The 15th night of the first lunar month is the traditional Lantern Festival in China, also known as Shangyuan Festival and Lantern Festival. The Lantern Festival will be held on the fifteenth day of the first month, which will push the celebration on New Year's Eve to another climax. On the night of Lantern Festival, the streets are decorated with lanterns and people appreciate them. Solve riddles on the lanterns and eating Yuanxiao have become the customs of several generations.
The custom of enjoying lanterns on the Lantern Festival began in the Han Dynasty. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, it developed into a grand lantern market. During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the Kyoto lantern market often stretched for dozens of miles. The Lantern Festival was limited to the 11th night of the first month in Han Dynasty, extended to three nights in Tang Xuanzong, and lasted from the eighth day of the first month to the seventeenth day of the first month in Ming Dynasty. Acrobatics appeared in the Lantern Festival in the Tang Dynasty, and lantern riddles began to appear in the Song Dynasty. Opera performances were added in the Ming Dynasty. The colored lanterns used in the lantern market are also interpreted as orange lanterns, silk lanterns, colorful sheepskin lanterns, boneless wheat straw lanterns, lantern lanterns and Kongming lanterns. Lantern riddles, which began in the Southern Song Dynasty, are lively and interesting. After the development and creation of past dynasties, there are more than 100 crossword puzzles still in use, such as basic grid, swinging grid, rolling grid, white grid, Xu He grid and so on. Most of the formats are limited, the requirements are clever, and they are all clever.
The custom of eating Yuanxiao began in the Song Dynasty. It is intended to wish the whole family reunion, harmony and happiness in the new year. Yuanxiao is divided into solid and stuffing. There are five flavors: spicy, sweet, sour and salty. Can be boiled, fried, fried and steamed. Sweet-scented osmanthus wine makes Yuanxiao, five-flavor Yuanxiao made of meat stuffing, bean paste, sesame, sweet-scented osmanthus and nuts, and five-flavor Yuanxiao made of onion, mustard, garlic, leek and ginger have their own characteristics.
Qingming Festival
Grave-sweeping in Tomb-Sweeping Day is a festival custom related to funeral customs. According to records, in ancient times, "tombs were not graves", that is to say, only graves were dug and graves were not built, so sacrifices were not recorded. Later, graves and graves, the custom of offering sacrifices to sweep graves, were supported. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, tomb sacrifice has become an indispensable ritual activity.
According to the biography of Yan Yannian in the Han Dynasty, although Yan is thousands of miles away from Beijing, her family will still return to the East China Sea Tomb in Qingming. Yan Yannian's behavior is reasonable in terms of the development and strengthening of ancestor worship and consanguinity consciousness of China people. Therefore, the tomb sacrifices that were not included in the norms in ancient times were also included in the Five Rites: "It is appropriate for a scholar to go to the grave and be included in the Five Rites, and it will always be a routine." With the official affirmation, the wind of tomb sacrifice is bound to prevail.
Double Ninth Festival
On the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, the two suns are heavy, so it is called "Double Ninth Festival", and the Double Ninth Festival is also "Old People's Day". On this day, the old people either admire chrysanthemums to cultivate their sentiments or climb mountains to exercise, adding infinite fun to the evening scenery in Sang Yu.
On the Double Ninth Festival, people enjoy chrysanthemums, wear dogwood, climb mountains with wine, and have a good swim and drink. In September, the Double Ninth Festival, the sky is high and the clouds are light, and the golden wind is cool, which is a good season to climb high and overlook. Therefore, climbing has become an important custom of the Double Ninth Festival. People living in the south of the Yangtze River are suffering from no mountains to climb and no heights to climb, so they prevent rice flour cakes and insert a colorful banner on the cake surface to show the meaning of climbing (cakes) to avoid disaster.
There are also customs such as inserting dogwood, drinking chrysanthemum wine and eating double ninth festival cake. Cornus officinalis, also known as moon gum, is an important plant with strong smell, which can prevent odor. Chongyang Flower Cake is a seasonal delicacy made of japonica rice.
Double ninth festival custom
The Double Ninth Festival is crisp in autumn. When you look up, you can see all the plants and mountains. This is actually an outing and a traditional sports activity of our people.
