染雾New Year's Day Origins
Article One
New Year's Day is celebrated on January 1st each year and is considered the first day of the Gregorian calendar. This day marks the beginning of a new calendar year and is celebrated with various customs and traditions around the world. But have you ever wondered about the origins of New Year's Day? Let's explore its history.
The concept of celebrating the New Year dates back thousands of years to ancient civilizations. The earliest recorded New Year's celebrations can be traced back to ancient Mesopotamia, which is present-day Iraq. The Mesopotamians celebrated the New Year around the time of the vernal equinox, which usually falls in late March. The festival was called Akitu and lasted for 11 days. During this time, the Mesopotamians would honor their gods through various rituals and festivities.
In ancient Egypt, the New Year was celebrated with the flooding of the Nile River. The flooding was believed to bring fertility and abundance to the land, and it marked the beginning of a new agricultural cycle. The Egyptians would hold elaborate ceremonies and feasts to commemorate this event.
The ancient Greeks celebrated the New Year with a festival called the Feast of Dionysus. This festival honored Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility. It involved feasting, drinking, and theatrical performances. The Romans also celebrated the New Year with similar festivities, but their festival was called the Feast of Janus, named after the two-faced god Janus who symbolized beginnings and endings.
The modern celebration of New Year's Day can be traced back to ancient Rome. Julius Caesar introduced the Julian calendar in 45 BCE, which designated January 1st as the start of the New Year. This calendar was based on the solar year and is similar to the one we use today. However, not all civilizations adopted the January 1st start of the New Year immediately. It took several centuries for this date to become universally recognized.
In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar, which is the calendar we currently use. This calendar also designated January 1st as the start of the New Year. Over time, the celebration of New Year's Day spread to different parts of the world, and various customs and traditions developed.
Today, New Year's Day is celebrated with fireworks, parties, and gatherings with loved ones. It is a time for reflection, goal-setting, and making resolutions for the upcoming year. People all over the world come together to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new one with hope and excitement.
In conclusion, the origins of New Year's Day can be traced back to ancient civilizations such as Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. The celebration of the New Year has evolved over time, but its essence remains the same – a time to celebrate new beginnings and look forward to the future. So, as we celebrate New Year's Day, let us remember the rich history behind this global tradition. Happy New Year!
Article Two
The Significance of New Year's Day
New Year's Day is a time of celebration and reflection. It is a day when people around the world come together to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new one. But what is the significance of this holiday? Let's delve into its meaning and importance.
New Year's Day symbolizes a fresh start. It is a time to reflect on the past year, learn from our experiences, and set goals for the future. It gives us an opportunity to evaluate our lives and make positive changes. Many people make resolutions, such as improving their health, pursuing their dreams, or making a difference in the world.
This day also holds cultural and religious significance. In some cultures, New Year's Day is associated with religious or spiritual ceremonies. For example, in the Chinese culture, the New Year is celebrated with the Spring Festival, also known as the Lunar New Year. This festival marks the beginning of the Chinese zodiac year and is celebrated with family gatherings, feasts, and traditional performances.
In addition to personal and cultural significance, New Year's Day is also important for businesses and economies. It marks the start of a new fiscal year for many companies and provides an opportunity to set new goals and strategies. It is a time for businesses to reflect on their past performance and plan for a successful future.
New Year's Day is also a time for celebration and joy. It is a day when people come together to celebrate with fireworks, parties, and festivities. It is a time to be grateful for the blessings of the past year and to celebrate the possibilities that the new year brings. It is a time to spend with loved ones, to strengthen relationships, and to create cherished memories.
Furthermore, New Year's Day serves as a reminder of the passage of time. It reminds us of the fleeting nature of life and the importance of making the most of every moment. It encourages us to live with purpose and to make each day count. It reminds us to cherish our loved ones and to appreciate the beauty of the world around us.
In conclusion, New Year's Day holds great significance both personally and culturally. It is a time to reflect, set goals, and make positive changes. It is a time for celebration, gratitude, and joy. It is a time to appreciate the passage of time and the opportunities that each new year brings. So, as we celebrate New Year's Day, let us embrace its significance and make the most of the fresh start it offers. Happy New Year!
元旦的由来英文版介绍 篇三
Yuandan is the first day of the lunar calendar. It is the day when the earth has circled the sun for one round and is beginning another circling. It represents a new beginning when people send off the old days and welcome the new ones. As the first day of the year, Yuandan has been considered to be the most important festival since the ancient times.Customs
1. Kaisui(beginning of the year): According to the Chinese traditional custom, starting from haishi(9p.m. to 11p.m.)of the last evening of the twelfth lunar month, each family must prepare offering s to deities at the altar. At the same time, they too prepare food for the New Year day: The whole family will then stay awake together to attend to the year(called shou sui). After haishi, zishi(11p.m. to 1a.m.)will come, and this is the arrival of New Year(Yuandan). At this moment, people begin the celebration with fireworks. Vegetarian and sweet foods will then be placed are the altar for offerings, and incense be burned to welcome the deities. In the ancient times, it was believed that haishi connected the two years and thus was called kaisui.
At the same night, some families will follow the instruction in Tongshu and place preparing altar in the direction of the "fortune deity" during the "fortune time" to r
2. There is an apparent difference in the custom of food taking on Yuandan between the Chinese in the northern and southern regions. The northern Chinese has the habit of taking jiao zi(dumpling made of flour with vegetable and meat wrapped inside). Some people may put a sweet or a coin inside jiao zi, hoping to have a sweet year after tasting the sweet and a wealthy year after tasting the coin. on the other hand, the southern Chinese have the taboo for killing on Yuandan. Therefore, they do not take meat in tee morning of Yuandan, so as to avoid bloodshed or mutual slaughter. In order to evade misfortune, they have the first meal of this day without meat. Instead, they take vegetarian food for the sake of virtue.
