Why do you want to celebrate the New Year?

Chinese New Year is a country's history and culture with a long history. The Spring Festival also represents social changes and national development. As the saying goes,' sad days are better than years', no matter how difficult it is, you must learn to be strong and learn to start all over again! I believe everyone is familiar with a song by Liu Huan, which is called "Starting from scratch". Please listen to it again when you have time! If you agree, let's listen, enter the following legend and feel it. I think you will understand the meaning of' Year' and the true meaning of life! The following is a legend about the year of 2008. Search it out and share it with friends. According to legend, in ancient China, there was a monster called Nian, which had long tentacles and was ferocious. Nian lived on the seabed for many years, and climbed ashore every New Year's Eve, eating livestock and hurting people's lives. Therefore, every New Year's Eve, people in the village fled to the deep mountains to avoid the harm of the "Nian" beast.

One year on New Year's Eve, people in Taohua Village were rushing up the mountain to take refuge. An old beggar came from outside the village. He was leaning on crutches, carrying a bag on his arm, with elegant silver whiskers and staring at Matthew. Some villagers sealed windows and locked doors, some packed their bags, some herded cattle and drove sheep, and people shouted boo everywhere, which was a scene of panic. At this time, who still has the mind to take care of this begging old man? Only an old woman in the east of the village gave the old man some food and suggested that he go up the mountain quickly to avoid Nian beast. The old man smiled and said, "If my mother-in-law lets me stay at home for one night, I will definitely drive Nian beast away." The old woman looked at him carefully in surprise and found that he was handsome, energetic and different. But she continued to persuade and begged the old man to laugh without saying a word. My mother-in-law had no choice but to leave home and take refuge in the mountains.

At midnight, Nian beast broke into the village. It found that the atmosphere in the village was different from previous years: the old woman's house at the east end of the village had red paper on the door and bright candles in the room. The beast Nian trembled and let out a long whistle. Nian stared at her mother-in-law's house for a while, then screamed and rushed over. As we approached the door, there was a sudden explosion in the yard. Nian trembled and dared not go any further. It turns out that Nian was most afraid of red, fire and explosion. At this time, my mother-in-law's door was wide open, and I saw an old man in a red robe laughing in the hospital. "Nian" was frightened to disgrace and fled in confusion.

The next day was the first day of the first month, and the people who came back from refuge were very surprised to see that the village was safe and sound. At this time, the old woman suddenly realized and quickly told the villagers the promise of begging for the elderly. Villagers flocked to the old woman's house, only to find red paper on her mother-in-law's door, a pile of unburned bamboo still exploding in the yard, and several red candles in the house still glowing ...; In order to celebrate the auspicious arrival, ecstatic villagers put on new clothes and hats one after another and went to their relatives and friends' homes to congratulate and say hello. The story soon spread in the surrounding villages, and people knew the way to drive away the "Nian" beast.

Since then, every year on New Year's Eve, every family has posted red couplets and set off firecrackers. Every household has a bright candlelight, so it is better to wait for the New Year. In the early morning of the first day, I want to say hello to my relatives and friends. This custom spread more and more widely and became the most solemn traditional festival in China.

The Chronicle of Jingchu records that people in China have the habit of observing the New Year's Eve. Watching the new year begins with eating New Year's Eve dinner. This New Year's Eve dinner should be eaten slowly, starting with lighting lanterns, and some families have to eat it until late at night. According to the Chronicle of Jingchu in the Song Dynasty, at least in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, there was a custom of New Year's Eve.

The custom of observing the old age not only includes the feeling of farewell and nostalgia for the fleeting time, but also expresses the good hope for the coming New Year. The ancients wrote in the poem "Shousui": "Invite Shousui Arong's family to spread red candles to green gauze; Thirty-six years have passed, and I am more willing to cherish my youth from this night. "It is human nature to cherish the years, so the great poet Su Shi wrote a famous sentence:" There will be no years next year, and I am worried about waste; "Do your best tonight, young people can still boast!" This shows the positive significance of keeping old on New Year's Eve.

The saying of "endure the year"

Keep your age at 30, commonly known as "endure the year." Why is it called "Endure the Year"? There is an interesting story among generations of people: in Archaean, there was a fierce monster scattered in the mountains, and people called them "Nian". Nian has a ferocious appearance and a ferocious nature. It only eats birds, animals and scale insects, and changes its taste every day, from kowtowing insects to living people, which makes people talk about "Nian". Slowly, people mastered the activity law of "Year". It turns out that every 365 days in 2008, I went to places where people lived to taste fresh food, and the time of haunt was after dark. When the rooster crowed at dawn, they returned to the mountains. When the ravaging date of "Nian" was determined, men and women regarded this terrible night as the "Year's Eve" and came up with a set of methods for "Year's Eve": every family prepared the New Year's Eve dinner in advance, turned off the stove, tied up all the barns, sealed their doors and hid in the house to eat the "New Year's Eve"-because it was very fierce. After dinner, no one dared to sleep, so they sat together and got up the courage to chat.

