What are the legends about the year?

Legend has it that in ancient China, there was a monster named "Nian", which had a sharp horn and was very fierce. "The beast lived deep under the sea for many years, and on New Year's Eve, it would climb ashore to devour livestock and hurt people. Therefore, every New Year's Eve, villages and hamlets of people, old and young, fled to the mountains, to avoid the "year" of harm. On New Year's Eve, as in previous years, the villagers were busy packing their things and preparing to flee to the mountains.

Then a white-haired old man came to the east of the village, and told an old woman that if she let him stay at her house for one night, he would be able to drive away the beasts of the year. The people didn't believe him, and the old woman advised him to go to the mountain to hide, but the old man insisted on staying, and the people saw that they couldn't persuade him, so they went to the mountain to hide.

Expanded Information

The earliest writing of the character "年" (year) was the image of a man carrying a ripe harvest on his back, indicating the maturity of crops, i.e., "Niancheng" (yearly success). This is what the ancient Chinese character "年成" refers to. Therefore, in ancient character books, the character "年" was placed in the "禾" section. Since cereals and grains were generally ripe once a year, the word "nian" and the word "yi" had the same number of dates in the same cycle. In ancient times, the Chinese and Tibetans used to celebrate the New Year, which later became the Year of the Year (the saying still refers to the "New Year").

Nian in ancient Chinese legend was a god who destroyed the fierce monster Xi. On the night of the 30th day of the Lunar New Year, the god Nian and the people worked together and drove away Xi by setting off firecrackers. In honor of Nian's achievement, people called the 30th day of the Lunar New Year "New Year's Eve", i.e., to get rid of the fierce beast, and in honor of Nian, the first day of the Lunar New Year was called New Year's Day.

References:

Baidu Encyclopedia - New Year Beasts