3. What is special during the New Year is that parents or elders will distribute red packets(ang pao or ya sui qian)to the children. People in the ancient times were more particular in giving away the red packets: the distribution took place on the eve of New Year so that the kids could suppress the past year and enter the New Year. Ya sui has the meaning of overcoming the unpredictable future. Representing the wishes for the healthy psychological growth of the children, ya sui qian symbolises the elders' hope to see their children overcome all the unpredictable elements brought by the "year".
4. There is an extraordinary number of taboos on Yuandan. Each place has its own customs of taboo. Here, we will mention only a few common taboos in Fujian Province, Guangdong Province and Southeast Asia:
In the past, people commonly believed that fortune was hidden in the house. So, w\sweeping of floor must be done in the direction moving inwards, and there was no clearance of rubbish at night. Particularly on the New Tear day, in order to keep fortune from flowing out, there was no sweeping. Some families kept this taboo until the fifth or even the fifteenth day. If anything was broken, the pieces were wrapped up in order not to let the fortune slip away and were disposed only the fifth day.
Yuandan(in more serious families, the period extends from the 1st to the 15th day) marks the new beginning. In the hope that New Year brings good beginning, people should utter neither unkind words nor vulgar language. Making noises, fighting, quarreling and especially weeping are avoided to deter misfortune. There are even taboos of taking medicine and having sneeze, for it is believed that they can lead to sickness throughout the year. Taboos of the past also concerned the use of knife and the breaking of things. If a thing was broken, the word "break" or any other word importing similar meaning was not used. Instead, words like "failing to the floor and blossoming like flowers" which delivered pleasant senses were used to suggest good connections.
On Yuandan, neither lending and nor giving of money to others is done so that there will be no out-flowing of money during the year. There is also the saying that if a male sleeps in the afternoon, his career will breakdown, and if a female has an afternoon nap, the kitchen will collapse.
5. Ancient rite: In the past, there was a rite called he zheng(proper greeting)during New Year. When a person paid a New Year visit to friends or relatives, he took along a piece of paper or card on which the name of the host was written wit Chinese brush. The receiver of this greeting card would normally paste it on the wall of his main hall to show his respect to and appreciation for the visitor. The quantity of greeting card received reflected the person's public relationship with others, while the names and status of the people who gave the greeting cards indicated the host's boundary of social network and standard of living. Nowadays, because of easy communication, convenient transportation system and wider social network, when people send their greetings they tend to follow the Western style. The greeting is now done by mail and even by email. Today, he zheng is done by simply bringing along red packets and food presents when making a visit.
To be in line with the custom of to giving away money on the first day, families in some places do not pay New Year call to others. Instead, the whole family simply goes out to enjoy themselves or stayed at home for family happiness.
6. In the past, there was a superstition that when a person left his house in the New Year, he must take the correct first step. A particular person would look for the fortunate direction in accordance with the day, month and year of this birth basing on the explanation of Chinese calendar. On Yuan Dan, when a person stepped out of his house, he must go in the fortunate direction and avoid the unfortunate direction. Even people of less particularity also consulted Chinese calendar to find out where the fortunate directions and fierce deities were before the first step out of their houses.
Meaning
From the above mentioned customs, we can see that there are especially many taboos during Chinese New Year. On Yuan Dan in particular, there are more taboos on speech and behaviour than those on other ordinary days. Similarly, there are more activities in pursuit of good cause than usual. On probing the activities and taboos, we have no difficulty to understand that the theme behind is always related to fortune, wealth and goodness, and that people usually concern themselves with a good beginning for the year.
Some taboos may look superstitious on the surface, but they do produce efficacy. If we practise them circumspectively, they will yield practical results. For example, the prohibition of bad words, quarrel, weeping and crying, together with the emphasis on thinking positively even when things are broken, provide some normative rules for people to follow. This gives people the opportunity to mend their ways, to develop good attitudes, and to form a habit of thinking positively and looking at the good side of things. The prohibition of sweeping and disposing the rubbish in the first five days forces people to arrange their things and clear away the rubbish properly at the end of each year, so that no unwanted things will be carried forward to the new year. At the same time, the taboo also compels people to learn to be thrifty. This is because to prevent accumulated things from becoming rubbish, people must be careful in the use of any paper or other things, and thus avoid waste of things.
The avoidance of medicine and sneeze on the first day looks like a joke and is absurd as far as the patient is concerned. However, because of the taboos, people will be conscious enough to take serious care of their health during the windy and snowing season. Thus, they will avoid falling sick in the New Year and wasting away the precious spring hours.
Nowadays, people have abandoned the custom of bringing along greeting cards when they go for New Year house visits. However, Chinese Malaysians still maintain the habit of sending New Year greeting cards by post before the New Year.
There are even non-Chinese sending New Year greeting cared in English or Malay languages to their Chinese friends. Moreover, the Chinese like to use colourful New Year cared to decorate their houses, so as to strengthen the New Year atmosphere. Like the ancient days' greeting cards for he zheng which were displayed in the main hall, these modern New Year cards also reflect the social position of the persons who receive the cards. Thus, in the way, the ancient rite of he zheng has developed in Malaysia with a Malaysian colour.
