What is the significance and etiquette of pasting Spring Festival couplets during the Spring Festival?
Introduction: Whenever the Spring Festival approaches, you can see all kinds of Spring Festival couplets and blessing characters being sold everywhere in the streets and alleys. They are very prosperous and festive. Why do we Chinese hang Spring Festival couplets during the Spring Festival? Is there any significance or consideration in posting Spring Festival couplets? Now, please follow the editor to learn about it! There is no end to the topics about the Spring Festival, so do you want to know more about it? Just continue to wander in Mr. Shui Mo’s Spring Festival special ocean!What are Spring Festival couplets?Spring couplets are also called door couplets. During the Spring Festival, every household will select a bright red couplet to post on the door to welcome the arrival of the new year. In ancient times, Spring Festival couplets were called Tao Fu, because ancient people posted Spring Festival couplets on peach wood on both sides of the door. The term "Tao Fu" came from this. Ancient people always replaced the old Tao Fu with new ones during the Spring Festival. After the Ming Dynasty, Tao Fu was renamed Spring Festival couplets. There are many types of Spring Festival couplets. Depending on where they are used, they can be divided into door couplets, frame couplets, horizontal couplets, spring strips, and square couplets. The "door heart" is pasted on the center of the upper part of the door panel; the "frame pair" is pasted on the left and right door frames; the "horizontal drape" is pasted on the horizontal beam of the door; the "spring strip" is pasted on the corresponding place according to different content; the "dou jin" is also called the "door leaf", which is a square rhombus and is mostly pasted on windows, furniture, and screen walls.Why do we post Spring Festival couplets?The custom of posting Spring Festival couplets began in the Later Shu period more than a thousand years ago, as evidenced by historical records. In addition, according to the records in "Yuzhu Baodian" and "Yanjing Sui Shi Ji", the original form of Spring Festival couplets is what people call "Tao Fu". In ancient Chinese mythology, it is said that there is a ghost world. In the middle of the world, there is a mountain. On the mountain, there is a huge peach tree covering three thousand miles. On the top of the tree, there is a golden rooster. Every morning when the golden rooster crows, the ghosts that wander out at night must rush back to the ghost realm. The gate to the ghost realm is located in the northeast of the peach tree. Two gods named Shentu and Yulei stand beside the gate. If a ghost did something harmful to the world at night, Shentu and Yulei would immediately find and catch it, tie it up with a rope made of reed, and feed it to the tiger. Therefore, all the ghosts in the world are afraid of Shentu and Yulei. So people began to carve their images out of peach wood and place them at their doorsteps to ward off evil and harm. Later, people simply carved the names of Shentu and Yulei on peach wood boards, believing that doing so could also suppress evil. This kind of peach wood board was later called "Tao Fu". It was not until the Ming Dynasty that peach charms were renamed "Spring Couplets". In the Ming Dynasty, Chen Yunzhan's "Zhanyunlou Miscellaneous Talks" recorded: "The establishment of Spring Festival couplets began with the Ming Taizu. In the imperial capital of Nanjing, before New Year's Eve, an imperial decree was suddenly issued: a Spring Festival couplet must be hung on the door of the house of officials, ministers, and common people, and it will appear when the emperor goes out incognito." Zhu Yuanzhang not only went out of the city incognito to watch the entertainment, he also wrote the Spring Festival couplets himself. He passed by a house and saw that there were no Spring Festival couplets on the door, so he went to ask and found out that the family was castrating pigs and had not yet asked someone to write them. Zhu Yuanzhang specially wrote a couplet for the pig castrator: "Split the road of life and death with both hands, and cut off the root of right and wrong with one knife." The association is appropriate and humorous. After the promotion by Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, Spring Festival couplets became a custom and have been passed down to this day. There is also a legend about posting Spring Festival couplets during the Spring Festival: It is said that a long time ago, there was a monster called "Nian" who would come out to harm people every New Year. Later people found out that it was afraid of red, so they pasted a pair of red papers on both sides of the door. In this way, Nian would not dare to enter the village. Thus, the custom of posting couplets