What is the custom, origin and significance of the Spring Festival?

The Spring Festival first represents warmth and affection. "If you have money, you can't go home for the New Year" and "If you don't catch up for a year, you will catch up for 30 nights"? These words show the heavy historical accumulation of the Spring Festival and its sacred position in the eyes of China people.

There are many customs in the Spring Festival, such as posting Spring Festival couplets, setting off firecrackers, having a family reunion dinner, lighting lanterns and so on. The Spring Festival first represents warmth and affection. ? "If you have money, you can't go home for the New Year" and "If you don't catch up for a year, you will catch up for 30 nights"? These words show the heavy historical accumulation of the Spring Festival and its sacred position in the eyes of China people.

There are many legends about the origin of the Spring Festival, and the most popular one is the story of "Nian Beast". According to legend, there was a monster named Nian in ancient China, with long tentacles and a ferocious face. Nian lived on the seabed for many years, and climbed ashore every New Year's Eve, eating livestock and hurting people's lives. Therefore, every New Year's Eve, people in the village fled to the deep mountains to avoid the harm of the "Nian" beast.

On New Year's Eve this year, people in Taohua Village were taking refuge in the mountains when an old beggar came from outside the village. He was leaning on crutches, carrying a bag on his arm, with elegant silver whiskers and staring at Matthew. Some villagers sealed windows and locked doors, some packed their bags, some herded cattle and drove sheep, and people shouted boo everywhere, which was a scene of panic. At this time, who still has the mind to take care of this begging old man?

Only an old woman in the village east gave the old man some food and suggested that he go up the mountain quickly to avoid the "Nian" beast. The old man smiled and said, "If my mother-in-law lets me stay at home for one night, I will definitely drive the Nian beast away. When the old woman looked at him carefully, she found that he was young, healthy, energetic and had an extraordinary world outlook. But she continued to persuade and begged the old man to laugh without saying a word. Mother-in-law had no choice but to let the beggars live in their own homes and take refuge in the mountains.

At midnight, Nian beast broke into the village. It found that the atmosphere in the village was different from previous years: the old woman at the east end of the village had red paper on her door and the room was brightly lit. The beast Nian trembled and let out a long whistle. Nian stared at her mother-in-law's house for a while, then screamed and rushed over. As we approached the door, there was a sudden explosion in the yard. Nian trembled and dared not go any further.

It turns out that Nian was most afraid of red, fire and explosion. At this time, my mother-in-law's door was wide open, and I saw an old man in a red robe laughing in the hospital. "Nian" was frightened to disgrace and fled in confusion.

The next day was the first day of the first month, and the people who came back from refuge were very surprised to see that the village was safe and sound. At this time, the old woman suddenly realized and quickly told the villagers the promise of begging for the elderly. Villagers flocked to the old woman's house, only to find red paper on her mother-in-law's door, a pile of unburned bamboo still exploding in the yard, and some red candles still glowing in the house?

In order to celebrate the auspicious arrival, ecstatic villagers put on new clothes and hats one after another and went to their relatives and friends' homes to congratulate and say hello. The story soon spread in the surrounding villages, and people knew the way to drive away the "Nian" beast. Since then, every year on New Year's Eve, every family has posted red couplets and set off firecrackers. Every household has a bright candlelight, so it is better to wait for the New Year. In the early morning of the first day, I want to say hello to my relatives and friends. This custom has spread more and more widely, and has become the most solemn traditional festival among the people in China.

Customs of Spring Festival: 1, the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month (in some places it is the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month). Sacrificing a stove is a kind of custom with great influence and wide spread among the people in our country. In the past, almost every kitchen had a kitchen god. On this day, "Kitchen God" was sent to heaven and then brought back on New Year's Eve.

Our ancestors told us that the "kitchen god" of every household went to heaven to tell the Jade Emperor about the good and evil behavior of the master in the past year, and the fate of this family in the coming year will depend on the good and evil in the past year. So every master has to make a sacrifice to the Kitchen God in order to say a good word in front of the Jade Emperor? Although this is a legend, it also shows that we should do more good deeds and accumulate more virtues!