Appreciate chrysanthemums. Chrysanthemum, also called yellow flower, belongs to Compositae and has many varieties. On the Double Ninth Festival, chrysanthemums are in full bloom and chrysanthemum wine is drunk. "The Collection of Arts and Literature" quoted "Continued Jinyang Autumn" as saying: "The world drinks chrysanthemum wine on the 9th (September)." It is said that the ancient chrysanthemum wine was specially brewed for the Double Ninth Festival in the first year. On September 9th, the budding chrysanthemums and a little green branches and leaves were picked, mixed with grain for brewing, and then used together to make wine for drinking on September 9th of the following year. It is said that drinking this wine can prolong life. From a medical point of view, chrysanthemum wine can improve eyesight, cure dizziness, lower blood pressure, lose weight, lose weight, tonify liver qi, regulate stomach and nourish blood.
Insert dogwood. Cornus officinalis, also known as "Moongum" or "Dwarf", is a small evergreen tree.
Eat Chongyang cake. Chongyang cake, also known as "chrysanthemum cake" and "flower cake", was an ancient bait. Because "cake" is homophonic with "dogwood" and "high", you can eat some cakes to console yourself when you can't climb the mountain on the Double Ninth Festival. It is said that in feudal times, the emperor would also feast ministers with flower cakes on the Double Ninth Festival. Riding and shooting activities.
Dragon Boat Festival
The fifth day of the fifth lunar month is the Dragon Boat Festival, also known as Duanyang Festival, Noon Festival, May Festival, Ai Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Chung Noon Festival, Noon Festival and Summer Festival. Although the names are different, the customs of people everywhere are the same. Dragon Boat Festival is an old custom in China for more than two thousand years. On this day, every household hangs clocks and statues, hangs mugwort leaves and calamus, races dragon boats, eats zongzi, drinks realgar wine, swims all diseases, wears sachets and prepares sacrifices.
The first significance of the Dragon Boat Festival is to commemorate Qu Yuan, a great national poet in history. Qu Yuan, Ming Ping, was a native of Chu in the Warring States Period. Born in the seventh day of the first lunar month in Wu Wang, Chu Wei, or twenty-seven years, he died in the ninth year of King Xiang of Chu.
The second meaning of Dragon Boat Festival is the anniversary of Wu Zixu's death. Wu Zixu, a famous Chu national, and his father and brother were all killed by the King of Chu. Later, Zixu abandoned the dark and went to Wu to help Wu to attack Chu, and entered the capital city of Chu in the Five Wars. At that time, King Chu Ping was already dead. Zixu dug a grave and whipped 300 bodies to avenge his father's murder. After the death of He Lu, the king of Wu, his son Fu Cha succeeded to the throne. Wu Jun's morale was high and he was defeated by Yue. Gou Jian, the King of Yue, made peace, and Fu Cha agreed. Zi Xu suggested the complete elimination of Yue, but Fu Cha didn't listen. Wu was massacred and bought by the state of Yue. He was framed by slanderers. Fu Cha believed him and gave him a sword. Zi Xu died. Zixu, a loyal minister, feels like death. Before he died, he said to his neighbor, "After I die, I will gouge out my eyes and hang them on the east gate of Jason Wu, watching the Vietnamese army enter the city to destroy Wu." Hearing this, Fu Cha was furious. On May 5th, he wrapped the body of Zixu in leather and threw it into the river. Therefore, it is said that the Dragon Boat Festival is also a day to commemorate Wu Zixu.
The third significance of the Dragon Boat Festival is to commemorate Cao E, the filial daughter of the Eastern Han Dynasty, who saved her drowning father. Cao E was a native of Shangyu in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Her father drowned in the river and didn't see her body for several days. At that time, Cao E, the filial daughter, was only fourteen years old, crying day and night by the river. 17 days later, he also threw himself into the river on May 5, and fished out his father's body five days later. This was passed down as a myth, and then to the governor of the county government, who made it a monument for disciple Han Danchun to make a eulogy. The tomb of the filial daughter is in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province today, and there is a monument made by Jin. Later, in order to commemorate Cao E's filial piety, Cao E Temple was built where Cao E threw himself into the river. The village where she lived was renamed Cao E Town, and the place where Cao E died was named Cao E River.
