When is the anniversary?

Watching the New Year is an all-night vigil on New Year's Eve, also called New Year's Eve. Watching the New Year is to light a lamp and stay up all night, waiting for the arrival of the New Year.

Keeping the old age, also known as wasted years, is one of the folk activities in China, and its origin can be traced back to the Southern and Northern Dynasties. On New Year's Eve, families get together, burning lights and candles all night and staying up late to welcome the Lunar New Year. The custom of observing the old age not only includes the feeling of farewell and nostalgia for the fleeting time, but also expresses the good hope for the coming New Year. Lighting candles or oil lamps also symbolizes driving away all evil diseases and epidemics.

The earliest extant document is recorded in the Local Customs of the Western Jin Dynasty: On New Year's Eve, all parties give gifts to each other, which is called "going back to the old days". Wine and food are invited, which is called "not old"; Young and old get together to drink and wish a complete song called "age division"; Everyone stays up all night, waiting for dawn. This is the so-called "shou sui".

Observe the moral of the times

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. The "longevity" of observing the old year means nostalgia for the past old year and hope for the coming new year.

It is also a legend that people often hear, that is, on New Year's Eve, people regard the night when Nian beast rages as the portal of the annual Nian beast. In order to kill time, the family get together to talk, which means to pray for a safe night. After a long time, it formed the custom of not sleeping for a year on New Year's Eve.