Do you know that?/You know what? Do you know that?/You know what? Do you know that?/You know what? Do you know that?/You know what? Legend has it that the New Year refers to the ancient New Year's Day, not today's New Year's Day. It refers to a monster named Nian, also called Xi. Therefore, the Chinese New Year was also called "New Year's Eve", with a sharp head and extremely fierce. Nian beast has lived on the seabed for many years. Every New Year's Eve, it crawls ashore to devour livestock, endangering people's lives. Therefore, every New Year's Eve, people in the village help the old and take care of the young, and flee to the mountains to avoid the harm of the New Year. So what is the story about Nian beast? Let's look at Bian Xiao.

Nian beast attacked the village.

About the origin and legend of this year

A year is huge and intense. As long as someone annoys him, he will open his mouth and eat him. At the same time, Nian is lazy. He likes to sleep for 365 days. When he wakes up from sleep, he always feels his stomach growling. At this time, he went down to the village and ate whatever he saw, even including the old people and children living in the village. After eating, he waddled home contentedly and went back to sleep. Then he woke up in the next 365 days and went down to find something to eat.

In this way, this "Nian" beast came to the village year after year to eat people, which made everyone panic.

One year, Nian beast went to a village to do evil and was scared away by a red skirt hanging in front of his house. When I arrived at another village, I was scared away by the lights. When I arrived at another place, I was scared away by sweeping monk, so people knew Nian beast's weakness, fear of sound, red, fire and clean environment. At the end of each year, people clean up their homes, put up red couplets, set off firecrackers, hang red lights, burn firewood in the yard, chop vegetables and meat with kitchen knives, and make a scene, so that Nian Animals will not harm people again. People are very happy to play Nian beast, so they beat gongs and drums and call each other "Congratulations", which is the origin of "New Year". Another story involves an old beggar who tamed Nian beast. It is said that this old man is the ancestor of Hong, and later he surrendered Nian beast as his mount.

Begging for the elderly and young animals

The village where Po lives is attacked by Nian beast every year. His father, mother and sister were all eaten when they went down the mountain in the last year, so Po especially hated this ferocious beast.

On New Year's Eve this year, people in Abao Village helped the old and brought the young up the mountain to avoid Nian beast. At this time, an old beggar came from outside the village, with a cane in his hand, a bag on his shoulder and a silvery white beard hanging to the ground. At this time, everyone is busy closing the window and locking the door, packing, screaming crowds everywhere, and a panic scene. Who has the heart to take care of this poor beggar? People just took a quick look at the old man and left quickly.

When the old man came to Po's house, Po came out of the house, gave the poor beggar some food, and suggested that he follow everyone up the mountain to avoid Nian beast. Unexpectedly, after begging the old man, he stroked his beard and said with a smile, "Little brother, can you let me spend the night as a lonely old man?"

Po looked at the begging old man in surprise and said, "Old man, don't you know that the terrible Nian beast is coming tonight?" Now everyone, old and young, has packed their bags and taken refuge in the mountains, so you follow. "

Hearing this, the beggar old man just smiled and said nothing.

"Well, in that case, you can come in." Say to Po.

"Thank you, kind young man. With me here, you have nothing to fear tonight. " As he spoke, the old man put down his bag from his shoulder and took out two long red papers from it. "Here, stick these two pieces of red paper on the door."

Po didn't know what these two red papers were for, so he asked, "What are these two red papers for?"

The beggar pinched his beard and replied with a smile, "paste will be fine." Do as I say. "

According to the old man's instructions, Po posted two pieces of red paper symmetrically on both sides of the door. Then help the begging old man into the house.

"I have two candles here. You can light them when it gets dark. " The old man handed Po two red candles.

Bao took two red candles and asked, "I also have candles at home, but they are not red." Why do you want me to light them tonight? "

The beggar smiled and pointed to the bamboo piled up in the yard. "Kind young man, I feel a little cold. It is better to burn those bamboos to keep me warm. "

Honest Po didn't think much about it this time. He made a fire at once.

It was getting dark and rushed out of the mountains in 2008. It swaggered into the village and looked around, only to find that the doors of every household were closed, only some sesame stalks piled up in front, and there was no one in the street.

"Why is this village empty this year?" Years frown.

After wandering in the village for more than half a night, Nian found nothing, so he had to eat those sesame stems to satisfy his hunger. It munched on dried sesame stalks and was not happy at all. Just then, it suddenly smelled a delicious smell of human flesh mixed in the wind: "Wow, it smells good! Hey hey, it seems that we can still try some fresh food tonight. Now I want to find this person and have a good meal. " Thinking about those delicious human flesh, my saliva has been ticking. Human flesh is much more delicious than those sesame stalks.

The greedy Nian sniffed around the village. Finally, I was surprised to find that the smell came from Po's home. So it ran to Po's house, but just jumped to the door and suddenly stopped.

"This family is really strange. What are the two red things posted on his door? This makes me dizzy. " "Year" took a step back.

Then, through the courtyard wall, it saw two red lights flashing in the room. The red light beats like a monster's eyes. Nian trembled all over and gave a strange cry: "Oh, what a monster that is! Blink your eyes, he is older than me! " It turns out that Nian mistook the house with red candles for a monster bigger than it.

At this time, there was a "scratching" explosion in the yard, and Nian trembled and dared not go any further. It turned and ran, shouting, "My God, the monster is angry, it's terrible! The monster is coming, the monster is coming! " In a short time, Nian disappeared.

When the old man and Po saw Nian running away in panic, they burst out laughing.

"I didn't expect this man-eating beast to be afraid of red and explosive. But, old man, how do you know its weakness? " Ask Po, the old beggar.

"Young man," the old man said with a happy smile, "I'm a fairy in the sky, and this time I'm here to help you deal with Nian. Now that this beast has been scared away, you can drive it away every year and have a happy New Year's Eve! " Say that finish, the old man turned into a puff of smoke and disappeared.

The next day is the first day of the first month. People who came back from the shelter were surprised to find that the village was safe and sound. At this time, Bao came out of the house and told everyone what he said about begging the old man. Everyone ran to Po's house and saw red paper on the door. A pile of unburned bamboo in the yard is still exploding, and two red candles in the room are still glowing.

In order to celebrate this auspicious arrival, the ecstatic villagers put on new clothes and hats and went to say hello to their relatives and friends. The story soon spread in the surrounding villages, and people all knew the way to get rid of Nian.

Since then, every year on New Year's Eve, every family has posted red couplets, set off firecrackers and lit candles to watch the New Year. Early in the morning, I want to greet my friends and relatives. This custom spread more and more widely and became the most solemn traditional festival in China.

In this legend, the image of "Nian" is quite different from that of modern "Nian". The image of modern "Nian" is often the zodiac. For example, 20 14 is the year of the horse. Greeting the arrival of each zodiac year means bidding farewell to past misfortunes and welcoming new hopes, so it is full of grand joy before the end of the year. It is said that the New Water Margin Q biography yy Xiong Kaili's New Year's Day is to avoid the beast, and the end of the year means to avoid and escape. If there is a so-called celebration, it is only to be glad that you are still alive.