The Spring Festival is the biggest and most anticipated festival of our Chinese nation. When we were young, we would wear new clothes and follow adults to pay New Year's greetings at relatives' homes every year. When we were close to relatives' homes, children would pay New Year's greetings to their elders, while elders would give children lucky money. Being able to get 'lucky money' is also one of the reasons why children love the new year most. So how does the money come from in our traditional customs? What's the point of giving lucky money? The small editor of this article will tell you in detail about the origin and significance of lucky money.
The origin of lucky money
Lucky money is a traditional custom of the Han nationality. It is generally given to the younger generation in red envelopes by the elders during the new year countdown. Lucky money has a good moral. It is usually thought to ward off evil spirits and protect peace.
The earliest lucky money appeared in the Han Dynasty. At that time, it was also called pessimism money or Da Yasheng money. These money were not currency circulating in the market, but a kind of evil ward product in the shape of coins. The origin of lucky money has two meanings. One is "sneaky". It is said that someone wrapped eight copper coins in red paper and put them next to the child's pillow after a big meal to help the child scare away the evil spirit. Therefore, it is named 'pressing the evil spirit money'.
There is another way to say 'panic'. It is said that in ancient times, there was a fierce beast called Nian, which appeared every 365 days, which made people very afraid. People first used food to comfort children who were frightened when driving away Nian. Over time, it gradually evolved into using money instead of food. In the Song Dynasty, there was "frightening money".
At first, the new year's money did not really give money, but gave symbolic things like money to serve as a deterrent. The significance of the new year's money changed significantly with the emergence of elders wrapping up a piece of ocean for their children during the new year. Since then, the new year's money's idea of exorcising evil spirits has gradually ended and evolved into a beautiful and inspirational moral of hope for the younger generation to rise step by step. But there is still hope that the younger generation can wish health, auspiciousness and peace in the new year.
The meaning of lucky money
The traditional custom of giving lucky money in the hope of suppressing evil and expelling evil. Because people in ancient times thought that children were most vulnerable to sneaky attacks, they wanted to use lucky money to help them. The homonym of 'year' and 'sneaky' was in the hope that children who got lucky money could spend a year in peace.
Since the new year's money became a real currency, the meaning of new year's money has also changed. The function of "avoiding evil spirits and demons" of lucky money gradually ended, and its new "inspirational" functions such as "one capital and ten thousand profits", "prosperous financial resources" and "rising step by step" came into being.
There are two kinds of lucky money. One is to weave a dragon shape with colored rope and thread and place it at the foot of the bed; The other is also the most common, that is, the money distributed to children by elders wrapped in red paper.