The fourth significance of the Dragon Boat Festival is to commemorate Qiu Jin, a modern revolutionary poetess. Qiu Jin was martyred on June 5th. Later generations admired his poems and mourned his heroic deeds. It was held to commemorate the Poets' Day, and the Poets' Day was designated as the Dragon Boat Festival to commemorate the patriotic poet Qu Yuan. Qiu Jin was born in Shaoxing, Zhejiang. When she was young, she was good at poetry and lyrics, and she liked riding and fencing. She is called Mulan and Qin Liangyu. Joining the revolution at the age of 28 had a great influence. He planned an uprising. He was arrested by the Qing soldiers at the meeting and persevered. Guangxu died heroically in Xuanhengkou, Shaoxing on June 5th, thirty-three years ago.
Wall clock: Zhong Kui catches ghosts, which is the custom of Dragon Boat Festival. In the Jianghuai area, bells and statues are hung in every household to ward off evil spirits. Emperor Kaiyuan of Tang Dynasty returned to the palace after lecturing in Lishan, and malaria was rampant. He dreamed that two ghosts, one big and one small, were running around the temple wearing red crotch pants and stealing Yang Guifei's sachet and the jade emperor of the Ming Dynasty. GREAT GHOST, wearing a blue robe and a blue hat, caught the child, gouged out his eyes and swallowed it in one gulp. When asked by the Ming emperor, GREAT GHOST said: My surname is Zhong Kui, that is to say, I am the best martial artist. I am willing to exorcise evil spirits for your majesty. When the Ming emperor woke up, malaria was cured. So I asked Wu Daozi, the painter, to draw a portrait of Zhong Kui catching ghosts according to what I saw in my dream, and ordered all the people to post it on the Dragon Boat Festival to exorcise evil spirits.
Folium Artemisiae Argyi hangs calamus: On the Dragon Boat Festival, every household makes calamus, Folium Artemisiae Argyi, pomegranate flower, garlic and dragon boat flower into human figures, which are called Ai people. Hanging mugwort leaves in the hall, cutting them into tiger shapes or ribbons, and sticking mugwort leaves on them, women compete to wear them to ward off evil spirits. Using calamus as a sword and inserting it on the lintel has the magical effect of exorcising ghosts.
Dragon Boat Race: At that time, Chu people were reluctant to part with the death of the sage Qu Yuan, so many people rowed and chased to save people. They rushed to catch up, but when they arrived at Dongting Lake, there was no trace, because that was the origin of dragon boat racing, and then they rowed dragon boats on May 5 every year to commemorate it. Rowing a dragon boat to disperse the fish in the river so as not to eat Qu Yuan's body. The habit of competition prevailed in wuyue and Chu. Dragon Boat Race started in Taiwan Province Province in the 29th year of Qing Qianlong. At that time, Jiang, the chief executive of Taiwan Province Province, held a friendly match in Hexi Half Moon Pool in Tainan City. Now, Taiwan Province Province holds a dragon boat race on May 5th every year. There are boat races in Hong Kong. Recently, the British have followed China's example by organizing ghost teams and holding competitions.
Eating zongzi: People in Jingchu boiled glutinous rice or steamed zongzi cakes and threw them into the river to offer sacrifices to Qu Yuan on May 5th, so they threw the glutinous rice in bamboo tubes for fear of being eaten by fish. Later, they gradually replaced the bamboo tube with rice wrapped in zongzi leaves.
Drinking realgar wine: This custom is very popular among people in the Yangtze River valley.
Wandering all diseases: This custom prevails in the Dragon Boat Festival custom in Guizhou.
Wearing sachets: Children wear sachets during the Dragon Boat Festival, which not only means to ward off evil spirits and drive away epidemics, but also has decorative styles on the front. The sachet contains cinnabar, realgar and fragrant medicine, wrapped in silk cloth, and the fragrance is overflowing, and then tied into a rope with five-color silk thread to make a string of different shapes, exquisite and eye-catching.
Mid-Autumn Festival
The Legend of the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon
A long time ago, there were ten suns in the sky. They make the land smoke, the crops burn, and people are too hot to live. At that time, there was a man named Yi. He is so strong that he can draw a bow of ten thousand Jin and shoot a serpent and a beast. He is very sympathetic to the suffering people. He tried his best to draw a bow and arrow, shooting down nine suns in one breath. The last grandson didn't dare to admit his mistake, so Iraq left it, let it go out early and return late, and do more good for the people.
Since then, Yi's name has spread all over the world. He became a hero admired by everyone. Later, Yi married a girl named Chang 'e. They love each other and live a happy life.
