1. The origin of Spring Festival greetings

On New Year's Day, everyone gets up early, dresses neatly, goes out to visit relatives and friends, and wishes each other good luck in the coming year.

Regarding the origin of the custom of paying New Year greetings, it is said that there was a monster in ancient times with a unicorn on its head and a mouth like a blood basin. People call it the year. On the thirtieth night of the twelfth lunar month, it jumped out of the mountain and preyed on people. People have to prepare some meat and put it outside the door, then close the door and hide at home. It was not until the first morning that Nian left after a big meal that people opened the door to meet each other and bowed to congratulate each other.

2. The origin of celebrating the Spring Festival.

On New Year's Eve, people stayed up all night, playing cards, chatting, setting off firecrackers and wrapping jiaozi ... The custom of observing the age began in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and Yu Jianwu and Xu of the Liang Dynasty both wrote poems about observing the age. "One night, you are two years old, and the five classes are divided into two years." In ancient times, observing the age was also called "wasting light". People light candles or oil lamps to keep vigil all night, which symbolizes driving away all evil diseases and epidemics and looking forward to good luck in the new year. This custom has been handed down from generation to generation.

3. The origin of firecrackers

Whether it's Chinese New Year holidays, marriage, school promotion, or even the completion of buildings and the opening of shops, people are used to setting off firecrackers to celebrate.

This custom has a history of more than 2000 years in China. The Story of Jingchu Times once recorded that on the first day of the first month, when the rooster crowed for the first time, everyone got up and set off firecrackers in their own yard to drive away the evil spirits of plague.

At that time, there was no gunpowder and paper, so people burned bamboo to make it burst and make a sound to drive away the plague. This is of course superstition, but it reflects the ancient working people's beautiful desire for Aetna.

In the Tang dynasty, firecrackers were also called "blasting poles", which probably meant that a long bamboo pole burned one by one and made a continuous blasting sound. Nanchang poet Lai Hu's poem "Early Spring" said: "The new calendar is only half open, and the pavilion is still bursting." I wrote the scene of burning bamboo poles during the Spring Festival.

Later, after constant chemical experiments, alchemists found that saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal together could cause combustion and explosion, so they invented gunpowder. Some people put gunpowder in a bamboo tube to detonate, and the sound was louder, which fundamentally changed the ancient custom of burning bamboo. In the Northern Song Dynasty, there were already fireworks wrapped in gunpowder, which were divided into single-ring and double-ring. It was renamed as "artillery battle" and later changed to "firecrackers".

4. The origin of all kinds of food on New Year's Eve.

On New Year's Eve, no matter how far apart and how busy the work is, people always want to go back to their hometown for a reunion dinner. Sometimes I really can't go home, so I always leave him a seat and a pair of chopsticks at home to show my reunion with him. This kind of New Year's Eve dinner, also called "Family Fun", is a family pavilion banquet that people attach great importance to. According to Chinese traditional folk customs, the food of New Year's Eve is very particular, usually including wonton, jiaozi, long noodles, Yuanxiao and so on.

Eating wonton in the New Year takes its original meaning. Legend has it that Pangu split the heavens and the earth, making "light clear gas for the sky and heavy turbid gas for the earth", ending the chaotic state and creating the universe. Then take the homonym of "wonton" and "mud hoarding", which means full hoarding of grain.

Jiaozi is one of the traditional foods in China. Also known as eating flat or cooking cakes. In ancient times, there were only wonton, not jiaozi. Later, wonton was made into a crescent shape and became jiaozi. In the Tang Dynasty, the habit of eating jiaozi had spread to remote areas in China.

On New Year's Eve, at 12: 11, we began to eat jiaozi, so this is a year's time, which means that the old and the new alternate, and it's time for a year.

Long noodles, also called longevity noodles, are eaten during the New Year. I wish you a long life. In ancient times, pasta was called cake, so noodle soup was also called soup cake at first. At first, the noodles were not rolled or pressed, and the noodles were torn into the pot by hand, similar to the practice of "crow's head" and "monkey's ear" eaten in the north now. It was not until after the Tang Dynasty that long noodles and short noodles appeared one after another. In many places, some non-staple foods are added when eating New Year's Eve, in order to win a lucky taste. Eat dates (spring comes early), persimmons (all the best), almonds (happiness comes), tofu (family photos), three fresh vegetables (three Yang Kaitai's), longevity fruit (immortality) and rice cakes (rice cakes are getting taller every year).

Of course, there are more varieties of New Year's Eve, such as chicken, duck, fish and delicacies, and all the best dishes you can see in a year or so are on the table.

