New year's greeting is a traditional Chinese custom. It is a way for people to say goodbye to the old and welcome the new and express their best wishes to each other. China is a land of rites. New Year's greetings have a very long historical tradition in China since ancient times. When did new year's greetings originate? What are the common forms of new year's greetings?
The history of new year's greetings
One of the important activities in the Spring Festival is to pay New Year's greetings, that is, to celebrate the new year at the home of new friends and neighbors.
New year's greeting is a traditional Chinese custom. It is a way for people to say goodbye to the old and welcome the new and express their best wishes to each other. In ancient times, the original meaning of the word "New Year's greetings" was to celebrate the new year for the elderly, including kowtowing to the elderly, congratulating the elderly on their new year's happiness, and greeting their life. When you meet relatives and friends of the same generation, you should also give a salute.
In the Han Dynasty, new year's greetings were popular. After the Tang and Song Dynasties, it was very popular. Some people who didn't have to go in person could use famous posts to celebrate. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, it was called "Ci", so the name card was also called "Mingci". After the Ming Dynasty, many people pasted a red paper bag at the door to collect famous posters, called "menbo".
Four forms of new year's greetings
According to their social relations, the forms of folk visits to each other for the new year can be roughly divided into four categories: (the following are all the old rituals. Now kowtow and kneeling have basically disappeared, only when children pay their respects to their elders.).
One is to visit relatives.
You have to go to your father-in-law's house and bring gifts. After entering the door, kowtow to the Buddha statue, ancestral image and memorial tablet, and then kneel down to the elders in turn. You can stay for dinner and play.
The second is courtesy visit.
For example, when you pay New Year's greetings to your colleagues and friends, you only kowtow to the Buddha three times as soon as you enter the house. If you are a peer with your host, you only need to bow your hands. If you are older than yourself, you should still kneel down. The host should step down from his seat and do a gesture of support, and even say that he is polite. This kind of situation is generally not suitable for sedentary, two polite words will leave. When the master is worshipped, he should return to him at another time.
Third, thanks for the visit.
Those who have been ungrateful to others in the past year (such as lawyers, doctors, etc.) should buy some gifts and send them to take advantage of the opportunity of new year's greetings to express their gratitude.
Fourth, visit by door.
As for the neighbors, they usually don't have much contact with each other, but it can be said that when it comes to the new year's Eve, they just go to the courtyard and hug each other and say, 'Gongxi Facai' and 'Yishun Baishun'. They just sit in the room for a while without much etiquette.