Chapter 349: Nian Beast (Introduction to the Nian Beast Legend)

During the Spring Festival, various New Year celebrations are held across the country, with strong local characteristics.

These activities mainly focus on getting rid of the old and welcoming the new, warding off evil spirits and warding off disasters, worshiping gods and ancestors, and praying for good fortune and a good year. They are rich and colorful in form and embody the essence of Chinese traditional culture.

In the early days of astronomical observation and timekeeping, the year was determined based on the movement of the stars in the sky, and the beginning of the year was when the handle of the dragon returned to the position of Yin.

"The handle of the tiger returns to the earth" means spring comes back to the earth, everything starts over again, everything is renewed, and a new cycle begins.

In traditional farming societies, the beginning of spring is of great significance, and a large number of festival customs and cultures related to it have been derived.

In the course of historical development, although different calendars were used and the dates of the New Year's Day festivals were different, the festival framework and many folk customs were inherited.

Nowadays, people set the Spring Festival on the first day of the first lunar month, but the New Year is usually not over until at least the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

The Spring Festival is a major folk festival that combines worshiping gods and ancestors, praying for blessings and warding off evil spirits, reuniting with family and friends, celebrating, entertaining and eating.

Among all the festivals in the year, the Spring Festival is the most important traditional festival in China.

"Wow, that sounds interesting!"

Li Li's eyes lit up and she looked so amused. She suddenly began to look forward to the Chinese New Year that Guan He mentioned. It must be very interesting!

Meng Guanhe had a strange look on his face. On New Year's Day, the elders would give red envelopes to the younger ones. As the highest elder in the Meng family, the old ancestor was probably going to go bankrupt!

"I'm very rich!"

Li Li said unconvincedly, "Don't worry, no matter who you are, I will give you a big red envelope on New Year's Day!"

She is the richest dragon cub, not a pauper!

"Uh, are you sure?"

Meng Guanhe looked uncertain. Their Meng family had more than 200 people from top to bottom!

This is definitely a big family, and based on his understanding of their ancestors, the red envelopes given by their ancestors must be quite large. If they give them to everyone, are they sure they won’t go bankrupt?

"Are you doubting what I said?"

The young man looked unhappy. She was the ancestor, and this unfilial grandson dared to doubt her. He deserved to be beaten!

"Disciple dare not!"

Meng Guanhe shook his head in pain; the pressure from his ancestor was so terrifying that he almost fell down in fright.

Alas, the ancestor is worthy of being the ancestor!

"Tell me about this Chinese New Year!"

"yes!"

It seems that our ancestors are very interested in the Chinese New Year. I must perform well. Maybe I can trick them into giving me some benefits. Bah, bah, bah, it’s our ancestors who are rewarding me with some resources.

Now everyone in the Meng family knows that the ancestor is very generous. Following the ancestor is definitely a blessing earned in the previous life, and it must not be lost!

"Let me first introduce you to the New Year's traditions!"

"Well, go ahead!"

The little girl lazily lay on the sofa, watching cartoons while listening to Meng Guan telling her about New Year customs. This good girl is definitely an example of multitasking!

The first custom of the New Year is to stay up all night to celebrate the New Year, which is also known as "staying up all night to celebrate the New Year" and "illuminating the year". It has a long history among the Han Chinese people, who have the custom of staying up all night on New Year's Eve, commonly known as "staying up all night to celebrate the New Year".

It is the custom of staying up all night on the last day of the old year to greet the arrival of the new year. It is also called New Year's Eve, commonly known as "staying up all night to greet the new year."

Exploring the origin of this custom, there is an interesting story circulating among the people.

In ancient times, there was a ferocious monster that lived in the mountains and forests. People called it "Nian". It had a hideous appearance and was ferocious by nature. It ate birds, beasts, and scaled insects. It changed its taste every day, from praying mantis to living people, making people shudder at the mention of "Nian".

Later, people gradually understood the activity patterns of "Nian". It would sneak into places where people gathered to taste fresh food every 365 days, and it would appear after dark. When the roosters crowed at dawn, it would return to the mountains and forests.

After calculating the date when "Nian" would wreak havoc, people began to regard this terrible night as a critical point, calling it "New Year's Eve", and came up with a whole set of ways to get through it.

Every evening on this day, every household prepares dinner in advance, turns off the fire and cleans the stove, then locks up the chicken coop and cattle pen, seals the front and back doors of the house, and hides in the house to eat the "New Year's Eve dinner".

Because this dinner has the connotation of ominousness, it is prepared very sumptuously. In addition to the whole family eating together to express harmony and reunion, they also have to offer sacrifices to their ancestors before the meal and pray for their ancestors' spirits to bless them and let them spend the night safely. After dinner, no one dares to sleep, and they sit together and chat to build up their courage. Gradually, this became the custom of staying up all night on New Year's Eve.

The custom of staying up all night to celebrate the New Year began in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Many literati in the Liang Dynasty wrote poems about this.

People light candles or oil lamps and keep vigil all night, symbolizing the driving away of all evil plagues and diseases, and looking forward to a prosperous new year. This custom has been passed down to this day.

In addition to this, there is another theory.

According to legend, in ancient times, there was a young man named Wannian. Seeing that the seasons were very chaotic, he wanted to set the seasons standard.

But he couldn't find a way to calculate time. One day, he went up the mountain to chop wood and was tired. He sat down under a tree to rest. The movement of the tree's shadow inspired him.

He designed a sundial to measure the sun's shadow and time to determine the length of a day. Later, the dripping spring on the cliff inspired him to make a five-layer clepsydra to calculate time.

Over time, he discovered that every 360 days or so, the four seasons cycled and the length of the day repeated itself.

The king at that time was called Zu Yi, and he was often troubled by the unpredictable weather.

After Wannian knew about this, he took the sundial and clepsydra to see the emperor and explained to Zu Yi the principle of the movement of the sun and the moon.

After hearing this, Zu Yi was very pleased and felt that it made sense, so he kept Wannian and built the Sun and Moon Pavilion in front of the Tiantan, and built a sundial and a leak pot pavilion.

They also hoped to accurately measure the laws of the sun and the moon, calculate the exact time of dawn and dusk, and create a calendar to benefit the people of the world.

Once, Zu Yi went to learn about the progress of the ten thousand year test calendar.

When he climbed up the Sun and Moon Altar, he saw a poem engraved on the stone wall beside the altar: The sun rises and sets three hundred and sixty times, and it starts over again in a cycle.

The withering and flourishing of plants are divided into four seasons, and there are twelve full moons in a year.

Knowing that Wannian had completed the creation of the calendar, he personally went up to the Sun and Moon Pavilion to visit Wannian.

Wannian pointed to the sky and said to Zu Yi: "Now is the end of the twelfth month, the old year has ended and the new year has begun. I pray that the king will set a festival."

Zu Yi said: "Spring is the beginning of the year, so let's call it the Spring Festival."

It is said that this is the origin of the Spring Festival.

Winter went and spring came, year after year, and after long-term observation and careful calculations, Wannian developed an accurate solar calendar. When he presented the solar calendar to the successor monarch, his face was already covered with graying beard.

The king was deeply moved and named the solar calendar "Wannian Calendar" to commemorate Wannian's achievements, and named Wannian the Sun and Moon Longevity Star. From then on, people would hang up longevity ornaments during the New Year to commemorate the highly respected Wannian. (The above information comes from Baidu)

Meng Guanhuai couldn't help sweating, "You have a talent for storytelling!"