Legends about the origin of the Spring Festival include: the Spring Festival originated in La Worship, witchcraft ceremony, "Nian" beast, the rise of offering sacrifices to heaven in Yu Shun period, the word "harmony" in ancient Chinese characters, flowers vying for the world, "lucky money" and door gods. I think among the many origins of the Spring Festival, six are most worth mentioning. Let's take a look:
One of the legends about the origin of the Spring Festival: the evolution theory of the word "He" originated from ancient calligraphy.
It is said that the word "Nian" was first seen in Oracle Bone Inscriptions, Yin Ruins. Oracle Bone Inscriptions's glyph is "He", and below it is "Man". The whole looks like a person carrying the harvested grain, which means a bumper harvest, and "person" is also a sound. Oracle Bone Inscriptions often says "pray for the year" and "accept the year", which means to pray for a bumper harvest of crops.
Because in the Shang dynasty, crops were planted once a year and harvested only once a year, the "year" was also extended to the time unit, that is, 12 months. There are some sayings in Oracle Bone Inscriptions, such as "seven years" and "five years".
Shuo Wen Jie Zi was originally written. Gu Shuye. Thousands of voices from the grain. The opening of seal script makes the writing of "nian" in regular script, which directly affects the writing of "nian" in this grass. Many contemporary calligraphers only imitate the handwriting of the ancients and do not go deep into the source of cursive script.
In ancient China calligraphy, the word "Nian" was placed in the Grain Department, indicating that the weather was favorable and the crops were plentiful. Because cereal crops are usually harvested once a year. "Year" is extended to the name of the year. From the original meaning and extended meaning of the word "Nian", we can know that China has been an agricultural country based on agriculture since Shang Dynasty at the latest.
The second legend of the origin of the Spring Festival: the story of "year" divided by "evening"?
Legend has it that a long time ago, there was a monster named Xi. Every year, Xi always comes out to eat people. Even the "Nine-Day Chef ordered Taiyi Yuan Di to bless the performance of a good Buddha" couldn't help it. Who is the long name of this word? This one was sealed by the Jade Emperor, and it is the "Kitchen God" offered by every household.
This monster named "Xi" came out at the end of the year to make trouble and harm the people, so the supervisor sent by heaven, the head of our family, returned to heaven, and heaven sent another beast named "Nian". This god beast named Nian is miraculous. He waved a HongLing and put a bamboo pole into the fire, making it crackle and scaring away the nocturnal animals. Finally destroyed the evening beast!
This day happens to be December of the lunar calendar, not the last day of the twelfth lunar month. In order to thank and commemorate Nian beast, people call the last day of the twelfth lunar month "New Year's Eve" and the first day of the new year "Spring Festival", which has gradually evolved into the present Spring Festival.
The third legend of the origin of the Spring Festival: the theory of making calendars in the New Year
According to legend, in ancient times, there was a young man named Wannian. Seeing that the festivals were chaotic at that time, he had an accurate plan. But he couldn't find a way to calculate the time. One day, he was tired of chopping wood up the mountain and sat in the shade to rest. The movement of the shadow inspired him. He designed a sundial to measure the time of the day. Later, inspired by the dripping spring water on the cliff, he began to make a five-layer clepsydra to calculate the time. Over time, he found that every 360 days, the four seasons would cycle once, and the length of the weather would be repeated.
On one occasion, Zu Ti went to learn about the progress of the perpetual calendar. When he boarded the altar of the sun and the moon, he saw a poem engraved on the stone wall next to the Temple of Heaven: "Sunrise and sunset 360, start all over again. The vegetation is divided into four seasons and there are twelve laps a year. " Knowing that the perpetual calendar was created, I personally boarded the Sun Moon Pavilion to visit the perpetual calendar. Wan Nian pointed to the astronomical phenomena and said to Zu Ti, "It's been twelve months now, the old year has passed and the new year has begun again. Please make a festival for you. " Zu Ti said, "Spring is the first year of a year, so let's call it Spring Festival". It is said that this is the origin of the Spring Festival.
After years of long-term observation and careful calculation, he worked out an accurate solar calendar. When he showed his successor the solar calendar, he was covered with silver whiskers. The monarch was deeply moved. In order to commemorate the achievements of 10 thousand years, he named the solar calendar "perpetual calendar" and named it the birthday star of the sun, moon and moon. In the future, people will hang up the Shou Xingtu during the Chinese New Year, which is said to commemorate the venerable ten thousand years. In memory of him, the beginning must be "Year".
Legend 4 of the origin of the Spring Festival: Yu Shun's theory of offering sacrifices to heaven
There are many legends about the origin of the Spring Festival, but it is generally believed that the Spring Festival began in Yu Shun.
