The Spring Festival is the most solemn traditional festival among Chinese people. It is a folk festival that integrates praying for blessings and warding off disasters, celebrating entertainment and eating.

The Spring Festival has a long history. It evolved from the ancient times to pray for good luck at the beginning of the year and to offer sacrifices. It carries a rich historical and cultural heritage in its inheritance and development. The New Year activities center around offering sacrifices and praying for a good year, and are carried out in the form of removing the old and bringing in the new, worshiping gods and ancestors, exorcising evil spirits and fighting disasters, and praying for a good harvest. The content is rich and colorful, lively and festive, and has a strong flavor of the new year, embodying the essence of the traditional culture of Chinese civilization.

The Spring Festival refers to the traditional Lunar New Year in the Chinese cultural circle, commonly known as "New Year's Day". The traditional names are New Year, New Year, and New Year, but it is also known as celebrating the New Year, celebrating the New Year, and celebrating the New Year. It is the most solemn traditional festival of the Chinese nation.

The Spring Festival was started by Yu Shun. One day more than 2000 BC, Shun became the emperor and led his men to worship heaven and earth. From then on, people regard this day as the beginning of the year. It is said that this is the origin of the Lunar New Year, which was later called the Spring Festival.

The origin of the Spring Festival

So where does "year" come from? There are two main theories among the people: one is that in ancient times, there was a ferocious monster called "Nian". Every year on the 30th of the twelfth lunar month, it would go from village to house, looking for human flesh and killing living creatures. One night on the 30th of the twelfth lunar month, "Nian" arrived in a village and happened to see two shepherd boys competing in a cattle whip competition. "Nian" suddenly heard the sound of cracking whips in the air, and was so frightened that he ran away. It ran to another village and saw a red dress hanging in front of a house. It didn't know what it was and was so frightened that it turned around and ran away. Later, it came to a village and looked into the door of a house. It saw bright lights inside, which made it dizzy, so it had to sneak away with its tail between its legs. From this, people figured out that "Nian" was afraid of the sound, red, and light, and thought of many ways to resist it, which gradually evolved into today's New Year customs.

Another theory is that in ancient Chinese calligraphy, the word "year" was placed in the word "He" to indicate good weather and good harvests. Because grains generally ripen once a year. The "year" was extended to the name of the year.

The origin of "New Year's Eve"

In ancient times, people relied on the sky for food. If the harvest was not good, they would borrow grain from the landlord. They had to pay it back years ago, and the deadline was years ago. It's equivalent to borrowing for two years. Therefore, for some poor people, celebrating the New Year is like passing a test. If they pass, they are lucky. If they cannot pass, they will have to sell their children or flee.

Today, the meaning of "year-end" has become much richer, and there is even a saying of "year-end syndrome". For those in the workplace, if the goals they originally planned for this year have not been achieved, or they are not satisfied at work, the "year-end" has become the time for them to change jobs.

Spring Festival Customs

In the traditional sense, the Spring Festival refers to the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month to the 19th day of the first lunar month. During this period, people across the country will hold colorful celebrations. Before New Year's Eve, people mainly clean their houses and buy new year's goods. On New Year's Eve, people will serve dishes, pour fine wine, and hold a grand sacrificial ceremony to repay the kindness of their ancestors. On the night of New Year's Eve, after people have a reunion dinner, their families will gather together to watch the New Year's Eve. Starting from the first day of the first lunar month, people will hold activities such as lion dance, setting off firecrackers, and New Year greetings. On the 15th day of the first lunar month every year, there are folk celebration activities such as viewing lanterns, guessing lantern riddles, and celebrating the Lantern Festival.

Spring couplets and New Year pictures

Spring couplets and New Year pictures both originated from the custom of exorcising ghosts in ancient times. During the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties, every Spring Festival, every household would set up peach figures in front of their doors to draw divine tea and Yulei to drive away ghosts. Later it developed into the door god New Year pictures. Woodblock New Year pictures became popular in the Song Dynasty, and the content of the New Year pictures also expanded. The "Four Beautiful Pictures" that are still preserved today are the New Year pictures of that time.

