Author: Chen Xin (Vice Chairman of Chengdu Writers Association, Contracted Writer of Chengdu Literature College)
Spring Festival, the festival of Chinese Spring, the feast of world joy.
The Spring Festival, in the hearts of overseas Chinese, is a festival for family reunion, worship of heaven and ancestors, removal of the old and the new, exorcism of evil spirits and disasters, and blessings for the New Year.
For the people of the world, the Spring Festival is a cultural window that can touch and learn the Warm Chinese Culture, feel the dazzling light of Chinese wisdom, and enhance friendship between each other.
From January 21 to February 13, Americans can participate in the Chinese New Year celebration at DisneyLand Adventure park in California, USA, and feel the unique charm of Spring Festival culture. The picture shows tourists taking a group photo with the cartoon character Tigger on January 21. Xinhua News Agency
A feast of joy in the Chinese
Carrot honey sweet,
Seeing that it is going to be the New Year.
Dolls want to eat meat,
Lao Tzu didn't have any money.
……
Once, when this nursery rhyme, which contained infinite beauty and helplessness, was sung in the mouths of children in the land of China, the Spring Festival was not far away from people.
At that time, the years were not enough to eat, and the days were like years. Bathed in brilliant sunshine, but the heart is often gloomy. However, there are three days of the year that I look forward to. These three days are really good – not only can you not work, you can eat meat, and you can even have a fortune. Although this wealth is not considerable, it is not too far from a corner.
The Spring Festival atmosphere in nursery rhymes has begun since the 24th of the Waxing Moon.
In the eyes of the teenagers in the past, when they saw their parents wearing very strict rags and rags, and wearing cloaks and bucket hats, cleaning the house without dead ends, they felt funny and ridiculous in their hearts, but also happily understood that this was a kind of beauty that was approaching happiness.
Cleaning the environment, cleaning utensils, dismantling and washing bedding, sprinkling the courtyard, dusting the dirt, dredging the ditches... The busy and focused figure not only has the mood of eliminating poor luck and obscurity to pray for a comfortable and auspicious future year, but also the spirit of pursuing elegance and refreshing spirit.
Then came the hope of the countdown.
Looking forward to it, in the sound of nursery rhymes from end to end, the footsteps of the Spring Festival finally arrived.
Separated from the Spring Festival by a wall is Chinese New Year's Eve. Chinese New Year's Eve for people who used to have, the biggest yearning is to Chinese New Year's Eve delicious food in the meal. Chinese New Year's Eve meal was the most sumptuous meal a few years ago. Chinese New Year's Eve meals pay attention to both fullness and leftovers, because "leftovers" are "surpluses", and eating leftovers is called "surplus", from the old year to the new year, "every year there is more than enough".
The wonderful taste of Chinese New Year's Eve meal lies in the reunion of the family, which is enjoyed in heaven. After Chinese New Year's Eve meal, I began to observe the age. Keeping the age is Chinese New Year's Eve. The elders and children gather together and wish the praises to be completed, until after midnight to sleep, or until dawn. This age-keeping may be quite difficult for people to understand today: in the cold and wind-breathable countryside, the cold winter when clothes are difficult to cover, there is no TV, no mobile phone, and no other entertainment programs, how can such a day stay up until midnight with great interest? In fact, the reason is simple. On this day, even the three days of rest allowed, you can play as much as you want, you can do what you can't do casually: read novels, play poker, make games... There will be no reprimands, no rebukes, not even complaints. Because parents have said that if the mood is good on the three days of the Spring Festival, they will be in a good mood throughout the year.
In the early morning of the first day of the first month of the new month, the thunderous firecrackers suddenly exploded, and the prologue of the New Year opened in a burst of firecrackers. The joy of standing in a secluded place, and the original cold night, came alive at this moment. Firecrackers are like actors on stage, using traditional Chinese rap to start a large-scale live performance related to joy, bringing people into the depths of happiness together. This is not only a modern drama, but also a layered culture that recreates the continuous inheritance in the long river of history.
