Chinese New Year custom: Spring Festival couplets
Couplets, celebrating the Spring Festival, the first civil matter. Nearly every Chinese New Year, when every household in the door to new couplets pasted on both sides, red background with black lettering, a modest and bright. Expression of a one pairs of New Year’s good wishes, such as “domestic animals thrive, bumper grain harvest,” and so on. Some couplets also paid attention to reflect the different industries, different families different “Happiness.” Therefore, a careful study of the Spring Festival couplets, when people are posting is no doubt look at the private style of a meaningful way.
New Year’s scrolls from when the custom of what has no material available to be accurate and verified. However, some may be started more than a thousand years ago, Shu period, which is confirmed in the historical records. In addition, under “Wang candle Collection”, “Yenching at the age of mind” and other works recorded New Year’s couplets of the original form is what people call “Tao Fu.”
In ancient Chinese mythology, the legend there is a ghost town of the world, among them, the mountains, the mountains are a big coverage of 3000 where peach trees, trees on a golden rooster. Whenever the early morning when the Golden Rooster Bell night wandering ghosts will go back to ghost town. Re-cycle the door is located in the northeast peach tree, the door stood two god-man called God tea, Yu Lei. If the ghosts at night did the murderous things, God tea, Yu-base will immediately find and catch it with a mountain to do a rope reed tied it up, sent to feed tigers. And thus the world of ghosts fear God tea, Yu Lei. Mahogany carved with folk on their appearance, on their own doorstep, in order to ward off evil anti-harm. Later, people just board inscribed with God in the Mahogany tea, Yu Lei’s name, believing it can do the same town of evil to evil. This Mahogany board later was called “Tao Fu.” By the Song Dynasty, people started writing couplets in cherry wood board, a town of evil without losing the meaning of cherry wood, 2 to express their good wishes, three decorative portals, in order to aesthetics. Again a symbol of festivity in the auspicious couplets written on red paper, when the spring attached to doors and windows on both sides to express the people to pray for blessing and bringing good wishes for the coming year.
In order to pray for one of the Fu-Corning, in many places still preserved the habit of affixed door god. It is said that the door to put up two door gods, all ghosts and goblins, what would be daunting. In the civil society, door god is a symbol of righteousness and force, so the Chinese door god always angry staring eyes, holding a variety of traditional weapons, ready to come with the courage to come to fight the ghosts. Residential doors are usually two off, so keeper are always in pairs. Before the Tang Dynasty, with or without door god do not yet know, if so, probably in relation to God tea, Yu Lei. Profiling of these two god-man to a strange vicious 11 10 ancient Chinese believed that looks surprisingly tend to have a wonderful disposition and exceptional ability. Although they looks ferocious, but carefully upright kind, Buffy the escapement magic is not just their responsibility, but is their nature. Many people are aware of Buffy the Fearless Zhong Kui, that is, such a shape-stabilized.
Tang Dynasty, in addition to God tea, Yu Lei outside, people again and Yuchi Jingde 2 Qinshu Bao Tang Dynasty generals as a goalkeeper. According to legend, Emperor Taizong sick, I heard ghosts outside the call sign, no peace all night. So he let the two generals stand hand-held weapons, guarding the door the next day, no more ghosts on the night of the harassment. Subsequently, the Emperor Taizong makes these two generals attached to the image of the painting down the door, this practice began to spread widely in the folk.
Chinese New Year, the Chinese people’s minds, the Chinese New Year in the first and most important traditional festivals. Chinese New Year season, thousands of families to write couplets, couplets, was handed down on the thousands of years a symbol of good luck and express people’s yearning for life in the United States national customs. This is unique in the world. Mr. Zhou Ruchang master of contemporary art in accordance with the words, “a rare couplets is unparalleled world’s greatest and most Guiqi artistic activities.”
