Text: Great White
Firecrackers to remove the old age, spring breeze to send warmth into tusu;
Thousands of households always exchange new peaches for old charms.
The annual New Year's Chinese New Year's Eve Night arrives, and people who have been busy for a year have rushed back to their hometowns to share the reunion dinner on the last night of the year. Chinese New Year's Eve is very important for Chinese and is one of the most important of all the traditional festivals.
For children, they are very unfamiliar with many cultures in this world, and Chinese New Year's Eve night, children will inevitably ask their parents "Why is the last night of the lunar year called Chinese New Year's Eve?" ”
The story of the origin of the "Chinese New Year's Eve" has been told to us over and over again by our fathers, the children of the past have grown up, and now they are all parents, and the origin of traditional Chinese festivals will be passed on to the next generation by you.
Chinese New Year's Eve origin
In layman's terms, Chinese New Year's Eve refers to the last night of the lunar month (December), after 12:00 pm is the new year, the last day of the year is the "day of the end of the month", the last day of the year is called "the year", so the last night is called "Chinese New Year's Eve". House-to-door in China stays up all night to welcome the first day of the New Year, which is known as "keeping the year." The whole family watches the New Year together, the night is too difficult, there will be a variety of entertainment activities, is the most relaxing and enjoyable time of the year.
In addition, the most widely known legend about the origin of the Chinese New Year's Eve is the "Nian Beast".
As early as the last year of the Warring States period, the custom of Chinese New Year's Eve was born, and it is clearly recorded in the "Record of Customs" written by the Western Jin Dynasty Zhou, the ancients called the night of the last day of the Waxing Moon "Chinese New Year's Eve Night", and the "Xi" and "Nian" in the Chinese New Year's Eve were the same kind of large four-horned evil beasts.
At the end of each year, when the snow closes the mountain, the evil beast "Xi" has no food to eat in the deep mountain, and will come to the village to destroy it, and people will suffer from the plague of the beast, and slowly think of various ways to deal with it. Later, people knew that Xi was very afraid of red and loud noises, and when he saw red and heard loud noises, he would be frightened to flee in all directions.
So on the last day of the lunar year, every house would paste red couplets on the gates, hang red lanterns, and set off firecrackers to drive away the beasts. Everyone closes the doors and windows on the last night of the New Year to prevent the evil beasts from attacking.
People use the hidden food to cook a delicious meal, to treat their year's hard work, and also to pay homage to their ancestors before eating, praying for a safe and smooth new year. After Chinese New Year's Eve meal, people will sit together and nag, hold some entertainment activities, and gather together to prevent the beasts from invading again. Slowly, this custom became the habit of Chinese New Year's Eve everyone watching the year together. After the New Year, the Nian Beast and the Sunset Beast are two titles of a four-horned beast.
What are the specific customs and activities on this day of the New Year? Parents take a closer look back and carry on the inheritance of traditional Chinese culture to the next generation.
Paste Spring League
On the last day of the lunar year, that is, on the eve of the official start of the Chinese New Year's Eve meal, each family will list a big thing that is", "paste the Spring League", the annual Chinese New Year's Eve or twenty-nine, people will go to the street early in the morning to buy the Spring League, and then paste it outside their own gate, the general Spring Festival door pairs are neat, concise, dual sentences to express people's beautiful vision of the new year. At the same time, people will also hang festive red lanterns, and in some places, people also like to stick doors to ensure the safety of the New Year.
As long as in China, on the day of the New Year, both urban and rural areas will be replaced with a new pair of big red couplets to add a new festive atmosphere to the New Year.
Sacrifice to ancestors
On the Chinese New Year's Eve of the New Year, it is very important to sacrifice the ancestors of each family, and the rituals and customs of each place are different, and the forms are different. Most families place the spiritual seats of their deceased ancestors on the main hall, light candles, and then display sumptuous tributes such as chicken, duck, fish, meat, and fruits, and pour wine on the worship of future generations as a sign of respect.
In some places, they will first go to the tombstones of their ancestors to burn paper to pay tribute to their own year-long mourning for their deceased relatives.
On the night of Chinese New Year's Eve, every household has taken care of everything, and after removing the old cloth and the new cloth, and greeting the ancestors with colorful lights, they are ready to eat a hearty Chinese New Year's Eve meal together.
Dinner
Chinese New Year's Eve meal is also known as the reunion dinner, which refers to the most important reunion dinner eaten by the family reunion on the last night of the year Chinese New Year's Eve night. Every year on Chinese New Year's Eve Night, a sumptuous Chinese New Year's Eve dinner is the highlight of the night, which is not only colorful, but also has a very exquisite meaning. People generally have to pay homage to their ancestors before they can officially enjoy Chinese New Year's Eve meal.
The most important meal to eat once a year, every household will prepare a year on weekdays rarely eaten food, before the lack of food, people can eat a big meal, but wait until the Chinese New Year's Eve night, each family will prepare chicken, duck and fish meat and other delicious food, fish is a must have, meaning that there is more than enough every year. There are also tangyuan, lotus root and other foods, all of which have beautiful meanings hidden in delicious dishes.
Keep the years
Chinese New Year's Eve the night after eating Chinese New Year's Eve meal, it is time to keep the year, in the folk is also called "boiling the year", the most obvious feature of the year is to light the fire, keep the fire. That is to say, everywhere in the house must be brightly lit, and the family gathers together to talk, laugh and stay up all night to welcome the arrival of the new year.
In ancient times, people lit candles in various rooms Chinese New Year's Eve night, which is called "light waste", but now it is possible not to turn off the lights, so that after the year, it will make the family rich in the next year.
Longevity lamp
In the north of the mainland, to the Chinese New Year's Eve, people will also light longevity lanterns in front of the door, from Chinese New Year's Eve night to the fifteenth Lantern Festival of the first month, every night to light the red lanterns, can not be extinguished, which is called "longevity lamp", all night means that the family is prosperous, longevity, longevity, longevity and so on.
Chinese New Year's Eve that night, there are many taboos handed down by the people, such as forbidden to say unlucky words, avoid breaking dishes, avoiding vicious words and insulting others, and avoiding spilling filthy and dirty water outside, etc. In some places, they are forbidden to sweep the dust.
Nine winters and thirty nights, cold and warm are separated. After sitting until the fourth change, I will be one year old. Bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, the lunar year of the yin tiger has arrived, and I hope that you will be able to do everything smoothly and all the best in the new year. I also wish the children can grow up healthy and healthy in the new year, and grow up happily and happily!