What is the origin of the Spring Festival?

Spring Festival is one of the four traditional festivals in China. Lunar New Year, the traditional "New Year Festival", is set on the first day of the first lunar month every year.

There is a popular folk song? "Chinese New Year Song": Twenty-three people pay homage to the kitchen officials, twenty-four people sweep the house, twenty-five people grind bean curd, twenty-six people cut the meat, twenty-seven people kill pigs and chickens, twenty-eight people steam jujube flowers, twenty-nine people go to the wine, and on the 30th, they buy jiaozi, and on the first day of New Year's Day, they stumble. Seeing these feelings, the taste of the year is getting stronger and stronger, and the taste of the year is deep and affectionate.

The origins of the Spring Festival include: the theory of the origin of the Spring Festival, the theory of witchcraft, the theory of "Nian" beast, the rise of worship of heaven in Yu Shun period, the word "harmony" in ancient Chinese characters, the theory of "lucky money", the theory of the statute after Qin Shihuang unified the six countries, and the theory of door gods. I think among the many origins of the Spring Festival, five are most worth mentioning. Let's take a look:

? One of the origins of the Spring Festival: the "Year" beast theory?

Legend has it that in ancient China, there was a monster called Nian, with a long, pointed head and extremely fierce. Nian beast has lived under the sea for many years. Every New Year's Eve, it crawls ashore to devour livestock and kill people. Therefore, on New Year's Eve, people help the old and take care of the young and flee to the mountains to avoid the harm of Nian beast. It is said that Nian beast has a big head and a small body, and it is more than ten feet long. Its eyes are like two bells, coming and going like the wind. When it is called, it sounds "year after year", hence the name Nian Beast.

A fierce monster called Nian goes from one house to another every year1February 30th, foraging for human flesh and killing creatures. On the night of the thirtieth day of the twelfth lunar month, Nian came to a village. It happened that two cowboys were fighting for a whip. Nian suddenly heard the sound of whipping in mid-air and ran away in fear. It fled to another village and saw a bright red dress drying in front of the door. It didn't know what it was, so it turned around and ran away. Later, he came to a village, looked into the door of a family, and saw that the lights were brightly lit and dizzy, so he had to slip away again, with his tail between his legs. As a result, people realized that Nian was afraid of noise, red and light, and thought of many ways to resist it, so it gradually evolved into the present Chinese New Year.

Nian beast should have evolved from wild animals. Because from the time point of view, the "New Year" is the end of winter and the beginning of spring, and the snow closes the mountain and closes the road. Humans have learned to preserve food, resist the cold and concentrate on life, but wild animals can only risk going down the mountain to eat people. After human development, there are years, months and years, but the environment rarely changes, and wild animals still go down the mountain to eat people in late winter and early spring. With the passing from generation to generation and the processing of "literati" at that time, "Nian Beast" appeared.

? The second origin of the Spring Festival: the theory of calendar 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".

? The third 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 fourth origin of the Spring Festival: The evolution 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 fifth origin of the Spring Festival: 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". Some people say that because the Tathagata was deceived by stealing flowerpots, until now, there are still thieves in the world.

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!