Chinese New Year's short 40 words:

1, once upon a time, there is a beast called "year", the last day of every year, the year will come to a village to eat people, once, happened to be an old man came to the village, the old man said, with him, do not worry about being eaten by the year, so the old man let the people put the door on the spring couplets, light candles in the house, they set off firecrackers, to put a firecracker. The old man told the people to put up spring scrolls on their doors and light candles in their houses. When the year came, they set off firecrackers, which scared the year away, and the old man disappeared. Thisis the origin of the Spring Festival.

2. The Spring Festival has a long history, originating in the Yin and Shang periodsat the end of the year, when sacrifices were made to gods and ancestors. During the Spring Festival, the Han Chinese and many ethnic minorities in China hold a variety of activities to celebrate. These activities are mainly to worship gods and Buddhas, pay homage to ancestors, get rid of the old and bring in the new, welcome good fortune, and pray for a good year. The activities are colorful and have strong ethnic characteristics.

3, the first day of the first month of the Lunar Calendar is the Spring Festival, also known as the Lunar (lunar) Year, commonly known as "New Year". This is the longest history of Chinese folk, the most grand, the most lively of an ancient traditional festival. In ancient times, there was the year of the monster, to the thirty night down the mountain to eat people. Later, people realized that the year was afraid of fire, loud noise and red color, so they burned firecrackers and posted red couplets on that day. On the morning of the first day of the year, people greeted their relatives and friends with a good New Year's greeting.

The legend of the Spring Festival is:

Wannian created the calendar: Legend has it that, in ancient times, there was a young man named Wannian, who saw that the seasons at that time were very chaotic, and had the intention of trying to set the seasons right. But struggling to find a way to calculate the time, one day, he went up the mountain to cut firewood tired, sitting in the shade of a tree to rest, the movement of the tree's shadow inspired him.

He designed a sundial to measure the sun's shadow and count the time of day, to determine the time of day, and later, the drip of the spring on the cliffs inspired him, and he made a five-tiered funnel pot to calculate the time. Over time, he realized that every 360 days or so, the seasons rotated and the length of the day was repeated. Source

The king of the country at that time was called Zu Yi, and he was also often distressed by the unpredictability of the weather and wind. Knowing this, Wannian took a sundial and a funnel pot to the emperor and explained to Zuyi the reasoning behind the operation of the sun and the moon.

Zu Yi was pleased to hear this and felt it made sense. So leave Wannian, in front of the Temple of Heaven to build the Sun and Moon Pavilion, built the sundial platform and funnel kiosk. And he hoped to measure the law of the sun and the moon, deduce the accurate time of morning and evening, and create a calendar for the benefit of the people of the world.

On one occasion, Zu Yi went to learn about the progress of the Ten Thousand Years Test Calendar. When he ascended to the Altar of the Sun and the Moon, he saw a poem inscribed on the stone wall beside the Temple of Heaven:

Sunrise and sunset are three hundred and six, and the weeks begin at the beginning.

The grass and trees wither and prosper in four seasons, and there are twelve rounds in a year.

Knowing that Wannian's creation of the calendar had come to fruition, he personally ascended to the Sun and Moon Pavilion to see Wannian. Wannian pointed to the sky and said to Zuyi: "It is now the twelve full months, the old year is over, the new spring begins again, pray for the king of the country to set a festival". Zu Yi said, "Spring is the first day of the year, let's call it Spring Festival". This is said to be the origin of the Spring Festival.

Winter to spring, year after year, Wannian after a long period of observation, careful projection, developed an accurate solar calendar, when he presented the solar calendar to the succeeding king, already full of silver beard. The king of the country was y touched, in order to commemorate the achievements of Wan Nian, the solar calendar named "Wan Nian Calendar", Wan Nian as the sun and moon life star. In the future, people hang a picture of the star of longevity on New Year's Day, which is said to be in honor of the highly respected Wannian.