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How much do you know about the Spring Festival?
Spring Festival, i.e. Lunar New Year,
It is the first of the year and the traditional festival.
Commonly known as the New Year, New Year, New Year, etc.,
Verbally, it is also called new year, too big year.
The "Spring Festival" was not a festival before
The term "Spring Festival" in Chinese history is not a festival, but refers specifically to the "Lichun" in the twenty-four solar terms. The "Book of the Later Han Dynasty, The Biography of Yang Zhen" says: "The Spring Festival did not rain, the hundred officials were anxious, and the repair was not stopped, and the sign of drought was also sincere." By the time of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, "Spring Festival" refers to the entire spring.
The Spring Festival was not called "Spring Festival" before. The first day of the first lunar month was not called the Spring Festival in ancient times, but New Year's Day. After the Xinhai Revolution, the Gregorian calendar was adopted, so january 1 of the Gregorian calendar was called New Year's Day, and the first day of the first lunar month was the Spring Festival.
The origin of the Spring Festival
The concept of Spring Festival and Nian originally came from agriculture, and in ancient times people called the growth cycle of the grain "Nian", "Shuowen Hebu": "Nian, the grain ripe also." "In the Xia Shang era, the summer calendar was produced, with the cycle of the moon being missing as the month, the year was divided into twelve months, and the month was divided into twelve months, and the day of the new moon was called the first time of the year, that is, the beginning of the year, also called the year. The name of the year began in the Zhou Dynasty, was officially fixed in the Western Han Dynasty, and continues to this day.
After the victory of the Xinhai Revolution in modern China, the Provisional Government of Nanjing, in order to conform to agricultural times and facilitate statistics, stipulated the use of the summer calendar in the private sector, and the Gregorian calendar was implemented in government offices, factories and mines, schools and groups, with the first day of the first month of the Gregorian calendar as the New Year's Day, and the first day of the first lunar month of the lunar calendar called the Spring Festival.
On September 27, 1949, the founding of New China, at the first plenary session of the Chinese Political Consultative Conference, it was adopted to use the world's common Gregorian era to set the first day of the first month of the Gregorian calendar as New Year's Day, commonly known as the solar calendar year; the first day of the first lunar month is usually around the beginning of the spring, so the first month of the lunar calendar must be "Spring Festival", commonly known as the lunar calendar year.
Ten must-know Chinese New Year anecdotes
1 | Spring League and New Year Painting
Spring Festival and New Year paintings both originated from the exorcism customs of ancient times. During the Six Dynasties of the Han and Wei Dynasties, every Spring Festival, every household set up a peach person in front of the door, painting divine tea and YuLei to drive away ghosts. It was later developed into a painting of the Year of the Gate God. Song Dynasty woodblock prints began to become popular, and the content of the New Year paintings was expanded, and the "Four Beautiful Pictures" that are still preserved today are the New Year paintings at that time.
Chunlian appeared in the Tang Dynasty. In the Song Dynasty, writing Spring League was more popular. The Ming Dynasty Post Spring League has been popularized throughout the country. Chunlian is a unique language art form and calligraphy art form in the mainland, and has spread to Korea and other places. The Spring Festival Not only expresses people's wishes, but also adds to the festive atmosphere.
2 | Make a fire
When the New Year comes, light torches, fires, or charcoal braziers in the courtyard, which were called "garden fires", "braziers" and "wangxiang" in ancient times, and modern folk called "shengwanghuo" or "lighting treasure firewood". In ancient times, the court was burned to drive away evil spirits, or to worship the gods and ancestors. Later, the fire has developed into a symbol of the prosperity of the whole family and an expression of good hope.
In 1738, Lang Shining painted a painting of the "Hongli Snow Scene And Music Map", which showed the Scene of the Qianlong Emperor and his children celebrating the New Year together. In front of the Qianlong Emperor, there was a brazier, and a small prince was relaxing the branches of cypress in the brazier, which was then called "burning pine basin".
Modern folk fire is often lit by lighting a pyre or charcoal pile, and the more vigorous the fire, the better, symbolizing the prosperity of the whole family in the New Year. There are also braziers to burn pine cypress peach and apricot branches, and the family crosses the fire, symbolizing the burning of the old disaster and ushering in a new atmosphere.
3 | firecracker
The original purpose of firecrackers was to drive out ghosts, or to meet gods. Later, it developed into a symbol of resignation and newness, and became the folk symbol that best represents the arrival of the New Year.
The earliest reliable record of firecrackers can be found in the Southern Dynasty Liang Dynasty Zong Shu's "Jingchu Chronicle": "The first day of the first month is the day of the three yuan, which is called the end of the moon." Chickens chirp and firecrackers are fired before the court to avoid the evil ghosts of the mountains. "Firecrackers at that time were put in the fire and burned, producing a popping sound. The first thing you do when you wake up in New Year is firecrackers.
