Spring Festival (Chun Jie)

The origin of ancient traditional festivals is related to ancient primitive beliefs, sacrificial culture, astrology, calendar and other humanistic and natural cultural contents. According to the research results of modern anthropology and archaeology, there are two most primitive beliefs of mankind: one is the belief in heaven and earth, and the other is the belief in ancestors. Most of the ancient traditional festivals were formed in the ancient people's sacrifice on a day to thank the gods of heaven and earth, the kindness of ancestors, and the activities of praying for blessings and ward off evil spirits. The early festival culture reflects the humanistic spirit of the ancients, such as the worship of nature, the unity of heaven and man, being cautious in the end and pursuing the future, and consolidating the foundation and thinking about the source; A series of sacrificial activities contain the profound cultural connotation of only respecting and feeling morality, etiquette and music civilization. The origin and development of new year's Day (New Year's day) covers the contents of humanistic philosophy and natural laws.

In the early era of observation and timing, "doubing Huiyin" was Chunzheng (the beginning of the year). The beginning of spring is the beginning of all things and the meaning of all regeneration, which means that the new year has been opened. The concept of "Sui" comes from the ancient calendar. "Sui" means "photography" (primitive trunk and branch), also known as "Sui Xing" and "Tai Sui". In the process of inheritance and development, later generations simplified this set of polysyllabic photographing era (age) terms into one word, which has a comparative relationship with the simplified trunk and branch records in Erya and Shiji. For example, Tai Sui said that he would take a picture of TIG in Yin, Dan Kan in Mao,... Zi said that he was trapped in Dun, and Chou said that he was chifenruo (saying "Erya · Shitian"). The Ganzhi era starts with the moon of "Jianyin" with the handle of the Big Dipper pointing due east by North, and then rotates clockwise in a circle. In traditional culture, the trunk and branch are connected with the position and eight trigrams. Yin position is the root position of the acquired eight trigrams, the position of the first intersection of all ages, and represents the end and beginning. For example, the biography of Yi Shuogua says: "root, the divination of the Northeast, is the end and beginning of all things." December runs in a cycle. At the end of the year, December refers to the ugly square, and the first month returns to Yin. The spring returns to the earth, and everything is renewed. The new year begins from here.

In the traditional farming society, the beginning of spring is of great significance, which has derived a large number of related popular culture. Although since then, due to the promotion of the yin-yang calendar system in the historical development, festivals and festivals have been separated, many festival folk customs have remained. The Spring Festival evolved from the worship of praying at the beginning of the year. In ancient times, people held sacrificial activities at the beginning of the year when the spring returns to the earth, starts again and renews everything. They reported the kindness of the gods and ancestors, drove away evil spirits and disasters, prayed for blessings at the beginning of the year. Although the situation of ancient sacrificial rites is remote and difficult to know, some ancient customs relics can still be found from the festival rites of later generations. For example, in some areas of Lingnan, there are grand and grand activities of worshipping gods and ancestors, expelling evil spirits and accepting blessings on the first day of the new year and during the new year, which shows the clues of the sacrifice at the beginning of the new year in ancient times. The origin and development of the Spring Festival is a process of gradual formation, subtle improvement and popularization. As an important part of Chinese traditional culture, spring festival culture not only carries the profound Chinese cultural heritage, but also records the rich and colorful social life and cultural content of ancient people.

Time evolution

China's astrological culture has a long history and is broad and profound. The ancients began to explore the mysteries of the universe very early, and thus deduced a complete and profound astrological culture. The Big Dipper rotates in a circle, which is closely related to the changes of seasons. The Big Dipper is an important astrology in the northern hemisphere (China is located in the northern hemisphere). When the stars change, the natural rhythm of the corresponding area near the yellow red angle in the northern hemisphere is also gradually changing, so it has become the basis for people to judge the change of seasons. "Doubing Huiyin" rejuvenates the earth, everything is renewed, and the new year opens. In the historical development and evolution, due to the change of dynasties and the change of calendar, the date of the beginning of the year (New Year) is also different.

The dates set for the Chinese New Year in the past dynasties are different:

Ancient times: the age of Sui Ji is mentioned, that is, the era of GaN and Zhi. The handle of the Big Dipper seven stars starts from due east by North (Bagua Gen position the day after tomorrow) and rotates clockwise, which is called one year old (photo). Douzhi Yin is the first month of spring (the first month), the month of "JianZheng" is the first month of Yin, and the beginning of spring is the beginning of the year. (Star calendar)

Summer, Shang and Zhou: the first month of the summer calendar is in mengchun, the first month of the Shang calendar is in winter and December, and the first month of the Zhou calendar is in winter and November. (lunar calendar)

After the first emperor of Qin unified the six countries, he used the Qin calendar (Zhuanxu calendar), and the first month was in winter and October. (lunar calendar)

The Qin calendar (Zhuanxu calendar) was used in the early Han Dynasty. In the first year of the Taichu period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, that is, 104 BC, astronomers Tang Du, Luo xiahong, Deng Ping and others formulated the Taichu calendar (also known as the "81 minute law calendar"), absorbed the solar terms of the Ganzhi calendar as a supplement to the calendar to guide farming, and changed October 1 in winter to January 1 in spring.

After the Han Dynasty, several emperors changed the calendar and changed the beginning of the year. After Wang Mang usurped the Han Dynasty, it was stipulated that the new moon in December was the beginning of the year, which was Yin Zheng. Cao Rui, the emperor of Wei and Ming Dynasty, was once changed to Yin Zheng. After Wu Zetian became emperor, she changed the country name to "Zhou" and adopted Zhou Zheng. Since then, successive dynasties have changed to Xiazheng, with the new moon in January as the beginning of the year. (Note: Wu Zetian ascended the throne on the ninth day of September 690. In that year, there were two "first day of the first month": February 15, 690 and December 6, 690.)

Through the development of dynasties, later generations gradually improved the early calendar into the current summer calendar. Since then, China has been using the summer calendar until now. After 1970, the "summer calendar" was changed to the "lunar calendar" (a combination of yin and Yang).

After the revolution of 1911, the Gregorian calendar (a kind of Gregorian calendar, also known as Gregorian calendar) was gradually used. Later, in order to distinguish the two new years of the summer calendar and the Gregorian calendar, since January 1 of the summer calendar is just before and after the "beginning of spring" solar term, which is one of the 24 specific festivals indicating seasonal changes in the Ganzhi calendar, January 1 of the summer calendar (lunar calendar) was renamed "Spring Festival" and January 1 of the Gregorian calendar was renamed "New Year's Day".

In July 1913 (the second year of the Republic of China), Yuan Shikai approved the first day of the first lunar month as the Spring Festival and agreed to a regular holiday for the Spring Festival, which has been implemented since 1914. Since then, the beginning of the lunar new year has changed from the previous "Chinese New Year" to "Spring Festival".

Name change

Now the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar is called Yuanshuo, new year's day, Xinyuan, new year's day, zhengri, new year's day, Xinzheng, etc. The name of the festival "Spring Festival" on the first day of the first lunar month, which is now celebrated, did not exist in ancient times (generally known as Chinese New Year and new year's day in ancient times), which was created by the government of the Republic of China. The concept of "Spring Festival" was gradually raised during the period of the Republic of China. During the period of the Republic of China, the Gregorian calendar was introduced, and the lunar calendar became the standard for farming. In 1914, the government of the Republic of China mentioned in the submission of the Ministry of internal affairs that "it plans to request the Lunar New Year's day to be the Spring Festival". Therefore, the saying of the spring festival gradually spread.

After the revolution of 1911, the Gregorian calendar was adopted during the Beiyang Government of the Republic of China in 1912, but the year of the "Republic of China" was used, and January 1 was the first day of the Gregorian calendar; Since 1914, the first day of the first lunar month in the summer calendar (i.e. the first day of the first lunar month) has been regarded as the "Spring Festival", which is the beginning of the lunar year.

