New Year's Memories The historical allusions of the Spring Festival are rich and diverse, and here are some classic Spring Festival origin stories:
1.The legend of the "Year Beast":
Legend has it that in ancient China, there was a ferocious monster named "Nian", which would come out at the end of the year to cause chaos, devour livestock and even harm people. People found that the "Nian" was afraid of red, fire and loud noises, so every Chinese New Year's Eve, they would hang red cloth (later developed into sticking Spring Festival and window flowers) on the door of their homes, set off firecrackers, and the whole family would reunite and share the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner to show unity and courage, thus successfully driving away the "Nian" beast and keeping peace. This custom gradually evolved into a celebration of the New Year.
2.The 10,000-year creation calendar says:
Another historical allusion is the story of the origin of the Lunar New Year and the 10,000-year ruler of the calendar. Legend has it that in ancient times, Wan Nian invented a sundial and a leaky pot to determine the seasons by observing the changes of the sun and the method of dripping time, which eventually helped to formulate a more accurate agricultural calendar, and later generations set the first day of the year as the New Year, that is, the Spring Festival, in order to commemorate him.
3.The Evolution of Ritual Prayers:
The origin of the Spring Festival is also related to the sacrificial rituals of primitive societies. The ancients believed that at the turn of the year, the yin and yang were handed over, and a grand festival was held to pray for good weather and good harvest and good family health in the coming year. These sacrificial activities include ancestor worship, heaven worship, and stove god worship, etc., which have gradually become an important part of the Spring Festival.
4.Name Change:
From the pre-Qin to the Qing Dynasty, the Spring Festival has a variety of names, such as "Shangri", "Yuan Ri", "Change the Year", "Dedication to the Year", "New Year", "Zhengdan", "Zhengri", "Yuanchen", "Sui Dynasty", "New Year's Day", etc., until after the Xinhai Revolution, January 1 of the Gregorian calendar is called "New Year's Day", and the traditional Lunar New Year is called "Spring Festival".
These historical allusions together constitute the profound cultural connotation of the Spring Festival, making the Spring Festival not only a day for family reunion and celebration of the New Year, but also an important carrier of the traditional culture of the Chinese nation.