In the Song Dynasty, gunpowder firecrackers appeared, that is, modern firecrackers, cannons, firecrackers. With gunpowder firecrackers, firecrackers can be set off in areas without bamboo. Firecrackers then became a national custom.
Later, the festive color of the firecrackers themselves made people have a further understanding of the symbolic meaning of firecrackers: using festive firecrackers to greet the gods. The explosion of the firecracker itself is also a cultural symbol of "retiring the old and welcoming the new". It can make people more deeply experience the difference between the old and the new, so that life is more artistically beautiful.
4 | Rice cakes and dumplings
Rice cake, also known as sticky cake, harmonic "nian nian gao", contains people's hope for a happy life in the future. Rice cakes are generally made with sticky grains. There are yellow rice cakes in the north, water mill rice cakes in the south, and glutinous rice dumplings in the southwest ethnic minorities.
The most popular New Year's food in the north is dumplings, also known as dumplings, horns, and flat foods. In the 5th century, dumplings "shaped like a crescent moon" have become a popular Spring Festival food. The Song Dynasty used to call dumplings "horns", or "water horns". The Yuan Dynasty began to have the name of "flat food". Since the Ming and Qing dynasties, the term "dumplings" has been commonly used.
For the cultural symbolism of dumplings, the general explanation is: "horns" and "dumplings" are harmonic "jiaozi", that is, the meaning of jiaozi. It symbolizes the arrival of the Spring Festival. Therefore, as soon as the child's time passed, people immediately began to boil dumplings, making it the first meal of the new year. In a deeper interpretation, dumplings also contain the meaning of delicacy. In ancient times, there was a lack of meat, and dumplings wrapped in meat filling were naturally good food, and the folk proverb "delicious but dumplings" expressed this meaning. Eating dumplings during the Spring Festival, of course, is to hope that there will be more good food in the coming year.
5 | Pilgrimage and New Year's Greetings
In ancient state rituals, pilgrimage, reunion worship, and worship between ordinary people, the new year is an important activity to strengthen social relations and kinship relations during the New Year.
Chaozheng, also known as "He Zheng" or "Yuanhui", refers to the ministers greeting the emperor in the New Year. Every New Year in the Zhou Dynasty, the princes were to "chaozheng" to zhou tianzi, that is, to celebrate the new year. Ancient scholars also had the custom of using famous posters instead of personally visiting the New Year, which is generally regarded as the origin of Chinese New Year cards, and the use of modern New Year cards spreads throughout all levels.
In the family, the younger generations get up early in the morning and first kowtow to the elders, and wish the elders health and longevity. Then, go to the homes of relatives and friends in turn to pay homage to the elders. The elders, on the other hand, pressed the elderly to pay for the elderly and wished him a healthy growth. Friends also visit each other's homes to pay respects to each other. If there are many relatives and friends, the New Year's celebration continues for many days.
The activities of the Spring Festival are gradually expanded from within the family to relatives and the whole society. Chinese New Year's Eve keep the age, and the first one pays homage to his parents, and then goes out to pay homage to his relatives. Again, say goodbye to your friends. After that, people started visiting temple fairs. On the 15th Lantern Festival of the first month, men, women and children go to the streets together to admire the lanterns and watch the carnival parade - stilts, dry boats, dragon dances, lion dances, rice songs, etc. Therefore, the Spring Festival is a national festival that penetrates into every aspect and every level of society.
6 | Pressing money: This "money" is not money
In the old days, after the ancestors were sacrificed and the ceremonies to greet the gods were held, the family should "resign the year" together, the juniors should kowtow to the elders to wish the elders a long life, great blessings, and great shun, and the elders should give the younger generations red envelopes, that is, "pressing the old money", which means "pressing the years and praying for blessings".
In ancient times, it was called "pressing money" and "pressing winning money", which first appeared in the Han Dynasty. Pressing money is not a coin circulating in the market, but a kind of coin shape plaything, there is the meaning of avoiding evil and suppressing demons, pressing money was originally made of red velvet rope with four square holes to make money into "Fang Sheng" (one of the eight treasure auspicious patterns), drooping tassels. At that time, on some of the old money, the front side was mostly cast with auspicious words such as "long life and 100 years old", "go to the seedlings and eliminate the evil", "long live the thousand autumns", and the back of them were mostly dragons and phoenixes, turtles and snakes, pisces and other auspicious patterns.
Pressing the old age money is the custom of the New Year, is a good wish, although the currency changes, but the elders to the younger generation of the folk custom of pressing the age money is still passed down at the time of the New Year, which gives the elders a good wish for the growth of children, blessings for the healthy growth of children.
7 | Ancestor Worship: Pray for the ancestors to bless the peace of the coming year
Worshipping ancestors in the New Year is not only a tribute to the ancestors, but also to pray for the ancestors to bless the peace of the coming year. Ancestor worship is one of the oldest elements of the Spring Festival customs. The Shang Shu Shun Dian records: "On the first day of the first lunar month, Shunge yu Wenzu." Meaning: Emperor Shun went to the ancestral temple on the first day of the first lunar month to worship his ancestors.