The sound of firecrackers in the one-year-old except,
The spring breeze sends warmth into Tu Su.
Thousands of doors and thousands of households,
Always swap the new peach for the old charm.
Time, traveling between ancient and modern times, is confusing and surprising.
The Song Dynasty scholar Wang Anshi's "Yuan Day", while depicting the joyful atmosphere of the Spring Festival, also vividly records the details of the people's celebration of the Spring Festival. At the moment when the Chinese New Year's Eve and the Spring Festival alternate between the old and the new, the happy people send away the old year, drink the mellow Tusu wine, and feel the breath of spring...
Firecrackers sounded, and on the first day of the new year, when the rising sun shone on thousands of households, people with warm hearts began to paste the Spring League. The original of the Spring League is the "peach charm", which has the meaning of going to evil and driving away evil to welcome auspiciousness. However, with the passage of time, people post the Spring Festival League more in the inheritance of a thousand-year-old cultural custom. Spring League is not only a word full of joy, but also a unique and beautiful flower in the temple of literature. Or bold as the big river goes east, or graceful as a small bridge flowing water, rough like the rising sun spray thin, delicate like the wind blowing willows. The endoplasm is different, but they are all like pearls.
The word "Fu" is coupleted with "Happy to live in treasure and prosper in the land, and the wealth and wealth of the family are rich and prosperous; the good year is a good and peaceful house, and the wealth is rich and the rich and noble." Xing'an made
The New Year begins with the sun shining in the depths of the soul. The tall and sacred door in the wish is opened on the first day of the first lunar month, and behind the door is suddenly open a long-lost love, as well as physical and mental relaxation.
During the Spring Festival, what people see is the contours of the paved vision and the pleasant mood - Tianyu Langqing, Shanshui Sihe, Zhuhua Jinchi; Qionglin Huijing, Yuyu Xuanjie, Yunmen Luque... The regulation is simple, comfortable and pleasant, like a langyuan wonderland. Time is like water, the ups and downs are graceful, and the charm of the year has not diminished in the past for thousands of years. What is the color of spring in the world, joy and happiness depend on each other.
Of course, the beauty of the Spring Festival is not only about this, but also about pressing the old money! After Chinese New Year's Eve meals, or on the morning of the first day of the Chinese New Year, the elders should distribute the prepared money to the juniors. Legend has it that pressing the old age money can suppress the evil spirits, and the younger generation can spend the new year in peace and security when they get the old age money. The pressure on the old money is not in the amount, but in the meaning. It is not easy to get the money, and it is necessary to kneel down to the elders and prostrate their heads, and solemnly bless them in their mouths. However, the joy of getting the money is so unforgettable. This, of course, is traditional imagery. Today's "Wishing you prosperity, red envelopes to take", not only lack a sense of ceremony, but also appear too utilitarian, and lack a lot of charm.
In that era, or once upon a time, the Spring Festival was a rainbow within reach of childhood eyes, the sunshine of the soul of a poor teenager, the sweet yearning in a bitter life, and the flying dream in a depressed state of mind.
The dim light of time shrouded history.
The time and space across the river from us, the greatest traditional festival of the year, the joy and hope that have circulated in the long years, are not like the stars in the dawn and night for the predecessors.
But today is different. In the face of this festival of immortality, today we may become familiar and calm, less passionate, and even unable to understand its brilliance in the depths of time. That's because today our lives, whether material or spiritual, are almost whatever, and we can "celebrate the New Year" every day without prayer.
In addition to the grand traditional festival atmosphere, the Spring Festival, which comes from the dust of the years, also conveys the greatness of the country, the superiority of the system and the happiness of the times for 365 days.
A festival of wisdom
The Spring Festival, which has grown up all the way, is not only the superposition of long-cherished wishes, but also the crystallization of wisdom. It is not a simple festival, but related to the stars, to the agricultural time, to the culture, to the science ...
