The Spring Festival in China has a historical origin. It is said that the Spring Festival originated from the "sacrificial ceremony" at the end of primitive society. At that time, when the Spring Festival was over, the ancestors killed pigs, killed sheep, sacrificed gods, ghosts and ancestors, prayed for a smooth new year and avoided disasters.
In the history of our country, the first day of the new year has always been called "New Year's Day". Since the Republic of China, the term "New Year's Day" has been used for the Gregorian new year, while the traditional New Year's Day is called the Spring Festival. However, thousands of years of traditional impressions reproduce the joy of the Spring Festival of ancient Chinese people and the carnival scene at that time. According to historical records, the Spring Festival is called "Zai" in the Yu time of Tang Dynasty, called "Sui" in the Xia Dynasty, called "Si" in the Shang Dynasty, and called "Nian" in the Zhou Dynasty. The original meaning of "year" refers to the growth cycle of grain. Millet is hot every year. Therefore, the Spring Festival is held once a year, which contains the meaning of Qingfeng. As for each other's New Year celebrations, they began in the early Han Dynasty.
According to the custom of the Chinese people, the new year's goods are ready for the lunar new year every year from the first month to the twelfth month (the twelfth month of the lunar calendar). On New Year's Eve, even people who are away all year round must go home to get together at this time. The ancient (mainly refers to the Han nationality) new year's Eve, usually eating rice cakes, dumplings, Ciba, Tangyuan, poached eggs, big meat nine, whole fish, wine, oranges, apples, peanuts, melon seeds, candy, tea and delicacies; It is also accompanied by many activities, such as dusting dust, washing bedding, preparing new year's goods, pasting spring couplets, pasting New Year's pictures, pasting paper cuts, pasting blessing characters, lighting candles, lighting fire, setting off firecrackers, guarding the year, paying New Year's eve money, greeting relatives, going to ancestral graves, visiting flower markets, making social fires, etc., which make the family happy.
New year's Eve's domestic dishes have their own characteristics. In the old days, people in Beijing and Tianjin made rice and rice, stewed pork, beef and mutton, stewed chicken, and then made a few fried dishes. Shaanxi family banquet generally consists of four plates and eight bowls, four plates are fried dishes and cold dishes, and eight bowls are mainly stewed vegetables and cooked vegetables. In southern Anhui, only meat dishes include braised pork, tiger skin meat, meat balls, muxurou, steamed pork, stewed pork and pork liver, pig heart, pork tripe products, as well as various fried meat slices, fried shredded pork, etc. In the eastern part of Hubei Province, "three steams", "three cakes" and "three pills". Generally, people in Harbin stir fry 8, 10, 12, 16 dishes, the main ingredients are nothing more than chicken, duck, fish and vegetables. Gannan's new year's Eve meal is usually 12 courses. In some parts of Zhejiang Province, there are usually "ten bowls" to win "ten blessings", mainly chicken, duck, fish and various vegetables. In Nanchang area of Jiangxi Province, there are more than ten dishes, including four cold dishes, four hot dishes, eight big dishes and two soups. …
Nowadays, many Chinese people are used to watching Spring Festival Gala on New Year's Eve. In fact, there are also spring festival galas in ancient times, but there is no live TV. In ancient times, during the Spring Festival, there would be parades on the streets, and different dynasties and regions: some would perform social plays, some would dance dragon and lion, when opera gradually occupied people's main entertainment area, the Spring Festival watching became the most popular and lively place of the loose 'Spring Festival Gala'. In some places, this kind of parade is called "spring performance". As for the rich people in ancient times, they didn't need to go out to the theatre. They would set up a stage in their own home and invite the troupe to start the gong.
Spring Festival morning, open the door, first let off firecrackers, called 'open the gun battle'. After the sound of firecrackers, the ground is full of broken red, which is like a cloud brocade. It is called 'full of red'. At this time, the streets are full of auspicious and jubilant. An important activity in the Spring Festival is to celebrate the Spring Festival at the homes of new friends and neighbors. The custom of the Han nationality to worship the new year has existed in the Han Dynasty. After the Tang and Song Dynasties, it was very popular. Some people who didn't have to go there in person could use famous posts to celebrate. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, it was called the thorn, so the business card was also called the famous thorn. After the Ming Dynasty, many people pasted a red paper bag at the door to collect famous posts and call it doorbook. The traditional Chinese New Year's day, after the first day of the new year, almost every day there are corresponding customs, but also are the continuation of new year's day. By the fifth day of the new year, there are some independent festivals, such as sending poor people to the market and opening up markets. During the Spring Festival, the ancients also sacrificed to the kitchen, wrote couplets, made tofu, cut meat, kowtow, play ball, jump monkey and other activities. During the Lantern Festival, there is no night in the imperial city. People everywhere enjoy the Lantern Festival. They can guess riddles and play all kinds of tricks. These traditional customs full of strong national characteristics have left us rich and valuable cultural heritage.
Now we all have a holiday during the Spring Festival. In fact, most of the time in ancient times, it was a seven day holiday, just the golden week for ancient officials. According to the law of the Tang Dynasty, the first day, the winter solstice and the Qingming Festival of each year should be off for seven days. In the Song Dynasty, the vacation system was more perfect, and the happiness index of officials rose. Spring Festival in Song Dynasty is also a seven day holiday, which does not seem to be long. However, the Spring Festival holiday in Song Dynasty is often connected with other holidays (such as the three-day holiday of Lantern Festival), which becomes a long holiday.
Today's vacation can only be unified at the national level, and the proposed vacation plan has been criticized, especially the arrangement of the Spring Festival holiday. Before the Song Dynasty, the vacation was only applicable to officials, farmers, handicraftsmen and businessmen, when and how to take the vacation, regardless of the state. After the Song Dynasty, vacation was no longer the privilege of officials. Even so, the ancient spring festival is still full of people. As soon as we arrive at the Spring Festival, the Spring Festival festival has become a big event. Although ancient people didn't have advanced means of transportation such as cars, trains and planes, they also had to ride in carriages, on roads, on donkeys to go home for the new year and visit relatives and friends. This is actually a small-scale Spring Festival. It can be seen from this that the ancients had a passion for the Spring Festival.
Wang Anshi, a famous Minister of the Northern Song Dynasty, used firecrackers to break the sound of a year, and the spring breeze sent warmth to Tusu. Thousands of families exchanged the new peach for the old one. "It shows the happy mood of the ancients for the new year, while the" thousands of family laughs "of Huang Jingren, a poet of the Qing Dynasty, shows that the Spring Festival in ancient times is a day of carnival for the old and the young. The ancients started from the preparation of the twelfth month, and waited until the lantern on the fifteenth day of the first month to finish the year. In the happy atmosphere of reunion, people get the pleasure of body and mind, relive the family affection and coordinate the interpersonal relationship. Isn't it just the embodiment of peace and joy?