How did the ancients celebrate the New Year? What is that? Year is the image of drooping ears of grain and a symbol of bumper harvest. The so-called "bumper harvest year". What year? Nian is a monster. It stays in the deep sea all year round and only climbs ashore on New Year's Eve. As soon as it landed, there were floods everywhere. Later, people put red paper on their doorsteps, lit firewood in the yard, and chopped vegetables and meat with kitchen knives, making a thunderous sound. Scared nian back and fled back to the sea. So on New Year's Eve, there are couplets, lanterns, new clothes, jiaozi and jiaozi, bonfires and firewood at night-this is the New Year. So how did the ancients celebrate the New Year? Let's listen to this song "Sacrifice Song" first-twenty-three days to worship the kitchen, twenty-four days to write couplets, twenty-five days to make tofu, and twenty-six years to cut meat. Then let's trace back to the ancients' "one step a year". First, it is said that the Yellow Emperor, Yan Di and Zhu Rong are kitchen gods. The list of popular kitchen god Zhang looks like a beautiful woman. He has a wife named "Qing Ji", six daughters named "Chucky" and several soldiers. In addition to being in charge of fire, he should also examine the actions of the world and report to God. People also use distiller's grains, maltose and sticky cakes to "bribe" the kitchen god. At the same time, they murmured prayers and begged him to speak in heaven. This custom has been passed down to this day, but the time is the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, and the sacrificial food has also been simplified into "stove candy stove cake". But if you pay attention, you will certainly hear grandma and mom say to the kitchen god: God speaks well, but don't speak ill ... firecrackers sound like one year old, spring breeze brings warmth to Tusu, and thousands of families always change new peaches into old ones. -Wang Anshi firecrackers were originally a tool of witchcraft, used to drive away monsters. Unlike today's firecrackers, the original firecrackers are real bamboo, that is, burning bamboo, making a crackling sound and scaring ghosts. Tu Su is Tu Su wine, which means to kill something congenial and awaken people's souls. It is said that drinking this wine in the morning of January can keep you from getting sick for a year, and then the wine you drink during the Spring Festival will be collectively called "Tu Su wine". Fu Tao, also known as "pottery board", is the predecessor of Spring Festival couplets. The ancients thought that peach wood was the essence of five trees, which could make a hundred ghosts. Therefore, since the Han Dynasty, peach wood has been used as a tool to ward off evil spirits, such as peach man, peach seal, peach board, peach symbol and so on. It is said that Fu Tao became the Spring Festival couplets because of Meng Chang, the master of Shu after the Five Dynasties. Paper Spring Festival couplets were only popular in Ming and Qing Dynasties. Today's Spring Festival couplets are intended to highlight the atmosphere of the New Year. Good luck. They have lost the driving role of the old Spring Festival couplets, which are rich in content and diverse in forms. I wrote couplets, and then it's time to prepare food for the New Year. There are many foods in the New Year, such as rice cakes, New Year's Eve dinners and jiaozi. There are also diets with strong witchcraft flavor, such as peach soup, cypress wine, pepper wine, five coriander and so on. Peach soup is made of peaches, white wine is made of cypress leaves, and cellar wine is made of pepper seeds. The ancients drank it on the first day of the first month, meaning to ward off evil spirits and pray for blessings. Spiced board is made of five kinds of spicy food, such as onion and ginger, also called spring board. It is said that it can eliminate evil spirits, plague, and enlighten the five internal organs, and it also means to congratulate the new students. The cold light in the hotel stayed alone and didn't sleep, and the guest turned sad. My hometown is thinking thousands of miles tonight, and it is another year of the Ming Dynasty. New Year's Eve is a night of reunion, and it is difficult for China people to have a happy knot. Even if people are in the end of the world, they should go home for New Year's Eve dinner and New Year's Eve dinner. The home on New Year's Eve is a particularly warm and sweet space. Historically, even prisoners in prisons have been released and reunited. The family sat around the table and began the process of "group year" and "keeping the age". The first is the "reunion dinner", and then the whole family will sit together and watch the New Year. At this time, the younger generation saluted their parents and resigned, and the old people had to share the lucky money. Lucky money, also known as "lucky money", "lucky money" and "lucky money", was originally used to ward off evil spirits and help children celebrate the New Year, but later generations used it to express affection and love. After the reunion dinner, we will also eat "midnight snack", and the whole family will eat snacks together, or laugh and play, or talk about everything and wait for dawn. This is shou sui. In addition, on New Year's Eve, there are customs such as listening to a mirror, raising silkworms, selling dementia, making ash piles, etc., so as to predict the good or bad of the year and pray for children's wisdom and all the best in the new year. "In the rural New Year, from the twelfth lunar month to the first half of the first month, the sound of gongs and drums lasted for one and a half months. The monotonous voice touched the hearts of every one of us in China. Just then, ... I found that the winter jasmine was in bloom. " Yes, the winter jasmine is in bloom, and the new year has come! The ancients compared the first eight days of the new rectification with six kinds of animals, people and valleys respectively. The first day of the first month is the Year of the Rooster, which is an auspicious day. The ancients used chickens to ward off evil spirits by killing chickens or sticking them on doors. People have been busy celebrating the New Year since New Year's Day. In the Han Dynasty, it was popular to pay New Year greetings. On the first day of the first month, the ministers went to the palace to worship, and the monarch and the minister enjoyed each other. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the official New Year greeting developed into an empty etiquette, which was often "stabbing at the door", whether you know it or not. There is a poem to prove it: I don't want to meet you, but I want to talk to you, and the famous articles are full of embarrassment. I also throw some paper at people. The world is too simple and empty. In folk beliefs, the first day to the fourth day is the carnival day of the New Year, and it is not until the fifth day that normal life is resumed. The fifth day is also called "breaking the fifth day". The custom activity on this day is to "send the poor", but for businesses, businesses open their doors on the fifth day. The first month's activities did not gradually calm down until 15. ...