It's getting dark, and I escaped from the deep forest in and touched the village where people live together. I saw every household's door closed, sesame stalks piled in front of it, but there was no one in the street. After turning around for the middle of the night, I found nothing, so I had to chew sesame stalks to satisfy my hunger. After a while, the rooster crowed, and these cruel and stupid monsters had to go home disgruntled. Those who have survived the "Year-end" are overjoyed. They want to thank the ancestors of heaven and earth for their protection, congratulate each other on not being eaten by Nian, and open the door to set off firecrackers to greet their neighbors and friends to congratulate them ... When people meet, they bow to each other and congratulate each other, glad that they were not eaten by Nian beast. After many years, nothing happened, and people relaxed their vigilance against Nian beast. On the evening of 30th one year, Nian beast suddenly fled to a village in the south of the Yangtze River. A village was almost eaten up by Nian beast, and only a pair of newly-married couples in red curtains were safe and sound. There are also a few childish people who lit a pile of bamboo in the yard and were playing. The fire is red. Bamboo exploded after burning. Nian beast turned here and saw the fire turn and flee. From then on, people know that Nian beast is afraid of red, light and noise. At the end of each year, every household sticks red paper, wears red robes, hangs red lights, beats gongs and drums, and sets off firecrackers, so that Nian Beasts dare not come again. In The Book of Songs Xiaoya Tingliao, there is a record of "the light of Tingliao". The so-called "pavilion" is a torch made of bamboo poles and the like. After the bamboo pole burns, the air in the bamboo joint expands, and the bamboo cavity bursts, making a crackling sound, which is the origin of "firecrackers". However, villagers in some places don't know that Nian beast is afraid of red and is often eaten by Nian beast. This incident later spread to the sky in Wei Zi. In order to save people, he is determined to destroy Nian beast. One year the beast came out, knocked it down with a fireball and chained it to a stone pillar with a thick chain. From then on, every New Year, people always burn incense and ask Zixing to come down to keep safe.

This phenomenon has gradually become a continuation custom of "Chinese New Year" and "New Year greetings". The custom of "Happy New Year" is rich in content. The usual order is: "worship heaven and earth first, then ancestors, then Gaotang, and then go out to visit relatives and friends." There are also various kinds of pay attention to family worship on the first day, Yue family worship on the second day and relatives worship on the third day until the fifteenth day of the first month.

The Origin of Spring Festival in China

Just as Christmas is to westerners, Spring Festival is the biggest festival in China. Although the content of the Spring Festival is changing and the way people spend it changes with the times, the position of the Spring Festival in China people's life and consciousness is still irreplaceable.

It is said that the Spring Festival in China has a history of 4,000 years, but it was not called Spring Festival at first, and there was no fixed date. By 2 100 BC, people at that time regarded Jupiter as one year old, so they called the Spring Festival "year old". Before 1000 BC, people used "year" to represent the Spring Festival. At that time, "year" meant a bumper harvest, which was called "year" and "year".

According to the folk custom in China, the generalized Spring Festival begins on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month and lasts for about three weeks until the Lantern Festival on the 15th of the first month. During this period,1February 30th, New Year's Eve and the first day of the first month are the most solemn, which can be said to be the climax of the Spring Festival.

In order to welcome the Spring Festival, people carry out various preparatory activities from cities to rural areas. In rural areas, as soon as we entered1February, the preparations for the festival began, and many peasant families had to clean their houses, wash their clothes and take off their quilts to show that they had a new look. Families have to constantly buy back rich new year's goods from the market, such as candy, cakes, meat, fruits and other foods, for eating and entertaining guests during the festival. In big cities, preparations for festivals have also started very early. Cultural departments and art groups should prepare rich cultural programs, TV stations rehearse various types of parties, and major parks hold traditional "temple fairs" to provide tourists with much more entertainment than usual. Department stores even allocate goods from all over the country and even abroad to meet the needs of holiday citizens. According to a statistic, the consumption of China people during the Spring Festival accounts for one third or more of the annual consumption.

Throughout China, people have many different traditional habits to celebrate the Spring Festival, but whether in the north or the south, it is essential for the whole family to get together for a reunion dinner on New Year's Eve. In the south, this meal usually has more than a dozen dishes, among which tofu and fish are necessary, because this is the homonym of the Chinese character "fu". In the north, most family reunion dinners are cooked in jiaozi. The whole family wraps delicious meat stuffing in a thin round dough, cooks it in boiling water and adds seasonings. The family sat around the dining table, eating a lively dinner.

On New Year's Eve, people should bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. In the past, when the New Year came, people set off firecrackers to celebrate. This custom, which originated from exorcism, has been banned in Beijing and some big cities because of safety and pollution. On the first day of junior high school, the whole family put on holiday costumes and began to welcome guests to visit or go out to pay New Year's greetings. When we meet, we greet each other with auspicious words such as "Happy New Year" and "Happy Spring Festival", and then invite everyone to go home, have some candy, have some tea and talk about their family. If there are any disputes between relatives and friends in the past year, they will understand each other as long as they pay New Year greetings during the Spring Festival.

The activities of the Spring Festival are colorful. In some places, there are performances and movies. In some places, there are lion dances, yangko dances, walking on stilts and temple fairs, which are filled with festive atmosphere everywhere. Of course, people watch TV programs more at home, and TV stations arrange a lot of wonderful programs suitable for people of all ages during the festival.

Putting up Spring Festival couplets, New Year pictures and lighting lanterns are people's activities to celebrate the Spring Festival. During the festival, many New Year pictures and Spring Festival couplets reflecting people's happy life and work, as well as various flowers and scenery are put on the market for people to choose from. During the Spring Festival, Lantern Festival is also a very lively activity. Lantern is a traditional folk handicraft in China, and the lantern making technology in past dynasties is also very developed. Lanterns are printed with various animals, landscapes, heroes and other contents, and lanterns have different shapes.

With the improvement of people's living standards, the way people in China spend the Spring Festival is also changing.