2023 Chinese New Year

In different times, the Spring Festival has different names. In the early Qin Dynasty, it was called "upper day", "Yuan Day", "change the age", "sacrifice the age" and so on; In the Han Dynasty, it was also called "Three Dynasties", "year Dan", "Zhengdan", "Zhengri"; Wei Jin Southern and Northern Dynasties called "Yuan Chen", "Yuan Ri", "head of state", "age" and so on; To the Tang Song Yuan Ming, it is called "New Year's Day", "Yuan", "year", "Xin Zheng", "Singapore dollar" and so on; And the Qing Dynasty, has been called "New Year's Day" or "Yuan Day".

The origin of the Spring Festival
There are many theories about the origin of the Spring Festival, among which a few representative theories, such as the Spring Festival originated from wax offerings, the Spring Festival originated from witchcraft rituals, the Spring Festival originated from the ghost Festival, etc., but the generally accepted theory is that the Spring Festival arose from the period of Yu Shun. One day in 2000 BC, Shun, the son of Heaven, led his subordinates to worship heaven and earth. Since then, people regard this day as the beginning of the New Year. It is said that this is the origin of the Lunar New Year, later called the Spring Festival.
Traditional folk custom
New Year's Day is the day to remove the old and the new. Although the New Year's Day is set on the first day of the first lunar month, the activities of the New Year's Day are not limited to the first day of the first lunar month. From the twelfth month 23 (or 24) small festival, people began to "busy year" : sweep the house, wash the hair and bath, prepare festival equipment and so on, all these activities, there is a common theme, that is, "farewell to the old year and welcome the New Year".
The New Year Festival is also the day to pray for the New Year, the ancients said that a ripe grain is a "year", the harvest of the grain is "a year". At the beginning of the Western Zhou Dynasty, there was an annual harvest celebration. Later, offering sacrifices to heaven and praying for the New Year became one of the main contents of the custom; Moreover, such as the kitchen God, the door God, the God of wealth, the God of joy, the God of well and other road gods, during the festival, are ready to enjoy the human incense. People take this opportunity to thank the gods for their care in the past and pray for more blessings in the New Year.

New Year's Day or family reunion, Dun ancestral day. On New Year's Eve, the whole family got together and ate the "Reunion dinner", the elders distributed "lucky money" to the children, and the family sat together "Shousui". Yuan Day when the son of the year, firecrackers ring, quit the old year, New Year activities reached a climax. Each incense to the ceremony, worship heaven and earth, sacrificial ancestors, and then in turn to pay New Year's greetings to the elder, and then the family and friends to congratulate each other.
The New Year Festival is a festival for people to entertain and revel. After the Yuan Day, a variety of colorful entertainment activities were carried out: lion play, dragon dance, Yangko dance, stilt walking, juggling, etc., which added a strong festive atmosphere for the Spring Festival.
Therefore, the collection of praying, celebrating, entertainment as one of the grand festival festival has become the most solemn festival of the Chinese nation. And today, in addition to the worship of gods and ancestor worship activities than in the past, the main customs of the festival, are intact to inherit and develop.