On September 27, 1949, the first plenary session of the Chinese people's Political Consultative Conference decided to adopt the "year of the year" method, calling January 1 of the Gregorian calendar "New Year's Day" and the first day of the first lunar month of the summer calendar still "Spring Festival".

Content development

In the ancient emperor's era, there were Ganzhi calendars and the rudiments of age. According to the records of "Pangu Wang Biao" and "Sanming Tonghui": "the emperor first made the name of the main branch, which is where the year is fixed". The ten Heavenly Stems said: Jue Feng, Zhan Meng, rou Zhao, Qiang Yu, Zhuyong, Tu Wei, Shang Zhang, Chongguang, Xuanyu and Zhaoyang; The twelve local branches said: sutige, shankan, Zhixu, great desolation, dun, Xiecha, Huitan, zuog, castration, Dayuan offering, sleepy, chifenruo. The emperor's invention had a far-reaching impact and was used in calendar, number of techniques, calculation, naming and other aspects in later generations (the official official official history book Zizhi Tongjian compiled in the Northern Song dynasty recorded the year with this set of Ganzhi terms). In the ancient times of observing and timing, the farming cycle was the celebration cycle, and some solar terms were festivals. Among the festivals, the first festival of the year was particularly important.

Before the Qin and Han Dynasties, the customs and calendars of the north and the South were different. In some places, the first rites and customs were not the new moon of the first lunar month, but the beginning of spring of the twenty-four solar terms of the Ganzhi calendar. As a traditional farming society, the ancients attached great importance to the beginning of spring when spring returns to the earth and everything is reborn. The beginning of spring is of great significance to the traditional farming society. In the pre Qin period, some places in China inherited the festival activities with the theme of worshipping gods and ancestors at the beginning of spring, praying for blessings at the beginning of spring, expelling evil spirits and disasters, eliminating the old and promoting the new. This series of festival activities not only constitute the embryonic framework of the first festival of the new year in later generations, but also its folk function has been preserved to this day.

The Han Dynasty was the first great development period after China's reunification. The economic and cultural exchanges between the north and the South also integrated the customs and habits, which provided good social conditions for the spread and popularization of festival customs. Since then, the records of sacrifice at the beginning of the year have gradually appeared in the literature. For example, Cui Shi of the Eastern Han Dynasty mentioned in the "four people's monthly order" that "the day of the first month is the positive day. Bow to your wife and worship your ancestors." The custom activities of celebrating the new year are becoming more and more extensive and rich among the people all over the country.

In the Wei and Jin Dynasties, there were written records of the custom of keeping the year old on New Year's Eve. For example, according to the record of the local customs written by Zhou Chu of the Jin Dynasty: on New Year's Eve, everyone gave gifts, which is called "giving new year's Eve"; Children and elders get together to celebrate the perfect celebration, which is called "age division"; Staying awake until dawn is called "Shou Sui".

In the Tang Dynasty, in addition to visiting the door to pay New Year greetings, people also invented a "New Year greeting post". Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, made a greeting card out of red gold foil and wrote the imperial book "celebrate the whole world" to the minister. This form was quickly popularized among the people, and plum blossom paper was used instead. At that time, this kind of "New Year greeting post" was called "flying post".

In the Song Dynasty, people began to use paper tubes and hemp stems to wrap gunpowder into strings to make "woven firecrackers" (i.e. firecrackers). The custom of setting off firecrackers on New Year's Eve and Spring Festival has gradually prevailed. "Tokyo Menghua record" said: "it is night, no firecrackers, mountain call, smell the sound outside."

In the Ming Dynasty, receiving the kitchen god, pasting the door god, keeping watch on New Year's Eve and 15 lantern festivals were already popular. "Wanli Jiaxing Chronicles" records: "on New Year's Eve, Yi door god, Taofu, chuntie, jingkuma are all sealed. Firecrackers, burnt purple, wine and fruit drinks, gongs and drums all night are called ShouSui."

The Qing Dynasty attached great importance to the Chinese new year, and the Palace Chinese new year was very luxurious. The emperor had the custom of giving blessings to his officials. The Chinese New Year lasts until the Lantern Festival. Guessing lantern riddles is a very popular way to have fun.

The revolution of 1911 brought a new era, and the government advocated the new calendar. In terms of etiquette, all the previous etiquette such as kneeling or bowing were abolished and changed into new etiquette such as taking off the hat, bowing, shaking hands and clapping, which has gradually become a civilized ceremony of interpersonal communication in China.

Folk custom category

Traditional festival rituals and custom activities are important contents of festival elements, carrying rich and colorful festival culture. New year's Day is an ancient festival in China and the most important festival in the whole year. In the historical development, it has mixed a variety of folk customs in many places and formed some relatively fixed customs, many of which are still handed down to this day. These activities can be roughly summarized into the following aspects: worshipping gods to meet the time of the day; Worship the ancestors and maintain family affection; Dispel evil and seek peace; Leisure and entertainment, relax. Beginning with the Centennial Festival, the Spring Festival is the most solemn traditional festival of the Chinese nation. It not only embodies the thoughts and beliefs, ideals and aspirations, life, entertainment and cultural psychology of the Chinese nation, but also a carnival display of praying for disaster, catering and entertainment activities.

During the Spring Festival, various new year activities are held all over the country. Due to different regional cultures, there are differences in customs, contents or details, with strong regional characteristics. The celebrations during the Spring Festival are extremely rich and diverse, including lion dance, color floating, dragon dance, wandering gods, temple fairs, flower street shopping, flower lanterns, gongs and drums, vernier flags, fireworks burning, blessing, spring throwing, stilt walking, dry boat running, Yangko dancing and so on. During the Spring Festival, it can be seen everywhere, such as sticking New Year's red, keeping the new year's watch, eating reunion dinner and paying New Year's greetings. However, due to different local conditions and customs, the details have their own characteristics. With various forms and rich contents, the Spring Festival folk custom is a concentrated display of the essence of the life and culture of the Chinese nation.

The Spring Festival is a day to get rid of the old and introduce 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 are not limited to the first day of the first month. From the end of the year, people began to "busy year": offering sacrifices to stoves, sweeping dust, purchasing new year goods, pasting New Year's red, washing hair and bathing, lighting lanterns and decorations, etc. all these activities have a common theme, that is, "leaving the old and welcoming the new". The Spring Festival is a festival of joy, harmony and family reunion. It is also a carnival and eternal spiritual pillar for people to express their longing for happiness and freedom. The Spring Festival is also a day for worshipping ancestors and praying for new years. Sacrifice is a kind of belief activity. It is a belief activity created by human survival activities in ancient times, hoping to live in harmony with nature.

The Spring Festival is also a festival for people's entertainment and carnival. At the turn of the new year, firecrackers, fireworks, farewell to the old year, welcome the new year and other activities to celebrate the new year reached a climax. On the morning of the first day of the new year, all families burn incense to pay tribute to heaven, earth and ancestors, then pay New Year's greetings to the elders in turn, and then send congratulations to relatives and friends of the same family. After the first day of the lunar new year, a variety of colorful entertainment activities are carried out, adding a strong festive atmosphere to the Spring Festival. The warm atmosphere of the festival is not only filled with families, but also filled with streets and alleys everywhere. During this period, the city is full of lanterns and tourists. It is bustling and unprecedented. The Spring Festival will not really end until after the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month. Therefore, the Spring Festival, a grand festival integrating prayer, celebration and entertainment, has become the most solemn festival of the Chinese nation.

traditional custom

Handling new year goods

China's New Year custom culture has a long history. A variety of New Year customs have been derived from all over the country, which are very different from the north and the South and have their own characteristics. Although the customs vary from place to place, preparing new year goods and giving new year gifts are "necessary for the Chinese New Year" almost all over the country. Buying new year's products, including food, clothing, wearing, using, pasting (New Year's red), giving (New Year's greetings) gifts, etc., are collectively called "New Year's products", and the process of purchasing new year's products is called "doing new year's products". Handling new year's goods is an important activity for Chinese people to celebrate the Spring Festival.