Ancestor worship is generally in the Chinese New Year's Eve, and ordinary people's families, after sweeping the house, cleaning the courtyard, changing the door god, changing peach charms, and pasting the Spring League, or the whole family goes to the grave to worship the ancestors, or hangs the relics of the ancestors on the wall of the main wall of the middle hall, places sacrifices, lights incense candles, and lets the younger generations worship. Although the forms of ancestor worship vary from place to place, the meaning of "ancestor worship and blessing" is roughly the same.
8 | New Year's Greeting: Hold your fist to "left and right"
"New Year's Greeting" refers to the mutual visits between relatives and friends during the Spring Festival, and the New Year's greetings during the Spring Festival in the early years are divided into "New Year's Greetings" and "New Year's Greetings". "New Year's Greeting" is the juniors prostrating to the elders, while "Celebrating the New Year" is the New Year's Jubilee between the ordinary generations. Whether it is "New Year's Greeting" or "New Year", the expression is to congratulate the Happy New Year and be auspicious.
In terms of traditional New Year's greetings, there are several fixed "procedures".
The first is prostration, that is, the juniors prostrate to the elders, especially when minors pay homage to the elders with higher grades.
The second is to bend over, first hold the fist in both hands and raise it forward, and then hold the right hand with the left hand, commonly known as "Jibai". When performing the ceremony, regardless of whether it is respectful or inferior, the eyebrows are raised, and the up and down are shaken up and down a few times, and the heavy salute can be bowed after the bow. This kind of etiquette is generally used by the younger generations to pay homage to the elders.
The third is to hold the fist and arch the hand, hold the right hand with the left hand, naturally hug and close, tighten and moderate, and the hand is naturally slightly shaken in the chest, which should not be too strong and too high. This kind of etiquette is mostly a new year's greeting between ordinary generations.
9 | Whip the spring cow
"One dozen wind and rain are smooth, two dozen Guotai Min'an, three dozen grains are abundant..." After the whipping of the cattle, the calf boy also distributed the grains in the stomachs of the mud cows to the residents on the spot, implying a bumper harvest and harmony.
Cattle is the main force of spring ploughing, folklore experts introduced, Lichun is the first of the twenty-four solar terms, every time at this time, the folk have the custom of welcoming spring, whipping spring, biting spring, whipping cattle is to "remind" cattle, spring is coming, it is time to start ploughing the field. Cows and humans are friends, and people are reluctant to whip real cows, so they make a fake cow out of mud or paper, whip it with wicker, and lead the real cow over to see.
In the past, mud cattle would have grains in their stomachs, and after the bulls were whipped, the residents would pick up the grains on the ground, and the mud cattle would be "divided" by the residents and taken home and buried in the land, symbolizing the abundance of grains. "According to legend, at first it was the 'Mangshen' who wielded the whip, and later developed to the highest administrator present to wield the whip, and by the Qing Dynasty, the emperor also participated, one person and three whips."
10 | Chinese New Year's Eve Shou Nian: It is a pity to pass away in old age
"I know that I invited the group to drink the New Year's wine, and the children competed with each other for the money. The sound of firecrackers is still there, and the cars and horses in Tianqu are like smoke. This poem from the late Qing Dynasty's "Miscellaneous Poems of the Yanjing Dynasty" depicts the scene of the people celebrating the great Chinese New Year's Eve in the homes and streets of old Beijing at night Chinese New Year's Eve.
Chinese New Year's Eve, in ancient times, it was called "removal" and "great division". Old Beijingers call it "year apart", "year apart", "big Chinese New Year's Eve", commonly known as "Chinese New Year's Eve". The original meaning of the word "division" is "to go", and by extension it is "easy", which is to divide the old and new, that is, the meaning of alternation; the original meaning of the word "xi" is "sunset", and by extension" is "night". "Chinese New Year's Eve" means that the old year is removed from this night, and tomorrow is replaced by a new year.
Keeping the age, for the elderly, has a sense of passing away and cherishes the meaning of the years. For teenagers, there is a sense of new shoots and strong, and there is the intention of working hard. Keeping the age is a station in life, but also a vision and yearning for the new year. Keeping the age also reflects the beautiful vision of family reunion, sharing family affection, and sending the old to welcome the new.
Since ancient times, the Chinese New Year's Eve shou nian has inherited many customs such as worshiping gods and ancestors, pressing the old age money, group new year meal, making dumplings, stepping on the age, setting off firecrackers, chatting around the stove, playing, guessing riddles, playing cards, playing promotion charts and so on.
Spring Festival is an ancient festival in China, but also the most important festival of the year, how to celebrate this festival, in the historical development of thousands of years, the formation of some more fixed customs, many of which have been passed down to this day.
The traditional culture of the year varies from north to south, but one thing is basically the same, that is, family reunions, visiting relatives and friends, visiting elders, etc., I hope that our children can keep these customs full of strong family affection and good wishes in mind and pass them on from generation to generation.
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