The traditional names of the Spring Festival are New Year, New Year's Eve and New Year's Eve. They are also verbally called New Year's Eve to celebrate New Year's Eve and New Year's Eve. In ancient times, the Spring Festival refers to the beginning of spring in the solar terms and is also regarded as the beginning of a year. Later, it was changed to the first day of the first lunar month as the New Year.
The Spring Festival means that spring is coming, everything is renewed, and the new sowing and harvesting season is about to begin. People have just spent the long winter in the world of ice and snow, and have long been looking forward to the day when spring flowers are full of vitality. When the new year comes, it is natural to greet this festival with joy and singing.
Spring Festival is also called Lunar New Year, Lunar New Year, Lunar New Year and Lunar New Year, commonly known as "Chinese New Year, Chinese New Year, Chinese New Year". The lunar calendar is based on the law of the moon's profit and loss; The solar calendar is specified according to the period of the earth around the sun. 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. In ancient times, the Spring Festival once referred to beginning of spring in the 24 solar terms, and later it was changed to the first day of the first lunar month (that is, the first day of the first lunar month), which was regarded as the beginning of the lunar year, that is, the beginning of a year. According to the China lunar calendar, the first day of the first month is called Yuanri, Chen Yuan, Jacky, Yuanshuo and New Year's Day, commonly known as the first day of the first month. This is the biggest and most lively traditional festival in China. In the traditional sense, the Spring Festival, from the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month in La Worship, or the 23rd and 24th of the twelfth lunar month, to the end of the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month, and even to the whole first lunar month in some places, reaches its climax on New Year's Eve and the first day of the first lunar month.
Spring Festival is the most important traditional festival of Han nationality. During the traditional festival Spring Festival, people will hold various celebrations, most of which are to offer sacrifices to gods and buddhas, ancestors, bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, and pray for a bumper harvest. Yao, Zhuang, Bai, Gaoshan, Hezhe, Hani, Daur, Dong, Li, Manchu, Mongolian, etc. There is also the custom of the Spring Festival, but the form of the festival has its own national characteristics.
The Spring Festival is the main festival to celebrate the New Year in many countries and regions in East Asia. Vietnamese is called "t? t？ Nguyênán "(New Year's Day) is called" the first month "in Japanese (Note: the Japanese festival" the first month "is similar to New Year's Day in China, that is, 1. ) (renamed the old first month after the Meiji Restoration), Korean is called ""(this is an inherent word, which means New Year). Now, besides China, Korean Peninsula, Viet Nam and Japan, Spring Festival is one of the most important festivals in Mongolia, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and other places.
Spring Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival are also called the four traditional festivals of the Han nationality in China. The word "Spring Festival" has been selected as the largest festival in China, and world record association and China rank first among the four traditional festivals in China. On May 20th, 2006, the folk custom of "Spring Festival" was approved by the State Council to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.
According to Er Ya, Yao and Shun called the year "Zai", Xia called it "Nian", Shang called it "Sacrifice", and it was not until Zhou called it "Nian".
There is a legend about the origin of the Spring Festival: In ancient China, there was a beast named Xi, which had long tentacles on its head and was very fierce. "Xi" lived on the seabed for many years, and only climbed ashore on certain days (now called New Year's Eve), devouring livestock and hurting people's lives. So every New Year's Eve, people in the village fled to the deep mountains to avoid the harm of the "evening" beast. One year on New Year's Eve, an old beggar came from outside the village. The villagers were in a hurry and panic. 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 wild animals at night. The old man lifted his beard and smiled: "If my mother-in-law lets me stay at home for one night, I will definitely drive away the nocturnal animals." The old woman continued to persuade and begged the old man to laugh without saying a word. ?
At midnight, the "Twilight" beast broke into the village. It found that the atmosphere in the village was different from previous years: the old woman's house at the east end of the village had red paper on the door and bright candles in the room. At dusk, the beast trembled and let out a long whistle. Near the door, there was a sudden sound of "bang, bang, bang" in the hospital, and "Xi" trembled and dared not go any further. It turns out that "Xi" is most afraid of red, fire and explosion. At this time, my mother-in-law's door opened and I saw an old man in a red robe laughing in the hospital. "Evening" was frightened to disgrace and fled in confusion.
