China's New Year's Day is said to have started in Zhuan Xu, one of the three emperors and five emperors, with a history of more than 5,000 years. The word "New Year's Day" first appeared in the Book of Jin: "It is actually the spring of New Year's Day when the emperor was transferred to the first month." During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Xiao Ziyun, a literary historian in the Southern Dynasties, also recorded "New Year's Day in four seasons, long life and early spring" in his poem "Jieya". Wu's Dream into the First Month in the Song Dynasty: "The first day of the first month is called New Year's Day, commonly known as the first day of the New Year's Day. This is the first one. " ; Cui Yuan of Han Dynasty called it "Jacky" in San Zi Ming. In the Jin Dynasty, Yang Du Fu called it ""; The Northern Qi Dynasty called it "Yuan Chun" in Huangxia Ci of Hui Yuan Ge Xiang. Tang Dezong Shili called it "Yuan Shuo" in the poem "Yuan Ri retired from the DPRK to watch the war and return to camp"
During the cultural relics excavation in Dawenkou, China found a picture of the sun rising from the top of the mountain with clouds in the middle. According to textual research, this is the oldest writing method of the word "Dan" in China. Later, simplified hieroglyphics of "Dan" appeared on bronze inscriptions in Shang Dynasty. The word "Dan" is represented by a round sun. The word "one" under "Sun" indicates the horizon, which means that the sun rises from the horizon in Ran Ran.
New Year's Day in China always refers to the first day of the first month of the summer calendar (lunar calendar and lunar calendar). Yuan means "early" and "beginning", but it means "day". New Year's Day is collectively called "the first day", that is, the first day of the year. There are different names in Chinese dialects, some are called "New Year's Day", some are called "Big Day", and some are called "New Year's Day", generally called "the first day of the first month".
The date of the first day of the first month was also very different before Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Therefore, the New Year's Day of the past dynasties is not consistent. Meng Xiyue (1 month) is the first month of the Xia calendar, the twelfth month of the Shang lunar calendar (1February) and the winter month of the week calendar (1 1 month). After Qin Shihuang unified China, Yangchun month (October) was the first month, that is, the first day of October was New Year's Day. Since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, it has been stipulated that Meng Xiyue (January) is the first month, and Meng Xiyue (the first day of the first month in the summer calendar) is called New Year's Day, which has been used until the end of the Qing Dynasty. But this is the summer calendar, that is, the lunar calendar or lunar calendar, and it is not what we call New Year's Day today.
In A.D. 19 1 1, the Revolution of 1911 led by Sun Yat-sen overthrew the rule of the Manchu Dynasty and established the Republic of China. Representatives of provincial governors met in Nanjing and decided to use the Gregorian calendar, calling the first day of the first lunar month "Spring Festival" and the Gregorian calendar 1 day "New Year's Day". But it has not been officially announced and named. In order to "follow the agricultural season, so follow the western calendar, so do statistics", the first year of the Republic of China decided to use the Gregorian calendar (actually used as 19 12), and stipulated that Gregorian calendar 1 was called "New Year's Day", but not "New Year's Day".
Today's "New Year's Day" is1September 27th, 949, the eve of the founding of New China. When the first China People's Political Consultative Conference decided to establish the Republic of China, it also decided to adopt the world calendar, which is what we call the solar calendar.
In modern times, New Year's Day refers to the first day of the first year of the year. In order to distinguish between the lunar calendar and the solar calendar, and in view of the fact that the "beginning of spring" in the 24 solar terms of the lunar calendar is just around the Lunar New Year, the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar was renamed as the Spring Festival, and the Gregorian calendar 1 day was designated as the first day of the New Year's Day, which became a legal holiday and became a happy festival for the people of the whole country.
New Year's Day originated around 50,000 BC. The ancient Egyptians have changed from nomadism to farming and settled on both sides of the Nile. Their agricultural harvest is closely related to whether there is a flood in the Nile. Through long-term observation, the ancient Egyptians found that the time of Nile flooding was regular, so they recorded this time on bamboo poles every time, and learned that the time interval between two floods was about 3.65 days. At the same time, it was found that when the Nile came near Cairo at high tide today, the sun and Sirius rose from the horizon at the same time.
