The Spring Festival evolved from the rituals of praying for good luck at the beginning of the year. In ancient times, people held sacrificial activities at the beginning of the new year after the end of the year's farming work to offer sacrifices to the gods of heaven and earth and the kindness of their ancestors, and to pray for them. Good harvest.
Although the situation of ancient sacrificial rituals is elusive, we can still find some ancient customs relics from the festival rituals of later generations; for example, some areas in Lingnan continue to have the custom of paying homage to the New Year on the first day of the new year. The grand and grand ritual activities of worshiping gods and ancestors during the New Year period show the clues of the ancient rituals of praying for good luck at the beginning of the year.
The beginning of the year in the original sense refers to the "beginning of spring" in the Ganzhi calendar. When the celestial phenomenon "Douban refers to Yin", the yin and yang transform, the yang and the hibernation arise, and everything is spring, which means a new reincarnation. Already turned on. The origin and development of the Spring Festival is a process of gradual formation, subtle improvement and popularization. As an important part of traditional Chinese culture, New Year festival culture reflects the profound connotation of Chinese culture and records the rich and colorful social life and cultural content of ancient people.
Traditional Spring Festival customs: making new year's goods, offering sacrifices to stoves, sweeping dust, giving New Year's money, observing the year, paying New Year's greetings, paying New Year's greetings, giving out red packets, and burning firecrackers.
Spring Festival for Generations
1. Grandparents seem to like to mention old stories at any time and lament the hardships that distant time brought to them. . According to grandparents, the Chinese New Year is simply the most satisfying time of the year. Because celebrating the New Year means having a full meal and having the whole family gather together. The simple meal is a delicious meal for reunion. Even if there are not many New Year goods, we still have to celebrate the New Year.
For the deceased relatives, the whole family will go to the grave to pay New Year's greetings. Every link is essential. People use this ancient and simple way to ward off evil spirits and pray for good fortune and safety for their children and grandchildren. Although not rich, the New Year atmosphere is very strong, with lantern festivals and lion dances, which are very lively.
2. When my parents were young, they already had a black and white TV set. People who were familiar with each other in front of and behind the street were sitting together, waiting for the live broadcast of the Spring Festival Gala, eating melon seeds and chatting with the people around them. At that time, I loved to visit every year, and there was a bustling crowd of people, which was common or came back once in a long time.
Someone looks familiar or someone brought them back from another family. The elders and the younger ones are walking on the embers of the fireworks at night, putting their hands in their pockets and shrinking their necks against the wind, but they are talking lively. Homely, walking from one end of the street to the other, in fact, what they miss most now is the simple human touch of that time.
3. Until now, what we are thinking about most is the opportunity to get together with our families. Relatives travel to other places and meet only a handful of times in a year, so the New Year's Eve reunion dinner is particularly important. You may suppress your restless heart because of unfamiliar relatives, and being quiet/gentleman makes your hair stand on end, but the flavor of the year and family affection are all truly felt.
The Spring Festival Gala was broadcast on TV as usual. I raised my eyes to watch the program for a minute or two, and then lowered my eyes to comment on my circle of friends for half an hour. Your parents, uncle or aunt are sitting on the sofa next to you, and from time to time they hear you talking about embarrassing things with your cousins. I heard how this boyfriend was doing and where he finally bought a house. There are always a few people who wisely get up and leave, maybe go out to relax, maybe turn a corner and go to the next room. When the door is opened, there is the sound of mahjong and human voices, which is inexplicably very friendly. Then a message suddenly appeared on WeChat, and there were shouts of exclamation all around. All the red envelopes in the family group were snatched up in minutes.