People celebrate the Spring Festival with many customs. But every custom is different in the long years, and there is a process of evolution and development. Let's talk about some major customs.

First, worship the kitchen god. Sacrifice to Kitchen God is one of the five great sacrifices in ancient China. Book of rites? Qu Lixia said that the Emperor of Heaven would offer five sacrifices, namely, "the household, the stove, the middle trough (the trough that receives water under the eaves), the door and the line". So our ancestors believed in animism. Kitchen God is in second place. However, the ancient sacrificial furnace was in summer, not in the twelfth lunar month. Book of rites? "Moon Order" contains: "Sacrifice the stove in Meng Xia Yue". It was not until the Han Dynasty that it began to change to the twelfth lunar month. Legend has it that there was a man named Zifang in the Han Dynasty who saw the Kitchen God on the morning of the second day of the twelfth lunar month and sacrificed the antelope to it to make him rich. Therefore, people changed the day of offering sacrifices to stoves to the twelfth lunar month. When is the twelfth month? At first, people in the Han Dynasty regarded the three "garrison" days from winter to the future as the twelfth lunar month, that is, people could choose any day of the twelfth lunar month as the day of offering sacrifices to stoves. Later, it was unified and the eighth day of December was designated as the twelfth month. It is clearly written in the Chronology of Jingchu's Age, "The eighth day of December is the twelfth month." Why is the custom year of offering sacrifices to the Kitchen God changed to1February 24th today? This is due to Fan Chengda, a poet in the Song Dynasty, who wrote in his words: "According to the ancient legend, on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, the kitchen owner talks to the sky, and there are few clouds and cars, but there are many cups and plates at home." Today, people's custom of offering sacrifices to stoves also comes from this.

Secondly, post Spring Festival couplets. Sticking Spring Festival couplets originated from hanging peach symbols in ancient times. In ancient times, on New Year's Day, people wrote the names of Shen Tu and Lei Yu on a mahogany board and hung them by the door to ward off evil spirits and keep peace. Why use mahogany? Who are Shen Tu and Lei Yu? The answer should be found in Shan Hai Jing, which says: There is Dushuo Mountain in the sea, and there is a big peach tree on the mountain, with strong roots and thick branches, "winding for three thousand miles". Between its branches, there is a ghost gate in the northeast, which is where all ghosts go in and out. There are two ghosts in the tree, one is Shen Tu and the other is Lei Yu. With them around, ghosts will behave themselves and dare not expect anything. This has also become the reason why people hang peach charms.

In the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, I began to write couplets on the peach board, which was the beginning of Spring Festival couplets and couplets. Song Shi? Shu recorded: "Meng Chang used the peach symbol of bachelor's degree, because it was not a job, pretending to write the title cloud:" In the new year, the festival number is Changchun. " This couplet was inscribed by Meng Changjun, the Emperor of Shu, and became the first Spring Festival couplets in China in the New Year.

In the Song Dynasty, people began to write Spring Festival couplets on paper. There are not only couplets, but also couplets. It is said that Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, advocated writing Spring Festival couplets in red paper and ink. He likes to make couplets, so he is called "the son of heaven". He instructed that the Spring Festival couplets should be posted not only in the palace compound, but also among the people. He also called on officials and scholars to write Spring Festival couplets. To show that the whole world is celebrating and people are happy together.

Third, stick to the door. Spring Festival couplets are posted on the door frame, and the door gods are posted on the door panel. Door-sticking gods evolved from hanging peach symbols. There is a book called "Is the Month Generalized? In December, the order said, "Taoism is called the door god, and the left moon becomes the right." The god of Gasmen, meaning from Fu Tao, used Shen Tu and Lei Yu to ward off evil spirits, so the tree was in the door. " The difference is that Fu Tao is the name of Er Shen, and the keeper is the portrait of Er Shen.

But in the Tang Dynasty; The goalkeeper was replaced, and Qin He was replaced. Here is a story about Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong, who was seriously ill. Every night, ghosts cried for his life. He was terrified. One night, the war general Qin He stood guard for him, so Taizong could sleep peacefully. Later, Emperor Taizong ordered the painter to draw portraits of two generals and put them on the door. At first, it was posted in the palace, and later it became the door god of thousands of families. In the Five Dynasties, the keeper was replaced by Zhong Kui. Zhong Kui is a ghost eater. This story comes from Shen Kuo's Meng Qian Bi Tan. Li Longji, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, had a terrible dream one night. He dreamed of a GREAT GHOST, wearing a broken hat and a blue robe, holding one eye, holding a kid in his left hand, digging his ghost eye in his right hand, and then spitting it out. Ming Chengzu was surprised to ask who GREAT GHOST was. Answer: Zhong Kui. When Ming Chengzu woke up, he found a famous painter, Wu Daozi, and drew a picture of "Catching Ghosts" according to his own description. In the Five Dynasties, people pasted this painting as a door god and hung it on New Year's Eve. In the Song Dynasty, the goalkeepers were Wen Qiao and Yue Fei. Today, people often use New Year pictures instead of door gods.

Fourth, set off firecrackers. Setting off firecrackers in the New Year has become a custom. In the Song Dynasty, Wang Anshi wrote a poem "January Day", which said: "Firecrackers kill for a year, and spring breeze warms Tu Su." This is the fireworks on January 1. The ancients used bamboo to make a loud sound, so they called it "firecrackers" to set off firecrackers to drive away Shan Gui. It is said that there is a man named Nian in Shan Gui. He is an evil guy and people often use firecrackers to drive him away. In the Chronicle of Jingchu in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, firecrackers were recorded to drive away ghosts. In the Tang Dynasty, people called "firecrackers" "exploding poles". Lai Gu said in the poem "Early Spring": "The new calendar is only half open, and the small court is still together. Gunpowder was invented in the Song Dynasty, and soon there was a "whip explosion" of gunpowder wrapped in paper, and the sound of ignition was endless. "Wulin according to the past? Except that the yearbook says, "As for the explosive war, there are more than 100 tablets of thread medicine hidden in it. Today has come to the era of fireworks, and all kinds of flowers explode with fireworks, which are even more ingenious, colorful and blue.

China is an ancient agricultural country, which has always attached importance to spring. There is a saying that "a year's plan lies in spring". Because the situation of spring ploughing directly affects the people's livelihood for one year. To show the importance of spring, beginning of spring Day is designated as the Spring Festival in the summer calendar, and festivals are held to celebrate it. On the day before spring, a Spring Festival ceremony was held, which was called "Da Chun". At the beginning of spring, there will be a "spring cake" banquet. Chen said in "Year Book": "On that day in beginning of spring, we had radishes, spring cakes and lettuce, and a spring dish. People also treat their relatives and friends with "spring cakes". Later, it developed into the Spring Festival on the first day of the first month, which was celebrated as a day. Wu of the Southern Song Dynasty wrote in his dream? In the first month, it said, "The first month falls on the first day, which is called New Year's Day. On New Year's Day, the emperor would "pay New Year's greetings" and pray for good weather and good harvests in the new year. On this day, ordinary people will also offer sacrifices to their ancestors. Later, the Spring Festival was not a one-day celebration, but a multi-day festival. There are festivals in the festival, and New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, Lantern Festival and so on are added.