The story of firecrackers and Nian beast

In that ancient and wild era, there was a very ferocious monster, and that was "Nian". It is huge, powerful and omnipotent. Nian beast is cruel by nature. It eats everyone and swallows everything. But I am lazy and sleep 365 days a year. After sleeping for 365 days every year, when there is nothing in his stomach, he will go down to the earth to find food.

The people suffered a lot, whether they were dead or injured, and all the livestock at home were eaten up. Therefore, on New Year's Eve, every family leaves home to avoid the harm of Nian beast, which is called "China New Year".

It's New Year's Eve again, and all the men, women and children in the village are preparing to go up the mountain to avoid Nian beast. But just as everyone was about to leave, an old beggar came. The old man has a gray beard, and although he is in rags, he doesn't look like an ordinary person. People are busy packing things, and no one cares about the begging old man. Only an old woman advised him to hurry up the mountain to avoid Nian beast.

The old man insisted on living in the village. In the middle of the night, Nian beast broke into the village and saw red paper on the door, shaking his body. Nian beast screamed with anger and rushed into the yard. Just then, firecrackers sounded in the yard and there was a fire at the same time. Nian beast's eyes were blinded by dazzling red light.

It turns out that Nian beast is most afraid of red, noise and fire. So Nian beast turned and ran away in fear.

From then on, people knew a good way to dare to walk the Nian beast. Every New Year's Eve, red couplets and the word "Hongfu" are pasted on the doors, red window grilles are pasted on the windows, and firecrackers and fireworks are set off.

Extended data

The customs of the Spring Festival

1, paste Spring Festival couplets

Spring Festival couplets are also called door couplets, spring stickers, couplets, couplets and peach symbols. They depict the background of the times and express good wishes with neat, dual, concise and delicate words, which are unique literary forms in China. During the Spring Festival, every household should choose a pair of red Spring Festival couplets and stick them on the door to add festive atmosphere to the festival.

This custom began in the Song Dynasty and was popular in the Ming Dynasty. By the Qing Dynasty, the ideological and artistic quality of Spring Festival couplets had been greatly improved. Liang Zhangju's book The Story of Spring Festival couplets discusses the origin of Spring Festival couplets and the characteristics of various works.

There are many kinds of Spring Festival couplets, which can be divided into door heart, frame pair, cross string, spring strip and bucket square according to the place of use.

2. stick grilles and the word "Fu"

Window grilles not only set off the festive atmosphere, but also integrate decoration, appreciation and practicality. Paper-cutting is a very popular folk art in China, which has been loved by people for thousands of years. Because it is often pasted on the window, it is also called "window grilles". With its unique generalization and exaggeration, window grilles show auspicious things and good wishes incisively and vividly, and decorate festivals with colorful colors.

While putting up Spring Festival couplets, some people have to put large and small "Fu" characters on doors, walls and lintels. Sticking the word "Fu" during the Spring Festival is a long-standing folk custom in China. The word "Fu" symbolizes good luck and wishes for a happy life and a bright future.

In order to fully reflect this yearning and wish, some people simply put the word "Fu" upside down, indicating that "Fu has arrived" and "Fu has arrived". Others elaborate the word "Fu" into various patterns, such as longevity, longevity peach, carp yue longmen, abundant grains, dragons and phoenixes, and so on.

Step 3 post new year pictures

New Year pictures are an ancient folk art in China, which reflects people's simple customs and beliefs and places their hopes on the future. New Year pictures, like Spring Festival couplets, originated from "door gods". With the rise of block printing, the content of New Year pictures is not limited to monotonous themes such as door gods, but has become rich and colorful to meet people's good wishes of celebrating and praying for the New Year.

The earliest existing collection of New Year pictures in China is the woodcut New Year pictures of the Southern Song Dynasty, which shows four ancient beauties: Wang Zhaojun, Zhao, Ban Ji and Lvzhu. The most popular folk painting is the Year of Marrying the Rat. It depicts an interesting scene in which a mouse marries a bride according to human custom.

In the early years of the Republic of China, Zheng of Shanghai combined the month card with the New Year pictures, forming a new form of New Year pictures. This new year's picture, which was combined into one, later developed into a calendar and has been popular all over the country.

Step 4: keep your age

Keeping New Year's Eve is one of the most important activities. The custom of observing the age has a long history, which was first seen in the local chronicles of the Western Jin Dynasty. On New Year's Eve, the whole family get together, eat New Year's Eve, light candles or oil lamps, sit around the stove and chat, wait for the time to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new year, and keep vigil all night, which symbolizes expelling all evil spirits and expecting good luck in the new year.

This custom gradually became popular. In the early Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong, wrote a poem "Shousui". To this day, people are used to celebrating the New Year's Eve. In ancient times, observing the age has two meanings: the old man's observing the age means "resigning from the old", which means cherishing time; Young people keep their age in order to prolong the life of their parents. Since the Han Dynasty, the time for the alternation of the old and new years is generally at midnight.

Step 5 set off firecrackers

Also known as firecrackers, there is a folk saying of "setting off firecrackers" in China. That is, when the new year comes, the first thing for every household to open the door is to set off firecrackers to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. Firecrackers originated very early, with a history of more than two thousand years.

Setting off firecrackers can create a festive and lively atmosphere, which is a kind of entertainment in festivals and can bring happiness and good luck to people. With the passage of time, firecrackers are more and more widely used, and there are more and more varieties and colors. Every major festival and happy celebration, as well as marriage, building, opening, etc. We should set off firecrackers to celebrate and make good luck.

6. Happy New Year

On the first day of the new year, people get up early, put on the most beautiful clothes, dress neatly, go out to visit relatives and friends, and wish each other good luck in the coming year. There are many ways to pay New Year's greetings, some of which are led by the same patriarch from door to door. Some colleagues invited several people to pay New Year greetings; Others get together to congratulate each other. This is called "group worship".

When paying New Year greetings during the Spring Festival, the younger generation should first pay New Year greetings to their elders and wish them health and longevity. The elders can distribute the lucky money prepared in advance to the younger generation. It is said that lucky money can kill evil spirits, because "old" and "special" are homophonic, and the younger generation can spend a year safely with lucky money.

There are two kinds of lucky money, one is to put colored rope in the shape of Jackie Chan at the foot of the bed, which was recorded in Yanjing year; The other is the most common, that is, parents wrap the money distributed to their children in red paper.

Lucky money can be given in public after the younger generation pays New Year's greetings, or it can be secretly put under the child's pillow by parents when the child falls asleep on New Year's Eve. It is still very popular for elders to give lucky money to younger generations.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Spring Festival