China’s astrology culture has a long history, broad and profound. Ancient people began to explore the mysteries of the universe very early and deduced a complete and profound culture. The Big Dipper rotates periodically, and the change of stars is closely related to the change of seasons. The Big Dipper is an important constellation in the northern hemisphere. When stars move, the natural rhythm of the corresponding region around the yellow and red corners of the northern hemisphere is gradually changing, so it has become the basis for people to judge the change of time. The earth and Vientiane take on a new look, and the new year begins.
In the historical development and evolution, due to the changes of dynasties and calendars, the dates of the lunar new year are inconsistent.
(1) Ancient times: water in stone, that is, the method of stem age. The dipper handle of the Big Dipper stars from east to North and rotates clockwise to summon one year old. The sound of Dou is Chunzheng, the moon of Jiangzheng is Yinyue, and Lichun is the head of state.
(2) Xia, Shang, Zhou: the first month of the summer calendar is in menschen, the first month of the summer calendar is in December of winter, and the first month of the week is in November of winter. After Qin Shihuang unified the six countries, he used the Qin calendar. The first month was October in winter.
(3) The Qin calendar was used in the early Han Dynasty. In the first year of the Emperor (104 BC), astronomers Tang, zhuihong, and Deng Ping developed the “beginning calendar” and absorbed the lunar calendar. These terms are used as a supplement to the calendar that guides agricultural affairs, changing from October 1 in winter to January 1 in spring.
(4) After the Han Dynasty, several emperors changed their calendar and the beginning of the year. After Wang man usurped the Han people, he set December as new year’s day, that is, Yin government. Cao Rui, the emperor of Wei and Ming Dynasties, was also changed to Yin Zheng. After Wu Zetian became emperor, he renamed the country “Zhou” and adopted Zhou Zheng. Since then, the past dynasties began with the summer moon and changed to the summer expedition.
(5)After several generations of development, the descendants gradually improved the current summer calendar according to the calendar. Since then, China has been using the summer calendar. After 1970, the “summer calendar” was renamed “lunar calendar” (Yin Yang calendar).
(6) After the 1911 Revolution, the Gregorian calendar was gradually used (a kind of solar calendar, also known as the Gregorian calendar). Later, to distinguish the two new years of the summer calendar and the Gregorian calendar, the first day of the summer calendar coincided with the “beginning of spring” solar Festival, which was one of the 24 specific seasons of the Gandhi calendar. The summer calendar (lunar calendar) was called January 1. It was renamed “Spring Festival” and January 1 of the Gregorian calendar was renamed “New Year’s Day”.
(7) In July 1913 (the second year of the Republic of China), Yuan Shikai approved to set the first day of the first month as the Spring Festival and agreed to arrange a regular holiday for the Spring Festival, which began in 1914. The first year of the lunar calendar is changed from “new year” to “Spring Festival”.
In the ancient times of the emperor, the Gandhi calendar and the times were the most basic forms. According to the “ancient king system of the ban”, and “three Ming Tonghui”, the emperor first determined the age by the cadres and branches. Ten days of boring Proverbs: Kan peak, Yangmeng, Rouzhao, Yu Qiang, Zhuyong, Tuwei, Zhang Shang, Chongguang, Xuan Z, Chaoyang; twelve Earthly Branches: Schettino, Shanyu, Zhixu, rhubarb snail, London ewe, association, vomiting beach, haircutting for rated, deeply offering, exhausted, rushing Rufen. The invention of the emperor had a profound influence and was used in calendar, numbers, calculations, and naming of future generations (the compilation of the official history book “self-government book” written in the Northern Song Dynasty used the term to record the year. In ancient times, the agricultural cycle was the celebration cycle, and some solar terms were festivals. The first festival is particularly important in festivals.
Before the Qin and Han Dynasties, the customs and calendars in the north and south were different. In some places, the ceremony of the first year of this year is not related to the lunar new moon and new days, but 24 solar terms in the Gandhi calendar. As a traditional agricultural society, the ancients attached great importance to the beginning of spring, namely the return of the earth and the Renaissance of all things. Spring is of great significance to the traditional agricultural society. In the pre-Qin period, some places in China inherited festivals of sacrificing ancestors, praying for blessings, removing evil spirits and eliminating disasters, removing old ones, and removing old ones.