The next day is also the first day of the first month. 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 story soon spread in the surrounding villages, and people knew the way to drive away the "night" beasts. 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 is widely circulated and has become the most solemn traditional festival among the people in China.
It is said that "Spring Festival" originated from the activities of offering sacrifices to gods and ancestors in the early and late Shang Dynasty in China (La Worship). In the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty, there was an annual custom of celebrating harvest and offering sacrifices to ancestors at the turn of the new year, which can be regarded as the embryonic form of the year. However, the name of "Nian" appeared late, and the name of Nian began in the Zhou Dynasty. In order to show the authority of the "son of heaven", ancient emperors often made their own calendars, and the time of "year" was officially set in the Western Han Dynasty, which has continued to this day. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (140 ~ 87 BC) succeeded to the throne and decided to rebuild the calendar unification. Sima Qian suggested the establishment of taichu calendar, and the Spring Festival was held in the first month of Meng Chun. The calendar we adopt today has been revised by many dynasties since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, but the first day of the first lunar month, as the most solemn festival of the Chinese nation, has been inherited as a fixed day.
Generally speaking, Chinese people eat rice cakes, jiaozi, Ciba, glutinous rice balls, poached eggs, big balls, whole fish, wine, oranges, apples, peanuts, melon seeds, sweets, fragrant tea and dishes. Accompanied by many activities, such as dusting, washing bedding, preparing new year's goods, pasting Spring Festival couplets, pasting New Year's pictures, pasting paper-cuts, stick grilles, pasting blessings, lighting candles, setting off firecrackers, observing the New Year, giving lucky money, visiting relatives, visiting flower markets, and making community fires, it is extremely enjoyable. People in China still have the habit of hanging Chinese knots during the Spring Festival. On the eve of the Lunar New Year, Tianjin people have the custom of inviting Chinese knots to receive Xiang Qiao's blessing at the Qiaoxiang Pavilion, an ancient cultural street. Wenzhou people want to go to their religion, sincerely pray and hope to get happiness with their families in the new year.
For thousands of years, people have made the annual custom celebration extremely colorful. Every year from the 23rd to 30th of the twelfth lunar month, people call this period "Spring Festival" or "Dust Day", which is the traditional habit of our people.
Then, every household prepares new year's goods. About ten days before the festival, people were busy shopping. New year's goods include chicken, duck, fish, tea, wine, oil sauce, North and South roasted seeds and nuts, and fruit with sugar bait. They should also prepare some gifts when visiting relatives and friends in the New Year. Children should buy new clothes and hats to wear in the New Year.
Before the Chinese New Year, a New Year greeting in red paper and yellow characters should be posted on the door of the house, that is, Spring Festival couplets written in red paper. Bright-colored and auspicious New Year pictures are posted in the house. Beautiful window grilles are cut out by ingenious girls and pasted on the windows. Red lanterns are hung in front of the door, and lucky characters and door gods can be pasted upside down. Passers-by are blessed when they think of it. All these activities are aimed at adding enough festive atmosphere to the festival.
Another name for the Spring Festival is China New Year. In the past legend, "Nian" is a fictional animal, which will bring bad luck to people. New Year's Eve. When the tree is dead, the grass will not grow; After the New Year, everything grows and flowers are everywhere. How to spend a year? Firecrackers are needed, so there is the custom of setting off firecrackers, which is actually another way to set off a lively scene.