Sacrificial stove

Folk cooking stoves originated from the ancient fire worship custom. For example, in Shi Ming, it is said: "the stove is also made, and the food is also created." The kitchen god's duty is to take charge of the kitchen fire and manage the diet. Later, it was expanded to investigate the good and evil in the world in order to bring good and evil. Sacrificial kitchen has a history of thousands of years among Chinese people. The belief in Kitchen God is a reflection of the Chinese people's pursuit of the dream of "more than enough food and clothing".

Dust sweeping

In the folk, on the eve of the new year, there is the custom of "sweeping the house on the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month". People call it "dust sweeping Day". Dust sweeping is a year-end cleaning. Every household should clean the environment, clean all kinds of appliances, dismantle and wash bedding and curtains, sweep the courtyard of Liulu, dust and dust cobwebs, and dredge open and underground ditches. Everywhere is filled with a happy atmosphere of hygiene and clean welcome to the new year. According to the folk saying: because "dust" is homonymous with "Chen", years ago, sweeping dust had the meaning of "removing Chen and cloth new". The purpose of sweeping the dust is to sweep out all the poor luck and bad luck in order to pray for good luck in the coming year.

Cut new year's meat

The folk proverb says "on the 26th day of the twelfth lunar month, kill pigs and cut new year's meat", which means that meat is mainly prepared for the new year on this day. The so-called killing pigs, of course, is to kill their own pigs; The so-called meat cutting means that poor families without pigs go to the market to buy meat for the new year. 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".

Paste Nian Hong (waving spring)

On the 28th, 29th or 30th of the year, every household "pastes New Year's red" (New Year's red is a general term for the red festive elements pasted during the Spring Festival, such as Spring Festival couplets, door gods, banners, New Year pictures, "Fu" and so on). Sticking New Year red (waving spring) is a traditional Chinese New Year custom, which adds a festive atmosphere and places people's good expectations for the new year and new life.

Spring Festival couplets: according to the records of literary works such as the jade candle treasure book and the record of Yanjing's age, the original form of Spring Festival couplets is what people call "Taofu". Another source of spring couplets is spring stickers. The ancients pasted the word "Yichun" on the beginning of spring, and then gradually developed into spring couplets. Spring Festival couplets are also called door pairs, spring stickers, couplets, couplets, Taofu, etc. they depict the background of the times and express good wishes in neat, dual, concise and exquisite words. They are a unique literary form in China. Every Spring Festival, every family, whether in urban or rural areas, should select a red spring festival couplet and paste it on the door to increase the festive atmosphere for the festival.

New Year pictures: hanging and pasting New Year pictures during the Spring Festival is also very common in urban and rural areas. The thick ink and heavy color New Year pictures have added a lot of prosperity and joy to thousands of households. New Year pictures are an ancient folk art in China. They reflect the simple customs and beliefs of the people and place their hopes for the future. With the rise of wood printing, the content of New Year pictures is not limited to monotonous themes such as door gods, but has become rich and colorful.

Window flower and the word "Fu": among the people, people also like to paste all kinds of paper cuts on the windows - window flower. Window flowers not only set off the festive atmosphere, but also integrate decoration, appreciation and practicability. At the same time, some people have to stick the words "Fu" in large and small on the door, wall and lintel. Folk people also finely depict the word "Fu" into various patterns, including longevity star, longevity peach, carp jumping over the dragon's gate, bumper grain harvest, dragon and Phoenix, etc.

family reunion dinner

Dinner at the end of the year, also known as new year's Eve, family dinner, etc. The dinner originated from the year-end sacrificial ceremony in ancient times. It is a reunion dinner after worshipping gods and ancestors. New year's Eve dinner is an important play before the new year. It is not only rich and colorful, but also pays great attention to meaning. Before eating the reunion dinner, worship the gods and ancestors first, and then start the meal after the worship ceremony. There are generally chicken (meaning plan), fish (meaning surplus every year), oyster and black bean (meaning good city), Nostoc flagelliforme (meaning wealth), fermented bean curd (meaning abundance), lotus root (meaning wisdom), lettuce (meaning wealth), sausage (meaning long-term) and so on for good luck. Chinese people's new year's Eve dinner is a family reunion dinner. It is the most abundant and important dinner at the end of the year.

There are many famous things about the new year's Eve dinner, which are different from the north and the south, and each has its own stress. Northerners are used to eating dumplings during the Spring Festival, which is a habit handed down from ancient times. Due to geographical and climatic reasons, during the Spring Festival, the north is still in the cold winter when everything is closed. In winter, the northern area is white and icy. There is basically no way to plant crops, lack of resources and few food materials to choose from. The southern region, especially some coastal areas, is basically green all the year round. In winter, the southern region has great advantages in vegetables, fruits and other food materials, so it has more selectivity in the choice of diet; In terms of geographical advantages, it also benefits from abundant water resources and wide distribution, so all kinds of fishing are sufficient and food materials are diverse; Therefore, on some important festivals, the diet in the South will be richer and more diverse.

Shou Sui

Keeping the new year's Eve is one of the new year's customs activities, which has a long history. The folk custom of keeping the year old is mainly manifested in that all houses light the year old fire, the family get together happily, keep the "year old fire" and wait for the time to leave the old and welcome the new year. On New Year's Eve, the lights are kept on all night, which is called "lighting a lamp to illuminate the new year" or "lighting a new year's fire". All houses are lit with lights and candles, and lights and candles are specially lit under the bed. It is called "lighting wasted". It is said that after such lighting, the wealth of the family will be enriched in the coming year. In ancient times, there were different customs between the north and the south. In some places in the north, the custom of keeping the new year's Eve was mainly to stay up for a long time. For example, in the record of Customs written by Zhou Chu of the Jin Dynasty, it said that everyone gave gifts on New Year's Eve, which was called "giving the new year's Eve"; Children and elders get together to celebrate the perfect celebration, which is called "age division"; Staying awake until dawn is called "Shou Sui". On New Year's Eve, the whole family get together, have a new year's Eve dinner, light candles or oil lamps, sit around the stove, chat and watch all night, which symbolizes driving away all evil plagues and looking forward to the good luck of the new year.

Lucky money

Lucky money is one of the customs of the new year. After the new year's dinner, the elders should send the lucky money prepared in advance to the younger generation. It is said that the lucky money can suppress evil deeds, and the younger generation can spend a year in peace when they get the lucky money. Lucky money means to ward off evil spirits and exorcise ghosts and bless peace in folk culture. The original intention of lucky money was to ward off evil. Because people think that children are vulnerable to sneakiness, they use lucky money to drive away evil spirits.

In history, there are many kinds of lucky money. Generally, it is sent to the younger generation by the elders during the countdown to the new year to show their concern and sincere blessings to the younger generation; The other is given to the elderly by the younger generation. The "year" of the lucky money refers to years, which is intended to look forward to the longevity of the elderly. The earliest lucky money that can be traced back was recorded in the Han Dynasty. It is also called Yasheng money. It is not circulating in the market, but a toy in the form of coins, which has the function of avoiding evil spirits.

