Who can tell me how we Chinese used to celebrate Chinese New Year and how we do it nowadays

What is Nian? Nian is the image of the ears of grain, a symbol of the harvest, and it is said that "the ripening of the grain is said to be the year".

What is Nian? The year is a monster, all year round in the deep sea, only on New Year's Eve to climb ashore. Once it came ashore, it flooded wherever it went. Later, people put up red paper in front of their homes, burning firewood in the yard, close the fire, chopping vegetables and meat with kitchen knives, making a thunderous sound. The "New Year" fled back to the sea. So there is a New Year's Eve stick couplets, hanging lanterns, wearing new clothes, but also chopping dumplings dumplings, and at night, but also close to the fire, burning firewood,------ this is the year.

So how did the ancient people celebrate the New Year?

This is the first time we listen to this "New Year's Day Song" ---

Twenty-three sacrifices to Zaotian,

Twenty-four writing couplets,

Twenty-five making bean curd,

Twenty-six cutting the annual

............

Kowtow on the first and second days of the year,

Juggle balls on the third and fourth days of the year,

Dance with the monkey on the fifth and sixth days of the year,

... .........

"Have a big year, busy half a year", the ancients from the waxing of the month to start busy "annual affairs", until after the first day of the New Year's Eve, the year is finished. is finished. Then we trace the ancients of the "year step", the first to sacrifice the stove --

The zaowang master but the annual festival of worship of the gods in the most visible one, the custom of sacrificing the stove very early, is the first people of the fire, the stove of the gratitude, the expression of reverence. In the legend, the Yellow Emperor, Emperor Yan and Zhu Rong were all Zao deities. The popular Zaoshen in later times was surnamed Zhang, with the character Ziguo, and looked like a beautiful woman. He had a wife named "Qing Ji", six daughters all named "Chachai", and several generals. In addition to being in charge of the stove fire, he also had to examine what was being done on earth and report it to the Emperor of Heaven. People also used wine lees, caramelized sugar and sticky cakes to "bribe" the god of the stove, and at the same time murmured prayers, begging him to go up to heaven to say good words. This custom has been passed down to the present day, but the time is on the 24th day of the Lunar New Year, and the sacrificial food has been simplified into "stove sugar stove cake", but if you pay attention, you will still hear grandma and mom urging the king of the stove: say good things to heaven, and don't say anything bad. ......

--Wang Anshi

The firecracker was initially a tool of witchcraft, which was used to drive away demons and ghosts. The first firecrackers were not firecrackers like today's firecrackers, but real bamboo, i.e., burning bamboo to make a crackling sound to frighten ghosts and monsters. Tusu is Tusu wine, which means to kill the ghosts and wake up the human soul. It is said that drinking this wine on the morning of the first day of the year, you can keep a year without getting sick, and then they will drink the Spring Festival wine collectively known as "Tusu wine".

Peach symbols, also known as "peach plate", is the predecessor of the Spring Festival couplets. Ancient people believe that peach wood is the essence of the five wood, can control the ghosts, so from the Han Dynasty onwards, it is useful to use the peach for the aversion to victory of the custom, peach wood for peach people, peach seal, peach plate, peach symbols to ward off evil spirits. The transformation of peach symbols into spring scrolls is said to have originated from Meng Chang, the lord of Shu in the Five Dynasties. Paper spring scrolls flourished only in the Ming and Qing dynasties. Today's Spring Festival couplets are meant to render the atmosphere of the New Year's Eve, wishing good luck and seeking good fortune, and have lost the role of the old Spring Festival couplets to ward off evil spirits, but also rich in content and diverse forms.

Writing the couplets, the next to prepare the New Year's food, New Year's Day food, such as rice cakes, New Year's Eve rice, the New Year's Eve dumplings, and so on. In addition, there were also foods with a strong witchcraft flavor, such as peach soup, cypress wine, pepper wine, and wuxing pan. Peach soup is a soup made from peaches, cypress wine is a kind of wine made from cypress leaves, and pepper wine is wine made from pepper seeds, which was drunk on the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar to ward off evil spirits and pray for good luck. Five Xin plate that is to onion, ginger and other five kinds of spicy food in the plate, also known as spring plate. It is said that it can ward off evil, get rid of the plague, through the five viscera, but also has the meaning of congratulations on the new.

The hotel cold light alone do not sleep, the guest heart what to turn miserable.

This is the first time I've thought about my hometown, and I'll be there tomorrow.

New Year's Eve is the night of reunion, the Chinese people are difficult to solve a reunion knot, even if the people in the end of the world, but also in the New Year's Eve to rush home to eat New Year's Eve dinner, the year-end vigil. New Year's Eve home is an extraordinarily warm and sweet space, and in history even prisoners in jail were released to go home for a reunion. The whole family sits at the table and begins the process of "reunion" and "observance". The first meal is a "New Year's dinner" after which the whole family sits together to observe the New Year.

At this time, the younger generation of children to the father and grandfather parents salute to say goodbye, the old people to share the New Year's Eve money. The New Year's Eve money is also called "bet on the year", "on behalf of the year", "year-old money", originally used to get tired of driving away evil spirits, to help the children in the New Year, the later generations are used to express affection and love. After the New Year's dinner, there is also a "night out", where the family eats dim sum, laughs and plays, or talks about the rain, and waits until morning, which is the New Year's Eve vigil. In addition, New Year's Eve, there are mirrors to listen to, according to the field silkworms, selling dementia, playing ash heap and other customs, as a way to divine the year's good and bad luck and blame, and pray for a new year, the children smart, everything as you wish.

"New Year's Eve in the countryside, from Lunar New Year until the first half of the first month, a full month and a half of gongs and drums, the sound of this monotonous, but touched the heart of every one of us Chinese. It was at this time that ...... found the spring flowers blooming."

Yes, the spring flowers are blooming, and a new year has come!

The ancients called the first eight days of the new positive with six animals and people and valleys respectively. The first day of the first month of the new year is the day of the chicken, i.e., an auspicious day. Ancient people used chickens to ward off evil spirits by killing chickens at the door or posting pictures of chickens at the door. Starting from New Year's Day, people began to busy themselves with New Year's greetings and festivals. Worship in the Han Dynasty has been popular, the group of ministers in the first day of the first month of the day into the palace to worship, the emperor and the ministers of the same music. To the Ming and Qing dynasties, the official New Year's visit has developed into a ritual of the virtual, often "looking at the door to throw prick", regardless of whether they recognize. There is a poem for proof:

Not seeking to meet but through the visit, the name of the paper towards the full my hut.

I also cast a number of paper with people, the world is too simple not too false.

In the folk belief, the first to the fourth, is the new year's carnival days, to the fifth before returning to normal life. The customary activity on the fifth day of the month, also known as the "fifth day of the month", is to "send the poor", while for merchants, the fifth day of the month is the day of the opening of the business. The activities of the first month until the fifteenth, only gradually calm ......