On the first day of the New Year's Day holiday, the meaning of New Year's Day in ancient times was different from today's.
For example, the New Year's Day of the Xia Dynasty: it is the first day of the first month
The Shang Dynasty was the first day of the twelfth month
The Zhou Dynasty was the first day of the 11th month
The Qin Dynasty was the first day of October
Until Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty restored the summer calendar and unified New Year's Day as the first day of the first month, that is, the Spring Festival.
In different historical periods, the name of the New Year is also different
The pre-Qin dynasty was called "Shangyuan", "Yuan Ri", "Change the Year", "Sacrifice the Year" and so on
During the Han Dynasty and the Han Dynasty, it was also known as "Three Dynasties", "New Year's Day", "Zhengdan" and "Zhengri".
In the Wei and Jin dynasties, it was called "Yuanchen", "Yuanri", "Yuantou", "Sui Dynasty" and so on
In the Tang, Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties, it was called "New Year's Day", "Yuan Day", "New Year's Day", "New Year's Day", "New Yuan" and so on
It was not until the Qing Dynasty that the title of New Year's Day or Yuan Day was finalized.
The "yuan" in the word "New Year's Day" symbolizes the "head" of a person in the oracle bone inscription, meaning the beginning and the first. And "Dan" is a pictogram that depicts the scene of the rising sun, meaning early morning. Therefore, "New Year's Day" is united, which means the first morning of the new year.
In many ancient poems, mentions of "Yuan Ri" abound. For example, the "Yuan Ri" in Meng Haoran's "Tian Jia Yuan Ri" and Wang Anshi's "Yuan Ri" actually refers to the current Spring Festival.
Although there are differences in dates and names between ancient and modern New Year's Day, they together represent the beginning of the new year, and they are both moments of celebration of the arrival of the new year, full of good wishes and expectations.
