How did the Spring Festival couplets come about? There is such a story in Shan Hai Jing. Legend has it that there is a beautiful Dushuo Mountain in the East China Sea of China, also known as Du Tao. There is a big peach tree on the mountain with a golden rooster on the top, which is made at sunrise. The northeast end of this peach tree is full of arched branches, and the top of the tree has bent down and touched the ground, just like a natural gate. There are all kinds of monsters living in Shuoshan. If you want to go out, you have to go through this gate of hell. The Emperor of Heaven was afraid that ghosts would come down the mountain to haunt people, so he sent two gods to guard them. One is Shen Tu, and the other is Lei Yu. The names of these two gods have special pronunciations. Shen Tu should read "sacred tree" and Lei Yu should read "jade law". The two gods will monitor the behavior of ghosts. He found out which ghost was doing evil, so he tied it up with straw rope and gave it to the tiger. Since then, from this story, the theory of ghost peach wood has been derived. So, at that time, people used two pieces of peach wood to carve the images of Shen Tu and Lei Yu or write their names on both sides of the door, calling them Fu Tao to show that they could ward off evil spirits.
After the Tang Dynasty, it was gradually changed to Weichi Gong and Qin Baoshu. Legend has it that Emperor Taizong Li Shimin staged a coup in Xuanwu Gate, killing his younger brother, forcing his father Tang Gaozu Li Yuan to abdicate and become the emperor's father, and ascended the throne himself. From then on, Kevin·Z dreamed of the old dragon who cut many rivers. Every night, he seemed to hear ghosts throwing bricks at the house outside the sleeping officers, making strange noises. Emperor Taizong had no choice but to tell the ministers about it. Qin, the founding hero of the Tang Dynasty, volunteered to keep vigil at the palace gate to exorcise ghosts, and Weichi Gong, another great founding hero, was also willing to accompany the vigil. That night, wearing armor and holding weapons, they stayed at the door of the bedroom for one night. As expected, Emperor Taizong had a good sleep. After a few days, Emperor Taizong gradually recovered and could not bear to let the two generals keep vigil. So he ordered people to draw the mighty images of the two generals and put them on the doors. The story spread, and Weichi Gong and Qin were gradually regarded as door gods.
The evolution from Fu Tao to Spring Festival couplets is said to be in the Five Dynasties, when Meng Changjun, the late master of Shu in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, was on New Year's Eve in 964. Singer Xin wrote two auspicious words on the page. He didn't like the new work, because the words were not good, so he began to write it himself:
Xinnianna Qing Yu
Changchun jiajiehao
This is the earliest Spring Festival couplets in China. From then on, literati regarded Spring Festival couplets as elegant things, and the wind of Spring Festival couplets gradually spread. In the Song Dynasty, posting Spring Festival couplets has become a custom of gentry. Wang Anshi's poem "January Day", "Thousands of households always change new peaches for old ones", can illustrate this point. In the notes of the Song Dynasty, it was also recorded that literati liked to write Spring Festival couplets. For example, as recorded in Zhang Bangji's Mo Zhuang Man Lu, Su Dongpo was in Huangzhou, and when he was nearly 30 years old, he visited the king. When he saw his Taofu prescription, he wrote a book on it, saying, "The door is so big that thousands of people ride into it, and I don't know male huan." At the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhao, a famous painter, visited the Moon Appreciation Building in Yangzhou, and the landlord asked Zhao for Spring Festival couplets. Zhao wrote: "There are 3,000 guests in Yuen Long during the Spring Festival, and the first floor of Mingyue Yangzhou." The content of the Spring Festival couplets is different from that of the restaurant. The host was overjoyed and gave him a purple and gold basin. Spring Festival couplets written by Zhao have always been regarded as social gifts.
It is said that Spring Festival couplets are very popular among the people, and they are written in red paper, which became one of the customs after the Ming Dynasty. According to Chen's Miscellaneous Notes on the Cloud Tower, when Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming Emperor, made his capital in Jinling, one year before New Year's Eve, he used his quick wits and ordered officials and literati to post Spring Festival couplets on the doors to show a new atmosphere. The next day, he traveled incognito and watched Spring Festival couplets entertainment among the people. After cruising for a while, he suddenly found that there was a family that didn't post Spring Festival couplets, so he asked his entourage to look for it. It turns out that the owner of that house is a castrated pig who can neither read nor write. Years ago, he was so busy that he didn't find someone to write for him. After hearing this, Mao sent someone to invite Four Treasures of the Study and waved happily: "Split the road of life and death with both hands and cut off the root of right and wrong with one knife." Handy, extraordinary tone. Attendants hold couplets and give them to eunuchs. Later, the owner of the castrated pig learned that it was a couplet made by the emperor's imperial relatives, so he framed it and hung it in nave as a family heirloom, burning incense and worshiping it every day. It is said that the official naming of the word Spring Festival couplets began with the Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang. Since then, Spring Festival couplets have been widely popular in rural towns and villages and have been popular for a long time. The most commonly used Spring Festival couplets are "firecrackers to get rid of the old year, every family welcomes the new year", "people live longer with the years, and spring is full", "doors welcome the blessings of spring, summer, autumn and winter, and households collect wealth from east, west, north and south", and so on. Every household posted Spring Festival couplets years ago to decorate the Spring Festival with spring and celebration.
Interviewee: fl 5 190- Xiucaier 1-22 19:44.
The origin of Spring Festival couplets
Wang Anshi, a poet in the Song Dynasty, wrote in Yuan Ri:
Besides firecrackers, the spring breeze warms Tu Su.
Thousands of families always trade new peaches for old ones.
What do "new peach" and "old symbol" mean? In modern terms, it is the Spring Festival couplets. Spring Festival couplets are a kind of couplets. How did China Spring Festival couplets develop?
As a unique literary form, Spring Festival couplets have a long history in China. It began in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, especially in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and has developed for more than a thousand years today.
As early as before the Qin and Han dynasties, there was a custom of hanging peach symbols around the gate every New Year. Fu Tao is two big boards made of peach wood, on which are written the names of the legendary gods and spirits who exorcise ghosts and suppress evil spirits. This custom lasted for more than 1000 years. It was not until the Five Dynasties that people began to put couplets on mahogany boards instead of the names of gods. According to historical records, on New Year's Eve in 964 AD, Meng Chang, the master of Houshu, wrote a couplet on the bedroom door, namely, "On New Year's Eve, Jia Jienuo. Changchun ",the earliest Spring Festival couplets in China.
After the Song Dynasty, it has become quite common for people to hang Spring Festival couplets in the New Year. Therefore, Wang Anshi wrote in the poem "January Day" that "thousands of households always change new peaches for old ones" was a true portrayal of the Spring Festival couplets at that time. Due to the close relationship between the appearance of Spring Festival couplets and Fu Tao, the ancients also called Spring Festival couplets "Fu Tao".
In the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding father of the Ming Dynasty, strongly advocated couplets. After establishing the capital of Jinling (now Nanjing), he ordered ministers, officials and ordinary people to write a couplet and put it on the door before New Year's Eve. Dressed in casual clothes, he went out door to door to watch the excitement. Scholars at that time also regarded couplets as elegant enjoyment, and writing Spring Festival couplets became a social fashion.
After entering the Qing Dynasty, couplets prevailed in Qianlong, Jiaqing and Daoguang generations. Just like the prosperous Tang Dynasty, many famous couplets appeared.
With the development of cultural exchanges among countries, couplets were introduced to Vietnam, Korea, Japan, Singapore and other countries. These countries still have the custom of pasting couplets.