Why firecrackers for New Year's Eve in ancient China?

In China, the sound of firecrackers is a sign of the old and the new, and an indication of a festive mood. There is another significance of firecrackers for businessmen: they set off firecrackers on New Year's Eve in order to make a lot of money in the new year. However, according to the old custom, to honor the God of Fortune to compete first, firecrackers to the back. Therefore, those who want to make a fortune, the cannonballs should be sounded to the end to be considered sincere.

Han folk "open door firecrackers" said. That is, the arrival of the new year, families open the door to the first thing is to set off firecrackers, to beep, bla bla bla firecrackers to get rid of the old and welcome the new, to drive away the beasts of the night.

Firecrackers for the Chinese specialty, also known as "firecrackers", "cannonballs", "firecrackers". Its origin is very early, so far has a history of more than two thousand years.

Tracing the origin of firecrackers, you will understand the ancient people burning firecrackers and its evolution of the history.

The Jing Chu chronicle: "the first day of the first month, the rooster crows, first in front of the court firecrackers to avoid the evil spirits of the mountain shame." This record shows that the firecrackers in ancient times is a plague-exorcising audio tools, which makes the custom of burning firecrackers from the beginning with a certain superstitious color. In fact, this is entirely due to the misunderstanding of the ancients. According to the "Divine Scriptures" said that in ancient times, people traveled through the mountains to sleep overnight, the night to point the campfire, one for cooking and warmth, and the second to prevent the wild beasts invasion. However, there is an animal in the mountains that is not afraid of people and not afraid of fire, is the beast of the year, often taking advantage of people attacking people and animals.

People for the New Year's beast, remembered in the fire firecrackers, with the cracking sound of bamboo to make it far away from the approach. The animal mentioned here is called "mountain bashfulness". The ancients said it can make people hot and cold, is to make people get hot and cold disease ghosts, scare away the mountain shame, that is, to expel the plague of evil, can be lucky and safe. People get up very early to set off firecrackers, which is said to expel the "mandrill". The mandrill is said to be a kind of vicious one-horned ghosts and monsters in the mountains in ancient times, but it is most afraid of sound, so people used the blasting sound of burning bamboo to scare it away. With gunpowder, people use gunpowder into bamboo tubes, made of firecrackers, and then made of paper tube, also known as firecrackers or cannonballs. In modern times, people no longer believe in what "mandrill", but still used to firecrackers in the Spring Festival, in order to celebrate the holiday, and cheer up the spirit. Therefore, from the night of the New Year's Eve to the early morning of the first day of the New Year, the sound of firecrackers is always continuous.