2. Sweep the dust in the twelfth lunar month. "The twelfth lunar month sweeps the house with dust". According to "Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals", China had the custom of sweeping dust during the Spring Festival in the Yao and Shun era. According to the folk saying: Because of the homonym of "dust" and "Chen", sweeping dust in the Spring Festival means "getting rid of the old and not being new", and its original intention is to sweep away all bad luck and bad luck.

This custom has placed people's desire to break the old and create new ones and their prayers to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. Whenever the Spring Festival comes, every household should clean the environment, clean all kinds of electrical appliances, remove and wash bedding curtains, sweep six yards, dust cobwebs and dredge culverts in open channels. Everywhere is filled with the joyful atmosphere of cleaning and welcoming the Spring Festival cleanly.

3. Twenty-five and twenty-six of the twelfth lunar month. Doing new year's goods, grinding bean curd to make Baba once a year in rural areas, and livestock specially preparing for the New Year. Because many relatives and friends come to pay New Year greetings after the Spring Festival.

4. Take a bath on the 27th and 28th of the twelfth lunar month. In traditional folk customs, we should concentrate on bathing and washing these two days to get rid of the bad luck for one year and prepare for the Spring Festival next year.

5. Lunar New Year's Eve means "poverty at the end of the month, flowers at the end of the year". People should bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, and the coming year means getting new, which is the last night of the Lunar New Year. Therefore, the activities during this period are all around changing the old for the new, eliminating disasters and praying for blessings. Eating New Year's Eve and giving lucky money are the highlights of the New Year.

6. Pay New Year's greetings on the first day of the first month. China people still have many local customs left over from various places during the Spring Festival. The legend of the Spring Festival originated from a kind of "Nian beast", but whether this kind of Nian beast exists or not is unknown. Understand the origin and customs of the Spring Festival, understand the significance of the Spring Festival, cherish the beautiful and peaceful life now, be grateful to the people around you, cherish the day of reunion with your family, and don't forget to double-study!

From the long journey to the snowy night, and then to the peak of Spring Festival travel rush, the crowds are surging, which constitutes an eternal scenery of China from ancient times to the present in Spring Festival travel rush. "Going home for the New Year" is not only the gathering of relatives, but also the baptism of spirit and the renewal of ethical relations.

Secondly, the Spring Festival is the knot of China culture. China people who can't go home for the New Year, even if they are not lonely, always have a sense of wandering and loss, that is, "the whole year will pass, and Wan Li has not returned". In the old society, Beijingers had to eat water chestnuts during the Spring Festival. The homonym of water chestnuts is "Must be neat", which means that relatives must be complete during the Spring Festival. New Year's Eve is an annual spiritual feast for China people, so we should eat it at home anyway. People have accumulated their feelings, wishes, ethics and beliefs on this festival, which makes the Spring Festival not a simple time point, but has been fully valued by the broad masses of the people, and even become a symbol of national culture and an important force to unite national feelings.

It is precisely because of these characteristics that the Spring Festival determines its natural status as the first festival in China people's lives. The process of modernization can change people's lives, but it can't change the surging crowds returning home during the Spring Festival, and it can't change the homecoming of wanderers all over the world. Once the festival culture becomes a tradition, it has its specific social significance and adapts to the needs of human nature. This is especially true during the Spring Festival.

As a national cultural heritage, the Spring Festival needs not only care and cherish, but also management. This is the annual release day of China people's feelings and wishes. We should strive to make the traditional Spring Festival, which is full of vigor and warmth, always become the expectation of China people's daily life. Only in this way can we firmly hold our spiritual home in the tide of globalization and shine the glory of national culture in cultural diversity.

"The Spring Festival, an ancient lighthouse hanging high above the national canopy, reflects the social life of contemporary China with its unique and eternal light. This light is bright and warm. " "Festivals have specific folk cultural connotations and are a kind of cultural resource with special significance. As the first festival of the Chinese nation, the Spring Festival has great social significance. " Xiao Fang, a professor at the College of Literature of Beijing Normal University who has long studied folk culture, said.