Wandering God

Wandering God is one of the traditional New Year customs. Wandering God, also known as holy driving parade, Lord Youye, Lord Yingye, Bodhisattva tour, wandering God competition, annual rules, welcoming God, welcoming new year, spring outing, incense, Bodhisattva travel to the countryside, carrying gods and gods, and so on, refers to that people invite walking gods into God's sedan in the temple during the new year or other festive festivals, or on the Christmas day of the gods, and then carry them out of the temple, Accepting the people's incense worship means that the gods land among the people, patrol the countryside and bless the peace of the whole country. The main purpose is to pay God, eliminate disasters, pray for blessings, etc. Along the way, Youshen is accompanied by rich and colorful art array performances such as gongs and drums, suona, puppets, lion dance, dragon dance, floating color, flag marking, lantern tour, eight tone, acrobatics and band performance. It is a traditional folk activity integrating worship, prayer, celebration and banquet.

Wandering God is also called "wandering God competition" and "camp master" in Chaoshan area, which is a traditional folk activity in Chaoshan area; During the Spring Festival every year, according to the chronological order, various villages and towns hold folk God wandering activities in turn, and the scene is very lively. In western Guangdong, it is also known as "master you", "Bodhisattva you", or "Nianli"; The so-called annual rules, that is, "there are cases in the past, this year and every year". In Beiliu area, it is also known as "annual rule". In the Pearl River Delta region, also known as "Bodhisattva walking township", people carry statues to parade around the village and receive blessings. In Fuzhou, also known as "welcoming God", the third to fifteenth day of the first month of the lunar calendar is the time for wandering God, which has become one of the important activities of "new year" in rural areas; Wandering gods often take the village as a unit, sometimes several villages unite, and parade around the village in teams amid the sound of gongs, drums and firecrackers. The people watch and greet the scene in a warm way.

Happy New Year

New year worship is one of the popular activities. Greet the new year at the beginning of the new year and worship the "God of the year". "Sui" is also known as "photo mention" and "Tai Sui", which is the star name of the ancient era. Taisui is also a god of folk belief. At the age of 60, there are a total of 60 people, and one year old God is on duty every year. The Taisui who is on duty in that year is called "value year Taisui", which is the master of one year old and is in charge of the good and bad fortune of the world in that year. As it is said in the "three life communication society": "a man who is too old is the master of one year old and the leader of the gods". New year worship is the oldest traditional Chinese New Year custom, which is still popular in Guangdong, especially in Wuchuan. At the beginning of the new year, we will welcome the new year, worship the God of the new year and receive blessings.

temple fair

Temple fair is one of the folk activities during the Spring Festival. Guangfu temple fair and Beijing Ditan temple fair are known as China's two major temple fairs. It covers themed activities such as puppet gathering, Chinese unique skills, Wulin conference and Lantern Festival, and contains rich contents such as blessing culture, folk culture, food culture, business and leisure culture.

New Year greetings

Visiting during the Spring Festival is one of the traditional customs of the New Year Festival. It is a way for people to leave the old and welcome the new year and express their best wishes to each other. On the second and third day of junior high school, we began to visit relatives and friends, pay New Year greetings to each other, congratulate each other, and say some congratulations on the new year, wealth, and happy new year. The significance of new year's greetings is to visit and contact feelings between relatives and friends, celebrate the new year, and express feelings for relatives and friends and good wishes for life in the new year. With the development of the times, the custom of paying New Year's greetings has also added new contents and forms.

Perry is

Paili is one of the popular customs for a long time. "Li Shi" also writes "Li Shi" or "Li Shi". Paili is, Li is, Li is, which means that it can be profitable all year round. The word "profit market" has existed since ancient times. It has been recorded as early as the book of changes, with the meaning of less profit. In the Yuan Dynasty, the proverb test also mentioned that "for good omen, we should seek a favorable market from the owner". It can be seen that the favorable market also has the meaning of good luck. According to "Yi zazhu", it is said that "doing business and benefiting the market, doing business and benefiting the people". What businessmen send is called "benefiting the market", which means that it is conducive to doing anything.

Fire firecracker

There is a saying among Chinese people that "open the door and fight". That is, on the arrival of the new year, the first thing for every family to open the door is to burn firecrackers to get rid of the old and welcome the new with the sound of beeping firecrackers. Firecrackers are Chinese specialties, also known as "explosive warfare", "firecracker", "firecracker" and "firecracker". Its origin is very early. About the evolution process of firecrackers, "popular choreography excellent" records: "in ancient times, firecrackers were ignited by real bamboo, so Tang poetry is also called exploding rod. Later generations rolled paper. It is called" firecrackers ".

The original purpose of firecracker is to welcome gods and exorcise evil spirits. Later, with its strong festive color, it developed into a symbol to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. Firing firecrackers can create a festive and lively atmosphere. It is an entertainment activity of the festival and can bring happiness and auspiciousness to people.

Festival activities

Busy year (small year)

Twenty four years is also called "the beginning of twenty-three years", or "the end of twenty-three years". Xiaonian does not specifically refer to one day. Due to different customs, the days called "Xiaonian" are also different. Before the Qing Dynasty, the folk tradition of offering sacrifices to the kitchen god in the lunar new year was December 24. From the middle and late Qing Dynasty, the imperial family held a grand ceremony to offer sacrifices to the heaven on December 23. In order to "save money", the kitchen god was also worshipped by the way, and the upper and lower levels followed suit. The folk people in northern areas followed suit, and most celebrated the lunar new year on December 23; Most areas in the South still maintain the tradition of celebrating the lunar new year on December 24. Xiaonian is the beginning and foreshadowing of the whole spring festival celebrations. There are two main activities: sweeping dust and offering sacrifices to stoves.

Traditional customs: offering sacrifices to cookers, steaming steamed buns, buying new year's red, eating cooking sugar and sweeping dust.

Year 28

On the 28th of the year, the old and new clothes were removed, and the old new year's red was removed. In some places, the new year's red began to be pasted on the 28th of the year. There is a saying in Guangdong that "wash the mess on the 28th day of the Lunar New Year", which means that on the 28th day of December of the lunar calendar, the whole family should stay at home to clean up, paste New Year's red and welcome the new year. In some places in the north, there is a new year's rumor: "on the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, make cakes and steamed buns, paste flowers and flowers" or "on the 28th day, make noodles". The so-called sticking flowers and flowers means posting new year pictures, Spring Festival couplets, window flowers and all kinds of things posted during the Spring Festival.

New year's Eve

New year's Eve is the last night at the end of the year. The last day at the end of the year is called "year division", which means that the old year will be removed and a new year will be replaced. To remove means to remove; Xi refers to night. "New Year's Eve" means new year's Eve, also known as new year's Eve, new year's Eve, new year's Eve, etc. it is the last night at the end of the year. New year's Eve is a day for new year's Eve, family reunion and ancestor worship. It is a traditional ancestor worship festival in Chinese folk, together with Qingming Festival, July half and Double Ninth Festival. New year's Eve is of special significance in the hearts of Chinese people. On this most important day at the end of the year, no matter how far away you are, you have to hurry home to reunite with your family, say goodbye to the old year in the sound of firecrackers, and fireworks are all over the sky to welcome the new year. New year's Eve, ancestor worship, eat new year's Eve dinner, after dinner, there is the custom of giving lucky money and keeping the year old.

Traditional customs: setting heaven and earth table, offering sacrifices to ancestors, burning guns, eating New Year's Eve dinner, receiving God, stepping on sneaky feet, and receiving the God of wealth.

Chinese new year's day

From the beginning of the new year, it has entered the theme of greeting the new year and receiving blessings, worshipping the ancestors of God and praying for a bumper year. At the turn of the new year, firecrackers, fireworks, farewell to the old year, welcome the new year and other activities to celebrate the new year reached a climax. Farewell to the old year with the sound of firecrackers and fireworks all over the sky to welcome the new year. When the Spring Festival opens in the morning, firecrackers are fired first, which is called "opening the door firecracker" to send the old and welcome the new. After the sound of firecrackers, the ground is broken and red, as bright as cloud brocade, which is called "full house". Welcome the new year on the first day of the first month and worship the new year. In the morning, all families burn incense to pay homage to heaven and earth, offer sacrifices to ancestors and worship the new year God. Then pay New Year's greetings to the elders in turn, and then send congratulations to relatives and friends of the same family. On the first day of the new year, people get up early, put on their most beautiful clothes, dress up and go out. I wish you a happy new year. According to Zhan Shu, the first day of the first month is "chicken day".