during the New Year has been passed down. Posting Spring Festival couplets is a major custom among the Chinese people. They embody people's blessings and hopes for the new year.The significance of posting Spring Festival coupletsSpring Festival couplets are a type of couplets and a unique literary form. It depicts the background of the times and expresses good wishes with neat, parallel, concise and exquisite words. It is a Chinese literary form. Therefore, every Spring Festival, whether in the city or in the countryside, every household will select a pair of bright red couplets to paste on the door to add to the festive atmosphere of the Spring Festival.The importance of pasting Spring Festival couplets during the Spring FestivalThere are many things to pay attention to when writing Spring Festival couplets. It is said that peach wood is red, and red can ward off evil spirits and symbolize good luck, so later Spring Festival couplets were written on red paper. In addition, there are requirements for the Spring Festival couplets on door rims, frame couplets, spring strips, and square scrolls. This is a great improvement over the original peach charms. It is no longer simply painting portraits on peach charms, but expressing one's good wishes for the coming year by writing them on paper. There are certain rules for how to post Spring Festival couplets. If you post them incorrectly, it will really cause a joke. Posting Spring Festival couplets is actually related to our writing style. In the past, people wrote from right to left. Therefore, when people posted Spring Festival couplets, the upper couplet was on the right, the lower couplet was on the left, and the horizontal banner was in the middle. After liberation, our writing format was changed to from left to right. Therefore, the upper couplet of the Spring Festival couplet was pasted on the left and the lower couplet was pasted on the right. This suits people's current reading habits.Summary: The above article analyzes in detail the custom, etiquette and significance of pasting Spring Festival couplets during the Spring Festival. You can learn about it and increase your knowledge and understanding of traditional cultural customs! After reading this article, there are more exciting content in the Spring Festival special topic, let’s take a look! |
>>: To have a happy Spring Festival in 2017, you need to know these Spring Festival tips!
Recommend
Is the Grain Full Festival on April 28 and May 20 of the 2020 lunar calendar an auspicious day for moving graves?
Introduction: Generally, it is necessary to choose...
Is the second day of the tenth lunar month in 2020 a good day to start renovations?
The tenth month of the lunar calendar is the first...
Is the day before the Lantern Festival in 2021 a good day for engagement? What is February 25th?
Introduction: Engagement is one of the important e...
Is the Grain Rain season in 2019 good? Origin of the Grain Rain Solar Term
Is the Grain Rain season in 2019 good? What is the...
Where is the auspicious direction of the God of Joy on the Beginning of Summer on May 5, 2018?
Introduction: In our country’s tradition, families...
What are the auspicious days in the twelfth month of the lunar calendar in 2019?
Introduction: In our country’s traditional culture...
What is the highest temperature in the Great Heat Day of 2019? What is the specific time of the middle of the three dog days of 2019?
Introduction: Great Heat is one of the 24 solar te...
Is it a good idea to give birth to a boy on the third day of the second lunar month in 2018? How auspicious or inauspicious is the time of the day?
The birth of a baby always brings endless joy to t...
Is it a good idea to move on September 21st, the day before the beginning of winter in 2020? Will the weather be cold on the beginning of winter?
Introduction: You need to choose an auspicious day...
What are the customs of Dahan? When is the Great Cold?
Dahan is one of the 24 solar terms and also the la...
What is the appropriate thing to do on the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, and what are the taboos to avoid on the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month?
Introduction: The preparations for New Year’s good...
What is the fate of a boy born on the second day of the second lunar month in 2018?
Many parents hope that their sons will become succ...
Do we welcome spring the day before the beginning of spring? What are the three signs in the fifteen days before the beginning of spring?
There are 24 solar terms in a year, and each solar...
2017 Lunar October 15th Hour Auspicious and Unlucky Query, Hour Auspicious and Unlucky Query
A gust of cold wind blows by, and we enter the ea...
What's the zodiac sign for people born in the seventh month of the lunar calendar? Is it Virgo or Leo?
Constellations refer to the twelve zodiac signs. T...