Fu Tao is a Han folk culture with a long history. The ancients wrote the names of "Shen Tu" and "Lei Yu" Er Shen on mahogany boards, or painted the image of Er Shen on paper, hung it, inlaid it or pasted it on the door, in order to pray for blessings and eliminate disasters. It is said that mahogany has the function of suppressing evil spirits and exorcising ghosts. This is the earliest symbol of peach.
Since ancient times, people in China have believed that peaches have the function of exorcism. In the pre-Qin period, the peach broom with peach handle had magical power to exorcise evil spirits. "Book of Rites under Tan Gong" says: "It's evil to lose your monarch and Wu Zhutao to the throne." "Zuo Zhuan" has been "xianggong" for twenty-nine years, and there are examples in this regard. "Zhou Li Xiaguan" said that the vassal alliance should cut off the cow's ear to get blood, and the peach blossom should be used as a town object. In the fourth year of Zuo Zhuan, Zhao Gong recorded that when taking ice, a bow made of peach wood and a barbed arrow were used for disaster relief ceremony. The predecessor of peach symbol is peach stalk and peach branch.
Historical development:
Ying Shao's "Custom Yi Tong" in the Eastern Han Dynasty said: "The Book of the Yellow Emperor says that in ancient times, there were two brothers, full of tea and melancholy, who lived under a peach tree in Crescent Mountain, where ghosts were simple and simple, and they jumped with reeds to eat tigers. Therefore, the county magistrate painted a picture of a tiger hanging from a reed on the door on New Year's Eve. "
Fu Tao first wrote Er Shen's name or depicted images, which later evolved into auspicious words and then developed into dual poems. This is a couplet before papermaking appeared. At the same time, it also shows that the custom of hanging peach symbols in the Spring Festival has been popular at least in the Eastern Han Dynasty.
The door idol is said to have originated from the symbol of peach. "Fu Tao" is a rectangular red board hanging on both sides of the gate. According to the Book of Rites, the peach symbol is six inches long and three inches wide, and the words "Shen Tu" and "Lei Yu" are written on the mahogany board. "On the first day of the first month, I made a peach symbol for this family and named it Xianmu. All ghosts are afraid of it."
Therefore, the Qing Dynasty's "Yanjing Shi Sui Ji" said: "Spring Festival couplets, that is, Fu Tao." In the Five Dynasties, couplets began to appear on the symbols of peaches, replacing the names of Shen Tu and Lei Yu, and people usually wrote some auspicious words on them. Two years after Song Taizu went to Germany, Meng, the king of Shu, tried it early and wrote an inscription for the bachelor on New Year's Eve. The master of Shu was not satisfied with the words written by the bachelor, that is, he wrote "New Year's Day, Qing Yu, Jiajie, Changchun".