The origin of the Spring Festival sweeping is as follows:

The dust-sweeping custom originated in the era of Yao and Shun, and evolved from an ancient religious rite to drive away diseases and epidemics. In the Tang and Song dynasties, the wind of "sweeping the New Year" was prevalent. According to the Song Wu Zimu "dream sorghum record" records: "December end, the common people, regardless of the size of the family, all sprinkled clean the door, dust, net household, in order to pray for the new year's peace," and so far the Chinese folk popular "waxing twenty-four, dust sweeping the house," the proverb.

There is also a legend in Chinese folklore that the custom of dust sweeping is due to the sharecroppers in Tongzhou (now Nantong) to meet the Jade Emperor's annual grain. In the early days, the tenant farmers here were so busy all year long that they had very little left, except for paying grain and rent. They prayed that Zaowang would say good things when he went up to heaven on the 24th day of the Lunar New Year, so that the Jade Emperor would be kind enough to allocate some gifts from the heavenly storehouse, and send down the annual grain - rice and snow - before New Year's Eve, so that they could have a full and reunion meal.

In order to meet the Jade Emperor's gift, tenant farmers every year in the waxing moon 28 days before, will be inside and outside the house clean and fresh, in order to meet the heavenly gift of annual grain. In this way, year after year, the national custom of dust sweeping in the Spring Festival has been passed down from generation to generation.

Customs of Dust Sweeping

In China, dust sweeping is an important part of welcoming the New Year, and is one of China's traditional folklore, which originated as a religious rite to rid the Chinese people of diseases in ancient times. This ritual later evolved into the end-of-year cleaning, which is described in a Chinese proverb as "dusting and sweeping the house on the 24th day of the Lunar New Year."

People expressed the idea of getting rid of the old and welcoming the new in the New Year by cleaning up. While cleaning, some families also throw away some old things, such as clothes and shoes, and buy more things, which also represents getting rid of the old and welcoming the new. The intention is to all "poor luck", "bad luck" all swept out the door, sent the Chinese people a kind of evil in addition to the disaster, welcome the good wishes of auspiciousness and good fortune. This day, every household should be cleaned, dusting dust cobwebs, cleaning all kinds of appliances, unwashing bedding curtains, sweeping the courtyard of the six coccyxes.