The fifteenth night of the first lunar month is the traditional Lantern Festival in China, also known as Shangyuan Festival and Lantern Festival. On the fifteenth day of the first month, Lantern Festival will be held, which will push the celebration activities that began on New Year's Eve to another climax. On the night of Lantern Festival, the streets are decorated with lanterns, and people enjoy lanterns. solve riddles on the lanterns and eating Lantern Festival have become the customs of generations.
The custom of enjoying lanterns on the Lantern Festival began in the Han Dynasty. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, it developed into a grand lantern market. During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Kyoto lantern market often stretched for dozens of miles. The time of the Lantern Festival was limited to the eleventh night of the first month in the Han Dynasty, extended to three nights in the Tang Xuanzong, and lasted from the eighth day of the first month to the seventeenth day of the first month in the Ming Dynasty. Acrobatics appeared in the Lantern Festival in the Tang Dynasty, and lantern riddles began to appear in the Song Dynasty. Opera performances were added in the Ming Dynasty. The colored lanterns used in the lantern market are also interpreted as "orange lanterns", "silk lanterns", "multicolored sheepskin lanterns", "boneless wheat straw lanterns", "lantern lanterns" and "Kongming lanterns". Lantern riddles, which began in the Southern Song Dynasty, are lively and interesting. After the development and creation of past dynasties, there are more than 100 kinds of puzzles still in use today, such as foundation grid, swing grid, rolling grid, white grid, Xu Feige and Qiu Feng grid. Most of them have limited formats and ingenious requirements, and all of them are ingenious.
The custom of eating Lantern Festival began in Song Dynasty. It is intended to wish the whole family reunion and harmony and happiness in the new year. Yuanxiao is divided into solid and stuffing. There are five flavors of spicy, sweet, sour and salty. Can be boiled, fried, fried or steamed. Sweet-scented osmanthus wine makes Yuanxiao, five-flavor Yuanxiao made of meat stuffing, red bean paste, sesame, sweet-scented osmanthus and nuts, and five-spice Yuanxiao made of onion, mustard, garlic, leek and ginger, all have their own characteristics.
Qingming Festival
Tomb sweeping in Qingming Festival is a festival custom related to funeral customs. According to records, in ancient times, "the tomb was not a grave", that is to say, only the grave pit was dug, and no grave mound was built, so the sacrifice was not recorded. Later, tombs and graves, the custom of offering sacrifices to sweep, had a support. In the Qin and Han dynasties, tomb sacrifice has become an indispensable ritual activity.
According to the biography of Yan Yannian in Han Dynasty, Yan's family will "return to the grave site in the East China Sea" in Qingming even though he is thousands of miles away from Beijing. As far as China people's ancestor worship and kinship awareness are developed and strengthened, Yan Yannian's actions are reasonable. Therefore, the tomb sacrifices that were not included in the norms in ancient times were also included in the Five Rites: "It is advisable for a scholar's family to go to the tomb and be included in the Five Rites, which will always be a routine." With the official affirmation, the wind of tomb sacrifice is bound to flourish.
Double Ninth Festival
On the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, the two suns are heavy, so it is called "Chongyang", and the Double Ninth Festival is also the "Old People's Day". On this day, the old people either admire chrysanthemums to cultivate their sentiments or climb mountains to exercise their bodies, adding infinite fun to the evening scenery in Sang Yu.
On Double Ninth Festival, people enjoy chrysanthemums, wear cornus, climb mountains with wine, and have a good swim and drink. In September, the Double Ninth Festival, when the sky is high and the clouds are light, and the golden wind is cool, is a good season to climb high and overlook. Therefore, climbing high has become an important custom of the Double Ninth Festival. People living in the south of the Yangtze River are suffering from no mountains to climb and no heights to climb, so they prevent rice flour cakes, and then insert a colored pennant on the cake surface to show the meaning of climbing (cakes) to avoid disasters.
There are also customs such as inserting dogwood, drinking chrysanthemum wine and eating Chongyang cake on the Double Ninth Festival. Cornus, also called Yuejiao, is an important plant with a strong smell, which can prevent foul smell. Chongyang Flower Cake is a seasonal delicacy made of japonica rice.
Double ninth festival custom
The Double Ninth Festival is crisp in autumn. When you look up, you can see all the plants and mountains. This is actually a kind of outing, a traditional sports activity for our people.