The Spring Festival has a long history, evolved from the worship of heaven and earth and ancestral beliefs in the ancient times, and is the most solemn, lively and important festival of the Chinese nation, which can concentrate on the chinese nation's ideological beliefs, ideals and wishes, life entertainment and cultural psychology, and is also a carnival of blessings, food and entertainment.
Throughout the ages, the first month of each year has been called The First Month or The First Month. Although the name is the same, the specific date of the first month of the month is not the same in different dynasties: the Xia Dynasty takes the first month of Mengchun as the first month, the Shang Dynasty takes the winter December as the first month, the Zhou Dynasty takes the winter November as the first month, and the Qin Shi Huang unified China with October as the first month... That is to say, in those dynasties, the timing of welcoming the New Year and welcoming the spring was not the same. And the one who unifies the two and continues to use them to this day is the fall of Hong. Falling Hong, surname Falling, name Hong, western Han Dynasty astronomer, BaJun Langzhong (present-day Langzhong, Sichuan) people. During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, due to the serious discrepancy between the calendar and the celestial phenomena at that time, which affected agricultural production and worried the people, Emperor Wudi of han issued a decree to compile a new calendar. In addition to relying on official astronomers headed by Sima Qian, non-governmental astronomical enthusiasts were also recruited to enter Beijing. Under the recommendation of his fellow villager Chen Long, he came to Chang'an, and with the assistance of Deng Ping, Tang Du and others, he adopted the advanced calculation methods at that time and revised a new calendar on the basis of actual measurements. The calendar reformed the unreasonable system of the first year, changing Meng Chun to the first day of the year, the first day of the first lunar month as the first day of the new year, and in accordance with the order of spring, summer, autumn and winter, it was compiled into twenty-four solar terms, so that the agricultural affairs of spring planting, summer busy, autumn harvest and winter leisure were synchronized with the cycle of the four seasons. The leap leap method was also reformed to make the season, phenology and month arrangement more accurate. After comparative appraisal, Emperor Wu of han believed that this calendar formulated by Luo Hong was superior to the other 17 calendars, so it was implemented in 104 BC. This almanac is the Primeval Calendar.
Because of its scientific integrity, the Taichu Calendar was used by later dynasties only a few minor modifications. The first day of the first lunar month, historically known as the first day, the first day, the new year, the three dynasties, the first day, the first day, the new year, etc., is also a day of festivals, but it is not called "Spring Festival". After the Xinhai Revolution, the Gregorian calendar was changed to the Gregorian calendar, and in order to distinguish the "Taichu Calendar" (mistakenly called the "Summer Calendar", which is actually very different from the real Summer Calendar) and the Gregorian Calendar, the "Summer Calendar" was renamed "Spring Festival" on January 1, and the first day of January in the Gregorian Calendar was renamed "New Year's Day". In 1970, the "Summer Calendar" was renamed the "Lunar Calendar" and is still in use today.
Because Luo Hong was the founder of the "Taichu Calendar", he had the honorific title of "Spring Festival Old Man". Langzhong, the hometown of Hong Kong, was also named "the hometown of Chinese Spring Festival culture" by the China Folk Artists Association.
In the Spring Festival, the sound of firecrackers and the rise of colorful smoke are the mood of light song and swallow dance. Elegant and elegant, like the gentle spring fragrance under the bright and warm sun, fresh and moist sweetness. After the Firecrackers of the Spring Festival fade into sight, does the silence come? No, it's spring. The celebration of the Spring Festival gradually faded in the process of time moving westward, and the original leisure became busy and replaced by Nongsang.
The spring girl departs from the Spring Festival, and gracefully dances to give us the scenery of spring that we yearn for the most. When spring comes, love and hope begin to sow, brightening the window of our longing hearts. The attentive heart calmed down, the spring breeze watered the vision, the hope grew vigorously, and the children's songs of the rising sun sang:
Spring rain shocks the spring valley day,
Summer is full of summer and summer and summer are connected.
