Nian Beast Afraid of Red and Firecrackers: One Version of the Origin of the Spring Festival

Why set off firecrackers, paste red couplets, and wear red clothes during the Spring Festival? There is a widely circulated saying called the “Nian Beast.”

Legend has it that in ancient times, there was a monster called “Nian,” with horns on its head, looking like a lion, with a big mouth and sharp teeth. It lived in the sea, and every New Year’s Eve, it would come ashore to eat livestock and people.

One year, an old man with white hair came to the village. He told the villagers that he had a way to drive it away. On New Year’s Eve, everyone hid in the mountains, leaving only the old man alone at a household by the village entrance.

The Nian Beast came, entered the village, and saw red paper pasted on the door of that house, firelight inside, and bursts of loud crackling sounds. Upon hearing this, it was terrified and turned to run away. It turned out that it feared red, fire, and huge noises.

From then on, people pasted red paper, lit fires, and set off firecrackers every New Year’s Eve to drive away the “Nian.”

There are many versions of this story; some say the old man was a deity, others say he was a beggar. Folklore scholars say this story appeared relatively late and is not recorded in ancient books. An earlier account is found in the Southern and Northern Dynasties’ “Jingchu Suishi Ji”: on the first day of the first lunar month, as soon as the rooster crows for the first time, people must rise and burn bamboo in the courtyard; the bamboo bursts in the fire with crackling sounds, used to drive away a mountain ghost called “Shanxiao.”

Later, with the invention of gunpowder, bamboo was replaced by rolled paper firecrackers, making the sound louder and the scene more lively, but the meaning has remained unchanged for two thousand years.

#Folklore #网络转载