Why do we stay up all night on New Year’s Eve? Where does the custom of staying up on New Year’s Eve come from?
One of the customs of New Year’s Eve in my country is to gather the whole family and eat New Year’s Eve dinner. New Year’s Eve has a long history and cultural heritage in my country, so there are various sayings about it. So what is the meaning and connotation of New Year’s Eve? Time has unknowingly come to the end of the year. Fortune Teller.com has prepared some information about the 2018 Chinese New Year's Eve. Click in to learn more!Why do we stay up all night on New Year’s Eve?(1) Elderly people stay up all night to say goodbye to the old year, which means cherishing time;(2) Young people stay up all night to extend their parents’ lifespans. Since the Han Dynasty, the time when the old year turns to the new year is generally midnight. The "Shou" in "Shousui" means both the nostalgia for the old year that is passing and the hope for the coming New Year. Where does the custom of staying up on New Year’s Eve come from?People in our country have the custom of staying up all night on New Year's Eve. The New Year's Eve celebration begins with the New Year's Eve dinner. This dinner should be eaten slowly, starting from the time when the lights are turned on. Some families will eat until late at night. According to Zong Yan's "Jingchu Sui Shi Ji", the custom of eating New Year's Eve dinner has existed at least since the Southern and Northern Dynasties. The custom of staying up all night to welcome the New Year expresses both a sense of farewell and a desire to remember the passing years, and a hope for the coming New Year. The ancients wrote in a poem "Keeping the New Year's Eve": "We invited each other to stay up together at Arong's house, and the candles passed red towards the green gauze; thirty-six weeks have passed in vain, but I cherish the years from now on." It is human nature to cherish the years, so the great poet Su Shi wrote the famous lines from "Keeping the New Year's Eve": "There will be no year next year, and I am afraid that I will waste time; I will work hard tonight, and I can still be proud of my youth!" This shows the positive significance of staying up on New Year's Eve.Staying up all night on New Year’s Eve is commonly known as “staying up all night”. Why is it called "Ao Nian"? There is an interesting story passed down from generation to generation among the people: According to legend, in the ancient times, there was a ferocious monster, and people called him "Nian". Every New Year’s Eve, the Nian beast would crawl out of the sea to harm humans and animals, destroy farmland, and bring disaster to people who had worked hard for a year. In order to avoid the Nian monster, people would close their doors early on the night of the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month before it got dark. They would not dare to sleep and would wait for dawn. They would drink to kill time and to give themselves courage. They would not dare to go out until the morning of the first day of the new year when the Nian beast no longer came out. When people met each other, they bowed and congratulated each other, feeling lucky that they had not been eaten by the Nian beast. Many years passed like this without any incidents, and people relaxed their vigilance against the Nian beast. On the night of New Year one year, the Nian beast suddenly rushed into a village in the south of the Yangtze River. Almost all the people in the village were eaten by the beast. Only a newly married couple who hung red curtains and wore red clothes were safe and sound. There were also a few children who were playing with a bunch of bamboos in the yard. The fire was red and the bamboos made crackling sounds when they burned. The Nian beast came over and was so scared by the fire that it turned around and fled. From then on, people knew that the Nian monster was afraid of red, light, and loud noises. So at the end of the year and the beginning of the next year, every household would paste red paper, wear red robes, hang red lanterns, beat gongs and drums, and set off firecrackers, so that the Nian monster would not dare to come again. |
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