The Chinese Folklore of the Nian Beast

 

Chapter 1 Nian Beast

 

The Chinese Folklore of the Nian Beast

 

China's Spring Festival cultural customs have a long history. From it, we can find the roots of Chinese traditional culture and understand the universal values ​​and outlook on life of the Chinese nation. Only by knowing the origin of the nation can we understand the veins of the nation, strengthen the strength of the nation, and hope for the future. Promote the prosperity of the nation.

All Chinese people who are among the people know that there is a Spring Festival in the Chinese lunar calendar, and the Spring Festival is also commonly known as "New Year". The Spring Festival is also another name for "year". As a record of a period of time sequence cycle, the Spring Festival has become a festival of "year", and its appearance is earlier than the concept of "year" time.

 

The Spring Festival evolved from "year"

 

In ancient times, humans have already mastered the laws of the "year, month, and day" cycle in their struggle with nature. "Erya-Shitian" says: "Xia said Sui, Shang said Si, Zhou said Nian, Tang Yu said Zai." This shows that the Chinese had the concept of Nian as early as the Xia and Shang dynasties. Tang Yu here refers to Yao. "Shangshu-Yao Dian" says that Yao ordered Xi and He to observe the astronomical phenomena. Through observation and practice, they found that the year is "six out of three hundred, and the leap month is used to determine the four o'clock."

Although science was not yet developed at that time, the concept of "year" was established. From this, it can be inferred that the Spring Festival evolved from "year".

The New Year customs in ancient times should have originated from the wax festival, also called the "wax festival". "La" is a ritual to offer sacrifices to the gods at the end of the year, so the Spring Festival is actually a ceremony to repay God's gifts after a year of farming. It can also be said to be the earliest Thanksgiving Day for the Chinese.

But judging from the rituals of worshiping gods, there are various taboos during the Spring Festival, including food, decoration, entertainment, entertainment, sacrifices, and even behavior and language. Everything is to pray for peace and avoid evil. To a certain extent, it should be a Witchcraft activities. Due to low productivity and in the face of natural disasters, diseases, climate and other objective factors, human fear has brought about changes in thoughts, thinking that it is ghosts and ghosts.

During the Spring Festival, people congratulate and celebrate each other because they have overcome the terrifying solar terms and defeated ghosts.

The Spring Festival also means the arrival of spring and the beginning of a new year.

 

The meaning of the word "Nian" and the origin of Nian

 

"Nian" is written in oracle bone inscriptions as follows: the upper part is the character "禾", and the lower part is the character "人". The word "year" in bronze inscriptions is also the same as that in oracle bone inscriptions, and it also comes from crops and people. The "year" in small seal script is written as "a thousand grains and a thousand grains".

 

"Shuowen Jiezi·Hebu": "Nian means that the grain is ripe. From He, from Qian Sheng." Xiaozhuan incorrectly changed the word "人" into "Qian", so Xu Shen used this saying, and "Qian" "The character originally means a decorated person, and this interpretation is not contradictory. "He" is the general name for grains and cannot be mistakenly interpreted as "wheat".

The quality of the annual harvest is mainly determined by the growth and harvest of "Grain", and the word "Grain" in the oracle bone inscriptions that have been excavated almost always looks like it has been bent down under heavy pressure, which shows that it symbolizes Get a bumper harvest in grain production.

  What is the explanation for the word "人" under the word "年"? From the oracle bone inscriptions, the character "year" seems to be a person carrying grain on his head.

Our country had relatively developed agricultural production seven or eight thousand years ago. Agricultural production is inseparable from seasonal changes. In order to guide agricultural production, Chinese ancestors began to understand and master the laws of seasonal changes. The earliest sign that people identified seasonal changes was the easily observable phenological phenomenon. "Zai" is the name of the first "year" derived from phenology. What we usually call "a year and a half" refers to the time concepts of "year" and "zai".

  "Zai" as a year is actually an excuse for "Zi". The original meaning of "Zi" is that vegetation begins to sprout. "Zi" is also used as "Zi", which refers to the green color of grass when it first grows. When vegetation grows and dries up, it begins to grow, which means the arrival of a new year. "Zi" thus extends to the meaning of "year". The usage of "Zi Nian" and "Jin Zi" also illustrates this point. "Zai" and "Zi" have the same ancient pronunciation. Therefore, "Zi" is also written as "Zai".

In ancient times, the agricultural re-seeding rate was very low. Generally, only one crop of crops was sown in a year. Therefore, the grain matured once, which was one year. "Nian" was extended to "year", and one year was one year.

We know that the Yin people already used the luni-yang calendar. At that time, the "year" of the calendar was not more than one day different from a tropical year. It can be said that the Chinese had the concept of "year" before the Xia Dynasty. "New Year" may be an ancient Chinese folk festival.

 

The legend of the "Nian" beast

 

There is a legend that in ancient China there was a monster called "Nian" with long tentacles on its head and it was extremely ferocious.

  "Nian" lives deep on the bottom of the sea all year round, only climbing ashore every New Year's Eve to devour livestock and harm people. Therefore, every New Year's Eve, people in villages and villages help the old and young to flee to the mountains to avoid the harm of the "Nian" beast.

One New Year's Eve, an old man came begging from outside the village. The villagers were in a hurry and panic. Only an old woman in the east of the village gave the old man some food and advised him to go up the mountain quickly to avoid the "Nian" beast. The old man stroked his beard and said with a smile: "If my mother-in-law lets me stay at home all night, I will definitely take care of him." Drive away the 'Nian' beast." The old woman still continued to persuade, and the begging old man smiled and said nothing.

At midnight, the "Nian" beast broke into the village. It found that the atmosphere in the village was different from previous years: at the east end of the village, the old woman lived in her husband's house, with red paper on the door and brightly lit candles in the house. The "Nian" beast trembled all over and screamed strangely. As he approached the door, there was a sudden "bang, bang, bang, bang," explosion in the courtyard. Nian was trembling all over and didn't dare to go any further. It turns out that "Nian" is most afraid of the color red, fire and explosions.

At this time, the door of my mother-in-law's house opened wide, and an old man wearing a red robe was seen laughing in the courtyard. "Nian" turned pale with fright and ran away in embarrassment.

The next day was the first day of the first lunar month. People who had returned from the refuge were surprised to see that the village was safe and sound. At this time, the old woman suddenly realized and hurriedly told the villagers about the beggar's promise to the old man. This incident quickly spread in the surrounding villages, and people all knew how to drive away the "Nian" beast.

From then on, every New Year's Eve, every family posted red couplets and set off firecrackers; every household lit candles and watched the New Year's Eve. Early in the morning on the first day of the Lunar New Year, we also visit relatives and friends to say hello. This custom spreads more and more widely and has become the most solemn traditional festival among Chinese people. The legend of the Nian beast has enriched the folk culture of "Nian".