Traditional customs: open the door, pay respects to the new year, pray for the new year, pay respects to the new year, occupy the new year and gather money.

2nd day of the first lunar month

The second day of the Lunar New Year is the new year's day. In the morning, worship the gods of heaven and earth. After the sacrifice, burn guns and paper treasures, and then eat the "New Year's dinner". This "New Year's dinner" is usually prepared with Nostoc flagelliforme, lettuce, fish, etc., which is intended to make money and profit. On this day, the married daughter went back to her mother's house and asked her husband to go with her, so it is commonly known as "welcoming her son-in-law day". The daughter who returns to her mother's house must carry some gifts and red envelopes, distribute them to her children, and have lunch at her mother's house, but she must go back to her mother-in-law's house before dinner. According to Zhan Shu, the second day of the first month is "dog day".

Traditional customs: worship God, New Year meal, etc.

3rd day of the first lunar month

On the third day of the lunar new year, also known as the red dog day, which is homonymous with "chikou", it is the God of anger. It is one of the five emperors in ancient times (lingweiyang of the Oriental Green emperor, chiyinnu of the southern Red Emperor, hanhub of the central Yellow Emperor, baizhaorejection of the Western White Emperor and Zhixian Ji of the northern black emperor), that is, the God of the south, which is responsible for summer. It is generally believed that it is the younger brother of the red sun who is angry, but it is unlucky when he meets him. Therefore, the "Xiaonian Dynasty" should worship his ancestors and gods. Chikou usually doesn't go out to pay New Year's greetings. It is said that it is easy to quarrel with people on this day. In ancient times, in the folk of southern China, "chikou" (Forbidden mouth) was pasted on the morning of the third day of the lunar new year. It was considered that it was easy to quarrel on this day and it was not suitable to pay New Year's greetings. The so-called "red mouth" is generally a red note about seven or eight inches long and one inch wide, with some safe and auspicious words written on it. In short, posting "chikou" is to make people feel that they can go in and out safely all year round, do not quarrel with people or all kinds of unfortunate disasters, recruit more money and treasure at home, and everything goes well.

Traditional custom: burn door god paper.

2th day of the first lunar month

The fourth day of the Lunar New Year is the day of offering sacrifices to the God of wealth. Welcome God and receive God. In Zhanshu, it is said that the fourth day of the first month is the day when Nuwa made sheep, so it is called "sheep day". On this day, people can't kill sheep. If the weather is good, it means that the sheep will be well raised in this year, and the people who raise sheep will have a good harvest.

Traditional customs: meet God, connect God, connect five roads, eat broken Luo, throw poverty.

5th day of the first lunar month

On the fifth day of the first month, according to folk custom, it is the birthday of the five way God of wealth. Therefore, we should welcome the God of wealth into our house and bless our family with abundant financial resources in the new year. At the same time, it is also a day to send away the "poor", so there is a saying of "sending the poor out". This day is also commonly known as "breaking five", which means that many taboos in the previous days are over. In addition to the above taboos, the breaking five customs are mainly to send the poor, welcome the God of wealth and open the market for trade. People in the north have the custom of eating dumplings, which means to attract money and treasure. It is said that the fifth day of the first month is "cow day".

Traditional customs: sacrifice to the God of wealth (South), send the poor and open the market.

6th day of the first lunar month

The sixth day of the first month is "horse day", which is called June 6 Dashun. On this day, every family should throw out the garbage accumulated during the festival, which is called sending the poor. The sixth day of the Lunar New Year is also the opening day of the market. Shops and restaurants are officially opened and have to set off firecrackers, which is no less than the situation on New Year's Eve.

Traditional customs: send the poor and open the city.

7th day of the first lunar month

The seventh day of the Lunar New Year is people's day, that is, people's birthday. They usually don't go out to pay New Year's greetings. Zhanshu said that from the beginning of the first day of the lunar new year, the order in which Heaven created all things was "one chicken, two dogs, three pigs and four sheep, five cattle and six horses, seven people and eight valleys", so the seventh day of the lunar new year was man's Day. From the literature of the Han Dynasty, there were written records of people's Day customs, which began to be paid attention to after the Wei and Jin Dynasties. In ancient times, there was the custom of wearing "human victory" on people's day. Human victory is a kind of headdress, also known as Caisheng and Huasheng.

Traditional customs: smoke the sky, eat seven treasures soup and send the God of fire.

8th day of the first lunar month

The eighth day of the year is the commencement day, and the distribution of commencement benefits is the first thing Guangdong bosses should do on the first day of work after the new year; Benefit is benefit, which means that you can benefit all year round. Visiting relatives and friends before the eighth day of the year is basically completed. Since the eighth day of the year, people have successively carried out worship, wandering gods, putting religion, lion dance, dragon dance, floating color, lantern dance, Jiaojiao, gun marking, grand drama and various literary and artistic performances. It is said that the eighth day of the ninth lunar month is the birthday of millet. If it is cloudy every day, it will cause an annual apology, and if it is sunny, it will lead to a bumper harvest of rice this year.

Traditional customs: following the stars, wandering gods, making vegetarian heads, releasing animals and praying for blessings.

9th day of the first lunar month

The ninth day of the first month is the day of heaven. It is said that this day is the birthday of the Jade Emperor, the highest god in the sky, commonly known as "heavenly life". It is said that the "heavenly Father" is the "Jade Emperor". Taoism calls it the "four emperors". It is the highest god in heaven. He is the highest god who commands the gods of the three worlds and ten directions and all spirits on earth, representing the supreme "heaven". The main customs include offering sacrifices to the Jade Emperor, Taoist temple and fasting heaven. In some places, women prepare fragrant flower candles and fasting bowls on the day and place them in the open air at the entrance of Tianjing alley to worship the heaven and ask for heaven's blessing.

10th day of the first lunar month

On the tenth day of the first month, there is the custom of turning on lights in some parts of the south, and there is a light on banquet. It is a custom in Henan Province to burn incense to stones on this day. It is believed that "ten" is homonymous with "stone". Therefore, the tenth day of the first day is the birthday of stone. On this day, all stone tools such as grinding and grinding cannot be moved, and even sacrifice stones for fear of hurting crops. Also known as "stone immobility" and "ten immobility"; I always eat steamed bread for lunch. I think eating bread will be prosperous within a year. In Yuncheng, Shandong and other places, there are stone gods.

The eleventh day of the first month

On the eleventh day of the first month, "son-in-law's Day", this is the day when the father-in-law entertains his son-in-law. In addition to eating for one day on the tenth day of the ninth day of the lunar new year, there are still a lot of food left over from the celebration of "heavenly birthday". Therefore, the mother's family doesn't have to spend any more money to entertain her son-in-law and daughter with the rest of the food. The folk song is called "invite a son-in-law on the eleventh day".

The twelfth day of the first month

On the twelfth day of the first month, set up lamp sheds, lantern cocktail parties, make vegetarian heads, make Jiao, mark guns, etc. From now on, people begin to prepare to celebrate the Lantern Festival, buy lanterns, build lamp sheds, do Jiaojiao and mark guns. There is a nursery rhyme: "eleven people chirp, twelve put up light sheds, thirteen people turn on the lights, fourteen lights are on, fifteen lines and a half months, and sixteen people finish the lights."