The Spring Festival is a happy and peaceful festival, and it is also a day for family reunion. Children who leave home should go home for reunion during the Spring Festival. The night before the Lunar New Year is the 30th night of the twelfth lunar month, also called New Year's Eve and Reunion Night. Celebrating the New Year is one of the most important activities at the turn of the new year. On New Year's Eve, the whole family stayed up all night, got together to drink and enjoy family happiness. In the north, people are used to eating jiaozi on New Year's Eve. Jiaozi's practice is to mix dough first, and the word harmony is harmony. Jiaozi's jiaozi homonym means to get together and to make friends at a young age. In the south, there is a habit of eating rice cakes. The sweet glutinous rice rice cakes symbolize the sweetness of life in the new year, step by step.
When the first cock crow rings, or when the New Year bell rings, firecrackers are ringing in the street, and the noise is one after another, and everyone is beaming. The new year has begun. Men, women and children are dressed in festive costumes to pay New Year greetings to the elders at home first. During the festival, there are lucky money for children, a reunion dinner, and the second and third days of the Chinese New Year. They began to visit relatives and friends, exchange New Year greetings, congratulate each other, and say congratulations on making a fortune, making a fortune, celebrating the New Year and offering sacrifices to their ancestors. ? The warm atmosphere of the festival permeates not only every household, but also the streets and alleys all over the country. In some places, there are customs such as lion dancing, playing dragon lanterns, performing social fires, visiting flower markets and temple fairs. During this period, lanterns are all over the city and tourists are all over the streets. It was very lively and unprecedented, and the Spring Festival didn't really end until after the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first month. ?
There is a folk saying in China that "open the door and set off firecrackers". According to records, when the new year comes, the first thing that every household opens the door is to set off firecrackers to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. 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. Setting off firecrackers can create a festive and lively atmosphere, which is a kind of entertainment for the festival and can give
People bring happiness and good luck.
Wang Anshi's poem Yuan Ri:?
The roar of firecrackers, the old year has passed; The warm spring breeze ushered in the New Year, and people happily drank the newly brewed Tu Su wine. ?
Every family has a primary school birthday. Always trade new peaches for old ones. ?
It depicts the grand festival scene of China people celebrating the Spring Festival. Firecrackers are a sign of saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new, and also an expression of festive atmosphere.
There is a custom of putting up doors for the New Year in all parts of China. At first, the janitor carved mahogany into a human shape and hung it next to people. Later, it was painted as a janitor and posted on the door. The legendary brothers Shen Tu and Lei Yu specialize in ghosts. They guard the portal, so evil spirits dare not enter the portal to do bad things.
However, what is recorded in the real history books is not shentu and Long Yu, but an ancient warrior named Cheng qin. Han Shu from Bangu? Guang Chuan? According to Wang Chuan's records, the temple gate of King Guang Chuan (Qu Bing) was painted with a portrait of Cheng qin, an ancient warrior, wearing a short coat and trousers and holding a long sword. In the Tang dynasty, the position of the door god was replaced by Qin's harmony.
Spring Festival couplets are also called door couplets, spring stickers, couplets, couplets and peach symbols. They depict the background of the times and express good wishes with neat, dual, concise and delicate words, which are unique literary forms in China. Every Spring Festival, no matter in urban or rural areas, every household should choose a pair of red Spring Festival couplets and stick them on the door to add festive atmosphere to the festival. This custom began in the Song Dynasty and was popular in the Ming Dynasty. By the Qing Dynasty, the ideological and artistic quality of Spring Festival couplets had been greatly improved. Liang Zhangju's monograph Poetry of Spring Festival couplets discusses the origin of couplets and the characteristics of various works.
There are many kinds of Spring Festival couplets, which can be divided into door heart, frame pair, cross string, spring strip and bucket square according to the place of use. The "door core" is attached to the center of the upper end of the door panel; The "door frame pair" is attached to the left and right door frames; "Cross-dressing" is posted on the crossbar of the door; "Spring strips" are posted in corresponding places according to different contents; "Dou Jin", also known as "door leaf", is a square diamond, often attached to furniture and screen walls.
