What are the origins of Spring Festival and Lantern Festival?

The Spring Festival originated from the activities of offering sacrifices to gods and ancestors in the early and late ancient times, with a history of more than 4,000 years. In ancient times, people held sacrificial activities at the beginning of the new year after the one-year-old farming ended, in order to repay the kindness of the gods and ancestors of heaven and earth, drive away evil spirits, accept blessings and pray for the new year. The early festival culture embodies the ancient people's humanistic spirit of advocating nature, the unity of man and nature, cautiously pursuing the future, and firmly thinking about the source.

2. The origin of Lantern Festival

Legend has it that a long time ago, there were many fierce birds and beasts everywhere that hurt people and livestock, so people organized to defeat them. A god bird fell into the world because it got lost, but was accidentally shot by an unsuspecting hunter.

The Emperor of Heaven was very angry when he learned that. He immediately issued a decree, ordering the heavenly soldiers to set fire to the land on the fifteenth day of the first month, burning all the people, livestock and property. The daughter of the Emperor of Heaven is kind-hearted. She couldn't bear to see the innocent suffering of the people, so she risked her life and secretly rushed Xiangyun to the world to tell people the news.

When people heard the news, it was like a blow to the head. I'm so scared that I don't know what to do. After a long time, an old man came up with an idea. He said: "On the 14th, 15th and 16th of the first month, every family decorated their houses, set off firecrackers and set off fireworks. In this way, the emperor will think that people have been burned to death. "

Everyone nodded and said yes, and they were ready to go separately. On the night of the fifteenth day of the first month, the emperor looked down and found that for three consecutive nights, the world was red and the noise was deafening, thinking it was the flame of a big fire.

In this way, people saved their lives and property. In order to commemorate this success, every household hangs lanterns and sets off fireworks on the fifteenth day of the first month to commemorate this day.

The customs of the Spring Festival

Chinese New Year has a long history. In the process of inheritance and development, some relatively fixed customs have been formed, many of which have been passed down to this day, such as buying new year's goods, sweeping dust, posting couplets, eating New Year's Eve, celebrating New Year's Eve, dancing dragons and lions, worshiping ancestors, praying and worshiping gods, holding dragon boat races, holding temple fairs, beating gongs and drums, setting off lanterns and placing wine, and enjoying lanterns.

Traditional festival ceremonies and related custom activities are important contents of festival elements, bearing rich and colorful festival cultural connotations.

2. The custom of Lantern Festival

The customs of Lantern Festival include: eating Yuanxiao, watching lanterns, solve riddles on the lanterns and so on. Eating Yuanxiao is also called eating dumplings, and Yuanxiao is dumplings. Their practices are different in composition and style, but the meaning of eating Yuanxiao is the same. It means a happy reunion and the days are getting more and more prosperous.