A summary of the origin of the custom of visiting New Year during the Spring Festival

A summary of the origin of the custom of visiting New Year during the Spring Festival

Paying New Year greetings is an important activity in the Spring Festival. It is called New Year greetings to relatives, friends and neighbors.

In ancient times, the original meaning of the word "Happy New Year" was to pay New Year greetings to the elderly, including kowtowing to the elderly, congratulating them on a happy New Year and greeting their lives. In case of friends and relatives of the same generation, you should also salute and congratulate. The wind of the Han people's New Year greetings began in the Han Dynasty. It was very popular after the Tang and Song Dynasties, and some people who are inconvenient to go in person can use famous cards to congratulate them. It was called "thorn" in the Eastern Han Dynasty, so the business card was also called "famous thorn". After the Ming Dynasty, many people put up a red paper bag at the door to collect famous posts, which was called "Menben".

The origin of New Year greetings

Legend has it that in ancient times there was a monster with a unicorn on his head and a mouth like a blood basin. People call it the year. On the thirtieth night of the twelfth lunar month, it jumped out of the mountain and preyed on people. People have to prepare some meat and put it outside the door, then close the door and hide at home. It was not until the first morning that Nian left after a big meal that people opened the door to meet each other and bowed to congratulate each other. In order to get rid of this monster, people came to this village again one year and found that it was afraid of red things and noise. So another year passed. Before that year, people put red paper on their doors and hung red lanterns. Over the years, people have thrown firecrackers made of hollow bamboo on the ground and made a loud noise. Finally, 2008 was driven away, so later people had the custom of putting up couplets, hanging lanterns and setting off firecrackers.

With the development of the times, the custom of New Year greetings is constantly adding new contents and forms. According to their social relations, the forms of folk New Year greetings can be roughly divided into four categories:

One is to visit relatives. On the first day, you must go to your father-in-law's house and bring gifts. After entering the door, bow to the Buddha, ancestor statue and memorial tablet, and then bow to the elders in turn. You can stay for dinner and chat.

The second is a courtesy visit. If you want to pay a New Year call to your colleagues and friends, you should bow to the Buddha as soon as you enter the house. If you are equal to your master, you just need to bow down. If you are older than yourself, you should still take the initiative to bow your head. The host should get down from his seat to help you, or even say that he is not polite to show his humility. This situation is generally not suitable for sitting for a long time, so leave after a few pleasantries. After the host worships, he should pay a return visit another day.

The third is a thank-you visit. Anyone who owes money to others (such as lawyers and doctors) should buy some gifts and give them to express their gratitude on the occasion of New Year's greetings.

The fourth is a series of visits. For some neighbors, we didn't have much contact in the past, but we can get along well when we meet. On New Year's Eve, we just went to the yard and said "Congratulations on getting rich" and "Shun Shun Bai Shun" when we met. We just sit in the house for a while, without much etiquette.

In ancient times, there was a difference between New Year greetings and New Year greetings: New Year greetings were to knock on elders; The New Year is a time for peers to congratulate each other. Now some organs, organizations, enterprises and schools get together to congratulate each other, which is called "group worship".

With the development of the times, the custom of New Year greetings is constantly adding new contents and forms. In addition to following the old way of paying New Year greetings, people also began to pay New Year greetings by courtesy telegram and telephone.

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