Now known as the "Spring Festival", the China New Year Festival has a long history of origin, which evolved from praying for a new year at the beginning of a year in ancient times. Everything is based on the sky, and people are based on their ancestors. It is also the opposite to pray for the ancestors who worship the sky. The Spring Festival is the most solemn and lively traditional festival in China, bearing the warmest feelings and beautiful hopes of the people of China.
The concept of "year old" comes from the ancient calendar, which is contained in Pangu Wang Biao and San Tong Ming Hui: "The emperor began to determine the age in the name of the dry branch." "sui" means "the subject" (the original branch), also known as "sui xing" and "tai sui" At the age of 60, the running cycle is 60 Jiazi (chronology of branches and branches), and it starts again and again.
The era of the main branch begins with the bucket handle of the Big Dipper pointing to the "Yin Jian" moon in the northeast, and then rotates clockwise, repeating the cycle of one year. Yin position is the root of gossip, the orientation of the end of the year and the beginning of the year, representing the end and beginning. For example, Yi Shuo Gua Zhuan says: "Gen, the divination in the northeast is also the beginning of all things."
From beginning of spring to the next beginning of spring, it means one year old. Beginning of spring means the beginning of a new cycle, which is the beginning of everything and the meaning of all self-renewal. As early as ancient times, festivals with the theme of praying for spring to start a new year were inherited. This series of festival activities not only formed the prototype framework of later festivals, but also preserved its folk function to this day. ?
According to the research results of modern anthropology and archaeology, the two most primitive beliefs of human beings are the belief in heaven and earth and the belief in ancestors. The ancients were in awe of heaven and earth and their ancestors, and believed that the God of heaven and earth was the master of all things. They believe that the gods and ancestors of heaven and earth affect people's life and destiny, and everything of people comes from the gifts of heaven and earth and ancestors.
Heaven and earth run, four seasons rotate, cold and summer alternate, monthly profit and loss, noon deviation, everything is justified; Although everything grows on the ground, the rise and fall of Rong Sheng is inseparable from the sky. At the beginning of the new year, we will hold activities to pray for the new year, remember and feel the sacredness and majesty of the virtues of the gods (ancestors) in heaven and earth, and express our respect and gratitude to the gods and ancestors.
The early festival culture embodies the ancient people's humanistic spirit of advocating nature, the unity of man and nature, cautiously pursuing the future, and firmly thinking about the source; A series of sacrificial activities contain profound cultural connotations, such as respecting morality, ritual and music civilization, etc. Ancestor worship not only covers all traditional festivals in China, but also is the eternal theme of folk festivals in China.
Traditional festival ceremonies and related custom activities are important contents of festival elements, bearing rich and colorful festival cultural connotations.