Appreciate chrysanthemums. Chrysanthemum, also called yellow flower, belongs to Compositae and has many varieties. In the Double Ninth Festival, chrysanthemums are in full bloom and drinking chrysanthemum wine. "Art and Literature Gathering" quoted "Continued Jinyang Autumn" as saying: "The world drinks chrysanthemum wine every nine days (September)." It is said that the ancient chrysanthemum wine was specially brewed for the Double Ninth Festival in the first year. On September 9th, the newly-bloomed chrysanthemums and a little green branches and leaves were picked, mixed with the grain for brewing, and then used together to brew wine, and put it to drink on September 9th of the following year. It is said that drinking this wine can prolong life. From a medical point of view, chrysanthemum wine can improve eyesight, cure dizziness, lower blood pressure, lose weight, lighten the body, replenish liver qi, calm the stomach and benefit blood.
Insert dogwood. Cornus, also known as "Yuejiao" or "Aizi", is a small evergreen tree.
Eat Chongyang cake. Chongyang cake, also known as "chrysanthemum cake" and "flower cake", is the "bait" in ancient times. Because "cake" is homophonic with "cornus" and "Gao", you can console yourself by eating some cake when you can't climb the mountain during the Double Ninth Festival. It is said that in feudal times, the emperor also gave a feast to his ministers with flower cakes on Double Ninth Festival. Riding and shooting activities.
Dragon Boat Festival
The fifth day of the fifth lunar month is the Dragon Boat Festival, also known as Duanyang Festival, Noon Festival, May Festival, Ai Festival, Duanwu Festival, Heavy Noon Festival, Noon Festival and Summer Festival. Although the names are different, the customs of people everywhere are the same. Dragon Boat Festival is an old custom in China for more than 2,000 years. On this day, every household hangs bells and statues, hangs mugwort leaves and calamus, races dragon boats, eats zongzi, drinks realgar wine, swims in all diseases, wears sachets and prepares sacrifices.
The first significance of the Dragon Boat Festival is to commemorate Qu Yuan, a great national poet in history. Qu Yuan, named Ping, was a native of Chu in the Warring States Period. He was born on the seventh day of the first month of the Wang Wu calendar of Chu Wei, or in the twenty-seventh year of Chu Xuanwang, and died in the ninth year of King Xiang of Chu.
The second meaning of Dragon Boat Festival is the anniversary of Wu Zixu's death. Wu Zixu, a famous member of the State of Chu, and his father and brother were all killed by the King of Chu. Later, Zixu abandoned the dark and went to the State of Wu to help Wu cut Chu, and entered the city of Ying, the capital of Chu, in the Five Wars. At that time, King Chu Ping was dead, and Zixu dug a grave and whipped 300 corpses to avenge the killing of his father and brother. After the death of Prince Helu of Wu, his son Fu Cha succeeded to the throne. Wu Jun's morale was high, and he was defeated by the state of Yue. The king of Yue Gou Jian asked for peace, and Fu Cha promised it. Zi Xu suggested that the state of Yue should be completely destroyed, but Fu Cha refused to listen. Wu was slaughtered by the state of Yue, and was bribed by the state of Yue. He was framed by slanderers, and Fu Cha believed him, giving him a sword, and Zi Xu died. Zi Xu, a loyal man, regarded death as death. Before he died, he said to his neighbors, "After I die, I will gouge out my eyes and hang them on the east gate of Wujing, so as to watch the Yue army enter the city and destroy Wu." Fu Cha was furious when he heard this, so he took Zixu's body and put it in leather and threw it into the river on May 5th. Therefore, it is said that the Dragon Boat Festival is also a day to commemorate Wu Zixu.
The third significance of the Dragon Boat Festival is to commemorate the death of Cao E, the filial daughter of the Eastern Han Dynasty, who saved her father from drowning in the river. Cao E was a native of Shangyu in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Her father drowned in the river and didn't see her body for several days. At that time, Cao E, the filial daughter, was only fourteen years old and was crying along the river day and night. Seventeen days later, he also threw himself into the river on May 5, and took out his father's body five days later. This was passed down as a myth, and then passed on to the governor of the county government, who made it a monument and let his disciple Han Danchun make a eulogy. The tomb of Cao E, a dutiful daughter, was in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province today, and later Cao E tablet was written by Jin Wangyi. Later, in order to commemorate Cao E's filial piety, Cao E Temple was built in the place where Cao E threw himself into the river. The village where she lived was renamed Cao E Town, and the place where Cao E died was named Cao E River.
