The Spring Festival is the most solemn and meaningful traditional festival in my country. It has a long history and has existed since ancient times. It evolved from ancient times when people would perform prayers and sacrifices at the beginning of the new year.
The Spring Festival is the first day of the lunar calendar. Another name for the Spring Festival is the New Year. It is the grandest, liveliest and most important ancient traditional festival in China, and is also a festival unique to the Chinese. It is the most concentrated expression of Chinese civilization. Since the Western Han Dynasty, the custom of the Spring Festival has continued to this day. The Spring Festival generally refers to New Year's Eve and the first day of the first lunar month. But among the people, the Spring Festival in the traditional sense refers to the period from the twelfth lunar month on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, or the twelfth lunar month on the 23rd or 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, with New Year's Eve and the first day of the first lunar month as the climax. Celebrating this festival has formed some relatively fixed customs and habits over thousands of years of historical development, and many of them are still passed down to this day.
Legends related to the Spring Festival include: the Spring Festival originated from the legend of the wax sacrifice, from the legend of witchcraft rituals, from the legend of the "Nian" beast, from the legend of worshiping heaven during the Yu and Shun period, from ancient times The calligraphy book includes the legend of the word "禾", the legend of "New Year's money", the legend of the regulations after Qin Shihuang unified the six countries, the legend of the door god, etc.
I think among the many legends about the Spring Festival, there are three that are most worth mentioning. Let’s take a look with me:
? One of the legends related to the Spring Festival: Yu Shun Legend of worshiping heaven?
There are many legends about the origin of the Spring Festival, but the one generally accepted by the public is that the Spring Festival originated from Yu Shun.
In the era of historical legends, Zhucheng and Juxian areas were one of the areas where Dongyi moved. After Dongyi became Shaohao, they were one of the earlier tribes in our country. Therefore, Xu Xusheng believed that Chiyou was the leader of the Dongyi tribe. Chiyou was defeated in the Battle of Zhuolu, and the culture of the Yanhuang tribes advanced eastward until the Yao and Shun period.
However, the worship of heaven on Mount Tai is different from the general worship of heaven. It is the sacrifice of heaven by emperors or leaders of tribal alliances. For example, Yu Shun visited the east of Mount Tai to offer sacrifices to heaven; the pottery inscriptions on worship of heaven found in Lingyang River in Ju County, It may be a sacrifice to heaven at the local clan level; the pottery inscriptions unearthed in Zhucheng Qianzhai must be a sacrifice to heaven at the tribal level. It can be seen from the rich connotation and complex stratigraphic relationship of the Qianzhai site that the ancestors there were a relatively advanced tribe that worshiped birds and the sun, and it was also the cultural center of the tribe at that time. It is worth noting that this place is not far from the "Zhu Feng" where Shun is said to have been born, and both belong to the Weihe River Basin. It is very likely that Yu Shun once lived here before he was elected as the leader of the tribe, or it was the tribe to which he belonged. . Of course, the Lingyang River site in Ju County is also related to Yu Shun. Even Yu Shun once conducted small-scale, tribal-level sacrifices to heaven in Qianzhai or Lingyang River, and after being elected as the leader of the tribe, Yu Shun also The custom of worshiping heaven in the front villages of Zhucheng was brought to Mount Tai, and it was elevated to an imperial level.
One day more than 2000 BC, Shun became the emperor and led his subordinates to worship heaven and earth. From then on, people regard this day as the beginning of the 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 also called New Year's Day. The month in which the Spring Festival is located is called January.
? The second legend related to the Spring Festival: Posting Spring Festival couplets and the legend of the Door God?
It is said that the custom of posting Spring Festival couplets and the Door God began about a thousand years ago in the Hou Shu period. This is proven by history. In addition, according to the "Jade Candle Collection", "Yanjing Chronicles" and other works, the original form of Spring Festival couplets is what people call "Peach Talisman". ?
In ancient Chinese mythology, it is said that there is a world of ghosts. There is a mountain in it. There is a big peach tree covering three thousand miles on the mountain, and there is a golden rooster on the treetop. Whenever the golden rooster crows in the morning, the ghosts who wandered out at night will rush back to the ghost land. The gate of the ghost realm is located in the northeast of the peach tree. There are two gods standing by the gate, named Shen Tu and Yu Lei. If a ghost does something harmful to nature at night, Shen Tu and Yu Lei will immediately discover it and catch it, tie it up with a rope made of awning reed, and send it to feed the tiger. Therefore, all the ghosts in the world are afraid of Shen Tu and Yu Lei. So people carved their images out of peach wood and placed them at their doorsteps to avoid evil and harm. Later, people simply engraved the names of Shen Tu and Yu Lei on peach boards, believing that doing so could also suppress evil and eliminate evil. This kind of peach wood board was later called "Peach Run". ?
