The origin of the Spring Festival and folklore

On the origin of the Spring Festival there are a variety of sayings, of which a few more representative sayings, such as the Spring Festival originated from the wax festival, the Spring Festival originated from sorcery rituals, the Spring Festival originated from the Ghost Festival, etc., but one of the generally accepted saying is that the Spring Festival by the Yu Shun period rise.

One day, more than 2,000 years ago, Shun, the son of heaven, led his men to worship heaven and earth. Since then, people have taken this day as the first day of the year. This is said to be the origin of the Lunar New Year, later called the Spring Festival.

2. Customs

The New Year's Day is a day to get rid of the old and bring in the new. Although the New Year's Day is set on the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar, the activities of the New Year's Day are not limited to the first day of the first month. From the twenty-third (or twenty-fourth) of Lunar New Year's Day, people will begin to "busy year": sweeping the house, washing hair and bathing, preparing the New Year's Day utensils, etc., all of these activities, there is a *** with the same theme, that is, "out with the old and in with the new".

New Year's Day is also a day of worship and prayers, the ancients said that a cooked grain for a "year", a good harvest for the "great year". In the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty, there has been an annual celebration of the harvest. Later, sacrificing to heaven and praying for the New Year became one of the main contents of the New Year's custom; moreover, such as the God of the stove, the God of the door, the God of wealth, the God of joy, the God of the well and other deities, in the New Year's festival period, are ready to enjoy the earth's incense. People take this opportunity to thank the gods for their care in the past, and pray for more blessings in the new year.

New Year's Day is also a time for family reunions and ancestor worship. New Year's Eve, the whole family gathered together to eat the "New Year's dinner", the elders to the children to distribute "New Year's money", the family sat down "to observe the New Year". At the time of the New Year's Eve, firecrackers went off, and the activities of saying goodbye to the old year and welcoming the new year reached a climax. Each family burns incense to salute, honoring heaven and earth, sacrificing ancestors, and then in turn to the elders to pay tribute to the New Year, followed by friends and relatives of the same clan to congratulate each other.

The New Year's Day is also a festival of popular entertainment and revelry. After the New Year's Day, a variety of colorful recreational activities are carried out: playing lions, dragon lanterns, twisting rice-planting songs, stilt walkers, juggling plays, etc., for the New Year Festival has added a rich and festive atmosphere.

Therefore, the festival has become the grandest festival of the Chinese nation, combining prayers, celebrations and entertainment. To this day, in addition to sacrificing to the gods and ancestors and other activities than the past has been diluted, the main customs of the New Year's Day, are intact to inherit and develop.