Therefore, the ancient Egyptians set this day as the beginning of the year. This is the earliest origin of New Year's Day.
The Origin of Western New Year
In 46 BC, Caesar of ancient Rome designated this day as the beginning of the Western New Year. In order to bless the door god Janus in Roman mythology, Janus later evolved into the English word January. Originally, it was thought that the Pope took the year when Jesus was born as the first year of A.D., and A.D. 1 month/day was also related to Jesus. Now it seems that this is not the case. Perhaps according to Christianity widely believed in the west, Christmas should be 65438+February 25th, so the New Year in the west is not as grand as Christmas.
The Origin of the Egyptian New Year
Around 50,000 BC, the ancient Egyptians had changed from nomadism to farming and settled on both sides of the Nile, and their agricultural harvest was closely related to whether there was a flood in the Nile. The ancient Egyptians found that the time of Nile flooding was regular from long-term observation, so they recorded this time on bamboo poles every time, and learned that the interval between two flooding times was about 365 days. At the same time, it was found that when the Nile came near Cairo at high tide today, the sun and Sirius rose from the horizon at the same time. Therefore, the ancient Egyptians set this day as the beginning of the year. This is the earliest origin of New Year's Day.
New Year's Day is the beginning of celebrating New Year's Day. Celebrating New Year's Day is a common custom in all countries and regions in the world.
At present, most countries in the world regard the annual 65438+ 10/month 1 as New Year's Day. Because different countries have different longitude and time, the date of "New Year's Day" is also different. For example, Tonga, an island country in Oceania, is located on the west side of the Japanese boundary. It is the first place in the world to start a day and the first country to celebrate New Year's Day. Western Samoa, to the east of international date line, is the latest place in the world to start a new day.
Afghanistan regards spring as New Year's Day; Jews regard autumn as New Year's Day; However, the New Year's Day of Eskimos in cold regions is not fixed. They regard the first rain as the New Year. In 46 BC, Julius Caesar, the Roman emperor, formulated the julian calendar. From the beginning, he took the winter solstice as New Year's Day. However, people insist on taking Shuori as New Year's Day, so they extend it to the winter solstice after 10.
According to the Gregorian calendar, China is the first 12 country in the world to start the New Year. Due to different history, culture, religious beliefs and national customs, each country has its own different ways to celebrate. However, it also makes the world colorful, showing more regional and national characteristics.
New year's day poetry recital
Song] Wang Anshi's "January Day" "In addition to firecrackers, the spring breeze send warm enters Tu Su, and thousands of families always change new peaches into old ones."
The word "New Year's Day" comes from ancient times, not referring to the Gregorian New Year, but to the first day of the first lunar month, that is, the Spring Festival. At the beginning of Song and Wu's Dream, there is such a saying: "The first day of the first month is called New Year's Day, and the custom is called New Year's Day." The word "New Year's Day" first appeared in the Book of Jin: "Judy takes March as the spring of New Year's Day", and Xiao Ziyun, a native of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, quoted poems such as "Four Qi New Year's Day, a long life begins today". In ancient times, New Year's Day was called Yuanri, Jacky, Yuanchang, Yuanshuo, Chenyuan, Yuan Chun, Duanri and Shangri-La. Since ancient times, poets of all ages have made lyrical poems for New Year's Day, leaving many well-known masterpieces.
In ancient New Year's Day, there was a New Year's greeting ceremony in the palace, which was grand and grand in scale. During the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Zhi wrote in his poem "Hui Yuan": "The early Yuan Dynasty is blessed, the ancient days are unique, it is a good meeting, and this hall is a banquet", describing the scene of Cao Wei's New Year's Day celebration.
Tang Bai Juyi's Five Drinks on January 7th (Part II): "Old people are worried about getting older, and the rest are happy in spring. In the seventh row of the opening year, only a few people! " It expresses the elegance of poets over 60 who are not afraid of aging and head high into the new year.
Another poet in the Tang Dynasty wrote the poem "New Year's Day": "Dai Xing wishes Yao first, and his temples are full of shadows. Fortunately, I laughed in front of the lamp, and Tu Su should not taste it first. " "wearing stars", that is, wearing stars, is a metaphor for going home late or leaving early.