The fourth significance of the Dragon Boat Festival is to commemorate the modern revolutionary poetess Qiu Jin. Qiu Jin was martyred on June 5th. Later generations admired his poems and mourned his brave deeds. It was held in commemoration of the Poets' Day, and the Poets' Day was designated as the Dragon Boat Festival in memory of the patriotic poet Qu Yuan. Qiu Jin was born in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province. She was good at poetry, ci, song and fu when she was young, and she liked riding and fencing. She was known as Mulan and Qin Liangyu. At the age of 28, he took part in the revolution, which had a great influence. He planned an uprising. He was arrested by the Qing soldiers at the meeting and unyielding. He died heroically in Xuanhengkou, Shaoxing on June 5, Guangxu 33.
Hanging the bell: Zhong Kui catches ghosts, which is the custom of Dragon Boat Festival. In the Jianghuai area, every family hangs bells and statues to ward off evil spirits. Emperor Kaiyuan of the Tang Dynasty returned to the palace after lecturing martial arts in Lishan Mountain, and malaria was rampant. He dreamed that two ghosts, one big and one small, were wearing red crotch pants, stealing Yang Guifei's sachet and Yu Di of the Ming Dynasty, and running around the temple. GREAT GHOST wears a blue robe and hat, catches the kid, gouges out his eyes and swallows it in one gulp. When asked by the Emperor of Ming Dynasty, GREAT GHOST said: My surname is Zhong Kui, that is, I am the most martial artist. I am willing to rid your majesty of evil spirits. When the Emperor of Ming Dynasty wakes up, malaria will be cured. So I asked Wu Daozi, a painter, to paint a portrait of Zhong Kui catching ghosts according to what I saw in my dream, and ordered all the people to post it during the Dragon Boat Festival to exorcise evil spirits.
Hanging Acorus calamus with mugwort leaves: On the Dragon Boat Festival, every family made Acorus calamus, mugwort leaves, pomegranate flowers, garlic and dragon boat flowers into human figures called Ai people. Hanging mugwort leaves in the hall, cutting them into tiger shapes or cutting the ribbon into tigers, and sticking mugwort leaves on them, women compete to wear them to drive away evil spirits. Using calamus as a sword and inserting it in the lintel has the magical effect of exorcising ghosts.
Dragon Boat Race: At that time, Chu people were reluctant to part with the death of Qu Yuan, a sage, so many people rowed to catch up and save. They scrambled to catch up with each other, but when they reached Dongting Lake, there was no trace, because it was the origin of dragon boat race, and then they rowed dragon boats every May 5 to commemorate it. Dispel the fish in the river by rowing dragon boats, so as not to eat Qu Yuan's body. The habit of racing is prevalent in Wu, Yue and Chu. Dragon boat races began in Taiwan Province in the 29th year of Qing Qianlong. At that time, Jiang Yuanjun, the magistrate of Taiwan Province, hosted a friendly match in Hokkeji Half Moon Pool in Tainan City. Now Taiwan Province holds a dragon boat race on May 5th every year. There are boat races in Hong Kong. Recently, the British have followed the example of our country, organized ghost teams and held competitions.
Eating zongzi: People in Jingchu cooked glutinous rice or steamed zongzi cakes and threw them into the river on May 5th to offer sacrifices to Qu Yuan, so they threw the glutinous rice in bamboo tubes for fear of fish eating, and gradually replaced the bamboo tubes with rice wrapped in zongzi leaves.
Drinking realgar wine: This custom is very popular among people in the Yangtze River valley.
Wandering all diseases: This custom is prevalent in the Dragon Boat Festival custom in Guizhou.
Wearing sachets: Children wear sachets during the Dragon Boat Festival, which not only means to ward off evil spirits and drive away plague, but also has the style of embellishment on the front. The sachet contains cinnabar, realgar and fragrant medicine, and is wrapped with silk cloth, which is full of fragrance, and then tied with five-color silk threads to form a rope, making a string of different shapes, all kinds of exquisite and eye-catching.
Mid-Autumn Festival
The Legend of the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon
A long time ago, there were ten suns in the sky. They make the land smoke and the crops scorch, and the people are too hot to live. At that time, there was a man named Yi. His strength is particularly great, and he can pull open the bow of ten thousand catties and shoot the serpent and beast. And he was very sympathetic to the suffering people. He bent his bow and arrow with all his strength and shot down nine suns in one breath. The last sun was scared to admit its mistake, so Yi left it and let it go out early and return late to do more good for the people.