As early as the Warring States period more than two thousand years ago, the Central Plains Spring Festival, hanging on the family “Peach stalk”, also known as “Tao Fu.” Chong Qing Fu Chadui “Yanjing in mind the age of couplets,” it reads: “New Year’s couplets, that is Tao Fu also. Since the wax into the future, that is, literati, Stanford Yanxia writing couplets in the city in an attempt to brush and ink, Jizao later, then the viscosity gradually linked to 1000 million, and a new look. “from the traditional Spring Festival couplets,” In addition to fireworks soon as the old; Taofu Vientiane update “and Song Wang An-shih poem” 1000 10000 blocks of days, the total of the new replace old scrolls “, also look at a New Year’s couplets and Tao Fu relationship.
What is the Tao Fu do? According to “Huainanzi” said that this “Tao Fu is one inch wide, 78-inch-long cherry wood to do so. God written on the board in the Mahogany Tu and Yu Lei 2 God’s name, hanging in the door on both sides. Or also draw As these two gods – god tea left and right barrier Yu. ancients used Tao Fu’s calligraphy and painting in this two pressure evil god. This is the private so-called “door god.” By the year 700 years of the Five Dynasties, Shu emperor Meng Chang pro book, “New Year’s satisfied Yuqing, Kerry Changchun section number. “Is the first one couplets. Mengchang title Taofu since then, scholars have to follow suit, the title couplets as a refined, so the wind will gradually title couplets spread.
However, when the time of the Song Dynasty, “couplets” or called “Tao Fu” in. Alliance is not limited to the language inscribed on the Tao Fu, pushing Ying column used in, descendants Dubbed the “couplet.” After the Song Dynasty, Yichun quote multi-purpose joint language, and the pink笺write. Some people set the old saying that the Book of Songs, and some set of Tang and Song poems. According to legend, can be test, there are public and the Emperor Wang Yi Ge Li couplets: “North Lu Ning Yin was exhausted, the new 1000-sook gas.” This is New Year’s couplets hanging in cheek teeth of people.
“Tao Fu” really referred to as “Spring Festival couplets.” It was the Ming Dynasty thing. According to the Ming Dynasty scholar Chen Zhan records, “couplets of the first Ming-based self-start. Jinling Royal Park, New Year’s Eve before the Do not deliver an imperial order, Gongqing Shishu home, the door must add couplets 1,, Royal Weixing out of view.” The emperor not only personally traveling incognito to watch laugh music, he also personally wrote to the Bachelor of HOTE TAUERN title gifts couplets, and others. King advocates, so that couplets malpractice, and finally formed has not changed as has prevailed. Ya couplet called “couplets”, commonly known as pairs. It is succinct deep parallelism neat, Pingze coordination, is the word a tone of Chinese language and a unique art form. We can say that art is couplets of the Chinese nation culture. About the types of couplets are divided into couplets, joy together, Shou Alliance, the elegiac couplet, decoration Alliance, the industry together, communication and miscellaneous associated joint (including the comic titles in conjunction ….) and so on.
Writing couplets of varying lengths, short to only one or two words; length of up to a few hundred words. Couplet in various forms, there being opposed, water right, the ball joint right, set of sentence pairs and so on. But no matter what kind of couplets, in what form, but must have the following characteristics:
1, to an equal number of words, punctuate the same. In addition to intention to vacate the position of a word in order to achieve a certain effect, the number of words must be the same up and down together, no less.
Second, we must Pingze consistency, tonal harmony. Traditional practice of “Ze Qi-ping down”, that is the end of the last sentence of the word in conjunction with the oblique tones, the last sentence of the end of the second line the words used Ping Sheng.
Third, to the relative part of speech, the same location. Generally known as “virtual pairs of virtual, real to the real” is a noun for nouns, verbs for verbs, adjectives pairs of adjectives, quantifiers of the quantifiers, adverbs of adverbs, and the words must be in the same relative position.
Fourth, we must content up and down convergence. The meaning of the upper and lower joint must be interrelated, but can not be repeated.
In addition, the display of the couplet, traditional practices must also be affixed directly to write vertical, since the right and left, from top to bottom, can not be reversed.
The scroll reads, closely related with the couplet can be said that the subject of couplets, but also the center of couplets. Good scroll reads, you can play a finishing touch in the couplet, complementary role.