Shang, or wine glass, can be used for drinking. "Tu Su" is a unique multi-flavor medicinal liquor in Yuan Dynasty. The ancients thought that drinking this wine could prevent diseases and eliminate disasters. There are rules for drinking this wine. Young and old people can't drink at the same time, but come from the young one in turn. According to the understanding of the ancients, every New Year, although everyone wants to live a long life, in fact, young people get one year old, but the elderly lose one year old. Therefore, everyone advised young people to drink first to show congratulations and let the elderly drink late to avoid taboos.
Meng Haoran, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, wrote a poem "Returning to Yuan Day", saying: "Last night, I returned from the war in the north, and now I will start from the east. I'm already strong, and I'm worried about agriculture without money. Sang Tian still cultivates his father, and the lotus hoe follows the shepherd boy. Tian said that this year's climate was * * * abundant. During the prosperous Tang Dynasty, "Tian Jia occupied the climate" for half a year had its own pleasure, and the poet's feelings of "worrying about agriculture but not being rich" were the noble character of scholars.
In ancient times, there was a custom of posting Spring Festival couplets on the first day of the New Year's Day. The poem "New Year's Day" by Lu You, a poet in the Southern Song Dynasty, wrote: "The rain at night relieves the residual snow, the morning sun opens the cloudy sky, the pen writes peach symbols, and the pepper and wine slant over the flowers." Song Boren's poem "Sui Dan" said: "There are no guests in the middle, so get up early as usual. Peach boards change with people, and plum blossoms are fragrant every other year. " "Taofu" and "Taoban" in the poem refer to Spring Festival couplets.
Of course, among the ancient poems praising "Yuanri", the most famous one is the poem "Yuanri" written by Wang Anshi, a reformer in the Northern Song Dynasty: "The firecrackers are one year old, and the spring breeze sends warmth into Tu Su. Thousands of households always exchange new peaches for old ones. " It will be remembered by future generations.
Chen Xianzhang's "New Year's Day Trial Pen" in the Ming Dynasty is like a "Happy New Year Picture". The poet wrote in the poem: "The neighboring wall spins wine to entertain guests, and the children sing and enjoy the Chinese New Year poems together. When you are old, you will meet a new year, and there will be better flowers in spring. Where is the evening breeze? When it blows to the moon in the east. " Fresh and rich flavor of life arises spontaneously.
Zhang Weiping, a patriotic poet in the Qing Dynasty, wrote New Thunder on the theme of New Year's Day, although he did not use the words "New Year's Day" and "Yuan Day": "The creation is silent and affectionate, and every time it encounters a cold current, it feels like spring. Everything is arranged, just waiting for the first new thunder. " A great man, Mao Zedong, wrote a poem "New Year's Day is like a dream" in June 1930: "Ninghua, purity, domestication, the road is deep and slippery. Where to go today, show Wuyi Mountain. The red flag at the foot of the mountain is picturesque. " Appreciating this poem is like walking into a magnificent landscape painting. The whole poem is dripping and carefree, fresh and natural, full of optimism and high-spirited revolutionary optimism.
1942, Dong wrote a seven-rhythm poem "The first day of the New Year occupies the charm of Liu Yazi": "* * * smiles to welcome the new year, and Mrs. Hongyan gives plum blossoms. Everyone toasted each other in the toast to express their wishes for the New Year. After all the people were not satisfied, they tasted the tea of victory together and talked about current affairs. Only loyalty can repay the motherland. Now the motherland is being invaded by foreign countries, and there is no place to seek comfort. Sing and dance with the capital to welcome the festival, and wish Yan' an unlimited scenery. "Appreciating this well-known masterpiece, I feel the poet's sincerity to the revolutionary cause permeating between the lines. At that time, the war of resistance was difficult, and only by faithfully serving the country could we settle down in the promised land in the future. The "victory tea" mentioned in the poem is the paper-packed tea sold in shops in Chongqing at that time, which is intended to wish the victory of the Anti-Japanese War. Taking new things as anecdotes into poetry shows Dong Lao's innovative consciousness of old-style poetry.