Autumn dew autumn frost falls,
Winter snow snow winter small cold.
Spring, rain, sting, spring equinox, Qingming, valley rain, lixia, small full, mangsang, summer solstice, small summer, big summer, autumn, summer, white dew, autumn equinox, cold dew, frost fall, li winter, light snow, heavy snow, winter solstice, small cold, big cold... Twenty-four solar terms began another round of gradual progression.
Spring Festival is a festival of spring. Chinese spring exists in thousands of literary works. Opening the Book of Poetry, the first one is a description of the scene of spring:
Guan Guan Ju Dove, in the River Continent.
Ladies and gentlemen.
Jagged lettuce, left and right.
Ladies and gentlemen, covet it.
The first of the three hundred verses of the Book of Verses, the spring cabbage takes the lead.
There is also "Xiao Ya Out of the Car":
Spring is late, and the wood is shining.
Cang Geng tweeted, Cai Xuan Qi Qi.
Such descriptions of spring always make people read and associate with such scenes: a group of peach blossom-like women, blooming with the fragrance of youth, spring breeze, red and green, lingering in the silhouette of the world.
The beauty of spring lies not only in its appearance, but also in its labor.
SosoChegukou smell,
Birds are urging farming day after day.
Newborn wild water melon vine around,
The former Sakuta Asai character.
Ploughing rain every pity yellow calf Jian,
Bring the sutra to love the children diligently.
Evening wind outside the Independent Creek Bridge,
Flowing water peach blossoms a team of clouds.
This poem "Nanpu Spring Cultivation" by Master Zhi'an of the Ming Dynasty always makes people see the diligence of the Chinese nation. In fact, this kind of sunny and rainy reading scene is everywhere. Then came a Qing Dynasty Yao Nai's "Mountain Walk":
Cuckoo Feifei advised early ploughing,
Scoop the hoe to pounce on the spring eye.
Mille-feuille stone tree remote road,
The sound of water in the yamada area.
In fact, the most beautiful figure in spring is also a woman who collects mulberries and raises silkworms. In the eyes of the ancients, silkworms are great beings born to death, without dispute with the world, enjoying themselves, spitting silk into cocoons and then breaking cocoons into butterflies, and the magical process is like the spirits of cultivating immortals. Silkworms also highly embody the spirit of bravery, persistence, dedication, diligence, kindness, love, self-improvement and virtue carried up by the Chinese nation. In the nursery rhyme about the Spring Festival, it is also sung: "One chicken and two dogs, three pigs and four sheep, five cattle and six horses, seven people and eight silkworms..."
During the Spring Festival, people attach importance to food, clothing, shelter and transportation, and are also grateful for the gifts of nature. Because the Spring Festival is not only the most joyful day of the year, but also the most abundant day of food and clothing, people pray that the new year can spend such a festival every day. In folk customs, from the first day of the first lunar month to the eighth day of the first lunar month, it is chickens, dogs, pigs, sheep, cattle, horses, people, and silkworms for the New Year. Chickens, dogs, pigs, sheep, cattle, and horses are related to human food, shelter, and travel; silkworms are related to clothing, and they are related to brocade clothing. The so-called "gentleman to the end, brocade fox fur", the silk vomited by the silkworm, is the source of raw materials for the neon feather coat. And the neon feather coat is not only light and beautiful, but also the costume of the gods. The "Nine Songs of Chu Ci" says, "Qingyun is dressed in white and neon clothes, and shoots the wolf with a long arrow." In Yuan Dynasty Yuan Jue's "Yongshe Lake", "Lingfei is cold at night, lightly folding diamond flowers to play with the moon", which is also described as a god. Therefore, silkworms had a supreme position in ancient China. During the Spring Festival, ancient people would go to the Silkworm Temple, the Silkworm Shrine, the Ancestral Temple and other places to burn incense and wax, hang red cannons, and pay homage to the silkworm god to pray for the smooth wind and rain in the coming year, the prosperity of the six animals, the peace of the people, and the smooth progress of the silkworm affairs.
