China News Agency, Beijing, January 25th, title: How does the East Asian cultural circle celebrate the New Year?
AuthorLiu XiaofengProfessor, Department of History, Tsinghua University
As long as we have the awareness of a 365-day anniversary, human beings will gradually form a cultural tradition to welcome the New Year.
Different ethnic groups have different cultures, and the timing and cultural customs they choose to welcome the New Year are different.
In ancient East Asia, China was the largest source of culture, and the time culture originating from China has irreplaceable authority.
When the influence of the ancient Chinese calendar entered the periphery of East Asia, the various Chinese customs of saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new naturally also affected the surrounding areas.
Therefore, for a long period of time in history, East Asia had many similar or very close New Year customs.
At the same time, due to the distance between East Asian countries and China, the impacts are different.
Year is the head of the first year.
It is the beginning of the year, the beginning of the month, and the beginning of the day.
As the Chinese song "Busy Years Song" says, "Twenty-four, sweep the house", in order to welcome a new beginning with a new look, a big cleaning is very necessary.
In ancient East Asia, there was a big cleaning before the new year.
The busy year is a common New Year custom in East Asia.
"Annan Customs Book" records the New Year in Vietnam: "In the middle of the twelfth lunar month, the four peoples returned from long journeys one after another, making clothes, sweeping the garden, wiping the utensils, and keeping things tidy... Near New Year's Eve... Abandoning the old stove in a clean place is easy. With a new stove".
Japan, the Korean Peninsula and ancient Ryukyu also have the custom of busy years.
Dragon-shaped lanterns are hung in Chinatown in Yokohama, Japan to welcome the Chinese New Year.
Photo by Lu Shaowei
Cleaning the room also includes getting rid of unclean things in the house. This is the ancient Nuo ritual to drive away ghosts and epidemics.
Use Nuo to drive away dirty evil spirits.
It is generally believed that exorcising Nuo existed in the Zhou Dynasty of China. "Zhou Li·Xiaguan·Fang Xiangshi" says: "Fang Xiangshi, with palms covered with bear skin, and four golden eyes... use the cable room to drive away the epidemic." Go to the palace of the Han Dynasty. Nuo, on the other hand, has developed to the point that Fang Xiangshi led twelve gods and one hundred and twenty "scorpions" to drive away tigers, charms, ominous gods and other ominous gods ("Book of the Later Han Dynasty Etiquette").
The "Yanxi Shi" written in Japan in the 10th century records that the Yinyang Liao responsible for exorcising the figures would wait outside the gate of the palace led by officials to exorcise the exorcisms at dusk on the dark day of December, and enter the palace at night to exorcise the exorcises.
Bows and arrows are used in chasing Nuo.
The bow is a peach bow, and the arrow is the arrow of pampas grass.
This is very close to the exorcism in China and is obviously influenced by China.
The ancient Chinese calendar is based on Ganzhi.
In Korea, there is a divination method rooted in the ancient Chinese Ganzhi culture.
This is the method of divination from New Year's Day of the first lunar month: counting from the first day of the first lunar month, the following twelve days are divided into hairy days and hairless days according to the zodiac signs of the earthly branches.
According to this method, the rat of Ziri, the ox of Chou, the tiger of Yinri, the rabbit of Uri, the horse of Noonday, the sheep of Weiri, the monkey of Shenri, the rooster of Youri, and the dog of Xuri Pigs in Hairi and Hairi have hairy days, dragons in Chenri and snakes in Siri are hairless days.
If New Year's Day coincides with a hairy day, it will be a good harvest year, and if it coincides with a hairless day, it will be a poor harvest year.
The first Rat Day after the New Year is called Shangzi Day, and farmers have to go to the fields to set fire to the fields; the first cow day is called Ugly Day, which is originally a slack day in the agricultural world, but because this day is a cow day, it is necessary to feed more The old cow ordered some soybeans, because the cows will soon be used to help people with work; on Shangyin Day, people try to go out as little as possible, especially young girls. Later, as the number of tigers became less and less, it gradually faded away; Mao is born, so Shangmao Day is a very effective day to pray for longevity in Korea.
Chinese New Year decorations in a shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Photo by Zhao Shengyu
The first month of the Japanese also has the first month festival customs formed by Ganzhi culture.
In the first lunar month in Japan, there is a banquet for Ziri, and there is also a tour for Ziri. These are said to come from ancient Chinese customs, but they are very strange to us Chinese ourselves.
In ancient Japan, there was a banquet on Ziri on the first lunar month, for example, it was called "Ziri Song Banquet".
The emperor and his ministers had a lively time, playing drums and playing songs, bestowing clothes and salaries.
Let's talk about setting off firecrackers during the New Year.
Firecrackers are standard for East Asian New Year.
When firecrackers are set off during the New Year, China sets off firecrackers, and South Korea and Vietnam also set off firecrackers. It seems that only Japan does not set off firecrackers.
In fact, Japan also releases it.
Just because it is the oldest firecracker, many people don't know it anymore.
The Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month is called "Little New Year's Day" in Japan, which corresponds to the "Great New Year's Day" New Year's Day.
Since the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese have moved the traditional festivals that originally belonged to the summer calendar to the lunar calendar, so the Japanese "small first month" is the fifteenth day after New Year's Day every year.
Because the Western calendar is directly adopted, the 15th day is not guaranteed to be the day of the full moon. In the East Asian time culture tradition, it seems to be a bit of both good and evil.
However, there is a traditional ceremony related to fire in the first lunar month in Japan. Most areas call it "どんど焼き" (dondoyaki), and some areas call it "sagicho". The Dictionary translates it as "Firecracker Festival".
Zuo Yichang's specific method is to set up a dozen bamboos in a triangle shape, tie them with ropes, and spread dry straw on them for combustion.
In the middle stands a tall bamboo with fans and money hanging from it.
When it is lit, children will sing "tondo ya tondo" around the fire. The very popular folk appellation "どんど焼き" for this custom comes from this singing method.
In Japan, the custom of Zuoyichang in various places also changes due to the different regional cultural characteristics.
For example, in some places, the characters written in one year are burned together, which is said to make people able to write; , There is no disease or disaster for a year; in some places, the custom of Zuo Yichang has become a tourist attraction for local tourists and has been designated as an intangible cultural heritage.
Setting off firecrackers during the New Year has become a custom in China during the Northern and Southern Dynasties.
"Jingchu Sui Shi Ji" records: "The first day of the first month is the day of the three yuan. "Spring and Autumn" calls it the Dragon Moon. The rooster crows, before the firecrackers in front of the court, to ward off the evil spirits." It looks strange, more than one foot tall, only one foot, has the super power to make people sick, but is very afraid of the sound of bamboo burning.
According to this record, burning firecrackers to frighten the monster Shanxi is the origin of firecrackers in ancient China.
Japan's Zuo Yichang maintained the prototype of firecrackers in terms of time and form.
When the custom of burning bamboo was introduced to Japan, unfortunately there is a lack of literature, so it is impossible to know.
In fact, the two Japanese names of "Firecracker Festival" imitate the explosion sound made by the air bursting through the bamboo joints after the bamboo is burned.
Overseas Chinese associations in Yokohama, Japan celebrated the traditional Chinese Spring Festival with dragon and lion dances.
Photo by Teng Jianfeng
The New Year in East Asia has many festivals and customs, but its spirit is nothing more than a good wish to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, to drive away disasters and seek good luck.
The area in East Asia where Chinese characters have been commonly used is called the Chinese character cultural circle.
This is the place that receives the deepest influence of Chinese culture, and it is also the place where various New Year customs are closest to us.
During the Spring Festival in Singapore and Malaysia, there is a unique folk custom project - "Yusheng".
Many people gathered around a table, scrambling to pick up fish, ingredients, and sauces from the big plate, shouting "Shoot! Send!"
Yusheng, originally from Guangdong, China, the Cantonese who went to Nanyang to take root in the early years, brought Yusheng to Singapore and Malaysia.
In the 1960s, it was improved by four chefs Tan Ruijia, Xian Liang, Xu Guowei and Liu Yupei. The fish was served with various side dishes and various sauces. They shouted auspicious words while fishing.
Thailand's traditional Chinese New Year "Songkran Festival", also known as "Thai Songkran Festival", is similar to the Chinese Dai Songkran Festival.
Every year from April 13th to 15th.
After the faithful men and women worshiped the Buddha in the temple, the virtuous and respected monks sprinkled water soaked with spices on their bodies to drive away evil spirits.
Believers then sprinkle perfume on the Buddha statues and "Goddess of Songkran" to pray for a happy new year.
After the prayer ceremony, there is a water-splashing carnival, praying for prosperity and good luck in the coming year.
What's more, the elephants were brought into the street and poured blessings on passers-by.
The common folk history and culture are the link between people in East Asian countries and the common cultural genes left by history, which are worth cherishing and carrying forward.
(Finish)
About the Author:
Liu Xiaofeng, professor of the Department of History of Tsinghua University, doctoral supervisor, vice president of the Chinese Society of Japanese Philosophy, executive director of the Chinese Society of Japanese History, chairman of the Professional Committee of Ancient Japanese History, and vice president of the Beijing Society for the History of Sino-Japanese Relations.
Engaged in the teaching and research of Japanese history and Japanese culture, and strived to open up the Chinese character culture circle composed of Japan, Korea, Ryukyu, Vietnam, etc. to look back at the research vision of ancient Chinese civilization, focusing most on the study of time and culture.
His masterpieces include "Ancient Japanese における Doing Things in the Middle Years" (Japanese Katsura Bookstore), "Ching Ming Festival" (China Society Publishing House), "Time in East Asia - A Comparative Study of Age Culture" (Zhonghua Book Company), "Japanese Faces" (Central Compilation Publishing House), "Dragon Boat Festival" (Sanlian Publishing House), "Ryukyu History" (co-authored, Zhonghua Book Company), "Time and the Ancient World of East Asia" (Social Science Literature Publishing House), etc.