Do you know the origin of the Spring Festival? Urgent need! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ^_^

Spring Festival, one of the four traditional festivals in China, is also our Lunar New Year with a history of more than 4,000 years. Up to now, family reunion during the seven-day Spring Festival holiday is still something that everyone in China is eagerly looking forward to. Here is a detailed introduction to the origin and customs of the traditional Spring Festival, hoping to help your study and life ~

The Origin of the Spring Festival

According to legend, Nian was a monster in ancient China. It lived under the sea for many years and didn't climb ashore until New Year's Eve. People fled to the deep mountains to avoid the harm of Nian beast. Later, an old man told people that Nian was most afraid of red and fire. Therefore, every New Year's Eve, every family sticks red couplets, sets off firecrackers and lights candles until the New Year. In the early morning of the first day, I want to say hello to my relatives and friends. This custom spread more and more widely and became the Spring Festival. At first, the first day of the first month was not called the Spring Festival in ancient times, but the first day of the New Year. "Spring Festival" is not a festival in the history of China, but refers to the "beginning of spring" among the 24 solar terms. In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, "spring" generally refers to the whole spring. During the Republic of China, the concept of "Spring Festival" was gradually put forward. After the Revolution of 1911, the Gregorian calendar was adopted to record the year. The first day of the first lunar month was renamed as "Spring Festival" and the first day of the first lunar month was renamed as "New Year's Day". The mountain is high and the water is long. Everything is prosperous, the breeze is bright and the moon is bright, and the dreams of all sides are round.

At present, the first day of the first lunar month is called Yuanshuo, Yuanri, SGD, New Year's Day, Zhengri, Chenyuan and Xinzheng in history. The name "Spring Festival", which is celebrated on the first day of the first lunar month, did not exist in ancient times (it was generally called China New Year and New Year Festival in ancient times), but was created by the government of the Republic of China. During the Republic of China, the concept of "Spring Festival" was gradually put forward. The Gregorian calendar was introduced in the Republic of China, and the lunar calendar became the standard of farming. 19 14 the government of the Republic of China mentioned in the submission of the Ministry of the Interior that "it is planned to designate New Year's Day of the Lunar New Year as the Spring Festival". Therefore, the word "Spring Festival" gradually spread.

The customs of the Spring Festival

Spring Festival has a long history, also known as China New Year, New Year and New Year's Eve. It originated from the activities of offering sacrifices to gods and ancestors at the end of the first year of Yin and Shang Dynasties. In ancient times, "Nian" was a tool for harvest and sacrifice, and the word "Nian" indicated the maturity of crops (the earliest writing of the word "Nian" was the image of a person carrying mature crops). People celebrate the harvest in various forms, worship the heavens and ancestors, and drive away ghosts and gods, which gradually formed the custom of the New Year.

Traditional festival ceremonies and custom activities are important contents of festival elements, bearing rich and colorful festival cultural connotations. Lunar New Year is an ancient festival in China, and it is also the most important festival in a year. In the historical development, it has integrated a variety of folk customs and formed some relatively fixed customs and habits, many of which are still handed down today. These activities can be summarized as follows: (1) offering sacrifices to the gods to welcome the weather; Worship ancestors and maintain family ties; Drive away evil spirits and seek peace; Have fun and relax. Headed by Hundred Festivals, the Spring Festival is the most solemn traditional festival of the Chinese nation. It not only embodies the Chinese nation's ideological beliefs, ideals and ambitions, life, entertainment and cultural psychology, but also shows the carnival of blessing, eating and entertainment activities.

During the Spring Festival, various New Year celebrations will be held all over the country. Due to different regional cultures, there are differences in the content or details of customs, which have strong regional characteristics. During the Spring Festival, there are many kinds of celebrations, such as lion dancing, floating colors, dragon dancing, worshipping gods, temple fairs, visiting flower streets, enjoying lanterns, beating gongs and drums, flying flags, lighting fireworks, praying for blessings, dancing spring dance, walking on stilts, running dry boats, dancing yangko and so on. During the Spring Festival, you can find it everywhere, such as posting New Year's greetings, observing New Year's Eve, having a reunion dinner and paying New Year's greetings. However, due to different local customs, the nuances have their own characteristics. The folk customs of the Spring Festival are diverse and rich in content, which is a concentrated display of the essence of China people's life and culture.

Spring Festival is a new day to take off old cloth. Although it is arranged on the first day of the first lunar month, the activities of the Spring Festival are not limited to the first day of the first lunar month. Since the end of the year, people have been busy with the Chinese New Year: offering sacrifices to stoves, sweeping dust, buying new year's goods, putting up New Year's greetings, washing their hair and taking a bath, and decorating with lanterns. All these activities have the same theme, that is, "saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new". The Spring Festival is a joyful, peaceful and family reunion festival, and it is also a carnival festival, which is an eternal spiritual pillar for people to express their yearning for happiness and freedom. The Spring Festival is also a time to worship ancestors and pray for the New Year. Sacrifice is a kind of belief activity, created by ancient human survival activities, hoping to live in harmony with nature.

Pay attention to Spring Festival couplets.

Spring Festival couplets, also called "Spring Stickers", "Door Pairs" and "Couplets", are one of the red festive elements "Year Red" posted during the New Year. It depicts a beautiful image and expresses good wishes with neat, concise and exquisite words. It is a unique literary form in China and an important custom in China New Year. When people post New Year greetings (Spring Festival couplets and blessings, etc.). ) put it at their doorstep, which means the official start of the Spring Festival. The word "Fu" on the gate cannot be pasted upside down. In the folk tradition, the word "Fu" should be pasted upside down on water tanks, trash cans and cabinets. In order to avoid dumping the word "Fu" at home when pouring water and taking out garbage, we put the word "Fu" upside down in these two places and skillfully use "Fu Dao" to offset "Fu Dao".

In a word, Spring Festival is an ancient and important traditional festival in China. It not only represents the beginning of a new year, but also is a festival for family reunion and mutual blessing, and it is also an important part of China's traditional culture.