During the Spring Festival, there will naturally be songs and dances. It is said that "emotion is in the middle and acts in words, and the words are insufficient, so sigh; sigh when sighs are insufficient; sing songs are insufficient; songs are insufficient, and do not know the foot of the dance of the hands." And the song and dance, not only show the mood, is the posture, but also shows the light and beautiful clothes like neon xia. There are many theories about the origin of song and dance, one of which comes from the cultivation of mulberry silkworms advocated by Changzu.
The Classic of Mountains and Seas and the Classic of Hai Nei contains, "Lei Zu, wife of the Yellow Emperor, sheng Changyi"; the Fifth LuShi Hou Ji records that "the concubine of the Yellow Emperor, Xiling Clan, is known as the ancestor of the Silkworm, and is therefore the ancestor of the Silkworm." "The so-called silkworm is the god who first taught people to plant mulberry and raise silkworms and weave silk, also known as the first silkworm god, and later also called the ritual of sacrificing silkworms as the first silkworm. According to the Tongjian Waiji, "Concubine Ancestor, the daughter of the Xiling clan, was the Yellow Emperor's concubine, who ruled the silk cocoon for clothing, and the later generations were the first silkworms"; the Han Riyi said, "The spring silkworm was born and the empress was pro-Sang in Yuzhong." The silkworm goddess Ishi princess Yushi, the goddess of the two gods. Northern Qi first worshipped the Yellow Emperor Yuan Concubine Concubine Ancestor as the ancestor silkworm god to be in harmony with women. Since then, Taoism and folk have regarded it as a silkworm god and have been worshipped to this day. ”
Silkworm cultivation is the wisdom of the ancestors of the Chinese nation, which contains and writes the long history and developed civilization of the Chinese nation, and also concentrates on the brilliance of Chinese agricultural affairs. Singing mountain songs to go out to pick mulberries, swaying like the wind swinging willows. Industrious and kind, the soul is skillful, and the sang girl has a splendid history.
Moth eyebrows, cherry lips lightly opened; peach light ripples, pink face shyness; soft twisting, flower shadow breeze...
The dance is freehand, gentle like the wind; the streamer is shaped, gorgeous as silk; the peach is burning, ethereal...
Soft and lubricated youth is beautiful in the festival, and traditions flow along the river of time. The clouds and purple mist are colorful and the flowers are fluttering in the spring. The women who dance in the posture of labor are just the overlapping shadows of Luo Shi, and they are even more splendid in Chinese culture.
The women of the mulberry did not only live in ancient times, but have always lived in the continuous agricultural affairs. Picking mulberry has also become a representative of agricultural affairs in the festival. Looking forward to lingering, beautiful rotation. Mulberry women change from less to old, from old to younger, from generation to generation, continuing the sweet and plump happiness.
China's first specialty product to go global is silk. "The barn knows etiquette, and the food and clothing know honor and disgrace", Chinese silk influences the world. The German geogeographer Richthofen wrote in his book "China" that "from 114 BC to 127 AD, silk trade was used between China and Central Asia, China and India as a medium", and named this western transportation route "Silk Road".
Spring is the sequel to the emotional ups and downs of the Spring Festival story.
The spring breeze is intoxicating, the ripples are light, the submerged verdant is verdant, and the bamboo yin and pine shadow.
Xianyi Egret, Pavilion Independence, Yingge Swallow Language, Fang Fei Full Hair.
Wildflowers blow away the bamboo Juanjuan,
There are still yellow orioles who are the most pitiful.
Ya Ji does not know the fate of the matter,
The back man flew over the North Mountain in front of it.
