Chinese New Year's Eve night, i think many people have now gathered around the table with their families, while bumping melon seeds and eating oranges, while watching the Spring Festival Gala, and even some children are around the knees of their grandparents, listening to their grandparents talk about the Chinese New Year's Eve they have experienced in the years, and from time to time their parents also interject a sentence or two, saying the Chinese New Year's Eve nights they have experienced.
Chinese New Year's Eve is the most traditional festival in Chinese, held on the 30th or 29th day of the lunar month, the last day of the lunar calendar, on which people often observe the New Year.
How can the long vigil be less than the story, not only the stories of the grandparents, parents and fathers, but also the stories related to the Chinese New Year's Eve and the year, saying that Chinese New Year's Eve, people naturally think of "nian", in fact, in ancient Chinese mythology, the "nian" is named after a fierce god named "Nian".
There are many versions of the story about the "Nian Beast", which I will share with you today on this festive day, and you can also tell it to the children at home.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="01" >▷"year" legend one</h1>
It is said that in a deep sea lived a four-legged, four-horned, fierce-looking beast, and this giant beast would come to the village every last day of the lunar calendar, that is, Chinese New Year's Eve night, to harass the name of the village, and this giant beast could eat all living things.
Seeing that it was almost Chinese New Year's Eve night, many people in the village fled to the mountains to take refuge, and it just so happened that on this day there was an old man begging in the village, and a grandmother who had not yet escaped from the village saw that the old man was pitiful, so she prepared a meal for the old man and instructed the old man to flee for his life quickly.
Who knew that the old man heard about the ferocity of the nian beast, not only was he not afraid, but also let grandma go to escape, and when he came back at dawn, he knew that he was still alive, and grandma carefully looked at this gray-bearded grandfather, the old man looked seventy or eighty years old, but his spirit was vibrant, and he was very energetic, and he saw that his persuasion was ineffective, and Grandma no longer said anything, so he quickly fled for his life.
After the night nian beast came to the village, he found that the old woman's door in the east of the village was pasted with red peach symbols, the candles in the house were bright, and before he got to the house, he heard a crackling sound, and the frightened Nian beast ran away, and the next day on the first day of the first month, after the villagers returned to the village, they found that there was no sign of being destroyed by the nian beast in the village, at this time the grandmother remembered the words of the old man, the villagers rushed to the grandmother's house, and saw the big red peach charm posted on the door, and the bamboo burning in the yard "crackled" in the fire.
The old man and the villagers said that the Nian beast was afraid of firecrackers, red peach charms (red paper), fire, the villagers were very happy after listening to it, and then every Chinese New Year's Eve day, every household was dressed neatly, pasted with peach charms, burned firecrackers, and on this day and night the fire was bright, people spent all night for the New Year, and then slowly this custom was also passed on to future generations.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="02" >▷"year" legend two</h1>
For the legend of the Nian Beast, different places have different mythological stories, so there is only one story that can satisfy the curiosity of children, and then let's talk about the second story about the Nian Beast.
Legend has it that in the ancient times, there was a beast with a terrifying head, a ferocious nature, and a man-eating beast, because it always shouted out a sound like "Nian ~" in its mouth, so the people called him "Nian", and as the Nian Beast continued to harass the people, people gradually mastered the "predation" habit of the Nian Beast.
Every year on the last day of the lunar month, the beast will come to the human world, and when the chicken just barks, the beast will go, so on this day the people will quickly lock the doors and windows, and tie the adults with wheat straw outside the door, and after the beast comes, they find that there is nothing to eat, only adults with wheat straw, for which the people are very happy, and every year they are so "playing" with the beast.
Very many years later, the people gradually forgot about the Nian Beast, this time Chinese New Year's Eve night Nian Beast came to the human world again, the people were shocked, many people suffered, it just so happened that the newlyweds who were hosting the banquet came out wearing big red clothes, the Nian Beast stood up at first glance, and did not eat the pro-married couple, and happened to have a child lighting a firecracker, when he heard the sound of firecrackers "crackling", the Nian Beast was even more frightened and fled.
At this time, people understood that the original Nian beast was afraid of cannon battles and red, and from then on, every Chinese New Year's Eve night, people began to post red paper, hang red lights, and set off firecrackers in front of the door, and lively this year, so the last day of the year also became "New Year".
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="03" >▷"year" legend three</h1>
The above two stories are recorded in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas", "The Story of Liaozhai", etc., but after all, this is just a myth and legend, if you want to talk to your family and children about science, you can't help but study the word "Nian".
In the oracle bone, the "year" character image of people negative he, the word as "秂" shape, in ancient times there is no current diversified form, people's income basically comes from crops, "秂" is people pray that the next year can be smooth wind and rain, grain abundance, and the valley is generally a year ripe, so "year" is extended to the name of the year, and for a long time it has become a traditional festival in China, that is, "New Year".
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="04" >▷"sunset" legend</h1>
In fact, the New Year is the Chinese New Year's Eve night, so the myth about this day is not only the Nian Beast, but also a monster named "Xi".
Legend has it that in the deep mountains and dense forests, there lived a monster named "Xi", this monster was tall and fierce, often went to the human world to eat the livestock used by the people's families to sacrifice, after a long time, people hated "Xi", so they told the Stove King where, the Stove King saw that the people were also very sympathetic to the evil of the Night Beast, so he asked the Jade Emperor to send troops to surrender the Night Beast.
The Jade Emperor did not want to interfere in human affairs, so the Stove Emperor took out a human snack: sugar melon, the Jade Emperor who had been living in the deep palace for many years had seen this kind of snack, so he quickly tasted it, this bite was not tight, the mouth of the sticky Jade Emperor could not be opened, no matter what the Stove Emperor said, the Jade Emperor kept nodding.
The Emperor of the Stove brought a cup of hot water to the Jade Emperor, and when he saw that the Jade Emperor was better, he took the opportunity to ask the Jade Emperor who he planned to send to surrender the Beast, and the Jade Emperor was stuck by the sugar melon and kept saying: "Sticky, really sticky", at this time, the gods in the hall did not want to surrender the Beast, so they hurriedly said: "The Jade Emperor has a purpose, sending Shennong's younger son nian Chinese New Year's Eve."
So Nian took the cannonball and mixed sky Aya made from his friend Nezha's fire-pointed gun to fight with the Yu Beast for three hundred rounds, and finally surrendered the Xi Beast, because the Mixed Heaven Aya was red silk, so in the future, the Xi Beast was very afraid when he saw red and heard the sound of the cannonball.
Nian also cut the red silk into sections to the people, let them hang in front of the door, and also taught the people the method of making firecrackers, from then on the people began to set off firecrackers on the night of the Chinese New Year's Eve, pasting red silk, the people are no longer afraid of the beast, so Chinese New Year's Eve this day is called "Chinese New Year's Eve", the first day of the first month is called "Nian".
Seeing so many stories, do you think that Chinese New Year's Eve will no longer be lonely on this day, although now that science and technology are developed, people can do anything without leaving the house, but taking the family and children to understand the ancient legends is also a means to expand the imagination of children, taking advantage of this excellent opportunity to get along, let the family affection spread in the mythological story.
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