Han Dynasty was the first major development period after China was unified. The economic and cultural exchanges between the north and the South bring customs and habits together. This provides a good social condition for the spread and popularization of festivals and customs. Since then, there have been records of the first sacrifice in the literature.
In the Wei and Jin Dynasties, there appeared a written record of the custom of keeping this year’s age on New Year’s Eve. For example, it was recorded in the book of geomatics written by Zhou Chu in Jin Dynasty: on New Year’s Eve, everyone introduced each other and introduced each other, which is called “giving the year”. Tianming is called a “longevity spike”.
In addition to the new year, the
Tang Dynasty people also invented a new year’s quotation. Lishimin, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, made a greeting card with red gold foil. The Royal book “Celebrating the world” was awarded to the minister. This form quickly became popular among people and was replaced by plum blossom paper. At that time, this “New Year’s greeting” was called “flying”.
In Song Dynasty, people began to use paper tubes and hemp stems to wrap gunpowder into ropes to make “firecrackers”. The custom of firecrackers on New Year’s Eve and Spring Festival is becoming more and more popular. “Tonight, firecrackers are prohibited and sound is heard,” said Tokyo’s dream record.
In Ming Dynasty, the God of fire, the door god, new year’s Eve, and the Lantern Festival were very popular. “
Jiaxing mansion records of Wanli” records: “on New Year’s Eve, a God, tofu, spring binding, Jingkuma are all sealed up. Firecrackers, purple fever, wine and fruit collection, all night through drums, known as the year-old.”
Qing Dynasty attached great importance to the new year, the palace was very luxurious, and the emperor had the custom of blessing the official B. The lunar new year will continue to the Lantern Festival. Riddle guessing is a popular way of entertainment.
The revolution of 1911 brought a new era, and the government advocated a new calendar. In terms of etiquette, all previous rituals, such as kneeling and bowing, were abolished, and replaced by new etiquettes, such as taking off hats, bowing, shaking hands, and clapping, which gradually became civilized etiquette of Chinese interpersonal communication.
Folk customs
Folklore category
Traditional festival rituals and custom activities are important content of festival elements and carry the rich and colorful festival cultural heritage. The New Year’s Festival (New Year’s Day) is an ancient festival in our country and the most important festival of the whole year. In historical development, many places and various folk customs have been mixed together, forming some relatively fixed customs and habits. According to legend. These activities can be roughly summarized into the following aspects: worshipping the gods and responding to the weather; respecting the ancestors and maintaining family affection; driving away evil and dispelling evil for peace; recreation and relaxation. Headed by the Hundred Festival, the Spring Festival is the most solemn traditional festival of the Chinese nation. It not only embodies the Chinese nation’s ideological beliefs, ideals, life, entertainment and cultural psychology but also a carnival display of praying for disasters, food and entertainment.
During the Spring Festival, various Lunar New Year activities are held throughout the country, and there are differences in custom content or details in different regions due to different regions and cultures, with strong regional characteristics. The celebration activities during the Spring Festival are extremely rich and diverse, including lion dance, floating color, dragon dance, god tour, temple fair, shopping on flower street, lanterns, gongs and drums, flags, fireworks, praying for blessing, spring, and there are also walking on stilts and running. Dry boats, twisting Yangko and so on. During the Spring Festival, there are various places such as sticking new year red, keeping the year-old, eating reunion dinner, and visiting the new year. However, due to the different customs, the details have their own characteristics. The Spring Festival folk customs are diverse in forms and rich in content and are a concentrated display of the essence of the life and culture of the Chinese nation.
The Spring Festival is a day to remove the old and clothe the new. Although the Spring Festival is set on the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar, the activities of the Spring Festival do not stop on the first day of the first month. Since the end of the new year, people have been “busy”: offering sacrifices to the stove, sweeping dust, buying new year goods, putting on the red, shampooing and bathing, putting on lights, and so on. All these activities have a common theme, that is, “Speech The old welcomes the new”. The Spring Festival is a happy and peaceful festival for family reunions. It is also a carnival and eternal spiritual pillar for people to express their yearning for happiness and freedom. The Spring Festival is also a day when you don’t know how to sacrifice to your ancestors and pray for the New Year. Sacrifice is a kind of belief activity, a belief activity created by human beings living in ancient times and expecting to live in harmony with the nature of heaven and earth.
