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Origin of Spring Festival
China's traditional festivals have evolved through the centuries from past major events. For instance long ago when people had a bountiful harvest, they gathered and celebrated their good fortune with gala performances. When natural disasters struck, they offered sacrifices to the gods and their ancestors, hoping for a blessing. The change of the seasons, flowers in spring, and the bright moon in autumn could all arouse their longing for a more beautiful life. Thus, creative activities were held to signify these events, Gradually these activities developed into festivals. The most important festival in China is the Spring Festival. It is said that the Spring Festival evolved from an activity known as the Winter Sacrifice. It was a custom practiced by the people of primitive society.
As the cold winter began to recede and the warm spring was about to begin, the people of an entire clan gathered together. They brought out their bounty from hunting, fishing and the field. They thanked the gods for the blessings of nature, including the mountains, rivers, the sun, moon and stars, They thanked their ancestors, Then they shared and enjoyed the sumptuous bounty of the land, sea, air and fields as they ate, danced and sang heartily.
In the beginning, their activity had no fixed date. But usually it was held at the end of each winter. Gradually, through the years, it was celebrated at the end of the old year or the beginning of the new. With the changes and disintegration of primitive society, the form and content of the Winter Sacrifice also changed. Ultimately, it became a festival to bid farewell to the old year and welcome in the New Year. So it came to be called the Spring Festival.
The legend of
"Nian" beast
Legend has it that there once lived in ancient China a ferocious horned beast called "Nian" (literally means "year" in Chinese). The beast stayed in deep sea throughout the year but surfaced on the New Year's Eve to eat cattle and people. So, at every New Year's Eve, all people, bringing along the old and the young, fled into deep mountains.
Another New Year's Eve, an old man, who looked radiant with health, entered the Peach Village. After asking some food from an old lady living at the eastern end of the village, he insisted on staying overnight at her house despite warning of danger.
At midnight, the "Nian" beast broke into the village, but smelled a different atmosphere: the old lady's house was brilliantly lit, with red paper pasted on the door panels. The beast pounced forward with a roar, but stopped short and shivered, as the sound of crackling and spluttering suddenly came from the courtyard. In fact, the beast feared most the red color, fire and sound of explosion. Just at that time the door opened and out came the old man in a bright red cloak, laughing heartily. The beast was so scared that it ran away in panic.
This gives rise to the habits of pasting red-paper couplets and letting off firecrackers at every household, as well as the lighting up of candles and staying up all night.
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