5. The origin of lion dance

Lion dancing is very popular among China people during the Spring Festival or other celebrations. In the sound of gongs and drums and firecrackers, several big lions jumped happily, adding a festive atmosphere to many festivals. Lion dance has a long history in China.

The lion dance was first recorded in the Book of Rites and Music in the Han Dynasty, in which "Elephant Man" was mentioned. According to wei ren Meng Kang during the Three Kingdoms period, Elephant Man is an artist who can play with fish, shrimp and lions. It can be seen that the lion dance has already existed in the Three Kingdoms at the latest. In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, lion dancing was also popular among the people.

By the Tang Dynasty, lion dance had developed into a large-scale song and dance performed by hundreds of people collectively, and it was also performed in the court as a musical dance, which was called "Taiping Music" and "Five-party Lion Dance". The lion dance at that time also spread to Japan. In a Japanese book Believing in Western Ancient Music, there are scenes of ancient Japanese music and dance, which are similar to those in the Tang Dynasty, but on a much smaller scale. After the Tang Dynasty, lion dancing was widely spread among the people. "Dream of Tokyo" in the Song Dynasty records that some Buddhist temples hold lion clubs on holidays, and monks sit on lions to do things and give lectures to attract tourists. Amin Zhang Dai introduced the grand occasion of lion dance, gongs and drums and people coming and going in the streets and lanes of Zhejiang Lantern Festival.

6. Red symbolizes the origin of good luck.

In the eyes of China people, red means good luck. Stick red couplets on holidays and Chinese New Year; Marry a woman, marry a woman; Give red eggs when you have a baby; Gifts should be wrapped in red paper; To lay the foundation for the opening, we should cut red silk. In a word, everything that means happiness and good luck can't be separated from red. In fact, China didn't use red to indicate good luck from the beginning.

As early as ancient times, our ancestors used yellow to represent auspicious days, and also used black and white to represent auspicious days. In the Han Dynasty, Emperor Gaozu called himself "the son of Chi Di". Red is red. Since then, red has become the color people admire. After the Han Dynasty, the customs and habits of advocating red in various parts of China have been basically consistent and have been passed down.

7. The origin of red walls and yellow tiles for royal buildings.

Have you visited the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace and Beihai? Have you noticed what colors are used more in these royal buildings? Royal buildings are generally yellow glazed tiles and red brick walls. Why do you like to use yellow and red? This is related to our China people's views on color.

Yellow has been regarded as a noble color in China since ancient times, because it represents the central position in the theory of "Five Elements" (the central part belongs to soil, and the soil is yellow). In the Tang dynasty, yellow was defined as the color representing the royal family, and others could not adopt it. In the Song Dynasty, feudal emperors began to adopt yellow glazed tile nails, and then they followed this rule. In fact, many things of the emperor are yellow, such as robes, imperial edicts and even many indoor decorations. If people casually wear yellow clothes, they are really suspected of rebellion and usurpation.

In our country, red is considered as a festive color, which means solemnity and wealth. As early as the Zhou Dynasty in 1 1 century BC, red was widely used in palace buildings and spread to later generations. Because the palaces of feudal emperors were the activity places of the supreme rulers, they should be "supreme" and "noble and rich" everywhere, so most ancient palaces were red walls and yellow tiles.

8. The origin of Shoutao.

Every birthday, especially for the elderly, people like to send birthday peaches and wish the birthday girl a long and healthy life. It is said that this custom of giving birthday peaches to celebrate birthdays began in Sun Bin.

Legend has it that Sun Bin left his hometown at the age of 18, and went thousands of miles away to learn the art of war from Guiguzi. 12 years later, Sun Bin studied hard with his master, forgot to eat and sleep, and never even went home once. On the fifth day of May, Bin Sun suddenly remembered that today was his mother's birthday. The old mother is 80 years old and looks forward to her son coming home every day. I haven't seen you for twelve years. I wonder how my mother is. In addition, at Sun Bin's home, there will be a grand banquet for my mother's birthday. When the old mother saw that there was only one Sun Bin missing from the whole family, she began to cry sadly. Just as the family was comforting their mother, Bin Sun came back. Sun Bin was very sad when she saw her mother's haggard face, because she missed her son. He quickly took a peach out of his arms and handed it to his mother. He said, "Today, when I come back from leave, my master will give me a peach to honor you." Everyone saw that Sun Bin's mother became healthy and young after eating peaches, and they followed Sun Bin's example and sent birthday peaches to express their feelings on their parents' birthdays, even on the birthdays of ordinary relatives and friends.