Since then, Yi's name has spread all over the world. He became a hero admired by everyone. Later, Yi married a girl named Chang 'e as his wife. They loved each other and lived a happy life.
Chang 'e is beautiful, hard-working and kind-hearted. She often distributes the wild animals shot by Yi hunting to the villagers. One day, Yi went hunting on the mountain and met a Taoist priest on the way. The Taoist priest said to Yi, "You have made great contributions to the people. I'll give you a pack of magic medicine. If you eat half a pack, you will live forever. If you eat it all, you will become immortal and ascend to heaven. " Yi took the magic medicine home and gave it to Chang 'e for safekeeping. He is going to find a suitable time to share this bag of magic medicine with Chang 'e, and the husband and wife will live forever and never part.
After shooting the sun became famous, many people learned martial arts from him. One of his disciples, Feng Meng, also learned archery skills from him. Feng Meng is respectful to Yi on the surface, but he has a bad heart. He knew that there was a magic medicine hidden in your home, so he secretly came up with a bad idea. On August 15th of this year, I took my disciples out hunting.
In the evening, Feng Meng sneaked back alone and broke into Chang 'e's house, forcing Chang 'e to hand over the magic medicine. Chang 'e shouted loudly, but Yi hasn't come back from hunting. Where can I hear her? In order not to let the magic medicine fall into the shameless Feng Meng's hands, Chang 'e had to open the medicine bag and swallow all the magic medicine into her mouth. Suddenly, Chang 'e felt that her body was as light as a swallow, and she couldn't help flying out of the window and fluttering into the sky. Chang 'e was reluctant to leave her relatives and home, so she flew to the nearest moon and lived in Guanghan Palace.
When you got home, you heard about it and hurried out the door, but it was too late! I saw the shadow of Chang 'e on the round moon. The villagers said that Chang 'e would come back and advised you to wait patiently. On August 15th of the following year, Yi missed Chang 'e, so she took out Chang 'e's favorite fruits, put them in the yard, and made round moon cakes to show her reunion and hope that Chang 'e would come back. Year after year, Chang 'e still didn't come back. Slowly, people have the habit of celebrating the holidays. Every August 15th, food such as moon cakes and fruits should be prepared.
"Twelve degrees are beautiful, and the round pole is the Mid-Autumn Festival." The "Mid-Autumn Festival" in this poem refers to the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is well known to all women and children.
In China, there are many festivals related to New Year's Eve in a year, and the Mid-Autumn Festival is one of people's favorite festivals and the most poetic one. The Mid-Autumn Festival also has some aliases, such as August and a half, the reunion festival, and the moon and the evening. Because the Mid-Autumn Festival is on August 15th, which is half of August, commonly known as "August and a half". Because the Mid-Autumn Festival people have the custom of inviting relatives and friends to drink and play with the moon at night, and there is the custom that the daughter-in-law will return home when she returns to the province, and the Mid-Autumn Festival is called the reunion festival with the full moon as a symbol. Because it is said that Emperor Tang Ming visited the Moon Palace on this night, it was called the Mid-Autumn Festival. As for when the Mid-Autumn Festival began, there is no answer in the literature. In ancient times, the monograph Jing Chu sui Shi Ji, which specifically recorded the seasons of the New Year, was the only one that didn't record the Mid-Autumn Festival. Even the book "Beginners" written in the Tang Dynasty has no words about "Mid-Autumn Festival".