The Spring Festival is, even more, a festival of entertainment and carnival for the people. At the time of the new year, firecrackers sounded, fireworks filled the sky, and various New Year celebration activities such as saying goodbye to the old year and welcoming the new year reached a climax. On the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, each family burned incense to pay tribute to the heavens and the earth and sacrificed to the ancestors. After Yuan Day, a variety of colorful entertainment activities have been launched, adding a strong festive atmosphere to the Spring Festival. The warm atmosphere of the festival is not only permeated in every household, but also in the streets and alleys everywhere. During this period, the lanterns filled the city and the streets filled with tourists. The excitement was unprecedented, and it was not until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month and the Lantern Festival before the Spring Festival really ended. Therefore, the Spring Festival, which integrates prayers, celebrations, and entertainment, has become the most solemn festival for the Chinese nation.
Traditional customs
(1)New year’s goods
Chinese New Year custom culture has a long history, and various New Year customs are derived from all over the country, which is quite different from the north and the South and have their own characteristics. Although customs vary from place to place, preparing new year’s goods and giving new year’s gifts are almost “necessary” throughout the country. Buying new year’s goods includes eating, wearing, wearing, using, pasting (New Year’s red), giving (New Year’s greeting) gifts, etc., which are collectively called “New Year’s goods”, and the process of purchasing new year’s goods is called “running new year’s goods”. It is an important activity for Chinese people to celebrate the Spring Festival.
(2)Sacrificial stove
The folk sacrifice stoves originated from the ancient custom of worshiping fire. Such as “Shiming” said: “stove. Create, create, and eat. ” The kitchen god’s duty is to control the kitchen fire and manage food and drink. Later, it was expanded to investigate the good and evil in the world to bring good and evil. Sacrificial cooking has a history of thousands of years among Chinese people. The belief of Kitchen God is the reflection of Chinese people’s dream of “having enough food and clothing”.
(3)Sweep away dust
Among the people, on New Year’s Eve, there is the custom of “sweeping the house on the 24th of December.”. As the saying goes, “twenty-four, sweep the house.”. It is called “dust sweeping Day” among the people. Sweeping dust is the end of the year sweeping. Every household has to clean the environment, clean all kinds of appliances, remove and wash the bedding and curtains, sweep the Lulu courtyard, brush the dust and dirt cobwebs, and dredge the open channels and culverts. Everywhere is permeated with the joyful atmosphere of sanitation and a clean welcome to the new year. According to the folk saying: because “Chen” and “Chen” are homophonic, sweeping dust years ago has the meaning of “getting rid of the old and spreading the new”. The purpose of sweeping away the dust is to sweep away all the bad luck and bad luck to pray for good luck in the coming year.
(4)Cut new year’s meat
It is said in the folk proverb that “slaughtering pigs in the 26th year of the Lunar New Year” is the main way to prepare meat. The so-called killing of pigs, of course, is to kill their own pigs; the so-called cutting of meat refers to the poor people who do not have pigs go to the market to buy new year’s meat. The reason why “cutting new year’s meat” is put into the new year’s ballad is that the farming society and economy are underdeveloped, and people can only eat meat in the annual festival, so it is called “New Year’s meat”.
(5)Paste Spring Festival couplets
On the 28th, 29th, or 30th of the new year, every household pastes Spring Festival couplets. It is a traditional Chinese New Year custom to paste Spring Festival couplets. It adds a festive atmosphere and expresses people’s good expectations for the new year and new life.