Spring couplets appeared in the Tang Dynasty. Writing Spring Festival couplets became more popular in the Song Dynasty. Posting Spring Festival couplets has become popular all over the country in the Ming Dynasty. Spring couplets are a unique language art form and calligraphy art form in my country, and have spread to South Korea and other places. Spring couplets not only express people's wishes, but also add to the festive atmosphere.

Firecrackers

The original purpose of firecrackers is to drive away ghosts and ghosts, or to welcome gods. Later, it developed into a symbol of saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new, and became the folk symbol that best represents the arrival of the new year.

The earliest reliable record of firecrackers can be found in the "Jingchu Sui Sui Ji" written by Zongmao of Liang Dynasty in the Southern Dynasty: "The first day of the first lunar month is the day of the Three Yuan Dynasty, which is called the Dragon Boat Festival. The cock crows and rises before the court. Firecrackers were used to ward off evil spirits from the mountains. "The firecrackers at that time were made by burning bamboo in the fire to produce a popping sound.

The first thing I do when I get up in the New Year is firecrackers.

New Year Cake and Dumplings

New Year Cake, also known as Sticky Cake, is homophonic to "Nian Nian Gao", which embodies people's hope for a happy life in the future. Rice cakes are generally made from sticky grains. In the north, there are yellow rice cakes, in the south of the Yangtze River, there are water-milled rice cakes, and in the southwest, ethnic minorities have glutinous rice cakes.

The most popular New Year food in the north is dumplings, also known as dumplings, slots and flat food. In the 5th century, dumplings "shaped like a crescent moon" had become a common Spring Festival food among the people. Before the Song Dynasty, dumplings were called "Jiaozi" or "Shuijiaoer". The name "Bian Shi" began to appear in the Yuan Dynasty. Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the word "dumpling" has been commonly used.

New Year greetings

The pilgrimage and group worship in ancient national etiquette, as well as the group worship and New Year greetings among the common people, are important activities to strengthen social relations and family relationships during the New Year.

In the family, the younger generation first kowtows to their elders when they get up in the morning and wishes them good health and longevity. Then, go to the homes of relatives and friends in turn to pay New Year greetings to the elders. The elders give New Year greeters New Year's money and wish them healthy growth. Friends also visit each other to pay New Year greetings. If there are many relatives and friends, the New Year greeting activity will last for many days.

New Year's money

New Year's money is a custom during the New Year and is a kind of good wish. Although the currencies have changed, the folk custom of elders giving New Year's money to younger ones is still passed down during the New Year. , which expresses the elders’ best wishes for the children’s growth and wishes them healthy growth.

Shou Sui

For the elderly, there is a feeling that time is fleeting and a sense of cherishing the years. For young people, there is a sense of growing new buds and a sense of hard work and progress. Staying up late is a stop in life, and it is also a longing and yearning for the new year. Staying up late also embodies the beautiful vision of family reunion, reciting family ties, seeing off the old and welcoming the new.

The tradition of keeping the year old on New Year's Eve has been passed down since ancient times, including offering sacrifices to ancestors, giving New Year's money, having a reunion dinner, making dumplings, stepping on the New Year's Eve, setting off firecrackers, chatting around the fire, having fun, guessing riddles, playing cards, playing promotion charts and many other customs.

The significance of the traditional Spring Festival festival

Wherever there are Chinese people, there will definitely be a presence of the Spring Festival. Looking across the land of China and all over the world, during the Spring Festival, fireworks bloom, dragons dance, and laughter ripples. The Spring Festival brings excitement to China, and the Spring Festival is also going to the world. The Spring Festival is not only the Spring Festival of the Chinese people, but also the Spring Festival of the world. China's Spring Festival is a contribution to world civilization and a gift to all mankind.

The Spring Festival is a festival that focuses on displaying traditional culture. Celebrating the Spring Festival is a review and encouragement of peace, friendship and family affection, and a blessing and prayer for a better life in the future. Spring Festival culture is a long-standing Chinese culture and oriental culture, which is loved by people and deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. The Spring Festival is deeply rooted in the Chinese people's hearts. In this festival, people value family ties and family. The charm of the Spring Festival is the charm of China, the charm of the East, and the charm of world civilization.