While putting up Spring Festival couplets, some people have to put large and small "Fu" characters on doors, walls and lintels. Sticking the word "Fu" during the Spring Festival is a long-standing folk custom in China. The word "Fu" symbolizes good luck and wishes for a happy life and a bright future. In order to fully reflect this yearning and wish, some people simply put the word "Fu" upside down, indicating that "Fu has arrived" and "Fu has arrived". Others elaborate the word "Fu" into various patterns, such as longevity, longevity peach, carp yue longmen, abundant grains, dragons and phoenixes, etc.
In the folk, people also like to stick various paper-cuts on the windows-window grilles. Window grilles not only set off the festive atmosphere, but also integrate decoration, appreciation and practicality. Paper-cutting is a very popular folk art in China, which has been loved by people for thousands of years. Because it is often pasted on the window, it is also called "window grilles". With its unique generalization and exaggeration, window grilles show auspicious things and good wishes incisively and vividly, and decorate festivals with colorful colors.
Hanging 1000 is to carve auspicious words on red paper, with a long ruler and A Zhi, and stick it in front of the door, reflecting the symbol of peach. There are eight immortals hanging in front of the Buddha; Multi-purpose hanging thousands of households; Noble families use less; Its yellow paper is three inches long and red paper is more than one inch long, which is a "small hanging thousand" and is used by shops. The earliest thousands of hanging coins were linked by making money (copper coins), which, like lucky money, had an overwhelming victory effect.
In the north, some families will provide a pot of rice, which was cooked years ago and provided for China New Year. It's called "annual meal", which means that there are leftovers every year, which can't be eaten all year round, and this year we still eat the grain of the previous year. This bowl of New Year's Eve dinner is usually cooked with rice and millet. As the saying goes in Beijing, it is called "two rice" because it is yellow and white. This is called "golden rice with gold and silver, gold and silver everywhere".
Eating New Year's Eve is the most lively and enjoyable time for every household in the Spring Festival. On New Year's Eve, a table was full of rich New Year's dishes, and the whole family got together and sat together.
At the dinner table, * * * has a family reunion dinner, and the sense of fullness in my heart is really unspeakable. People not only enjoy the delicious food on the table, but also enjoy the happy atmosphere. There are big dishes, cold dishes, stir-fried dishes and snacks on the table. Generally, two things are indispensable, one is hot pot and the other is fish. The hot pot is boiling, steaming, warm and sultry, which indicates that it is thriving; "Fish" and "fish" are homophonic, symbolizing "more happiness and more celebration" and also meaning "more than one year". There are also radishes, commonly known as vegetable heads. Good luck. Lobster, fried fish and other fried foods, wish your family prosperity, such as "cooking oil with fire." Finally, dessert, I wish the future sweet. On this day, even if you can't drink, you can drink a little.
There are many kinds of New Year's Eve dinners, including jiaozi, wonton, long noodles and Yuanxiao. , and each has its own emphasis. Northerners are used to eating jiaozi during the Spring Festival, which means "making friends when you are young". Because the white flour jiaozi is shaped like a silver ingot, the pots on the table symbolize the meaning of "getting rich in the New Year, and the ingots are rolling in". Some wrapped jiaozi and some coins sterilized with boiling water, saying that whoever ate first would make more money. The custom of eating jiaozi was handed down from the Han Dynasty. According to legend, Zhang Zhongjing, a medical saint, saw that the poor people's ears were frozen and rotten in the cold winter, so he made a kind of "cold-dispelling Joule soup" to treat frostbite for the poor. He used mutton, peppers and some herbs to drive away the cold and warm, and made ear-shaped "corners" with dough bags, cooked them in a pot and distributed them to the poor. After eating it, people feel hot all over and their ears are hot. Since then, people have followed suit and spread it to this day. Eating wonton in the New Year is based on its original meaning. Legend has it that the world was in chaos before it was created, and Pangu began to create the universe. Long noodles, also known as longevity noodles, eat noodles in the New Year to wish you a long life.
the Lantern Festival
Lantern festival lantern
Lantern Festival is the main traditional festival in China, because it is the first full moon night of the New Year, also known as Yuanxiao and Yuanxiao, also known as Shangyuan Festival; Because this festival has the custom of watching lanterns in past dynasties, it is also called Lantern Festival. The formation of Lantern Festival custom has a long process. According to general data and folklore, the fifteenth day of the first month was paid attention to in the Western Han Dynasty. On the night of the first month, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty offered sacrifices to "Taiyi" in Ganquan Palace, which was regarded by later generations as the first sacrifice to the gods on the fifteenth day of the first month. However, the fifteenth day of the first month is indeed a folk festival after the Han and Wei Dynasties. The introduction of Buddhist culture in the Eastern Han Dynasty is of great significance to the formation of Lantern Festival customs.