About the origin of the four seasons, ancient Greek mythology says so.

The god in charge of agriculture is called the god of agriculture. She has a beautiful daughter named Persephone. One day, Persephone was picking flowers on the earth when the earth suddenly cracked. The keeper reached out his hand and threw her into the underworld. The farmer who lost his daughter was very painful and didn't care about agriculture, which made Tian Yuan barren. When Zeus, the Lord God, knew this, he ordered the keeper to put Persephone back. Unfortunately, Persephone ate a pomegranate in the underworld, and she could not leave the underworld completely. She can only spend three-quarters of her time with her mother every year, which is the three seasons of spring, summer and autumn on earth: mother and daughter meet after a long separation, and the earth is completely new. This is spring; Mother and daughter are very happy to get together, and all kinds of flowers are so lush. This is summer; When mother and daughter are to be separated again, the flowers wither and the leaves fall. This is autumn. When the mother and daughter are separated again and can't meet each other, the earth will be covered with snow and frozen in the fields. It's winter. Persephone became the goddess of spring in ancient Greek mythology because only when she came out of the underworld and met her mother and daughter again. I once saw an oil painting depicting the God of Spring, in which Persephone wore a wreath and smiled as brightly as the sun. Obviously, this is the image of spring. As for spring, Teacher Zhu Ziqing is better. He once wrote in the essay "Spring": "Spring is like a newborn doll. It's new from head to toe and still growing. Spring is like a little girl, dressed up and walking with a smile. Spring is like a strong young man with steel arms and legs, leading us forward. 」

So, does China have a story about the four seasons? Yes, for example, there is a small grasshopper temple in Nanerli, Bozhou, Anhui Province, where there is a clay sculpture of a human locust face and an Emei belt. Its origin is related to the four seasons. According to the local old man, it was ancient times, and Confucius took his students around the world to the south of Bozhou. Lutz met an old man, sighed and repeatedly said, "Three seasons a year is too hard. Lutz was surprised and asked, "It's four seasons, how can it be three seasons?" "? " The old man said, "It's three seasons. Let's make a bet. They found Confucius and asked him to judge. The old man said, "if I lose, I'd rather not have my head!" Lutz also said, "If I lose, I will give you my electronic blog! Unexpectedly, Confucius said, "Listen, Luz, you lost! Lutz is helpless, so he must take Guan Bo to see the old man. After the old man left, Confucius made it clear that he said, "Don't underestimate the old man, he is a grasshopper god! If he knows all the year round, winter will also harm crops! We only give it three seasons, spring, summer and autumn, so winter will not harm crops! Later, it turned out that there had never been a plague of locusts in winter. In order to pray for no locust plague, people also built a temple for it-the small temple mentioned above.

Of course, most of the above two Chinese and foreign myths are interesting.

We can assume that all human beings in the world have a common ancestor, and the same story has been passed down since ancient times. Later, they gradually migrated and branched into different ethnic groups. The theory of four seasons in spring, summer, autumn and winter is still true today because it is closely related to life. Similarly, Eskimos living in the Arctic also have the saying of spring, summer, autumn and winter, but it has different meanings in their lives, because summer in the Arctic is as cold and frozen as winter.