About the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival, there are two views: one is that the Mid-Autumn Festival is related to the Autumn Society. Zhou Yunjin and He Xiangfei's article "Talking about Seasons in Leisure" said: "Perhaps it is because China is an agricultural country, and family affairs have a great relationship with seasons. When sowing seeds, the ancients worshipped the land god to pray for a bumper harvest, and when harvesting, they also worshipped the land god to report the bumper harvest and thank the gods for their protection. The former is called' Spring Prayer' and the latter is called' Autumn Newspaper'. August 15th is the season when rice is ripe. On this day, families worship the land. It is very likely that the Mid-Autumn Festival, a legacy of the' Autumn Newspaper', has gradually become grand after the success of later generations. " Another view is that the Mid-Autumn Festival is related to the ancient custom of offering sacrifices to the moon. The book "The Customs of China" co-authored by Xu Jieshun and Chen Shunxuan says: "The origin of Mid-Autumn Festival may be related to the primitive belief in the moon in ancient times. There are stories about Nu Wa holding the moon and the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon in ancient Chinese mythology. In the Book of Rites Sacrifice Law, there is a description of' Night is bright and the moon is sacrificed'. In the etiquette before Qin and Han Dynasties, there was already an autumnal equinox night, and it was stipulated that the son of heaven went to the moon altar in the western suburbs of the capital. The moon altar in Beijing was the place where the Ming and Qing emperors sacrificed the moon. From the poems about Mid-Autumn Festival written in Tang poetry, we can see that the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon's fairy tales were already associated with the Mid-Autumn Festival. By the Song Dynasty, the festival activities had been very grand. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Hangzhou was enjoying the moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival, and it was a night of trading in the streets. Until the fifth drum, tourists playing on the moon danced in the city, and they knew all about it. \'”
The Origin and Legend of Spring Festival
The origin and legend of the Spring Festival The original meaning of the concept of Spring Festival and Year comes from agriculture. In ancient times, people called the growth cycle of the valley "Year". Hebe: "Year, the grain is ripe.". In the Xia and Shang Dynasties, the Xia calendar came into being, with the moon's full and short period as the month, and a year divided into twelve months. Every month, the day when the moon is not seen is the new moon, and the first day of the first month is called the beginning of the year, which is also called the year. The name of the year began in the Zhou Dynasty, and it was officially fixed in the Western Han Dynasty and continued until today. However, the first day of the first month in ancient times was called "New Year's Day". Until the victory of the Revolution of 1911 in modern China, in order to conform to the farming season and facilitate statistics, the Nanjing Provisional Government stipulated that the summer calendar should be used among the people, and the Gregorian calendar should be implemented in government agencies, factories, mines, schools and organizations, with the first day of January of the Gregorian calendar as New Year's Day and the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar as the Spring Festival.
1On September 27th, 949, New China was founded. At the first plenary session of China People's Political Consultative Conference, it was adopted to use the world-wide Gregorian calendar era, and January 1st of the Gregorian calendar was designated as New Year's Day, commonly known as the Gregorian calendar year. The first day of the first lunar month is usually around beginning of spring, so the first day of the first lunar month is designated as the "Spring Festival", commonly known as the lunar year.
In the traditional sense, the Spring Festival refers to the sacrificial rites from La Worship on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month or on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, with New Year's Eve and the first day of the first lunar month as the climax. During the Spring Festival, a traditional festival, the Han nationality and most ethnic minorities in our country have to hold various celebration activities. Most of these activities are mainly about offering sacrifices to gods and buddhas, paying homage to ancestors, getting rid of the old and spreading the new, welcoming the new year and praying for a good harvest. The forms of activities are rich and colorful, with strong national characteristics.
One of the legends of the Spring Festival: staying up for the new year.
Keeping the old year is the custom of staying up late to welcome the new year on the last night of the old year. It is also called keeping the old year on New Year's Eve, and its common name is "endure the new year". Exploring the origin of this custom, there is an interesting story circulating among the people:
In Archaean times, there was a fierce monster scattered in the mountains and forests. People called them Nian. Its appearance is ferocious, its nature is ferocious, and it specializes in eating birds and animals and insects. It changes its taste every day, from kowtowing insects to living people, which makes people talk about "Nian". Later, people gradually mastered the activity law of "Nian", which is to go to places where people live in concentrated communities every 365 days to taste fresh food, and the haunting time is after dark, and when the cock crows at dawn, they return to the mountains.
Having determined the date when the Year of the Year raged, the people regarded this terrible night as a gateway, which was called the Year of the Year, and came up with a whole set of ways to close the New Year's Day: every household cooked dinner in advance on this night, turned off the fire and cleaned the stove, then tied up all the cowpens, sealed the front and rear doors of the house, and hid in the house to eat the "New Year's Eve", because this dinner was uncertain. In addition to asking the whole family to dine together to show harmony and reunion, it is also necessary to offer sacrifices to ancestors before eating, pray for the blessing of ancestors, and spend the night safely. After dinner, no one dares to sleep and sit together to chat and be courageous. It gradually formed the habit of staying up on New Year's Eve.
