The origin and rheology of the ancient "New Year's Day"

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The New Year's Day of 2022 is coming soon. Now when we say "New Year's Day", people are easy to think of January 1 of the solar calendar every year. But in ancient China, the meaning of the word "New Year's Day" was very different from today, and the connotation and customs were much richer.

It has a history of 5,000 years

Literally, "yuan" is called "first", "dan" is called "day", and the two words can be combined to "the first day of the new year". Therefore, "New Year's Day" is also called "three yuan", that is, the yuan of the year, the yuan of the month, and the yuan of the time. It is now often said to be the "first day of the first lunar month".

It is said that the ancient "New Year's Day" originated from one of the Three Emperors and Five Emperors, which has a history of more than 5,000 years.

During the Tang Dynasty, Fang Xuanling and others were responsible for revising the Book of Jin, which contained a record of "New Year's Day": "Emperor Zhao took the first month of Mengxia as the yuan, but in fact, the spring of the New Year's Day of Zhengshuo. ”

The earlier record of "New Year's Day" can also be seen in the southern dynasty literary historian Xiao Ziyun's poem "Jieya". It mentions "Four Seasons new New Year's Day, Wanshou Early Spring Dynasty", which clearly explains its "beginning" significance.

In the Song Dynasty Wu Zimu's "Record of Dreams", there is also "the first lunar new day, called New Year's Day, commonly known as the New Year." The first of the year, this is the first of the records.

There is another legend about its origins. Legend has it that in the ancient Yao Shun period, Emperor Yao was diligent in government and loved the people, and after Yao was old, the Zen position was given to Shun, who had both moral integrity and ability, and Shun's Zen position was given to Yu, who made great contributions to the management of water. They have all done a lot of good things and are very loved by the people.

In order to commemorate them, everyone regards the day after Yao's death, when Shun sacrifices heaven and earth and Yao, as the beginning of the year, called "New Year's Day" or "Yuan Zheng", which became the origin of the ancient "New Year's Day".

The time of "New Year's Day" has changed again and again

The legend is interesting, but the actual origin of "New Year's Day" is closely related to human life. For example, to do farm work, you need some accurate time nodes. And the beginning of the year has a special meaning, so humans invented the calendar.

The ancients discovered the natural phenomenon of day and night alternation, full moon and four seasons, and finally took the cycle of day and night as a "day", referring to the cycle of moon phase changes to determine the "month", and the grain maturity cycle represented the cold and summer, called "year", that is, the time when the sun orbited the earth.

It took a long time to accurately calculate the above period, the calendar changed several times, and the time of "New Year's Day" also changed.

The Xia Dynasty used the Xia calendar, with mengxi month (January) as the first month, and all "New Year's Day" became the first day of the first lunar month; the Yin calendar of the Shang Dynasty took the waxing moon (December) as the first month, and the "New Year's Day" was changed to the first day of December; the Zhou Dynasty modified it, the Zhou calendar took the winter month (November) as the first month, and the "New Year's Day" became the first day of November. After the unification of Qin Shi Huang, it was simply a month before, and "New Year's Day" became the first day of October.

It was not until the time of Emperor Wu of Han that there was no longer a toss,around, and Sima Qian came out of nowhere and created a set of calendars, because it was founded in the first year of the first year of emperor Wu of Han, so it was also called the "taichu calendar". At that time, the Meng Xi month (January) was stipulated as the first month, and the first day of the Meng Xi moon (the first day of the first lunar month of the Summer calendar) was called "New Year's Day", and from then on, it was continued until the end of the Qing Dynasty.

It was not until the Xinhai Revolution overthrew the Qing Dynasty that the Government of the Republic of China decided to use the Gregorian calendar, calling January 1 of the Gregorian calendar "New Year's Day". Later, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, in order to better communicate with the world, it was also decided to adopt the universal Gregorian calendar, which is the solar calendar that we now use. Therefore, the previous "New Year's Day" became the Spring Festival, and January 1 of the solar calendar was replaced by New Year's Day.

The ancients were busy "eating and eating" on this day.

In ancient times, it was an agricultural society, and by "New Year's Day", large-scale agricultural activities had long ended, and there were few recreational activities. Therefore, everyone quickly came up with various ideas related to eating, and there were many tricks.

Liang Zongyi of the Southern and Northern Dynasties wrote a book called "The Chronicle of the Jingchu Years", which recorded various festivals and customs in ancient Chu. When it comes to "New Year's Day", it mentions Bai he bi, followed by pepper cypress wine, peach soup, Tu Su wine, gum tooth dumpling (táng), five spice plates, and eats an egg each. Among them, there are drinks, food, and medicines, all of which are readily available, each with its own special meaning, expressing the wish for a prosperous and healthy year in the coming year.

Pepper cypress wine is made by soaking peppercorns and cypress leaves. According to ancient books, drinking pepper and cypress wine can get rid of illness and longevity. The traditional custom of drinking pepper and cypress wine on the "New Year's Day" festival is mainly in Licheng, Shandong and Jiaxing, Zhejiang.

What is more interesting is that some places have to eat "soup cakes". The word "cake" here generally does not refer to burnt bread. The Northern Song Dynasty's "Miscellaneous Records of the Years" said: "On New Year's Day, the Jingshi people ate more bread, the so-called Nian Dumplings, or such and such. "Bread refers to a loaf of bread that is slender like a rope and looks like modern noodles.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, people liked to eat rice cakes on "New Year's Day", especially in the south. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the "Imperial Capital Scenery Strategy" mentioned that the "New Year's Day" of the first month, "Dreaming of excitement, eating jujube cakes, and annual rice cakes", which is quite interesting. In the north at that time, it was more popular to eat dumplings on "New Year's Day", such as Shen Bang's "Miscellaneous Records of Wanju" during the Ming Dynasty, and Wanping County, on the outskirts of Beijing, "New Year's Day" was used as flat food, and longevity was offered. "One of the flat index fingers is the dumplings.

In different regions, rice cakes have also changed their names. Ming Zhengde's Guangdong Qiongtai Zhi records that the local spring cakes are eaten: "Before New Year's Day, steamed spring cakes with glutinous powder (jí) cane sugar or ash juice cages ... Miscellaneous fruits are aged and cut into Annual Tea to give each other an answer. "Shaped like today's birthday cake. (Beijing Evening News)