They are all for celebration and represent the ancient working people’s pursuit of a better life in the future.
Lanterns, also known as lanterns, are an ancient Chinese traditional handicraft. It originated in the Western Han Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago. Every year around the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month, people hang up red lanterns symbolizing reunion to create a festive atmosphere.
Hanging lanterns during the New Year is a deep-rooted folk habit and an indispensable part of the New Year's flavor. Chinese New Year lanterns are also collectively known as lanterns. Every year around the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month, people hang up Spring Festival lanterns symbolizing reunion to create a festive atmosphere.
Spring couplets are commonly known as door pairs. Every Spring Festival, every household pastes red Spring Festival couplets on their doors, adding to the festive atmosphere.
Another source of Spring Festival couplets is spring stickers. The ancients often posted the word "Yichun" on the Beginning of Spring. Later, they gradually developed into Spring Festival couplets, which express the Chinese working people's desire to ward off evil spirits, eliminate disasters, and welcome good fortune. desire. It is said that this custom originated in the Song Dynasty and became popular in the Ming Dynasty.
Extended information:
The origin of Spring Festival couplets
In ancient Chinese mythology, it is said that there is a ghost world with a mountain and a tree covering it. There is a big peach tree three thousand miles away, and there is a golden rooster on the treetop. Whenever the golden rooster crows in the morning, the ghosts who wander out at night must be driven back to the ghost land. The gate of the ghost domain is located in the northeast of the peach tree. There are two gods standing by the gate, named Shencha and Yulei.
If a ghost does something harmful to nature at night, Shencha and Yulei will immediately discover it and catch it, tie it up with a rope made of awning reed, and send it to feed the tigers. Therefore, all the ghosts in the world are afraid of Shen Cha and Yu Lei.
So the people carved their images out of peach wood and placed them at their doorsteps to avoid evil and harm. Later, people simply engraved the names of Shen Cha and Yu Lei on peach boards, believing that doing so could also suppress evil and eliminate evil. This kind of peach wood board was later called "Peach Run".
In the Song Dynasty, people began to write couplets on peach boards, one without losing the meaning of peach wood to suppress evil, the other to express their best wishes, and the third to decorate the door for beauty. Couplets are also written on red paper, which symbolizes joy and auspiciousness, and are pasted on both sides of the doors and windows during the New Year to express people's good wishes for good luck in the coming year.
Baidu Encyclopedia—Lantern
Baidu Encyclopedia—Spring Festival Couplets