Every year on the first day of the first lunar month, the custom of the common people is "chickens chirping, before the court firecrackers". After the opening of the financial gate, it is followed by the New Year's celebration. New Year's Greetings are a traditional Chinese folk custom, a way for people to say goodbye to the old and welcome the new, and to express good wishes to each other.
The history of the custom of worshipping the new year on the first day of the first lunar month
In ancient times, the original meaning of the word "New Year's Greeting" was to greet the Elderly with the New Year. This New Year's Eve usually starts with your own home. On the morning of the first day of the new year, after the juniors get up, they should first pay homage to the elders and wish them good health and longevity. After the elders are worshipped, they should distribute the "pressing money" prepared in advance to the younger generations. After paying homage to the elders in the family, people should also greet the New Year with smiles when they go out to meet, exchange auspicious words such as "Wishing you prosperity", "four seasons are good", "Happy New Year", and neighbors or relatives and friends also visit each other to visit the New Year or invite each other to drink and entertain.
The traditional New Year's greeting process and exquisiteness
The Chinese new year's wind has existed in the Han Dynasty. After the Tang and Song dynasties, it was very popular, and the custom of upper-class scholars and doctors congratulating each other with famous posts was very popular. Zhou Hui, a Song dynasty, said in the Qingbo Magazine: "During the Song Yuanyou period, the New Year's Festival often used servants to hold the name of the thorn instead." At that time, the scholars and doctors traveled widely, and if they went around to visit the New Year, it took both time and energy, so some friends who were not close enough did not go in person, but sent servants to take a two-inch-wide and three-inch-long card cut from plum blossom paper, on which the name, address, and congratulatory words of the recipient were written on it.
In the Eastern Han Dynasty, it was called "thorn", so the card was also called "name thorn". In the Ming Dynasty, people also replaced the New Year with a confession. Large households set up a red paper bag at the door, which is specially named for posting, called "door book". Wen Zhengming, an outstanding painter and poet of the Ming Dynasty, described in the poem "He Nian": "Do not seek to meet but to be a gurudwara, and the famous paper is full of shadows; I also throw a few pieces of paper with people, and the world hates Jane is not too vain." The "famous thorns" and "famous gurudwara" mentioned here are the origins of the present-day Greeting Card. Used to connect feelings and exchange greetings.
With the development of the times, the custom of worshiping the New Year has also continued to add new content and forms. Nowadays, in addition to following the previous way of new year worship, people have also risen by phone, WeChat, sms and so on. Especially at the moment of the epidemic, it is even more advocating video calls or exchanging blessings in various network ways. In ancient times, there was a distinction between worshiping the New Year and celebrating the New Year: the New Year was to prostrate to the elders; The New Year is a celebration of relatives and friends of the same generation. Nowadays, some organs, rest groups, enterprises, and schools gather together to congratulate each other, calling it "reunion worship."
The New Year's Greetings express people's good wishes for the Spring Festival. As the saying goes, "the plan of a day lies in the morning, and the plan of the year lies in the spring." The end of the past year has also begun with a new movement. I wish you all the best in the new year!