The 13th and 14th of the first month

On the 13th and 14th of the first month, lion dance, floating color, wandering gods and temple fairs. It is said that the 13th day of the first month is the "Lantern birthday". On this day, people want to light a lamp under the kitchen stove, which is called "lighting a stove lamp".

The fifteenth day of the first month (Lantern Festival)

On the 15th day of the first month, customs activities mainly include appreciating lanterns, visiting lanterns, boating, burning guns, burning fireworks, picking green flowers, making lantern festival, etc. The festival customs of the Lantern Festival are very distinctive. The festival period and festival customs activities also extend and expand with the development of history. The Lantern Festival custom has been dominated by the lively and festive lantern watching custom since ancient times.

Seasonal food

Rice cake

New Year cake is a seasonal food of the lunar new year. It has red, yellow and white colors, symbolizing gold and silver. The utility model relates to a cake steamed with sticky glutinous rice or rice flour. There is a habit of eating New Year cakes in the south for the new year. The sweet sticky New Year cakes symbolize the sweet honey of life in the new year.

Eating rice cakes during the Spring Festival, "righteousness takes the year better than the year, so as to pray for fertility." Good luck every year. The types of New Year cakes are: white cake and yellow rice cake in the north; There are Shuimo rice cakes in Jiangnan; There are waxy Baba in the southwest; Taiwan has red turtle cake. There are two kinds of northern New Year cakes: steaming and frying. In addition to steaming and frying, southern New Year cakes also have the methods of slice frying and soup boiling.

Dumplings

Dumplings, known as "Jiaozi" in ancient times, have a tradition of eating dumplings for new year's Eve dinner in the north, but the customs of eating dumplings are also different. Some places eat dumplings on New Year's Eve and some places eat dumplings on the first day of the new year. At night, northerners don't eat dumplings, they will feel that there is no atmosphere for the new year. Some mountainous areas in the north also have the custom of eating dumplings every morning from the first day to the fifth day of the first day.

Eating dumplings is a unique way to express people's wish for good luck when they leave the old and welcome the new year. From 11:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. the next day, "Jiaozi" refers to the intersection of the new year and the old year. Dumplings mean making more children. Eating dumplings during the Spring Festival is considered to be a great blessing.

Yuanxiao(rice glue ball)

The Lantern Festival food in the south is called "Tangyuan", also known as "Yuanxiao", "tangtuan" and "fuyuanzi". It is one of the representatives of traditional Chinese snacks. It is a spherical food made of glutinous rice flour. There is usually stuffing, cooked and eaten with soup. It is also the most characteristic food of the Lantern Festival. Fill with black sesame and lard, add a little white granulated sugar, and rub it into a circle with glutinous rice powder. Because this kind of glutinous rice dumpling is floating and sinking in the pot, it was first called "fuyuanzi". Later, some areas changed the name of "fuyuanzi" to tangtuan. In Jiangsu, Shanghai and other places, there is the custom of eating Tangyuan on the morning of the new year.

spring pancake

Spring rolls are also called spring cakes. Eating spring cakes at the beginning of spring is an ancient custom in China. In the Jin Dynasty, there were "five taro plates", namely "spring plates", which put spring cakes and vegetables on the same plate.

In the Tang and Song Dynasties, the wind of eating spring cakes became more and more popular at the beginning of spring, and the Emperor gave it to his close officials. At that time, the spring plate was very particular about: "Cui wisps of red silk, golden chickens and jade swallows, which were exquisitely prepared, with 10000 yuan per plate". People also use it to give gifts to each other.

Today, the shape of spring cakes varies from place to place, and the eating time also varies from place to place. There are branding and steaming; Or as big as round fan, or as small as lotus armor.

ethnic flavor

China is a multi-ethnic country with different forms of celebrating the new year. In ancient Mongolia, the Spring Festival was called "white Festival" and the first month was called white month, which means good luck. Tibetans celebrate Tibetan calendar years.

the Korean nationality

Influenced by Chinese culture, Korean people also have the custom of Spring Festival. On New Year's Eve, the whole family stayed up all night. Yeqin and pipe music brought people into the new year. On the evening of the 15th day of the first lunar month, a traditional celebration rally was held. Several elderly people elected boarded the "moon watching rack" to see the bright moon first, which means that their children and grandchildren are healthy, progress and all the best. Then, everyone danced around the lit "moon rack" with the music of long drum, pipe flute and suona.

the zang or tibetan people

In the middle reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River, there is a tradition of "looking for fruit" festival before the autumn harvest. According to legend, this is the legacy of the June new year in ancient Tibet. There is also the Tibetan New Year in October, which originates from those ancient times. About the 13th century, when the Sakya dynasty ruled Tibet, Tibetans celebrated the new year on the first month of the Tibetan calendar.

Daur nationality

The Spring Festival in Daur is called "anie". On the morning of the new year's Eve, every family sweeps the courtyard and yards a high stack with sundries and livestock dung in front of the gate. After the stack is lit in the evening, light smoke curls around and envelops the festive atmosphere everywhere. In the evening, the whole family eats handlebar meat and carries out various new year activities. People put incense in the snow on the west side of the house and kowtow to the west to show their memory of their ancestors.

Gaoshan Nationality

During the Spring Festival, people of Gaoshan Nationality wear gorgeous national costumes, gather in groups at the head of the village, drink wine, and sing and dance with musical instruments. Some villages also hold fork fish competitions and carry out sports activities such as basket ball and pole ball.

poetry

"The first day of Tianjia" (Tang Dynasty) Meng Haoran

"Selling dementia Ci" (Song Dynasty) Fan Chengda

"New Year's Eve" (Tang Dynasty)

"At the foot of cibeigu mountain" (Tang Dynasty) wangwan

Yuan RI (Song Dynasty) Wang Anshi

"Spring in the jade Pavilion: the first day of Ji Mao's birthday" (Song Dynasty) Mao Pang

"New Year's Eve" (Southern Song Dynasty) Wentian

"New Year greetings" (Ming Dynasty) Wen zhengmingxiang

"Jiyou Xinzheng" (Ming Dynasty) Ye Yu

Guisi New Year's Eve (Qing Dynasty) Huang Jingren

"Fengcheng New Year's speech" (Qing Dynasty): check carefully

"Jiawu New Year's Day" (Qing Dynasty) Kong Shangren

"Yearning for return" (Sui Dynasty) Xue Daoheng

"Collection of Du Er's relics in person's Day" (Tang Dynasty) Gao Shi

Shou Sui (Song Dynasty) Su Shi

Tu Su wine (Ming Dynasty) Qu you

Welcoming the Spring Festival (Song Dynasty) Liu Yong

literature

"Spring and autumn Life Calendar preface": "heaven and earth open up, all things are muddy, ignorant and ignorant; Yin and Yang depend on, the celestial body starts in the north pole... The sun and moon rotate in five latitudes; the emperor goes out... Determine the image of the sky, follow the instrument of the earth, and act as a trunk and branch to determine the degree of the sun and moon."

According to the "three life Communication Association": "A man's stem is like a wood's stem, which is strong and becomes yang; a branch is like a wood's branch, which is weak and becomes Yin. In the past, Pangu's way of tomorrow's earth reached Yin and Yang and became three talents. After the first king divided heaven and earth, there was heaven and earth first, and then there was earth. From gasification, there was life. Therefore, the first surname of the emperor was thirteen. Following Pangu's rule, it was said that the spirit of the sky was indifferent, inaction and vulgarity. It began to make the name of the trunk and branch to determine the age." Song Luomi's "road history · pre Ji II · emperor Ji" contains: "there is an emperor in Guangdong, which is called the spirit of heaven. I hope to be respected." Wan Minying, a famous historian in the Ming Dynasty, determined that the emperor's era had invented the Ganzhi calendar according to China's ancient documents, which is recorded in detail in his book "Sanming Tonghui".