The custom of observing the age rose in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and many scholars in the Liang Dynasty had poems about observing the age. "One night is even two years old, and the five hours are divided into two years." People light candles or oil lamps and keep vigil all night, symbolizing driving away all evil diseases and looking forward to good luck in the new year. This custom has been passed down from generation to generation.
Legend 2 of the Spring Festival: the theory of creating a calendar in ten thousand years
According to legend, in ancient times, there was a young man named Wan Nian, who saw that the festivals were chaotic at that time and had a plan to set them accurately. But he couldn't find a way to calculate the time. One day, he was tired of chopping wood on the mountain and sat in the shade of a tree. The movement of the shadow inspired him. He designed a sundial to measure the time of the day. Later, the dripping spring on the cliff inspired him, and he began to make a five-layer leaky pot to calculate the time. Over time, he found that every three hundred and sixty days, the four seasons would cycle once, and the length of the weather would be repeated.
At that time, the monarch was called Zu Yi, and he was often troubled by the unpredictable weather. After ten thousand years of knowing it, he took the sundial and the clepsydra to see the emperor and explained to Zu Yi the truth of the movement of the sun and the moon. After hearing this, Zu Yi was very happy and felt reasonable. So I left Wannian, built the Sun Moon Pavilion in front of the Temple of Heaven, and built a sundial platform and a leaky pot pavilion. I hope that I can accurately measure the laws of the sun and the moon, calculate the exact time of the morning and evening, and create a calendar to benefit the people of the world.
On one occasion, Zu Yi went to learn about the progress of the calendar for ten thousand years. When he boarded the Sun Moon altar, he saw a poem engraved on the stone wall beside the Temple of Heaven:
Sunrise and sunset are 360, and it starts all over again.
The vegetation is divided into four seasons, and there are twelve circles in a year.
Knowing that the calendar has been created in ten thousand years, I personally boarded the Sun Moon Pavilion to visit ten thousand years. Wannian pointed to the astronomical phenomena and said to Zu Yi, "Now it is twelve months old, the old year is over, and the new year begins again. Please make a festival for the monarch." 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.
Winter went to spring, year after year, and after years of long-term observation and careful calculation, he worked out an accurate solar calendar. When he presented the solar calendar to his successor, he was covered with silver whiskers. The monarch was deeply moved. In order to commemorate the achievements of ten thousand years, he named the solar calendar "perpetual calendar" and named it the birthday star of the sun, moon and moon. In the future, people hang up Shou Xingtu during the Chinese New Year, which is said to commemorate the venerable ten thousand years.
The third legend of the Spring Festival: Sticking Spring Festival couplets and door gods
It is said that the custom of pasting Spring Festival couplets began about 1000 years ago in the post-Shu period, which is proved by history. In addition, according to the Jade Candle Collection, Yanjing's Chronicle of Years Old and other works, the original form of Spring Festival couplets is what people call "Taofu".
In the ancient mythology of China, it is said that there is a ghost world, in which there is a mountain, a big peach tree covering 3,000 miles, and a golden rooster at the top of the tree. Whenever the golden rooster crows in the morning, ghosts who wander at night will rush back to the ghost domain. The gate of Ghost Domain is located in the northeast of peach tree. There are two gods standing by the door, named shentu and Yu Lei. If the ghost does something unnatural at night, shentu and Yu Lei will immediately find it and catch it, tie it up with a rope made of awn reed and send it to the tiger. So all the ghosts in the world are afraid of shentu and Yu Lei. So the people carved them into peach wood and put them at their doorsteps to ward off evil spirits and prevent harm. Later, people simply carved the names of shentu and Yu Lei on the mahogany board, thinking that doing so could also eliminate evil. This kind of mahogany board was later called "Taofu".
In the Song Dynasty, people began to write couplets on the mahogany board, one of which did not lose the meaning of killing evil spirits, the other expressed their good wishes, and the third decorated the portal for beauty. They also write couplets on red paper symbolizing happiness and good luck, and stick them on both sides of doors and windows during the Spring Festival to express people's good wishes for good luck in the coming year.
In order to pray for the longevity of the family, people in some places still keep the habit of sticking to the door. It is said that two door gods are pasted on the gate, and all monsters will be afraid. In the folk, the door god is a symbol of righteousness and force. The ancients believed that people with strange looks often had magical temperament and extraordinary skills. They are honest and kind-hearted, and it is their nature and responsibility to catch ghosts and capture demons. Zhong Kui, the ghost hunter admired by people, is such a strange look. Therefore, the folk door gods are always glaring and ugly, with all kinds of traditional weapons in their hands, ready to fight against ghosts who dare to come to the door. Because the doors of Chinese houses are usually two opposite, the door gods are always in pairs.