Eye-catching greenery, lung-washing air, tranquil tranquility, idyllic floating clouds... This is not a different kind of scenery far away from the red dust, but walking with civilization and nature. Walking along the Chinese lunar calendar, which has countless footprints of predecessors, staged a world of fireworks on earth, picturesque landscapes, purple gas, yunshui soup, and zhong linghao.
Popular global fad
Once, China's spring, with the posture of silk to the world.
Today, China's spring is going to the world in the form of a festival.
Almost all countries and peoples in the world have their own festivals. In contrast, the Chinese Spring Festival is one of the festivals with the longest historical span, the richest cultural heritage and spiritual connotation, which integrates more than 5,000 years of Chinese civilization.
Divers from Aqua Aquamania in KLCC, Malaysia, perform a water lion dance in preparation for the Spring Festival. Xinhua News Agency
In 2021, Thailand decided to list February 12, the first day of the Lunar New Year for the Chinese New Year, as a special holiday. In Vietnam, the Spring Festival is the most grand festival and the longest festival in the country. During the festival, it is also necessary to Chinese New Year's Eve and observe the New Year, set off firecrackers and fireworks on New Year's Eve, eat reunion dinners, and visit relatives and friends on the first day of the New Year to visit the New Year and catch up with temple fairs. South Korea has always maintained the custom of celebrating the Spring Festival on the first day of the first lunar month. During the Spring Festival, people also "migrate" during the Spring Festival to reunite with their families, and worship their ancestors and pray for the New Year. Singapore stipulates that the Chinese New Year is the country's official holiday, and the degree of importance is no different from that of China. Malaysia also lists Chinese New Year as an official holiday. During the Spring Festival, relatives are reunited and have fun, the Sunshine Square under the landmark twin towers, and people dressed in Chinese costumes play traditional Chinese folk music with guqin, erhu, bamboo flute and so on. As an important country on the "Maritime Silk Road", Indonesia also set the Chinese New Year as a legal holiday.
Asian countries attach so much importance to the Chinese Spring Festival, and countries outside Asia also attach great importance to the Chinese Spring Festival.
Many people are curious: Do Americans celebrate the Spring Festival? Of course, it has to be lived, and it is very characteristic. To be precise, it is both "inheritance" and "development". As early as 2003, the U.S. state of New York listed the Chinese Lunar New Year as an official holiday. Every spring festival after that, the state's famous Empire State Building will be illuminated with colorful lights, shining red and golden with traditional Chinese festive elements, and specially arranged for the Chinese to set off firecrackers, and the lion and dragon dance parade has become an important sightseeing event. Coincidentally, the City of San Francisco also made the Spring Festival an official holiday, and the City of Montville, New Jersey, included the Spring Festival as a public school holiday. In many cities in the United States, near the Spring Festival, urban buildings will be hung with red lanterns and Spring Festival ornaments, and major shopping malls are joyfully writing Chinese characters and carrying out various promotional activities. When the Spring Festival comes, American parents usually buy a number of bouquets of flowers and corresponding small red lanterns, and hang a small red lantern on each bouquet of flowers to give to family members, they think that such gifts can make the family blossom in the New Year, good luck. Americans also post spring leagues, but americans usually paste spring leagues not on door frames, but on door panels, or on walls, windows, or even on refrigerators... Moreover, the edges of the Spring League they paste are usually set with flashing LED lights, which they think looks good and festive. Adults in the United States will also give red envelopes to children during the Spring Festival. However, their red envelopes are stuffed in socks under children's pillows. This kind of move is simply a two-in-one of Christmas and Spring Festival! Americans want to set off firecrackers, to make a festive scene, but also afraid of insecurity, so they are ingenious and put on a motorcycle helmet very comically when setting off firecrackers. In addition, most of the American Spring Festival galas have become "Spring Festival joint galas", and everyone is not watching the performance together, but performing together - bundy. The old American Chinese New Year's Eve meal also stunned the authentic Chinese - in order to make this meal distinctive, they all bought Chinese food from the mall, and then put it on the table to eat and drink.