Erya Shitian: Taisui is called Jianfeng in Jia, Zhanmeng in B, Rouzhao in C, Zhuyong in Ding Yueqiang, Tuwei in oneself, Shangzhang in Geng, Chongguang in Xin, Xuan in Ren and Zhaoyang in GUI.

The book of changes, a series of words, was written in the cold and heat of the year. "Taiping Yulan" Volume 17 quoted "Shi Ming" as saying: "when you are old, the more you are. The more you are, the more you are limited, the more you enter the year, and then before you, you worship yourself, and the new Qi is born. Therefore, you have Qi and carry organisms." Volume 67 of the Kaiyuan ZHANJING quoted the exegesis of Honglie in Huainan as saying: "the dipper is a little year old." "The book of the Three Emperors": "the emperor's family, King mude, has been photographed since the age of." "Shuowen": "year old: Jupiter also."

"Shangshu · biography" said: "the first day of the first month is the age of the dynasty, the month of the dynasty, the sun of the dynasty, so it is called 'Three Dynasties', also known as' three starts'."

"Shang Shu Shun Dian" said: "on the first day of the first month, Wen Zu finally received."

"Shuowen Jiezi" said: "years, Gu Shuye." As the year is divided into four seasons, spring, summer, autumn harvest and winter storage, how much grain means the quality of the year, so. "Chinese New Year" means praying for and celebrating the bumper harvest of grain. "Shuowen Jiezi" in the wo (GU) cooked does not represent the "four seasons of the year" concept of time, such as "Guangya · Shicao" on the interpretation of Wo: "(WO) began to grow in February, August into which." The growth cycle of grass is only a few months.

"Hanshu · Kong guangzhuan": "the age of the dynasty is called the three dynasties." Yan shigu notes: "the age of the dynasty, the moon of the dynasty, the sun of the dynasty, so it is called the three dynasties." Li Shanzhu: "three dynasties, the first three new days of the year." Some are called "three starts".

ballad

Local Ballad: "23, offering sacrifices to kitchen officials; 24, sweeping the house; 25, grinding tofu; 26, cutting meat; 27, killing a chicken; 28, steaming jujube flowers; 29, drinking wine; new year's Eve, fabricating noses (dumplings); on the first day of the Lunar New year, puckering your butt and bowing disorderly." East Henan Folk Song: "26, steam steamed bread; 27, wash; 28, paste New Year pictures, 29, look at the door; new year's Eve, eat dumplings."

Beijing Ballad: "don't be greedy, kid. After Laba, it's the new year; Laba porridge, drink for a few days, Lila Lala 23; 23, sugar melon sticky; 24, sweep the house; 25, freeze tofu; 26, buy meat; 27, kill the rooster; 28, make noodles; 29, steam steamed bread; 30, cook all night; walk all over the street on the first and second days of the new year."

Economics

The Spring Festival is the most important and cultural festival in China. It is also an important internal driving force to promote industrial economy and domestic consumption. With the rapid growth of the national economy and the continuous improvement of residents' personal disposable income, the consumption of Spring Festival has also developed from the traditional purchase of new year goods to Festival products and services with the characteristics of the times, such as new year works, product technology, leisure and entertainment. During the Spring Festival, the large-scale flow of people, finance, materials, information and art has driven the overall prosperity of culture, commerce, transportation, tourism, telecommunications, finance and catering, forming a unique "Spring Festival economy".

traffic

Chinese Spring Festival Transportation

Transportation during the Spring Festival is referred to as "Spring Festival transportation". It is a kind of transportation period unique to China. Taking the Spring Festival as the boundary, 15 days before the festival and 25 days after the festival, a total of 40 days, are uniformly issued by the State Economic and Trade Commission (the starting and ending time of each year is slightly different). The national transportation peak arranged by the Ministry of railways, the Ministry of communications and the General Administration of civil aviation is called the Spring Festival transportation. In about 40 days, more than 2 billion people will flow, accounting for one third of the world's population. China's Spring Festival transportation has entered the world's largest cyclical transportation peak selected by the China World Record Association.

Spring transportation route:

Before the Spring Festival, the key areas are usually Beijing Tianjin, the Yangtze River Delta, Fujian and the Pearl River Delta.

The key areas after the festival are generally Chengdu, Chongqing, Wuhan, Changsha, Nanchang, Hefei and Fuyang.

Spring Festival Transportation Strategy:

In order to achieve the goal of "ensuring safety, meeting key points, stability and order and good service", the overall strategy of the National Railway Spring Festival transportation is "focusing on passengers and win-win situation of passengers and goods; South passenger and North cargo, South Locomotive and North transfer; overall arrangement, key points must be guaranteed; appropriate vehicle storage and emergency preparedness; vehicle potential excavation, short-term and long-term parking; current driving and non current shutdown".

Reasons for setting up Spring Festival transportation:

The reason for the establishment of Spring Festival transportation is that China has a large population, and the Spring Festival is a traditional reunion festival. People go home for the new year one after another. There are too many people who want to take a bus. The transportation department needs to make every effort to ensure that passengers have a car, can go home and come back after energy conservation.

National festivals

With the significant improvement of China's comprehensive national strength, the radiation field of Chinese culture is also expanding. The significance of the Spring Festival has exceeded the scope of China and has world influence.

National "Festival"

Neighboring countries have been influenced by our culture. In the Korean Peninsula, the Lunar New Year is called "New Year's Day" or "old Zheng". The first to third days of the first month are legal holidays for the whole nation. The Vietnamese Lunar New Year holiday lasts from New Year's Eve to the third day of the first lunar month, plus the rest on Saturday and Sunday, a total of 6 days.

Some Southeast Asian countries inhabited by Chinese also set the lunar new year as a legal holiday. In Singapore, the first to third days of the first month are public holidays. Malaysian Chinese account for a quarter of the total population. The government has designated the first and second days of the first month as legal holidays. Indonesia and the Philippines, which have a large number of Chinese, designated the lunar new year as a national public holiday in 2003 and 2004 respectively, but the Philippines does not have a holiday.

Japan used to celebrate the new year according to the old calendar (similar to the lunar calendar). After switching to the new calendar from 1873, although most parts of Japan are only the old calendar new year, the complete old calendar New Year customs are still preserved in Okinawa Prefecture, Kagoshima Prefecture, the Amami islands and other regions.

Reunion and dinner

Vietnamese regard the Spring Festival as a day to leave the old and welcome the new year. Generally, they start to do new year goods and prepare for the new year from the middle of December of the lunar calendar. On New Year's Eve, Vietnamese families prepared a rich new year's Eve dinner. The whole family gathered together and had a reunion dinner.

Chinese families in Singapore get together to make New Year cakes every year. When the family get together, they make all kinds of pastries and talk about family life. It's fun.

Go to the flower market

Visiting the flower market is one of the important activities of the Vietnamese spring festival. About 10 days before the Spring Festival, the flower market began to be lively.

New Year greetings

Singaporeans always present a pair of oranges with both hands when paying New Year greetings to their relatives and friends. This stems from the Chinese New Year custom of Cantonese in southern China. Cantonese "orange" is homonymous with "gold". Giving oranges (giving gold) means good luck, good luck and good deeds in pairs.

Bai Taisui

Singaporeans, like Chinese Cantonese, have the custom of worshipping the new year.

"Ancestor worship" and "thanksgiving"

As soon as the New Year bell rings, Vietnamese people will begin to worship their ancestors. The five fruit plate, which symbolizes the five elements of heaven and earth, is an essential offering. It not only expresses gratitude to our ancestors, but also hopes for good luck, health and good luck in the new year.

