What are the customs on New Year’s Eve? Detailed explanation of the custom of staying up all night

1. What is the specific meaning of staying up all year round?

In ancient times, staying up all night to celebrate the New Year had two meanings: for the elderly, it was to "bid farewell to the old year" and to cherish time; for the young, it was to extend their parents' lives. Since the Han Dynasty, the time when the old year turns to the new year is generally midnight. People all over the world are looking forward to the arrival of New Year's Eve.

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 decades have passed in vain, but I cherish the years from this night on." It is human nature to cherish the years, so the great poet Su Shi wrote the famous line 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.

2. Why is staying up all night to celebrate the New Year also called "staying up all night"?

Staying up all night on New Year's Eve is commonly known as "staying up all night". Why is it called "Aonian"? According to legend, in the ancient times, there was a ferocious monster, which people called "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 a few children who were playing with a bunch of bamboos in the yard. The fire was red and the bamboos made crackling sounds. The Nian beast came over and was so scared by the fire that it turned around and ran away.

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. In the "Book of Songs·Xiaoya·Ting Liao", there is a record of "the light of Ting Liao". The so-called "Ting Liao" is a torch made of bamboo poles. After the bamboo poles burn, the air in the bamboo joints expands, the bamboo cavity bursts, and makes crackling sounds. This is the origin of "firecrackers".

But in some places, villagers did not know that the Nian beast was afraid of red, and were often eaten by it. Later, this matter was reported to Ziwei Star in the sky. In order to save mankind, he decided to destroy the Nian beast. One year, when the Nian beast came out, he knocked it down with a fireball and then locked it to a stone pillar with a thick iron chain. From then on, every New Year, people would burn incense and ask the Purple Star to come down to the world to protect safety.

3. How to stay up peacefully on New Year’s Eve

On this night when "two years are connected in one night and two years are divided in the fifth watch", families reunite and gather together. The whole family sat together, with the table filled with snacks and fruits. When offering food during the Chinese New Year, a large plate of apples is indispensable, which is called "peace and safety". In the north, some families also offer a pot of rice, which is cooked before the New Year and is offered during the New Year. It is called "last year's rice", which means that there is leftover rice every year, which cannot be eaten up throughout the year, so this year they have to eat the food of the previous year. This pot of New Year's Eve rice is usually cooked with a mixture of rice and millet. It is commonly called "two-grain rice" in Beijing dialect because it has both yellow and white colors. It is called "gold and silver rice" which means "there is gold and silver, and the pot is full of gold and silver."

In many places, the cakes, fruits and other snacks prepared during the New Year's Eve are all intended to bring good luck: eating dates (early spring), eating dried persimmons (everything goes well), eating almonds (happy people), eating longan (immortality), and eating rice cakes (getting taller every year). On New Year’s Eve, the whole family, young and old, ate and talked happily.

4. Feng Shui matters that should be paid special attention to when staying up all night

1. If your front door is facing your neighbor's front door, then please be sure to hang two Chinese knots on the door frame outside your front door to attract good fortune and avoid harm.

2. Never stick the word "Fu" on the door upside down.

3. Deal with damaged furniture at home: throw away what should be thrown away, and repair what should be repaired. Don't sit in a wobbly chair.

4. Turn on all the lights at night and keep them on for three days and three nights.

5. Burn incense and worship Buddha before 8 o'clock in the evening.

6. Wear red clothes, hang red lanterns, and set off firecrackers. For good luck.

7. Do not scold children or quarrel on New Year’s Eve, otherwise it will bring bad luck to the coming year.

8. For friends who are spending the New Year alone, Dr. Zheng recommends that you turn on the TV all day and all night to increase your "aura".

5. How to distribute New Year’s money

Giving out red envelopes is a major feature of New Year’s Eve. According to traditional concepts, only adults are "qualified" to give out red envelopes, and those who can be truly considered adults are married men and women. If one is still single in his forties or fifties, he always has a serious deficiency. Even if he has a huge fortune, but no wife, he has not completed the most important event in his life. Even if he is only seventeen or eighteen years old, as long as he is married, whether he has children or not, he is more like an adult than a person in his thirties or forties who is still unmarried.

On New Year’s Eve, adults will distribute red envelopes to each child in order to show that they are elders and to make the children happy.

Red envelopes are usually distributed starting from New Year’s Eve and continuing until the first month of the lunar year. Adults have to give red envelopes to the children and grandchildren at home; they also have to give them to the children who come to pay New Year's greetings. When they go to other people's homes to pay New Year's greetings, they cannot avoid giving out red envelopes. However, traditionally, children do not receive red envelopes starting on the first day of the new year, but on the day before, which is the night of New Year's Eve. They receive red envelopes from their elders. These are called New Year's money.

After the reunion dinner on New Year’s Eve, the elders will give lucky money to the children and women in the family. This is because in the past, men were valued more than women, with men working outside and women working inside. It was not easy for women to earn money on their own and they had to rely on their husbands financially. They did not have any money of their own, so lucky money was given to both children and women.

Nowadays, some families still follow the tradition of giving lucky money to children and give them red envelopes on New Year’s Eve. But in fact, the real New Year's money is not wrapped in red envelopes. At that time, the elders would use a red thread to string together one hundred copper coins. These one hundred copper coins symbolize longevity and are blessings to those who receive the New Year's money, with a high degree of blessing significance.
Summary: The above article content is what the editor wants to tell you about the analysis of the custom of staying up all night on New Year’s Eve. You can learn about it and feel the customs and culture of our Chinese New Year!