Spring couplets are also called "spring posts" and "door pairs". Every Spring Festival, every household would select a red couplet and stick it on the door to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, adding to the festive atmosphere and expressing people's good expectations for the new year and new life. When Spring Festival couplets and the word "Fu" are posted on the door of the house, it means that the Spring Festival has officially begun. So do you know the origin of posting couplets during the Spring Festival? The origin of the couplet:
It is said that in the Classic of Mountains and Seas in ancient Chinese mythology, there is a strange world recorded. In the middle of that world there is a majestic mountain, and on the mountain there is a big peach tree covering three thousand miles. On the top of this peach tree, there is a golden rooster. Every morning the golden rooster crows, calling the ghosts who wander out at night to return to the ghost land. The gate of the ghost realm is located in the northeast of the peach tree. There are two gods standing beside the door. The names of these two gods are Shen Tu and Yu Lei. If a ghost does something harmful to nature at night, Shen Tu and Yu Lei will immediately find and catch them, tie him up with a rope made of awnings, and then send him to feed tigers, so ghosts all over the world are in awe. Shen Tu and Yu Lei. Since the Zhou Dynasty, Chinese folk have used peach wood to carve the images of the gods Tea and Yu Lei, and hung the peach wood at the door of their homes to ward off evil and prevent evil spirits.
Later, people simply engraved the name of the god Tu Yulei on the peach wood board, believing that doing so could also drive away good and evil. This kind of peach wood board was later called Taofu. This custom has lasted for more than 1,000 years. By the Five Dynasties period, the couplets appearing on the peach charms replaced the names of the auspicious charms. At that time, my country's earliest Spring Festival couplets appeared. Later, it was made by Meng Chang, the lord of Hou Shu himself. He carved "New Year's Na Yu Qing, Jia Festival No. Changchun" on the peach wood board. In this way, Peach charms were originally used to exorcise evil spirits and eliminate ghosts, but became a style used by authors to express emotions. This was the beginning of Spring Festival couplets.
In the Song Dynasty, people wrote couplets on peach boards. On the occasion of the New Year, it became more common to hang Spring Festival couplets. Wang Anshi once wrote in "Yuan Ri": "With the sound of firecrackers, a new year is eliminated. The spring breeze brings warmth to Tusu. Thousands of households are always replacing old talismans with new peaches." This reflects the grand occasion of posting Spring Festival couplets in every household on New Year's Eve. With the emergence of the door god, people gradually transferred the mission of Taofu to ward off evil spirits and avoid disasters to the door god, and wrote couplets on red paper, which symbolized happiness and auspiciousness. Therefore, Spring Festival couplets have evolved into a way for people to express their good wishes for good fortune and a good harvest in the coming year. These Spring Festival couplets have the meaning of peach wood to ward off evil, secondly they express their good wishes, and thirdly they can decorate the door. become beautiful. Therefore, the emergence of Spring Festival couplets is closely related to Taofu, so people in ancient times also called Spring Festival couplets Taofu.
Since the Ming Dynasty, the custom of pairing couples has become popular among the people. The name of the couplets began to appear from that time. After Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, he liked lively scenes very much. Therefore, he promoted the posting of peach charms among the people. He issued an imperial edict that before every New Year's Eve, every household in the city should paste Spring Festival couplets written on red paper on the door frame to welcome the New Year.
At that time, such a story happened. One year, Zhu Yuanzhang went door to door to check the Spring Festival couplets. Whenever he saw a well-written Spring Festival couplets, he was very happy and praised them profusely. During his inspection, Zhu Yuanzhang was very angry when he saw that one house had not posted Spring Festival couplets and asked why. The attendant replied that this is a master who is engaged in butchering pigs. He is very busy during the New Year and has not had time to ask someone to write! Zhu Yuanzhang ordered people to bring pens, inks, paper and inkstones and write a couplet for the family: split the road of life and death with both hands, and cut the roots of right and wrong with one knife. After finishing writing, he continued his inspection. After a while, Zhu Yuanzhang passed by here again during his inspection. Seeing that the butcher's house had not posted the Spring Festival couplets written by him, he asked what was going on. The owner of the family replied very respectfully that the Emperor himself wrote these couplets. We hang them in the middle hall and burn incense every day to worship them. After Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he was very happy and ordered his attendants to reward the family with thirty taels of silver.
It can be seen that the name and promotion of Spring Festival couplets were promoted by Zhu Yuanzhang through administrative orders and imperial edicts. Later, literati regarded writing Spring Festival couplets as a pleasure to write elegantly. Therefore, posting Spring Festival couplets became a popular social custom that has been passed down to this day. Until now, almost every household in my country still retains the custom of posting Spring Festival couplets. Tips for pasting Spring Festival couplets: 1. Time for pasting Spring Festival couplets
According to different local customs, the time for pasting Spring Festival couplets is also slightly different. As the saying goes: "Twenty-eight, stick flowers", and there is also a saying in folk songs in some places: "Twenty-nine, stick upside down You (meaning stick Spring couplets)". There is also a myth in the folk: the Spring Festival couplets are gods in the sky. When the Spring Festival couplets are torn, they will ascend to heaven and report the situation of each household to the Jade Emperor, hoping that the gods can bring good luck to the folk families. It is best to post Spring Festival couplets between 6 a.m. and 12 noon on New Year’s Eve. Tear up the old Spring Festival couplets to break away bad luck and have the meaning of getting rid of the old and replacing the old with the new. 2. Distinguish the upper and lower couplets
When posting Spring Festival couplets, some people often paste the upper and lower couplets in the wrong position. To distinguish the upper and lower lines, the key lies in the last word. According to the metrical regulations, the last character of the first line must end with a oblique character (the third and fourth tones in Mandarin), while the last character of the second line must end with a flat character (the first and second tones of Mandarin).
When pasting couplets, the upper couplet should be pasted on the right, the second couplet should be pasted on the left, and the left and right should be separated by facing the door.
The reason why it is posted like this is because writing in a straight line is from right to left, so reading couplets is also from right to left. 3. The word "福" cannot be pasted at will
While pasting Spring Festival couplets, some people also like to paste the word "福", but the word "福" does not have to be pasted upside down.
The word "福" on the door must be posted directly. The word "福" on the door means "welcoming blessing" and "receiving blessing", and the door is the entrance and exit of the home, a solemn and respectful place. The word "福" must be solemn, dignified and generous, so it should be posted squarely. .
The words "福" on the cabinets should be pasted upside down. The cabinet is a place where things are stored. The word "福" is placed upside down, which means that blessings (and also wealth) will always come to the home, room and cabinet.
Special circumstances. If there is an accident at home during the year, friends who wish for good luck can paste the word "Fu" upside down.
The above is what I know about the origin of Spring Festival couplets. The real appearance of Spring Festival couplets was during the period of Zhu Yuanzhang in the Ming Dynasty. At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang required every household to post Spring Festival couplets, so the streets and alleys were filled with Spring Festival couplets. Nowadays, every Spring Festival, no matter in urban or rural areas, every household must choose beautiful red Spring Festival couplets and paste them on the door to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, adding to the festive atmosphere.