In ancient China, there were four seasons: Xia, Shang, Zhou and Spring and Autumn (2/kloc-0 BC/century-476 BC). In Xia dynasty, the method of recording days and days appeared, and in Shang dynasty, it developed into the method of recording diaries. The four seasons appeared earlier, and the earliest developed world, Yin and Yang, Tai Chi, Two Instruments, Four Elephants, Eight Diagrams, etc. According to the twenty-four solar terms, a season has six solar terms, which is an algorithm based on and corresponding to the four seasons.

As early as ancient times, there was "Poems of the Four Seasons of Xuanyuan Huangdi", which shows that the theory of the four seasons was as early as five or six thousand years ago, before there was history. The custom and origin of China New Year.

The Spring Festival, full of joy and good luck, is a symbol that every Chinese descendant will never give up. It is not only the freshest and most special day in 365 days, but also bears the ancient culture of the Chinese nation after five thousand years of wind and rain.

The first day of the first lunar month is the Spring Festival, also known as the lunar year, commonly known as "Chinese New Year". This is the biggest and most lively ancient traditional festival among the people of China. The Spring Festival is the most important festival of the Han nationality. However, China is a multi-ethnic country. Besides the Han nationality, there are more than a dozen ethnic minorities such as Manchu, Mongolian, Yao, Zhuang, Bai, Gaoshan, Hezhe, Hani, Daur, Dong and Li who also celebrate the Spring Festival. The Spring Festival has a long history, which originated from the activities of offering sacrifices to gods and ancestors in the beginning and end of the Shang Dynasty. There are also many legends about this year. The ancient Spring Festival was called "January Festival", "New Year's Day" and "New Year's Day". After the Revolution of 1911, the first day of the first lunar month was officially named Spring Festival.

The Spring Festival, as its name implies, is the Spring Festival. Spring has come, Vientiane is renewed, and a new round of sowing and harvesting season is about to begin again. People have enough reasons to welcome this festival by singing and dancing. So, before the festival, a New Year message with red paper and yellow characters was posted on the frontispiece. When Miss Chun comes to the door, she will read a sentence to express her best wishes for the New Year. With this idea, good luck really came. The same moral things are hanging red lanterns, sticking the word "Fu" and sticking the statue of the God of Wealth. The word "Fu" must be posted backwards, and passers-by will say "Fu has fallen", which means "Fu has arrived". The Spring Festival is a festival for family reunion. Children who leave home will have to travel thousands of miles back to their parents' home at this time. The night before the real Chinese New Year is called Reunion Night, and the whole family will sit around and wrap up jiaozi. Jiaozi's practice is to mix dough first, and the word "harmony" means "combination"; Jiaozi in jiaozi is homophonic with "dumpling", and "harmony" and "dumpling" have the meaning of reunion, so jiaozi is used to symbolize reunion. The festive atmosphere will last for a month. There are ceremonies such as offering sacrifices to stoves and ancestors before the first day of the first month; In festivals, there are ceremonies to give lucky money to children and to pay New Year greetings to relatives and friends. Half a month after the festival is the Lantern Festival. At that time, lanterns were all over the city and tourists were all over the streets. After the Lantern Festival, the Spring Festival is over. .

Another name for the Spring Festival is China New Year. What is "year"? It is a fictional animal, which will bring bad luck to people. "Year" came, the trees withered and the grass stopped growing; After the New Year, everything grows and flowers are everywhere. How to spend the year? Firecrackers are needed, so there is a custom of setting off firecrackers.

So how did the year come from? There are two main folk sayings. There is a saying: According to legend, there was a monster named Nian in ancient China, which had long tentacles and was ferocious. Nian lived on the seabed for many years, and climbed ashore every New Year's Eve, devouring livestock and killing people. Therefore, on New Year's Eve, people in the village fled to the deep mountains to avoid the harm of 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 said with a smile, if my mother-in-law lets me stay at home for one night, I will definitely drive the Nian beast away. The old woman looked at him carefully in surprise and found that he was handsome, energetic and different. But she continued to persuade and begged the old man to laugh without saying a word. My mother-in-law had no choice but to leave home 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. When we were near the door, there was a sudden explosion in the yard, and 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 a hurry. 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. The villagers flocked to the old woman's house together, only to see red paper on her mother-in-law's door, a pile of unburned bamboo still exploding in the yard, and several red candles still glowing in the house. In order to celebrate the auspicious arrival, ecstatic villagers put on their clothes and hats and went to relatives and friends' homes to congratulate and say hello. The story soon spread in the surrounding villages, and people knew how to drive away animals. 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. Another way of saying this is that China ancient calligraphy books put the word "Nian" in the Grain Department, indicating that the weather is good and the crops are abundant. Because cereal crops are usually harvested once a year. So "nian" was extended to the name of that year.

