New Year's Day refers to the first day of the Gregorian New Year every year. The word "New Year's Day" first appeared in the Book of Jin: "In fact, the first month is the spring of New Year's Day." Therefore, the origin of the word New Year's Day has a history of more than 4,000 years.
New Year's Day has three origins. Let's take a look:
? One of the origins of New Year's Day: Zhuan Xu said?
China's New Year's Day is said to have started in Zhuan Xu, one of the three emperors and five emperors, with a history of more than 3,000 years. The word "New Year's Day" first appeared in the Book of Jin: "It is actually the spring of New Year's Day when the emperor was transferred to the first month." In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Xiao Ziyun's poem "Elegance in the Southern Dynasties" also recorded "New Year's Day in four seasons, long life in early spring". ?
China first called the first day of the first lunar month "New Year's Day". Meta means "early" and "beginning" and refers to "day". Together, New Year's Day is the first day of the year. The date of the first day of the first month was also very different before Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Therefore, the New Year's Day of the past dynasties is not consistent.
Meng Xiyue (1 month) is the first month of the Xia calendar, the twelfth month of the Shang lunar calendar (1February) and the winter month of the week calendar (1 1 month). After Qin Shihuang unified China, Yangchun month (October) was the first month, that is, the first day of October was New Year's Day. Since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, it has been stipulated that Meng Xiyue (January) is the first month, and Meng Xiyue (the first day of the first month in the summer calendar) is called New Year's Day, which has been used until the end of the Qing Dynasty. But this is the summer calendar, that is, the lunar calendar or lunar calendar, and it is not what we call New Year's Day today. In A.D. 19 1 1, the Revolution of 1911 led by Sun Yat-sen overthrew the rule of the Qing Dynasty and established the Republic of China. In order to "follow the agricultural season, so follow the western calendar, so do statistics", the first year of the Republic of China decided to use the Gregorian calendar (actually used as 19 12), and stipulated that Gregorian calendar 1 was called "New Year's Day", but not "New Year's Day".
Today's "New Year's Day" is the first plenary session of China People's Political Consultative Conference on September 27th, A.D. 1949. When we decided to establish the Republic of China, we also decided to adopt the universal calendar, officially designated the Gregorian calendar 1 as "New Year's Day" and changed the first day of the first lunar month to "Spring Festival".
? The second origin of New Year's Day: Yao Shun said?
Legend has it that during the prosperous period of Yao and Shun in ancient times more than 4,000 years ago, when Emperor Yao was in power, he worked diligently for the people and did a lot of good things, which was deeply loved by the people. However, due to his son's incompetence, he did not pass on the throne of "emperor" to his son, but passed it on to Shun, who has both ability and political integrity. Yao said to Shun, "On New Year's Day, you must pass on the throne in the future, and you will be relieved when I die." Later, Shun passed the throne to Yu, who made great contributions to flood control. Yu also loves the people and has done many good things for the people like Shun, and is deeply loved by the people. Later, after Yao's death, people took the day of offering sacrifices to heaven and earth and the first emperor Yao as the beginning of the year, and called the first day of the first month "New Year's Day", which was the ancient New Year's Day.
On New Year's Day, emperors of all dynasties held ceremonies to worship heaven and pray for blessings, such as offering sacrifices to gods and ancestors, writing couplets on doors, writing blessings and dancing dragon lanterns. People have gradually formed entertainment celebrations such as offering sacrifices to Buddha, ancestor worship, posting couplets, setting off firecrackers, celebrating the New Year, having a family reunion dinner and numerous "social fires". Lan Xin, a poet in the Jin Dynasty, once wrote a poem "Jacky": "Jiaqing was born here in Jacky. Fairy plays for thousands of years, and small and big have fun. " Describe the celebration of New Year's Day.
? The third origin of new year's day: the ancient Egyptian theory?
"New Year's Day" first came from the west. Around 50,000 BC, the ancient Egyptians had changed from nomadism to farming and settled on both sides of the Nile, and their agricultural harvest was closely related to whether there was a flood in the Nile. The ancient Egyptians discovered from long-term observation that the time of Nile flooding was regular, so they recorded this time on bamboo poles every time, and learned that the time between two floods was about 365 days, that is, one year. At the same time, the ancient Egyptians also found that when the Nile came near Cairo today, the sun and Sirius just rose from the horizon at the same time.
Therefore, the ancient Egyptians set this day as the beginning of the year. This is the earliest origin of New Year's Day. New Year's Day is the beginning of celebrating New Year's Day. Celebrating New Year's Day is a common custom in all countries and regions in the world.
At present, most countries in the world take 1 Gregorian calendar as New Year's Day. Because different countries have different longitude and time, the date of "New Year's Day" is also different. For example, Tonga, an island country in Oceania, is located on the west side of the Japanese boundary. It is the first place in the world to start a day and the first country to celebrate New Year's Day. Western Samoa, to the east of international date line, is the latest place in the world to start a new day.
Afghanistan regards spring as New Year's Day; Jews regard autumn as New Year's Day; However, the New Year's Day of Eskimos in cold regions is not fixed. They regard the first rain as the New Year. In 46 BC, Julius Caesar, the Roman emperor, formulated the julian calendar. From the beginning, he took the winter solstice as New Year's Day. However, people insist on taking Shuori as New Year's Day, so they extend it to the winter solstice after 10.
Tips:
New Year's Day is a compound word in Chinese, which means beginning or first. Dan is a hieroglyph, which means that the sun rises from the horizon. There are hieroglyphics of "Dan" on bronzes in China during the Yin and Shang Dynasties. It turns out that in Chinese, "yuan" is the beginning, that is, the first; "Dan" means a day or morning. Together, these two words mean the first day of the New Year. But this is not fixed from the beginning.