The day when the God of Wealth is received in the Spring Festival is the fifth day of the first month. It is said that this is the birthday of the God of Wealth. Out of the first day, we should be ready to meet the god of wealth. On the fourth night, every household will hold a banquet to celebrate the birthday of the God of Wealth and welcome him.
Who is this god of wealth? Legend has it that in the Song Dynasty, when the people thought that Prime Minister Cai Jing was very rich, they said that he was born as a god of wealth, and because he was born on the fifth day of the first month, the people worshipped Cai Jing as a god of wealth. Later, when Cai Jing fell, the people changed the God of Wealth, and the surname of the Song Dynasty was Zhao, so the people named the God of Wealth "Zhao Xuantan" and worshipped it.
Legend 2 of the Spring Festival: The Story of Laba Porridge
"Children, children, don't be greedy, after Laba is the year. Laba porridge, drink for a few days ",this is a new year's song in the north, starting with the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, drinking Laba porridge. The custom of drinking Laba porridge on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month does not come from the people, but from Buddhism. It is said that Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, became a monk and practiced penance for six years, and became a Buddha under the bodhi tree on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month.
So his disciples ate porridge on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month every year in order to remember the six-year suffering of Sakyamuni in establishing Buddhism, and Laba became the "Buddha's Enlightenment Day". Laba is a grand festival of Buddhism. On this day, temples with conditions will hold a Buddhist bath, make Laba porridge, offer it to the Buddha to recite scriptures, and give it to ordinary people who come to pray for peace. Later, it spread to the people and became a custom.
Legend of the Spring Festival III: Legend of creating a calendar in ten thousand years
The perpetual calendar is the oldest solar calendar in ancient legends of China, a kind of almanac, not a calendar. Legend has it that in ancient times, there was a young man named Wanli, who thought the festivals at that time were chaotic and wanted to create a punctual and accurate method. When Wanli went up the mountain to cut wood, he was inspired by the shadow of trees and the dripping spring on the cliff, and created a coffin for measuring the sun's shadow to determine the time and a five-layer clepsydra for calculating the time.
When Wanli knew that Zu Yi, the monarch at that time, was worried because of the uncertain weather, he volunteered. After hearing the method of Wanli, Zu Yi left it, hoping that Wanli could calculate the exact morning and evening time and create a calendar to benefit all the people. A few years later, Zu Yi went to visit Wanli, and when he saw the poems about the weather burned on the sun and moon altar, he knew that legislation had been made.
Wannian pointed to the astronomical phenomena and said to Zu Yi, "The Spring Festival will begin again. Please make a festival for your majesty." Zu Yi said, "Spring is the first year of the year, so let's call it Spring Festival." It is said that this is the origin of the Spring Festival. A few years later, after long-term observation, Wanli worked out an accurate calendar, called the solar calendar. When he presented the solar calendar to Zu Yi, the monarch.
Zu Yi, whose face was covered with white beard, was very moved. In order to commemorate the achievements of Wanli, he named the solar calendar as the perpetual calendar. In order to commemorate ten thousand years, people must take the beginning as "year".
Legend 4 of the Spring Festival: The Legend of Mice Marrying Women
It is a folklore that a mouse marries a woman. The northern mouse married a girl on the night of the 25th day of the first month. On this night, every household turned off the lights, and the whole family sat together without saying a word, eating fried soybeans made of flour, "mouse claws" and "scorpion tails" in the dark. Don't turn on the light, don't make any noise is to provide convenience for the mouse to marry a daughter, for fear of disturbing the marriage. I don't know if you have this custom, but we don't seem to have heard of it here.
Legend 5 of Spring Festival: Legend of "Nian" Beast
Legend has it that in ancient times, there was a monster called Nian, which was very fierce. Every New Year's Eve, it would wreak havoc on human beings, devour livestock and harm people's lives. Later, an old fairy came to the village and taught people to drive away Nian, which was most afraid of red, fire and explosion. Therefore, every household would wear red new clothes, put up red New Year pictures, put up red paper and set off firecrackers every Spring Festival, and then it became the custom of Chinese New Year.
Legend of the Spring Festival 6: Legend of setting off firecrackers in the New Year
The roar of firecrackers, the old one year has passed; The warm spring breeze came to the new year, and people drank happily the newly brewed tu su wine. The original intention of setting off firecrackers in the New Year is to dispel the plague and bring good luck. According to ancient records, firecrackers are mysterious from the beginning. In ancient times, they were used as an exorcist, and they can also be used to drive away wild animals when camping in the wild. Later, except in the Spring Festival, people set off firecrackers on other grand festivals and festive days to express auspicious celebrations.
Legend of the Spring Festival 7: Door Sticker
According to the ancient myth, there are two generals named shentu and Yulei who catch ghosts and protect peace. Therefore, the people make peach charms out of mahogany boards, write the names or portraits of the sacred tea Yulei, and hang them on their doorsteps to keep evil and protect peace. In the Song Dynasty, Taofu became Spring Festival couplets, which not only kept its meaning, but also expressed good wishes and was beautifully decorated.
Folk believe that the door god is a symbol of righteousness and force, which can dispel demons and ghosts. Wide-eyed, tall and paired with weapons, this is what the goalkeeper looks like. After the Tang Dynasty, Qin Shubao and Weichi Gong became door gods for defending Emperor Taizong to sleep peacefully. Now it's usually these two people, but it's extremely rare to have a sacred tea.
Legend of the Spring Festival: The Legend of the Spring Festival couplets
The original source of Spring Festival couplets is the above-mentioned Goddess Tea Loulei. In the Five Dynasties, people began to replace the name of the Goddess Tea Loulei with couplets. In the Song Dynasty, Spring Festival couplets became common and flourished in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It is said that after Zhu Yuanzhang made his capital in Jinling, he ordered the people of the whole city to post Spring Festival couplets and go out to enjoy them in person. Later, scholars also wrote couplets as elegant compositions and became social fashion.
Legend of the Spring Festival 9: The Legend of upside-down blessing
There are three legends, namely Prince Gong's Mansion, Empress Dowager Cixi, Zhu Yuanzhang and Ma Huanghou. Almost without exception, all the three legends are illiterate, which leads to the upside-down blessing, but the homonym of "Fu Dao" is "Fu Dao", so it is passed down as a charming story and flows into the people.