Chang 'e is beautiful, hardworking and kind. She often distributes wild animals shot down by Yi people to villagers. One day, Yi went hunting in the mountains and met a Taoist priest on the way. The Taoist priest said to Yi, "You have made great contributions to the people. I'll give you a bag of magic medicine. Eat half a bag and you will live forever. If you eat it all, you will become immortal and ascend to heaven. " Yi took the magic medicine home and gave it to Chang 'e for safekeeping. He is going to find a suitable time to share this bag of magic medicine with Chang 'e, and the husband and wife will grow old together and never part.
After Sheyang became famous, many people learned martial arts from him. One of his disciples, Feng Meng, also learned archery skills from him. On the surface, he is respectful to Yi, but he has a bad heart. He knew that there was a magical medicine hidden in your house, so he secretly came up with a bad idea. On August 15 this year, I took my apprentice out hunting.
In the evening, Feng Meng sneaked back alone, broke into Chang 'e's house and forced Chang 'e to hand over the magic medicine. Chang 'e shouted loudly, but Yi hasn't come back from hunting. Where can I hear her? In order not to let the magic medicine fall into the shameless hands of Feng Meng, Chang 'e had to open the medicine bag and swallow all the magic medicine into her mouth. Suddenly, Chang 'e felt that her body was as light as a swallow, and she couldn't help flying out of the window and into the sky. Reluctant to leave her relatives and home, Chang 'e flew to the nearest moon and lived in Guanghan Palace.
When you got home, you heard about it and hurried out, but it was too late! I saw the shadow of Chang 'e on the round moon. The villagers say Chang 'e will come back, so please wait patiently. On August 15th of the following year, Yi missed Chang 'e, so he took out Chang 'e's favorite fruit and put it in the yard, making round moon cakes to show his reunion and hope Chang 'e would come back. Year after year, Chang 'e still hasn't come back. Slowly, people have the habit of celebrating the holidays. Every August 15, food such as moon cakes and fruits should be prepared.
"Twelve degrees is beautiful, and the circle is extremely Mid-Autumn Festival." The Mid-Autumn Festival in this poem refers to the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is well known to all women and children.
In China, there are many festivals related to New Year's Eve in a year. The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of people's favorite festivals and the most poetic one. Mid-Autumn Festival also has some nicknames, such as August 30, Reunion Festival, Moon and Night. Because the Mid-Autumn Festival is on August 15, which is half of August, commonly known as "August and a half". Because people have the custom of inviting relatives and friends to drink and play with the moon at night, as well as the custom that the daughter-in-law will go home when she returns to the province, the Mid-Autumn Festival is called the Reunion Festival with the full moon as the symbol. Because it is said that Emperor Tang Ming visited the Moon Palace on this night, this day is called Mid-Autumn Festival. As for when the Mid-Autumn Festival began, there is no answer in the literature. In ancient times, the monograph Jing Chu Sui Ji, which recorded the New Year season, was the only one that did not record the Mid-Autumn Festival. Even the book "Beginners" written in the Tang Dynasty has no words about "Mid-Autumn Festival".
There are two views on the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival: one is that the Mid-Autumn Festival is related to the Autumn Society. Zhou Yunjin and He's article "Talking about the Four Seasons" said: "Perhaps it is because China is an agricultural country, and family affairs have a great relationship with the four seasons. The ancients worshipped the land god to pray for a good harvest when sowing, and also worshipped the land god to report a good harvest when harvesting, thanking the gods for their blessing. The former is called' Spring Prayer' and the latter is called' Autumn Newspaper'. August 15th is the season of rice ripening. On this day, every household worships the land. It is very likely that the Mid-Autumn Festival left over from the Autumn Newspaper has gradually become grand after the success of later generations. " Another view is that the Mid-Autumn Festival is related to the ancient custom of offering sacrifices to the moon. The book "China Customs" co-authored by Xu Jieshun and Chen Shunxuan said: "The origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival may be related to the primitive belief in the moon in ancient times. In ancient China mythology, there are stories about Nu Wa holding the moon and the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon. There is a description of' Night Moon Sacrifice' in the Book of Rites. In the etiquette before Qin and Han Dynasties, there was already an autumnal equinox night, which stipulated that the son of heaven would go to the moon altar in the western suburbs of Beijing. The Moon Altar in Beijing is the place where emperors of Ming and Qing Dynasties offered sacrifices to the moon. From the poems about Mid-Autumn Festival in Tang poetry, we can see that the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon's fairy tale has been linked with Mid-Autumn Festival. In the Song Dynasty, the festival activities were already very grand. During the Southern Song Dynasty, the Mid-Autumn Festival in Hangzhou was a trading night in the streets. It was not until the fifth drum that tourists playing on the moon danced in the city that they knew all this. \'"
