Origin of the Spring Festival

The Spring Festival originated from the activities of offering sacrifices to gods and ancestors in the beginning and end of the Shang Dynasty. During Yu Shun's reign, Shun ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor. On the first day of the first lunar month, he led his men to worship the god of heaven and earth. Since then, people have regarded this day as the beginning of a year.

Although the situation of ancient sacrificial ceremonies is unknown, we can still find some ancient custom relics from later festivals. For example, some areas in Lingnan have the custom of paying New Year greetings at the beginning of the year (New Year's Day), and there is a grand ceremony of offering sacrifices to gods and ancestors during the New Year, which shows the clue of offering sacrifices at the beginning of ancient times.

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During the Spring Festival, there are many kinds of celebration activities, such as lion dancing, floating colors, dragon dancing, worshipping gods, boating, Chinese New Year, visiting temple fairs, visiting flower streets, enjoying lanterns, burning fireworks, walking on stilts, running dry boats, dancing yangko and so on.

The custom of offering sacrifices to gods and ancestors is prevalent in the southern coastal areas, and it inherits the ancient customs. During the Spring Festival, there are many grand activities, such as offering sacrifices to heaven and earth, welcoming the New Year and praying for the New Year, which are rich in content, lively and festive, and full of flavor.

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.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Spring Festival