The Spring Festival of the Americans is really hi! However, in contrast, in order to be happy and good luck, they play more hilariously.
Do Americans make pies? No! It doesn't matter if they can't do it, they created their own pie making method: two pizzas are buckled together upside down, and they pinch along the edges, and there are tomato sauce, dumplings, tangyuan and the like in the middle, which makes a big pie. Chinese pie is not as big as this. Such a pie smashed on the head, although the meat foam nozzle, the "snot" flowed, the ketchup face, but the heart is still very cool - this is not the right pie in the sky? But Chinese the Spring Festival does not have the "trick" of "dropping the pie in the world", which has obviously become the "unique work" of Americans to celebrate the Spring Festival!
Such a Spring Festival method, tradition and trendy seamless docking, let people cover their mouths. It's also interesting to think about. Because this is enough to show that no one can stop today's Americans from celebrating the traditional Chinese New Year.
Not only do Americans celebrate the Chinese New Year, but the Chinese New Year has long been regarded as an international cultural event in Canada, especially in large cities such as Vancouver and Toronto. Not only that, the corresponding zodiac stamps and zodiac souvenirs are also very popular, and the entrances of many shopping malls during the Spring Festival are hung with big red lanterns, Spring League and dragon head portraits. In South America, starting in 2006, 500,000 firecrackers were fired in Brazil every year at 12 noon on the first day of the Chinese New Year. Whenever the Spring Festival comes, Argentines will purchase New Year goods and eat a reunion dinner with their families. On this special day, dragon boat races are also held.
In Europe, the atmosphere of the Chinese New Year is also very strong. Every year during the Spring Festival, Trafalgar Square in London, England, is bustling with drums and flags, making it the largest Spring Festival celebration in Europe. In order to celebrate the Chinese New Year, Russia imports a large number of fireworks and firecrackers from China every year. During the Spring Festival, red lanterns, Chinese knots, and blessings printed with Chinese can be seen everywhere in French streets, and the famous Galeries Lafayette department store also wears red and hangs gold to play Chinese New Year songs on a loop.
In Africa, Egypt's 187-meter-high Cairo Tower is lit up every year on Chinese New Year's Eve night to symbolize the festive Chinese red, while acrobatics, lion dances, song and dance performances are performed in the second stage to celebrate the Chinese New Year. There is another country in Africa that sets the Spring Festival as a national statutory holiday, and the whole country has a day off, which is Mauritius. During the holidays, traditional activities organized by the Mauritian government to celebrate the Chinese New Year, such as dragon dances, lion dances, firecrackers and stilt walking, will be staged in the streets and alleys. Mauritius National Television also hosted the Spring Festival Gala, which was broadcast live.
In Australia, the Spring Festival is not only a festival for Australian Chinese, but also an integral part of mainstream social and cultural festivals.
According to incomplete statistics, because of the cultural connotations such as ancestor worship, new year worship, conformity to the heavens, exorcism and exorcism of evil spirits, etc., the Chinese New Year has now entered the mainstream society of nearly 200 countries or regions around the world, and nearly 20 countries or regions have designated it as a legal holiday in the whole or part of the jurisdiction. Every year during the Spring Festival, about 2 billion people around the world celebrate the festival.
Even if the Spring Festival is not listed as a legal holiday, politicians from all over the world must congratulate all Chinese and Asians through the media on the New Year, or go to the corresponding communities to pay respects to the New Year and distribute red envelopes.
The Spring Festival can become a global festival, not only because Chinese culture is loved by the people of the world, but also because Chinese lifestyle and philosophy quietly change the world, but also the embodiment of China's international influence. Because the Spring Festival is not only a happy festival, but also condenses the spiritual outlook, moral concepts and national feelings of the Chinese nation, and carries the fine qualities and ideological essence of the Chinese nation.
Guangming Daily (2022.01.28. 13th edition)
Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily