is paper cutting? Some say: "carved out of the painting is paper cutting." This statement does not distinguish between paper-cutting and painting, but also can not point to the specific characteristics of paper-cutting, according to the logic of this theory, all paintings where cut and engraved are paper-cutting, will not paper-cutting and painting mixed up, erasing the existence of paper-cutting, the pursuit of purely over the knife what is the special significance of? This understanding is not an isolated phenomenon. Some of the above problems are a direct reflection of this understanding.

There is also a phenomenon, the opposite of this is not required over the knife "painting paper-cutting", that is, the brush instead of the knife pen, painting is filled with paper-cutting, do not consider the impact of tools on the style of paper-cutting. Where the brush can reach, everything, the more fine, and painting the distance is getting closer and closer, and paper cutting is getting farther and farther away. Over time, the limitations of paper-cutting are gone, and the specialty of paper-cutting is gone.

Folk paper-cutting in the creation of ideas, methods of expression, life feelings and artistic expression, the use of programs and many other aspects, there are many things worth studying, these are closely contact with people's hobbies, is an indispensable part of the composition of the national form. Sawtooth pattern alone, in the North and South Dynasties, "on the horse", "on the monkey" paper-cutting, has appeared, after more than 1,400 years of testing, enrichment and enrichment, to today still continue to apply and have a new significance, different eras have different changes, proving that the development of arts and culture can not be separated from the influence of the tradition and the nourishment of the national culture.