In the Song Dynasty, people began to write couplets on peach boards, one without losing the meaning of peach wood to suppress evil, the other to express their best wishes, and the third to decorate the door for beauty. Couplets are also written on red paper, which symbolizes joy and auspiciousness, and are pasted on both sides of doors and windows during the New Year to express people's best wishes for good luck in the coming year.
? In order to pray for the happiness, longevity and health of the family, people in some places still retain the habit of sticking to the door god. It is said that if two door gods are posted on the door, all monsters and ghosts will be intimidated. Among the people, the door god is a symbol of righteousness and force. The ancients believed that people with strange looks often have magical talents and extraordinary abilities. They are upright and kind-hearted, and it is their nature and responsibility to catch ghosts and demons. Zhong Kui, the ghost-hunting master that people admire, has such a strange appearance. Therefore, the folk door gods always have angry eyes and ferocious looks, holding various traditional weapons in their hands, ready to fight any ghosts who dare to come to the door. Since the doors of Chinese houses usually have two doors opening opposite each other, door gods always come in pairs.
After the Tang Dynasty, in addition to the previous two generals Shen Tu and Yu Lei, people also regarded the two Tang Dynasty generals Qin Shubao and Yuchi Gong as door gods. According to legend, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty was ill and heard ghosts calling outside his door, making him restless all night. So he asked the two generals to stand guard by the door with weapons in hand, and the next night there were no more ghosts to disturb them. Later, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty asked people to draw the images of these two generals and paste them on the door. This custom began to spread among the people. ?
Spring couplets are also called door couplets, spring posts, couplets, couplets, peach charms, etc. They describe the background of the times and express good wishes with neat, dual, concise and exquisite words. They are a unique literary form in my country. Every Spring Festival, every household, whether in urban or rural areas, selects a pair of red Spring Festival couplets and sticks them on the door to add a festive atmosphere to the festival.
?The third legend related to the Spring Festival: the legend of the "Nian" beast?
According to legend, in ancient China there was a monster called "Nian" with long tentacles on its head and it was extremely ferocious. "Nian" lives deep under the sea all year round, only climbing ashore every New Year's Eve, devouring livestock and damaging human lives. Therefore, every New Year's Eve, people in villages and villages help the old and young to flee to the mountains to avoid the harm of the "nian" beast. ?
On New Year's Eve this year, people in Taohua Village were helping the elderly and the young to take refuge in the mountains. An old man begging came from outside the village. He was holding a cane, a bag on his arm, a silver beard flowing in his eyes, and Ruo Langxing. Some of the villagers sealed the windows and locked the doors, some packed their bags, some drove the cattle and sheep, and people were shouting and neighing everywhere, creating a scene of rush and panic. At this time, who still has the heart to take care of this old man begging. ?
Only an old woman in the east of the village gave the old man some food and advised him to go up the mountain quickly to avoid the "year" beast. The old man stroked his beard and smiled and said: "If my mother-in-law lets me stay at home all night, I will definitely do it." After driving the "Nian" beast away, the old woman looked closely and saw that he was a boy with fair hair and a strong spirit. However, she continued to persuade him, but the beggar smiled and said nothing. She had no choice but to leave her home and go up the mountain to seek refuge. ?
At midnight, the "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 a red paper on the door, and the house was brightly lit. "Nian" let out a strange scream and glared at her mother-in-law's house for a moment, then screamed and rushed towards the door. Suddenly, there was a "bang bang bang bang" sound in the courtyard. "Nian" was trembling all over and did not dare to move forward. It turned out that "Nian" was most afraid of the color red, fire and explosions. At this time, the door of her mother-in-law's house opened, and she saw an old man in a red robe laughing in horror. The next day was the first day of the first lunar month, and the people who had returned from the refuge were surprised to see that the village was safe. At this time, the old woman suddenly realized what she had promised to the villagers. When I went to my mother-in-law's house, I saw red paper on the door of my mother-in-law's house, a pile of unburned bamboos in the yard were still popping, and a few red candles in the house were still glowing...?
< p>To celebrate the auspicious arrival, the overjoyed villagers put on new clothes and hats one after another, and went to the homes of relatives and friends to say hello. This incident soon spread in the surrounding villages, and people all knew about the purpose of driving away the "nian" beast. From then on, every New Year's Eve, every family would post red couplets and set off firecrackers; every household would light up the candles and wait for the New Year's Eve, and visit relatives and friends early in the morning to say hello. This custom became more and more widespread. The most solemn traditional festival in ChinaThe legends and customs related to the Spring Festival vary from north to south, but one thing is basically the same, that is, family reunion, visiting relatives and friends, visiting elders, etc. I hope our children can keep these customs full of deep family affection and good wishes in their hearts and pass them on from generation to generation.