The origin and legend of the Spring Festival
The origin and legend of the Spring Festival The original meaning of the concept of Spring Festival and New Year comes from agriculture. In ancient times, people called the growth cycle of the valley "year". Hebe: "in the year, the grain is ripe." . During the Xia and Shang Dynasties, the Xia calendar came into being, with the full and short moon as the month, and a year was divided into twelve months. Every month, the day when the moon can't be seen is the new moon, and the first day of the first month is called the beginning of a year, also known as the year. The title of the year began in the Zhou Dynasty and was officially set in the Western Han Dynasty, which continues to this day. However, in ancient times, the first day of the first month was called "New Year's Day". Until the victory of the Revolution of 1911 in modern China, in order to conform to the farming season and facilitate statistics, the Nanjing Provisional Government stipulated that the people should use the summer calendar, and the institutions, factories, mines, schools and organizations should adopt the solar calendar, with the Gregorian calendar 1 month 1 day as New Year's Day and the first month of the lunar calendar 1 day as the Spring Festival.
1949 On September 27th, New China was founded. At the first plenary session of the China People's Political Consultative Conference, the international use of the Gregorian calendar era was adopted, and the Gregorian calendar 1 month 1 day was designated as New Year's Day, commonly known as the Gregorian calendar year. The first day of the first lunar month is usually around beginning of spring, so the first day of the first lunar month is designated as the Spring Festival, commonly known as the Lunar New Year.
In the traditional sense, the Spring Festival refers to the La Worship sacrificial ceremony from the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month or the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month to the 15th day of the first lunar month, with New Year's Eve and the first day of the first lunar month as the climax. During the Spring Festival, a traditional festival, the Han nationality and most ethnic minorities in China will hold various celebrations. Most of these activities are mainly about offering sacrifices to gods and buddhas, paying homage to ancestors, saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new, and praying for the new. The forms of activities are rich and colorful, with strong national characteristics.
One of the legends of the Spring Festival: staying up late for the New Year.
Keeping old age is the custom of staying up late on the last night of the old year to welcome the new year. Also known as New Year's Eve, the common name is "Enduring the Year". Exploring the origin of this custom, there is an interesting story among the people:
In ancient times, there was a fierce monster scattered in the mountains. People call them nian. Its appearance is ferocious, its nature is ferocious, and it specializes in eating birds, animals and insects. It changes its taste every day, from kowtowing insects to living people, which makes people talk about "Nian". Later, people gradually mastered the activity law of "Nian", that is, every 365 days, people go to places where people live in concentrated communities to taste fresh food. The haunting time is after dark, and when the rooster crows at dawn, they return to the mountains.
After determining the date of the ravages of 2008, people regarded this terrible night as a gateway, and came up with a set of methods to close the New Year's Day: every family prepared dinner in advance, turned off the fire, cleaned the stove, then tied all the cowpeas, sealed the front and back doors of the house, and hid in the house to eat the "New Year's Eve" because this dinner was uncertain. In addition to inviting the whole family to have dinner together to show harmonious reunion, we should also worship our ancestors before eating and pray for their blessing to spend the night safely. After dinner, no one dared to sleep, so they sat together and chatted with courage. Gradually formed the habit of not sleeping on New Year's Eve.
The trend of observing the age rose in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and many scholars in the Liang Dynasty had poems about observing the age. "One night for two years, five hours for two years." People light candles or oil lamps and keep vigil all night, which symbolizes driving away all evil diseases and looking forward to good luck in the new year. This custom has been handed down from generation to generation.
Legend of the Spring Festival 2: On Calendar Making in Ten Thousand Years
According to legend, there was a young man named Wan Nian in ancient times. Seeing that the festivals at that time were chaotic, he had an accurate plan. But he couldn't find a way to calculate the time. One day, he was tired of chopping wood on the mountain and sat in the shade. The movement of the shadow inspired him. He designed a sundial to measure the time of the day. Later, inspired by the dripping spring water on the cliff, he began to make a five-layer clepsydra to calculate the time. Over time, he found that every 360 days, the four seasons would cycle once, and the length of the weather would be repeated.