On the Korean Peninsula, at the beginning of the first month, every household should hold a formal and solemn ceremony of "sacrifice and year-old worship". Men, women and children get up early and change into new clothes. Some wear traditional national clothes, kowtow to their ancestors in turn, pray for their ancestors to bless peace, and then pay New Year's greetings to their elders one by one to thank them for their upbringing. When paying New Year's greetings to the elders, the younger generation should kneel down and kowtow, while the elders should give the younger generation "lucky money" or simple gifts.

Foreign development

In modern times, the Spring Festival has entered nearly 200 countries around the world. According to incomplete statistics, nearly 20 countries and regions, including the United States, Canada, the Philippines and Mauritius, have designated the Chinese Spring Festival as a legal holiday for the whole or some cities under their jurisdiction.

On August 26, 2018, a number of California officials and Chinese community members who strongly endorsed the Lunar New Year bill held a press conference in San Francisco to celebrate the formal entry into force of the bill. The bill does not directly define the lunar new year as a public holiday, but encourages schools and educational institutions to hold activities to promote Asian cultural traditions.

On December 29, 2020, the Thai cabinet meeting decided to add some special statutory holidays in 2021 to promote the development of domestic tourism, including the Chinese Lunar New Year.

On November 12, 2021, the Panamanian government announced that from 2022, the Chinese Lunar New Year will be designated as a national festival in Panama, and the celebration of the Spring Festival will be integrated into Panama's international tourism promotion plan.

Little knowledge

Spring Festival time

The time of the Spring Festival (the first day of the first lunar month) swims between January 21 and February 21 of the Gregorian calendar. "The earliest Spring Festival" (such as January 21, 1966) and "the latest Spring Festival" (such as February 20, 1985) differ by a whole month. According to the calendar calculation, if the lunar calendar is not artificially adjusted, February 21, 2319 will usher in the "latest Spring Festival in history". Previously, the Spring Festival appeared on February 20 of the Gregorian calendar at the latest, in 1920 and 1985.

Leap Spring Festival

The leap Spring Festival, also known as the leap first month, began with the calendar leap system in 1645 and only occurred six times in 1155 in 2800. It is very rare. Its years are 1651, 2262, 2357, 2520, 2539 and 2634 respectively.

How to celebrate the leap Spring Festival

If there is a leap first month in a year, in principle, the Spring Festival is the first first first month, and there is no Festival when it comes to the leap first month. Of course, after the Spring Festival of the first January in a few areas, the Spring Festival of the leap first month is also celebrated in the leap first month. Because the leap first month is also called the first month, the first day of the leap first month is also regarded as the Spring Festival.

Tianwei Jianyuan

Tianwei Jianyuan starts from Yin. For example, "emperor Zhang Siwei, carry it to fight, move the moon for an hour, return to his place, the first month refers to Yin, December refers to ugliness, turn at the age of one year, and start again and again". The bucket handle returns to Yin, the earth returns to spring, and everything is renewed. The beginning of spring is the end and beginning of all things, representing the beginning of all things and the meaning of all regeneration. From the beginning of spring into Yin month, yin and Yang forward, Yang Qi is born, and everything recovers. In the traditional concept, the beginning of spring has the meaning of auspiciousness. People regard the lunar year with "double beginning of spring" as a auspicious year.

It is now commonly used to call the first day of the first month of the calendar. In fact, strictly speaking, "year" is a unique concept of the Ganzhi calendar. Year is "photo mention", also known as Taisui. The original meaning of "year first" is the first day of the first month of photo mention (Taisui), that is, the beginning of spring. The first day of the first month of the lunar calendar is often called "Yuanshuo". "Sui" and "Nian" were strictly different in ancient times: from the beginning of spring to the next beginning of spring, it was called one year old; From January 1 to the next January 1, it is called "one year".

"Double spring" and "no spring year"

"Double beginning of spring" and "no spring year" are the concepts in the summer calendar (lunar calendar), which refers to the year when there is no "beginning of spring" or "double beginning of spring" throughout the lunar calendar. This is because the length of the lunar year is shorter than the return year and longer than the return year. The average length of the Gregorian calendar year is 365.2425 days, which is almost the same as that in the year of return. Therefore, the date of the beginning of spring in the Gregorian calendar year is basically fixed. Most years are February 4, and some years are February 3 or February 5. The situation is different in the lunar calendar. The lunar calendar adopts the method of "7 leap in 19 years", that is, add 7 leap months to 19 lunar years. The year without leap month in the lunar calendar is 353 to 355 days, about 11 days less than the return year; The year with leap month is 383-385 days, about 19 days more than the year of return. Therefore, there are 25 solar terms in leap years and 23 or 24 solar terms in normal years. Therefore, the position of spring in the lunar year presents four situations: at the beginning of the year; At the end of the year; Spring at the beginning of the year and spring at the end of the year; There is no spring day all year round. Due to the frequent occurrence of the "beginning of spring" solar term, it runs to the end of the previous year or the next year of the lunar year, so there is the phenomenon of "no spring" or "two spring". "Double beginning of spring" and "no spring year" are caused by the conversion of yin and Yang calendar. Whether there are two or no spring days, it is just a normal calendar change, which has nothing to do with good or bad luck.

legend

Wannianchuang perpetual calendar

It is said that a long time ago, a young man named Wannian saw that the festival was very chaotic at that time, so he had a plan to fix the festival. Inspired by the movement of tree shadows and the dripping spring on the cliff, he designed a sundial and leaky pot to measure the time of the day, so he had a perpetual calendar. It is said that the Spring Festival comes from the perpetual calendar created by Wannian youth.

Shunji tribal leader

It is said that one day more than 2000 BC, Shun (leader of ancient tribal alliance) followed the leader of tribal alliance and led his subordinates to worship heaven and earth. Since then, people regard this day as the first day of the first lunar month (the beginning of the year). It is said that this is the origin of the lunar new year, later called the Spring Festival.

Legend of Nian beast

There is a legend about the origin of the Spring Festival. In ancient China, there was a monster called Nian, which lived deep under the sea for many years and climbed ashore every new year's Eve. People fled to the mountains to avoid the harm of Nian. Later, on New Year's Eve, an old man from outside the village told people how to drive away Nian animals. It turned out that Nian was most afraid of red, fire and explosion. Since then, every new year's Eve, every family pasted red couplets and set off firecrackers; Every household has a bright candle and keeps watch for the new year. Early in the morning of the first day of the new year, I have to go to kiss and string friends to say hello. This custom became more and more popular and became the Spring Festival.

Spring Festival Gala

Spring Festival Gala

The Spring Festival Gala, commonly referred to as the "Spring Festival Gala", is a variety show held by China Central Television on New Year's Eve to celebrate the lunar new year. In 1983, CCTV held the Spring Festival Gala, which should be said to be an accident. However, this party has become the "new folk custom and new culture" of the Chinese people. It is a must watch TV dinner on New Year's Eve every year. Since 1983, the CCTV Spring Festival Gala, a symbol of family affection and nostalgia of more than one billion Chinese people, has become the cultural memory of several generations of Chinese people.

From the perspective of cultural development, the CCTV Spring Festival Gala has created a precedent for TV variety shows and triggered major changes in the content and mode of expression of Chinese TV media. The Spring Festival Gala covers sketches, songs, songs and dances, acrobatics, magic, opera, crosstalk and other forms of performance.

2021

According to the notice of the general office of the State Council on the arrangement of some holidays in 2021 (Guo Ban Fa Zhan Dian [2020] No. 27), the Spring Festival in 2021: there will be a 7-day holiday from February 11 to 17. Work on February 7 (Sunday) and February 20 (Saturday).

2022

On October 25, 2021, the notice of the general office of the State Council on the arrangement of some holidays in 2022 was issued. The Spring Festival in 2022: a 7-day holiday from January 31 to February 6. Work on January 29 (Saturday) and January 30 (Sunday).