After the Tang Dynasty, in addition to shentu and Yu Lei, people regarded Qin Shubao and Weichi Gong, two military commanders in the Tang Dynasty, as gatekeepers. According to legend, Emperor Taizong was ill, and when he heard the ghosts calling outside, he was restless all night. So he asked the two generals to stand by the door with weapons in their hands, and there was no ghost harassment the next night. Later, Emperor Taizong had the images of these two generals painted and pasted on the door, and this custom began to spread widely among the people.
Poetry of the Spring Festival: Tian Jia Yuan Ri
(Tang) Meng Haoran
Fighting back to the north last night, starting from the east today;
I'm already strong, and I'm worried about agriculture without money.
Mulberry field cultivates the father, and the lotus hoe follows the shepherd boy;
Tian Jiazhan climate, * * * said this year is abundant.
Selling dementia words
(Tang) Fan Chengda
On New Year's Eve, people don't sleep, and they are tired of being sluggish and forcing the new year;
Children call to take the long street, and clouds have dementia to call people to sell.
Except for the night
(Tang) Laigu
Is a matter of solidarity has become empty, Wan Li lovesickness overnight.
Worry until the crow dies, and you will see the spring breeze again.
first day of the lunar month
(Song) Wang Anshi
In addition to the sound of firecrackers at the age of one, the spring breeze sends warmth into Tu Su;
Thousands of families always change new peaches for old ones.
Yuanri Yulouchun
(Song Dynasty) Maopang
Every year, the lotus drops leak, and Bijing Tu Su sinks the frozen wine.
Han Xiao is still deceiving others, and she is slim in spring.
Beautiful women urge thousands to live a long life, and cypress leaves and peppers are covered with delicate sleeves.
I don't know each other well in the depths of my hometown, but I am only old with Dongjun.
New Year's Eve
Wen Tianxiang (Southern Song Dynasty)
Gankun is empty, and the years go to the hall;
The end of the road is stormy, and the poor side is full of snow and frost.
Life is dying with the years, and the body is forgotten;
There is no such thing as killing Su Meng, and night is still young is burning the lamp.
pay New Year calls
(Ming) Wen Zhiming
I don't want to meet each other, but I want to talk, and the famous papers are full of us.
I also throw a few papers with people, and the world is too simple and not too empty.
Have been new and correct
Ye Qing (Ming)
The wind and frost in heaven and earth are exhausted, and the weather in Gankun is harmonious;
Add new years, and spring is full of old mountains and rivers.
Mei Liufang is full of pride, loose and old;
Tu Sucheng was drunk and laughed at the white clouds.
It's New Year's Eve.
(Qing) Huang Jingren
A thousand laughter is delayed, and worries are hidden from the outside.
The man standing tall on the stone bridge seems to be in the world, gazing at the sky, but seeing a star as the moon.
Fengcheng new year's speech
(Qing) Cha Shenxing
Cleverly cut and try Silla, painting colorful gold as a moth;
Since then, scissors have been idle for a month, and there are more needles and thread in the boudoir before the age of 20.
Jiawu New Year's Day
(Qing) Kong Shangren
Xiao Shu's white hair is not full of ups and downs, and the old-age stove actually sleeps.
Cut the candle and dry night snack wine, and spend all your money to buy spring money.
Listen to the childlike innocence of burning firecrackers, and watch the change of peach characters.
Add a plum blossom to the drum horn, and even laugh at the New Year.
New Year's Day takes up Liu Yazi's charm.
Dong Biwu
* * * Celebrate the New Year with laughter, and Hongyan ladies give plum blossoms;
Everyone toasts each other in a toast, expresses the new year's wishes, after all the people are still not satisfied, and together taste this victory tea, talk about current affairs.
Only loyalty can serve the country, and there is no paradise for home;
Song and dance with the capital to welcome the festival, watching Yan' an scenery from a distance.
See the flower market during the Spring Festival.
Lin Boqu
Maijie meets to see the flower market, but leans against the arcade like a gallery;
Bundled potted plants are lined up, and the grass plants are woody and fragrant.
The lights were on all night, and the singing was ecstatic.
It is this year that the scenery is beautiful and colorful.