During the Yong Ping period of Han Dynasty (AD 58-75), when Ming Chengzu advocated Buddhism, it coincided with Cai Cheng's return from India to seek Buddhism, saying that it was the fifteenth day of the first month of Mohato, India, and monks gathered to pay tribute to the relics, which was an auspicious day to participate in Buddhism. In order to carry forward Buddhism, Emperor Han Ming ordered "burning lamps to show Buddha" in the palace temple on the 15th night of the first month. Therefore, the custom of burning lanterns on the fifteenth night of the first month, with the expansion of the influence of Buddhist culture and the addition of Taoist culture, gradually spread in China. The real motivation of the Lantern Festival custom is that it is at a new time point, and people make full use of this special time stage to express their wishes for life.
The custom of putting lights on the Lantern Festival developed into an unprecedented lantern market in the Tang Dynasty, and after the middle Tang Dynasty, it developed into a national carnival. In the prosperous period of the Tang Xuanzong Kaiyuan (685-762 AD), the lantern market in Chang 'an was very large, with 50,000 lanterns and all kinds of lanterns. The emperor ordered 20 giant lantern buildings with a height of 150 feet, resplendent and magnificent. Since then, the Lantern Festival has continued to develop and the time of the Lantern Festival has become longer and longer. The Lantern Festival in Tang Dynasty is "the day before and after Shangyuan". In the Song Dynasty, two days were added after the sixteenth, and in the Ming Dynasty, it was extended from the eighth day to the eighteenth day to ten days. In the Qing Dynasty, Manchu entered the Central Plains, and the court no longer held lantern festivals, but the folk lantern festivals were still spectacular. The date was shortened to five days and continues to this day. [2]
Solve riddles on the lanterns, also known as playing riddles, is an activity added after the Lantern Festival, which appeared in the Song Dynasty. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Lin 'an, the capital, made riddles every Lantern Festival, and there were many people in solve riddles on the lanterns. At the beginning, it was a busybody who wrote riddles on paper and posted them on colorful lanterns for people to guess. Because riddles are enlightening and interesting, they are welcomed by all walks of life in the process of communication.
dragon dance
During the Tang and Song Dynasties, various acrobatic skills began to appear in the lantern market. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, besides riddles and hundreds of operas, there were also opera performances. In addition to visiting the lantern market, people in the past dynasties also had customs such as welcoming children to visit Ce Shen, crossing the bridge and touching nails, walking away from all diseases, and playing games such as Taiping Drum, Yangko, stilts, dragon dance and lion dance.
At the same time, we should also eat some festive foods: in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, we ate bean porridge or rice porridge boiled with meat and animal oil during the Lantern Festival; In the Tang dynasty, we ate a kind of pasta called "cocoon" and baked cakes; In the Song Dynasty, a spoon made of salted black bean soup and mung bean powder appeared, and the "jiaozi" appeared. From then on, we ate Yuanxiao in the north and south.
During the Lantern Festival, it is an opportunity for young men and women to meet their lovers, so the Lantern Festival has become the "Valentine's Day" in China. Lantern Festival in traditional society is a folk festival that both urban and rural areas attach importance to. It is particularly lively in the city, which embodies the unique carnival spirit of China people. The traditional Lantern Festival's function of festival customs has been dispelled by daily life, and people have gradually lost their spiritual interest. The complicated holiday custom is simplified to the eating custom of "eating Yuanxiao".