The legend of "year"
In ancient times, there was a fierce monster scattered in the deep mountains and forests. People call them nian. "Nian" is scary in appearance and cruel in nature. It only eats birds, animals and scale insects, and changes its taste every day, from kowtowing insects to living people, which makes people talk about "Nian".
Slowly, people mastered the activity law of "Year". It turns out that every 365 days in Nian (that is, 366 days in a normal year or leap year), people will go to places where people live together to taste fresh food. The haunting time is after dark, and when the cock crows at dawn, they will return to the mountains.
Men and women regard this terrible night as "New Year's Eve" and come up with a set of methods for "New Year's Eve": every family prepares dinner in advance, turns off the fire, cleans the stove, then ties up all the chicken coops, and then seals the door of the house to avoid the "New Year's Eve"-because this dinner has ominous meaning, it is very rich, and no one dares to sleep except after dinner, so they sit together.
It's getting dark, and I escaped from the deep forest in and touched the village where people live together. I saw every household's door closed, sesame stalks piled in front of it, but there was no one in the street. After turning for more than half a night, I found nothing, so I had to chew sesame stalks to satisfy my hunger. After a while, the rooster crowed, and these cruel and stupid monsters had to go home disgruntled. People who have survived the "Year Pass" are very happy. They want to thank the ancestors of heaven and earth, congratulate each other for not being eaten by the "Nian beast", and open the door to set off firecrackers to welcome their neighbors and relatives to congratulate them.
After many years, nothing happened, and people relaxed their vigilance against Nian beast. On the evening of 30th one year, Nian beast suddenly fled to a village in the south of the Yangtze River. A village was almost eaten up by Nian beast, and only a pair of newly-married couples in red curtains were safe and sound. There are also some childish people who lit a pile of bamboo and played in the yard. The flame was red, and the bamboo exploded after burning. Nian Beast turned around here and ran away in fear when he saw the flame.
From then on, people know that Nian beast is afraid of red, light and noise. At the end of each year, every household sticks red paper, wears red robes, hangs red lights, beats gongs and drums, and sets off firecrackers, so that Nian Beasts dare not come again. In The Book of Songs Xiaoya Tingliao, there is a record of "the light of Tingliao". The so-called "pavilion" is a torch made of bamboo poles and the like. After the bamboo pole burns, the air in the bamboo joint expands, and the bamboo cavity bursts, making a crackling sound, which is the origin of "firecrackers".
The legend of "worship"
Legend has it that in ancient times, there was a little demon named Chong, black and white, who came out to harm people every New Year's Eve. It touched the head of the sleeping child with its hand, and the child cried with fear. Then he had a fever and talked nonsense, and he got sick from then on. A few days later, the fever went down, but the clever boy became a crazy fool. People are afraid that fetishism will harm children, so they sit up with lights on, which is called "fetishism".
In Jiaxing, there is a family named Guan, and the husband and wife have a son in their later years, which is regarded as the apple of their eye. On New Year's Eve, they are afraid that they will harm their children, so they play with them. The child wrapped eight copper coins in red paper, opened them, opened them again, and played until he fell asleep. Eight wrapped copper coins are placed on the pillow. The couple didn't dare to close their eyes and stayed with their children all night.
In the middle of the night, a strong wind blew the door open and blew out the lights. When the little black boy was about to touch the child's head with his white hand, the child's pillow cracked into a light, and Chong hurriedly withdrew his hand and ran away screaming.
Mr. and Mrs. Guan told everyone that wrapping eight copper coins in red paper was to scare away those special people. Everyone also learned to wrap eight copper coins in red paper and put them on pillows after the New Year's Eve. Sure enough, I never dare to hurt children again. It turned out that these eight copper coins were bought by the Eight Immortals, which helped the children secretly scare away these precious money. Therefore, people call this money "lucky money". Because of the homonym of "special" and "old", it is also called "lucky money" with the passage of time.
The customs of the Spring Festival
1, dust removal
Whenever the Spring Festival comes, every household should clean the environment, clean all kinds of electrical appliances, remove bedding curtains, sweep houses and castles, dust cobwebs and dredge culverts in open channels. Everywhere is filled with the joyful atmosphere of cleaning and welcoming the Spring Festival cleanly.
According to Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals, as early as the Yao and Shun era, China had the custom of sweeping dust during the Spring Festival. Because "dust" and "Chen" are homophonic, sweeping dust in the Spring Festival has a new meaning, meaning "getting rid of the old and not being new", hoping to sweep all bad luck out of the house.
2, do new year's goods
It is also a custom to hold the Spring Festival. New year's goods generally refer to some good items bought before the Spring Festival. The procurement process is called handling new year's goods, which is also called preparing new year's goods. Every family should buy a lot of "new year's goods" before the Spring Festival, including Spring Festival couplets, window grilles, blessings, New Year pictures, new clothes, firecrackers, New Year's Eve and all the food during the Spring Festival. Making new year's goods has become an important preparatory activity for the Spring Festival.
Now the market is extremely rich in goods, and the concept of new year's goods has become difficult to define. Making new year's goods is also becoming a kind of ceremony, which makes people feel the arrival of the New Year in the busy joy and conveys warmth in the trivial but warm ceremony. At the same time, the new year's goods have become their own good mood after releasing the impulse of consumption. With the excitement of running new year's goods, family ties will not fade.
Step 3 set off firecrackers
Firecracker is a specialty of China, also known as "Firecracker", "Firecracker" and "Firecracker". Its origin is very early, and it has a history of more than two thousand years.
There is a folk saying in our country called "setting off firecrackers". That is to say, when the new year comes, the first thing that every household opens the door is to set off firecrackers, with the sound of firecrackers, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.
4, lucky money
Lucky money, also known as money worship, is a traditional custom of the Han nationality. Generally speaking, during the countdown to the Chinese New Year, the elders put money in red envelopes for the younger generation. Lucky money has a good meaning. It is generally believed that it can ward off evil spirits and keep peace. It is said that lucky money can kill evil spirits, and the younger generation can spend the first year safely when they get lucky money.
There is a custom of giving lucky money during the Spring Festival. There are two kinds of lucky money, one is called "lucky money". "Precious" means unlucky, unlucky and unlucky. Children are always the hope and future of adults. Give them "precious money" and hope to "suppress evil and promote good." The other is given to the elderly by the younger generation. The "year old" of this lucky money refers to the age, which is intended to look forward to the longevity of the elderly.
Step 5 cut the window grilles
Cutting window grilles is one of many customs. There are all kinds of animal and plant anecdotes on the window grilles, such as magpies climbing plum blossoms, swallows wearing peaches and willows, peacocks playing with peonies, lions rolling hydrangeas, three sheep (Yang) opening Thailand, two dragons playing with pearls, deer crane (Liuhe playing with spring), five bats (Fu) celebrating longevity, rhinoceros watching the moon, lotus (Lotus) having fish (the rest) and Yuanyang playing with water.
The "Year" of China New Year means a good year and a good harvest. For thousands of years, people have always called the harvest of the lunar calendar a bumper year, and regarded the first day of the first month as the "year". On this day, gongs and drums were loud and people were beaming. From now on, people will regard this day as the first day of the year, and it will become the biggest traditional festival of the Chinese nation and even the Chinese people in the world.