In the era of historical legends, Zhucheng and Juxian were one of the active areas of Dongyi. After Dongyi became Shao Hao, it was one of the earlier tribes in China. Therefore, Xu believes that Chiyou is the leader of Dongyi tribe, Chiyou was defeated in the battle of Zhuolu, and the culture of Yanhuang tribe moved eastward to the Yao and Shun period.
However, the worship of Mount Tai is different from the general worship of heaven, but the worship of heaven by emperors or tribal alliance leaders, such as Yu Shundong visiting Mount Tai to worship heaven; The pottery found in Lingyang River in Juxian County may be a sacrifice to heaven at the local clan level. Wen Tao unearthed in Qianzhai, Zhucheng is a sacrifice to heaven at the tribal level. From the rich connotation and complex stratigraphic relationship of Qianzhai site, we can see that the ancestors there were a relatively advanced tribe, who worshipped birds and the sun and were also the cultural center of the tribe at that time. It is worth noting that this place is not far from the legendary "Fengshi" and belongs to the Weihe River Basin. It is quite possible that Yu Shun lived here before he was elected as the tribal leader, or he belonged to this tribe. Of course, the site of Lingyang River in Juxian County is also related to Yu Shun. Even Yu Shun once made a small-scale and tribal sacrifice to heaven in Qianzhai or Lingyanghe, and after he was elected as the tribal leader, he brought the custom of worship to Mount Tai in Qianzhai of Zhucheng, rising to the imperial level.
One day more than 2000 BC, Shun became emperor and led his men to worship heaven and earth. Since then, people have regarded this day as the beginning of a year. It is said that this is the origin of the Lunar New Year, which was later called the Spring Festival. The Spring Festival used to be called New Year's Day. The month in which the Spring Festival is held is called January.
The fifth legend of the origin of the Spring Festival: the theory of competing for flowers to rule the world
In Guanzhong area of Shaanxi Province, there are legends about the Spring Festival. According to legend, the Jade Emperor sent Maitreya from Heaven to earth in order to rule the world. When the Tathagata knew this, he thought: I am the Buddha, why not let me go? So, I went to the Jade Emperor Theory. The Jade Emperor was speechless and had to say, "Let's discuss it." Taking advantage of the discussion, the Jade Emperor thought of a solution. ?
He invited Maitreya Buddha and Tathagata Buddha, put two pots of flowers in front of them, and said, "You two should each handle one pot of these two pots of flowers. Whoever blooms first will come down to earth to rule the world." Tathagata is thoughtful and thoughtful, knowing that the Jade Emperor must be partial to Maitreya, because he guessed that the Jade Emperor was afraid that what he said was unacceptable, so he used offering flowers as an excuse to do it. I'm afraid the jade emperor secretly arranged these two pots of flowers, so he also came up with a subtotal. He took the opportunity of Maitreya's closing his eyes to thank him and quietly changed the position of the two pots of flowers. The next day, the Tathagata bloomed, so Maitreya took care of the world for one day, which was the first day of the first month. Legend has it that Maitreya has a kind heart. On this day, he told people to eat, dress and sleep well, so on the first day of the first month, people spent the day happily. ?
Later, in order to commemorate Maitreya, people called the moment when the two Buddhas handed over in early spring "Spring Festival".
Legend of the origin of the Spring Festival (6): the theory of exorcising animals in the new year
In modern folk customs, celebrating the Spring Festival is also called Chinese New Year, which is a day for family reunion. There is also a legend about China New Year: According to legend, there was a monster named Nian in ancient times. It lives on the bottom of the sea for a long time, and climbs ashore every New Year's Eve, devouring livestock and hurting people's lives. So every year on New Year's Eve, people in the village take their families to avoid Nian beast.
On New Year's Eve, Nian Beasts broke into the village. It saw a family with bright candles and red paper on the door, and Nian screamed and rushed over. As we approached the door, there was a sudden "bang" in the yard, and Nian dared not approach it. At this time, the courtyard door was wide open, and the old man was wearing a red robe and laughing in the courtyard. "Nian" was frightened to disgrace and fled in panic. The story soon spread in other villages, and everyone knew the way to get rid of Nian beast.
Since then, every year on New Year's Eve, every household has posted red couplets and set off firecrackers to drive away the "Nian" beast. This custom spread more and more widely, and there has been a "New Year" since then.
Of course, these are just legends, but from these orderly and rule-based legends, it can be reflected from the side that in ancient farming society, people's fear of nature is highly abstract, but it also tells us that they are not powerless in the face of fear, and the myths and legends of "punishing evil and promoting good" always pray for good weather and let people live and work in peace and contentment!