The Spring Festival is a traditional festival for Chinese people. On New Year's Eve, we should keep the age, that is, we should not sleep at night and wait for the coming of the new year. Why should we keep the year? What's the origin of keeping the year on New Year's Eve? Let's take a look at it together with the small edition of sihai.com.
In ancient times, there were two meanings of keeping one's old age: the elder's keeping one's old age to say goodbye and cherishing time; the young's keeping one's old age to extend the life of their parents. There is such a story among the people in China:
In ancient times, there was a kind of ferocious monster. People called them 'Nian'. He is ferocious in nature, which makes people talk about the color change of 'year'. On the eve of the new year's Eve, he would run out and hurt the people and livestock.
In order to avoid it, people prepared dinner in advance, tied all the chicken pens and Cowpens together, sealed the gate of the house, and hid in the house for "New Year's Eve dinner". Because the meal was not sure, so the house was very prosperous. The whole family gathered together to express peace and reunion. Before eating, we should sacrifice our ancestors and pray for their gods' blessing to spend the night safely. On New Year's Eve, the custom of staying up for the new year's Eve gradually formed.
The origin of keeping the Spring Festival is that there is a monster called "Nian" in ancient times, which comes out every 30 nights. The ferocious' Nian 'is a carnivorous creature, which devours everything from animals to living people. In order to deal with "Nian", people gradually found out their living rules. Every 365 days, "Nian" would take advantage of the night, rush to the place where the crowd lived and rampage once, and then return to the mountain forest when the cock crowed. Therefore, people regard this night as a horrible 'year pass', and come up with various ways to deal with' year ', such as keeping the year, setting off firecrackers, giving children' money 'and so on, in order to ward off ghosts and evil spirits. Every night, every family finishes their dinner in advance, turns off the fire and cleans the stove, ties up the pigsty and cowshed, seals the front and back doors of the house, hides in the house to eat "New Year's Eve meal", stays up late to watch the Spring Festival, prays for the God's blessing of the ancestors until the dawn of the new year. It has gradually become a custom for people to observe the Spring Festival.
The basic meaning of guarding the year on New Year's Eve
The custom of staying up late to welcome the new year is to stay up late on the last night of the old year without sleeping. It is also called New Year's Eve, which is commonly known as "endure the new year". There are two meanings of keeping one's old age in ancient times: the elder's keeping one's old age means' quitting the old age ', which means cherishing time; the younger's keeping one's old age means prolonging the life of their parents. Since the Han Dynasty, the time of new and old year's alternation is usually midnight. In the evening of new year's Eve, no matter men, women, old and young, they will gather together to watch the year. Therefore, keeping the year is one of the customs of Spring Festival.
ShouSui was first recorded in the Western Jin Dynasty. People light candles or oil lamps and stay up all night. In Japan, Vietnam, Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries, influenced by China, there is a saying that new year's Eve is a year's Eve.
New year's Eve is the most important custom, which has been recorded in the Wei and Jin Dynasties. On New Year's Eve, I stayed up with my family to celebrate the new year's Eve. We had a good time together and enjoyed our family's happiness. This is still a very important custom of the Chinese people. After the first cock crow, the new year begins. Men, women, old and young are all dressed in festival costumes. First, they wish the elderly in the family a new year's birthday, and then they go to relatives and friends to congratulate each other. At this time, the land of Shenzhou is full of glitter and color. From the first day to the 15th day, people have been immersed in a happy, peaceful and civilized festival atmosphere.