At that time, the monarch was called Zu Ti, who was often troubled by the unpredictable weather. Ten thousand years later, he took the sundial and the clepsydra to see the emperor and explained to Zu Ti the truth about the movement of the sun and the moon. Zu Ti was very happy after hearing this and felt reasonable. So I left for ten thousand years and built the Sun and Moon Pavilion in front of the Temple of Heaven, as well as the sundial platform and the Leaky Pot Pavilion. I hope I can accurately measure the laws of the sun and the moon, calculate the exact time in the morning and evening, and create a calendar to benefit people all over the world.
On one occasion, Zu Ti went to learn about the progress of the perpetual calendar. When he boarded the altar of the sun and the moon, he saw a poem engraved on the stone wall next to the Temple of Heaven:
Sunrise and sunset 360, start all over again.
Vegetation is divided into four seasons, and there are twelve circles in a year.
Knowing that the perpetual calendar was created, I personally boarded the Sun Moon Pavilion to visit the perpetual calendar. Wan Nian pointed to the astronomical phenomena and said to Zu Ti, "It's been twelve months now, the old year has passed and the new year has begun again. Please make a festival for you. " Zu Ti said, "Spring is the first year of a year, so let's call it Spring Festival". It is said that this is the origin of the Spring Festival.
After years of long-term observation and careful calculation, he worked out an accurate solar calendar. When he showed his successor the solar calendar, he was covered with silver whiskers. The monarch was deeply moved. In order to commemorate the achievements of 10 thousand years, he named the solar calendar "perpetual calendar" and named it the birthday star of the sun, moon and moon. In the future, people will hang up the Shou Xingtu during the Chinese New Year, which is said to commemorate the venerable ten thousand years.
The Third Legend of Spring Festival: Sticking Spring Festival couplets and Door Gods
It is said that the custom of pasting Spring Festival couplets began in the post-Shu period about 1000 years ago, which is proved by history. In addition, according to the Jade Candle Collection and the Chronicle of Yanjing, the original form of Spring Festival couplets is what people call "Fu Tao".
In the ancient mythology of China, it is said that there is a ghost world, in which there is a mountain, a big peach tree covering three thousand miles, and a golden rooster at the top of the tree. Whenever the golden rooster crows in the morning, the ghost who travels at night will rush back to the ghost domain. The Gate of Ghost Domain is located in the northeast of Peach Tree District. There are two gods standing by the door, named Shen Tu and Lei Yu. If the ghost does something unnatural at night, Shen Tu and Lei Yu will immediately find it, catch it, tie it up with a rope made of Miscanthus and give it to the tiger. So all the ghosts in the world are afraid of Shen Tu and Lei Yu. So people carved them into peach trees and put them at their doorsteps to ward off evil spirits and prevent harm. Later, people simply carved the names of Shen Tu and Lei Yu on the mahogany board, thinking that this could also eliminate disasters. This kind of red board was later called "Fu Tao".
In the Song Dynasty, people began to write couplets on mahogany boards, one for killing evil spirits, the other for expressing good wishes, and the third for decorating the portal for beauty. They also write couplets on red paper symbolizing happiness and good luck, and stick them on both sides of doors and windows during the Spring Festival to express people's good wishes for good luck in the coming year.
In order to pray for the longevity of the family, people in some places still keep the habit of sticking up doors. It is said that there are two door gods posted on the gate, and all monsters will be afraid. In the folk, the door god is a symbol of justice and strength. The ancients thought that people with strange looks often had magical temperament and extraordinary skills. They are honest and kind, and it is their nature and responsibility to catch ghosts and demons. Zhong Kui, a ghost hunter who is highly regarded by people, is such a strange look. Therefore, the folk door gods are always glaring and ferocious, holding all kinds of traditional weapons in their hands, ready to fight against ghosts who dare to come to the door. Because the doors of China's house are usually two opposite doors, the door gods are always paired.
After the Tang Dynasty, besides peace, people also regarded Qin and Weichi Gong, two military commanders in the Tang Dynasty, as gatekeepers. According to legend, Emperor Taizong was ill, heard ghosts screaming outside, and stayed up all night. So he asked the two generals to stand by with weapons in their hands, and there was no ghost harassment the next night. Later, Emperor Taizong had the images of these two generals painted and pasted on the door, and this custom began to spread widely among the people.