Festival Customs - A Bilingual Reader of Chinese Traditional Culture

Author: Li Yian
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: Among China's traditional festivals, the Spring Festival is the most grand and lively. But do you know? The name "Spring Festival" was only officially used after the 1911 Xinhai Revolution. Before that, it was always called "celebrating the New Year." There has always been an interesting legend about celebrating the New Year. It is said that "Nian" (the character for "year") was a fierce monster with horns on its head. Every 365 days, at the end of winter, it would come out to harm farmland, devour livestock, and harm the people. Once, "Nian" came out to cause trouble and happened to reach the door of a bamboo craftsman's home. The bamboo craftsman was roasting bamboo in the courtyard, and the cracking sound of the bamboo terrified "Nian," causing it to turn around and run away. However, not far after running, it encountered a passerby dressed in bright red. The red color frightened "Nian" to the point of trembling, forcing it to flee again. Finally, it managed to reach the eaves of a house and wanted to catch its breath. But when it looked up, the bright light of the lanterns hanging at the door dazzled it, making it unable to open its eyes. With no choice, it had to keep running. This way, people discovered "Nian's" fatal weaknesses: fear of explosion sounds, fear of red colors, and fear of firelight. They then came up with ways to deal with "Nian." Every year, when winter turned to spring, on the night when "Nian" would come out to harm people, every household would set off firecrackers (which later evolved into firecrackers with louder sounds), paste red paper (later inscribed with words to drive away evil and seek blessings, gradually becoming Spring Festival couplets), and hang red lanterns to scare "Nian" away. When "Nian" was driven away, people were very happy and held feasts, celebrating joyfully and blessing each other. This day came to be called "celebrating the New Year." In fact, the modern Spring Festival was, in ancient times, merely a ritual activity to celebrate the harvest of five grains and pray for favorable weather in the coming year. The ancients believed that the first day of the lunar calendar marked the beginning of the year and held it in great importance, so they set this ritual on that day. Over time, it evolved into a festival called "Yuandan" (the "Yu" means beginning, and "Dan" means morning, so "Yuandan" is the first morning of the year) or "Duanwu" (the "Duan" means day, and "Wu" means five, so "Duanwu" is the fifth day of the fifth month). The common folk called it "celebrating the New Year," and many legends and stories were born to enhance the festive atmosphere. By the time the Xinhai Revolution overthrew the imperial system and began using the Gregorian calendar, there couldn’t be two "Yuandan," so they decided to call January 1st the Gregorian "Yuandan," while the first day of the lunar calendar was renamed the "Spring Festival." P3-5