(6)Family reunion dinner
New year’s Eve dinner, also known as new year’s dinner, reunion dinner, especially refers to the family dinner at the end of new year’s Eve. Big dinner originated from the ancient year-end ceremony, which is a reunion dinner after worshiping gods and ancestors. New year’s Eve dinner is the highlight of new year’s Eve. It’s not only colorful but also interesting. Before eating the new year’s feast, worship the gods and ancestors first, and then open the meal after the ceremony. There are chicken, fish, oyster sauce, Nostoc flagelliforme, Yuzhu, lotus root, lettuce, garlic, and sausage for good luck. Chinese New Year’s Eve dinner is a family reunion dinner, which is the most abundant and important dinner at the end of the new year.
(7)Stay up late or all night on New Year’s Eve(守岁)
New year’s Eve is one of the popular activities, which has a long history. The folk custom of keeping the new year’s Eve mainly shows that all houses light the new year’s Eve fire, the whole family get together, and keep the “New Year’s Eve fire” not to be put out, waiting for the time of leaving the old to welcome the new year. On New Year’s Eve, the lights stay up all night. It’s called “lighting up the year” or “lighting up the year”. All the houses are lit with lights and candles, and they also need to light the lights and candles under the bed. It’s called “lighting up the waste”. It’s said that after such lighting, the family’s wealth will be enriched in the coming year. In ancient times, there were different customs between the north and the south. In ancient times, the custom of keeping the new year’s Eve in some places in the North was mainly to cook the big day. For example, in the book of local customs written by Zhou Chu of the Jin Dynasty, it was said that on New Year’s Eve, everyone presented each other as a gift, which was called “feeding the new year”; when the elders and the young got together to celebrate the perfect, it was called “dividing the new year”; when they stayed up all the year-round, waiting for the dawn, it was called “keeping the new. On New Year’s Eve, the whole family get together, have dinner, light candles or oil lamps, sit around the stove, chat and watch all night, which symbolizes driving away all the evil diseases and looking forward to the good luck of the new year.
(8)Lucky money
New year’s money is one of the new year’s customs. After the new year’s dinner, the elder should send the money prepared in advance to the younger generation. It is said that the new year’s money can suppress evil activities, and the younger generation can spend a year peacefully when they get the money. New year’s money in folk culture means to ward off evil spirits and protect the peace. The original purpose of lucky money is to suppress evil and exorcise evil. Because people think that children are vulnerable to sneaky attacks, so the use of lucky money pressure sneaky exorcism.
(9)Wandering God
Wandering God is one of the traditional New Year customs. Youshen, also known as Shengjia parade, you master, ringmaster, you bodhisattva, Youshen competition, chronology, Yingshen, Yingnian, Yoochun, Xingxiang, Bodhisattva’s trip to the countryside, carrying statues and statues out of the tour, refers to people’s going to the temple to invite the walking statues into the sedan chair during the new year or other festive festivals, or on the Christmas day of the gods, and then carry them out of the temple to travel and accept people’s support Incense worship means that the gods will land among the people, visit the countryside and protect the peace of the whole country. The main purpose is to reward the gods, eliminate disasters, pray for blessings, and so on. Along the way, Youshen is accompanied by a variety of performances, such as gongs and drums, Suona, puppets, lion dance, dragon dance, praise, Biao Qi, young, Bayin, acrobatics, and band performance. It is a traditional folk activity integrating worship, prayer, celebration, and banquet.
(10)New year’s greetings
It is one of the traditional customs during the Spring Festival to visit the new year. It is a way for people to say goodbye to the old and welcome the new and express their best wishes to each other. On the second and third day of junior high school, I began to visit relatives and friends, pay New Year’s greetings to each other, and say congratulations on the new year, fortune, new year, etc. The meaning of new year’s greetings is to visit relatives and friends, to express their feelings and wishes for the new year. With the development of the times, new contents and forms have been added to the custom of new year’s greetings.
(11)Fire firecrackers
There is a saying among Chinese people that “open door artillery battle”. That is, when the new year is coming, the first thing for every household to open their doors is to burn firecrackers and use the sound of firecrackers to eliminate the old and welcome the new. Firecracker is a Chinese specialty, also known as “firecracker”, “firecracker”, “firecracker”. Its origin is very early, about the evolution of firecrackers, “popular choreography” records: “ancient firecrackers. Because of the fire and explosion of real bamboo, Tang poetry is also called “explosion pole”. Later generations rolled paper for it. It is called “firecracker”.
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