Although there was a custom of Spring Festival in ancient China, it was not called Spring Festival at that time. Because the Spring Festival referred to at that time refers to the "beginning of spring" among the 24 solar terms. The Northern and Southern Dynasties generally referred to the Spring Festival as the whole spring. It is said that the Lunar New Year was officially named Spring Festival after the Revolution of 1911. Because the solar calendar was used at that time, the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar had to be renamed the Spring Festival in order to distinguish between farmers and farmers.

Regarding the origin of "Nian", there is a folk legend: in ancient times, there was a monster named "Nian", who often gathered people to make trouble, killing people and setting fires. People tried many ways, but they couldn't kill it. Just as the people told them every day not to do it, the land was ineffective, and they were ready to move out, a strong man appeared, and he was willing to give his life and die together in exchange for the people to live and work in peace and contentment. Later, the strong men launched a life-and-death struggle with Nian in the place where Nian frequented. In the end, Nian was killed and the strong man died unfortunately. In order to remember this strong man and congratulate him on his rebirth, people held various grand celebrations, set off firecrackers and put up door gods to exorcise evil spirits on the day he was killed in 2008, which gradually formed a habit and passed it down. Since then, human beings have said "Chinese New Year".

Year is the common name of the Spring Festival. Speaking of spring, you will naturally think of summer, autumn and winter, and even think that there are 24 solar terms and 365 days in a year. So, who makes the disorderly world orderly and the chaotic world clear? It's emperor Yao. It was Emperor Yao who first stood at the forefront of scientific research, stepped into the dark nature, sought and pursued laws, sought light and gained insight into the world.

"China Ancient History Five Thousand Years of Romance" records that Yao, who became a leader, was as broad as the sky and omnipotent; Wisdom is as subtle and omniscient as God. ..... Yao put Li Zhonghe in charge of observing astronomical phenomena and divining providence. After a long time, he and Li actually became two astronomers! They also pass on their astronomical knowledge to Hehe, so that more people can understand astronomical phenomena. After Yao appointed Hou Ji as a farmer, farming became more and more developed, and he felt that sowing and harvesting must master the four seasons, and mastering the four seasons must understand the astronomical phenomena. So Yao summoned He, others and ordered He to observe the celestial phenomena carefully and make a calendar according to the operation of the sun, the moon and the stars, so that people could engage in production on time. He ordered Xi Zhong to live on the eastern seashore, observe and record the position and time of sunrise, and take the day and night as the vernal equinox; Uncle Xi was ordered to live in Du Ming in the south and observe how the sun moves south to determine the summer solstice. Life and species live in the valley of ignorance in the west, measuring sunsets to determine the autumnal equinox; Life and uncle live in a hidden capital in the north, observing the direction of the sun moving from south to north to determine the winter solstice. After finishing his homework, Yao said, "I tell you, about 366 days can be a cycle, and the rest days can be solved by leap months, so that we can determine the spring, summer, autumn and winter." After determining the four seasons, you can naturally determine the year. "

Looking through the Book of Records of the Historian Yao Dian, we can know: (Emperor Yao) "xi He is the one who is ordered to respect heaven. The calendar is like the sun, the moon and the stars, and the police teach the people. The teacher ordered the west, ... the emperor said: consultation! If the evening is harmonious, there will be six days in 360 years, four o'clock in the leap month, and the age of adulthood ... "Thus, it is indisputable that Emperor Yao decided on the lunar calendar.

New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve refers to the night on the last day of the twelfth lunar month, which is connected with the Spring Festival (the first day of the first month). The word "except" in "New Year's Eve" is "go; Easy; "Alternating" means that New Year's Eve means "the month is poor and the old year is exhausted". People want to get rid of the old department and the old year, and the coming year means getting a new year. This 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.

During the Zhou and Qin Dynasties, a ceremony of "exorcism" was held in the palace at the end of each year to beat drums to drive away epidemic ghosts, which was called "banishment". Later, the day before New Year's Eve was called "small exorcism". New Year's Eve is a big festival, that is, New Year's Eve.