Spring FestivalSpring Festival Origins

The Etymology of the Character “年” (Year)

In its original sense, “年” was not a temporal concept but referred to the growth cycle of crops. The “Shuowen Jiezi · Grain Section” (《说文解字·禾部》) records: “年, grain ripening. From the grain radical, with the phonetic ‘千’.” The oracle‑bone script for “年” has “禾” (grain) on top and “人” (person) below, resembling a person holding a sheaf of grain and dancing — expressing the joy of a bountiful harvest. Since grain in the Central Plains ripened once a year, “年” was extended to become a unit of time. The “Erya · Explanations of Heaven” (《尔雅·释天》) also states: “年 is the name for grain ripening; it ripens once each year, hence the year is named after it.” From “grain ripening” to “temporal cycle,” the evolution of the character “年” fully reflects the agrarian concept of time — time is not abstract passage but a rhythm of life closely tied to the growth and harvest of crops.

In ancient times, people called a year “腊” (twelfth month), during the Yao and Shun era it was called “载” (to record), in the Xia dynasty it was called “岁” (year/star cycle), in the Shang dynasty it was changed to “祀” (sacrificial cycle), and only in the Zhou dynasty was it called “年.” These different terms reflect different understandings of time across eras — from sacrifice (腊, 祀) to harvest (年), from the movement of stars (岁) to the ripening of grain (年) — each shift marked a change in cultural focus.

From “Year’s Beginning” to “Yuandan”

The Spring Festival was not always called “Spring Festival” in ancient times; it had various names throughout history. In the pre‑Qin period, it was called “Shangri” (上日), “Yuandan” (元日), “Gaisui” (改岁), and “Xiansui” (献岁). In the Han dynasty, it was called “Sanchao” (三朝), “Suidan” (岁旦), “Zhengdan” (正旦), and “Zhengri” (正日). In the Wei‑Jin and Southern‑Northern dynasties, it was called “Yuanchen” (元辰), “Yuanri” (元日), “Yuanshou” (元首), and “Suichao” (岁朝). In the Tang, Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties, it was called “Yuandan” (元旦), “Yuan” (元), “Suiri” (岁日), “Xinzheng” (新正), and “Xinyuan” (新元). In the Qing dynasty, it was consistently called “Yuandan” (元旦) or “Yuanri” (元日). Though the names varied, all centred on the core character “元” (yuan), meaning “beginning” or “first.” “Yuandan” means “the beginning of the year.” The “Records of the Grand Historian” (《史记》) and the “Book of Han” (《汉书》) refer to the first day of the first month as the “Four Beginnings” (四始 — beginning of the year, season, day, and month) and the “Three Mornings” (三朝 — morning of the year, month, and day).

The Modern Establishment of the Name “Spring Festival”

It is important to note that before the Republic of China era, the term “Spring Festival” (春节) had no connection to the Lunar New Year. In ancient times, “Spring Festival” referred to “Lichun” (立春 — the Beginning of Spring), one of the 24 solar terms. The “Book of the Later Han · Biography of Yang Zhen” (《后汉书·杨震传》) contains a record of “Spring Festival,” but it refers to the Lichun solar term. During the Southern‑Northern dynasties, “Spring Festival” generally referred to the entire spring season. Since the New Year festival and the Beginning of Spring fell around the same time, the folk increasingly emphasised the New Year festival, and the themes of welcoming spring and receiving blessings naturally merged into it, causing the “Beginning of Spring festival” to gradually disappear — Lichun remained only as a solar term. However, “Spring Festival” as the name of a festival had no connection to the first day of the first month.

In 1912, the Republic of China adopted the Gregorian calendar, with 1 January called “Yuandan” (元旦). The traditional lunar “Yuandan” then faced renaming. In 1914, President Yuan Shikai of the Beiyang government accepted a proposal from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and officially renamed the first day of the first lunar month as “Spring Festival” (春节). From then on, the name that originally belonged to Lichun was given to the Lunar New Year. On 27 September 1949, the First Plenary Session of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference stipulated that “the People’s Republic of China adopts the Common Era for its calendar,” with 1 January as “Yuandan” (元旦) and the first day of the first lunar month as “Spring Festival” (春节). In 2006, the Spring Festival was inscribed on China’s first list of National Intangible Cultural Heritage. On 4 December 2024, “Spring Festival — the social practice of the Chinese people celebrating the traditional New Year” was successfully inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The formation of the Spring Festival did not originate from a single event or tradition but from the gradual fusion of multiple cultural sources over a long historical period. These sources include the ancient year‑end sacrificial rituals (腊祭 and 蜡祭), exorcism rituals (傩祭), and year‑beginning harvest prayers. They converged from different directions to form the foundation of the Spring Festival.

Year‑End Sacrifices (腊祭 and 蜡祭)

The oldest origins of the Spring Festival can be traced back to the ancient year‑end sacrificial rituals of 腊祭 and 蜡祭. These represent the deepest and most essential cultural genes of the festival.

In agrarian societies, people regulated their lives according to the rhythms of crop production, forming the concept of “year” (年). At the end of the year, people held grand sacrificial ceremonies to pray for abundant harvests and the safety of people and livestock in the coming year. Such rituals existed as early as the Yao and Shun era, called “腊祭.” The “Fengsu Tongyi” (《风俗通义》) records: “腊 means hunting — speaking of hunting wild animals to sacrifice to one’s ancestors.” In an era dependent on nature, after the year’s agricultural work was completed, people held grand sacrifices in the twelfth month at the turn of the old and new years, offering hunted animals to ancestors and all deities to express gratitude for the blessings of heaven and earth.

The year‑end sacrifice had two ancient sources: one was the “蜡祭” (wax sacrifice) held in the suburbs to offer sacrifices to all deities in celebration of the harvest; the other was the “腊祭” held in the ancestral temple to thank ancestors for their protection. “蜡” and “腊” were later collectively referred to as “腊” (the twelfth month) after the Qin and Han dynasties. The month of the year‑end sacrifice was the twelfth month (腊月), and the day was the “腊日” (wax day). In the Han dynasty, the wax day was the third xu day after the winter solstice. Around the Southern dynasties, the Jiangnan region was the first to set the wax day on the eighth day of the twelfth month. From the very beginning, the wax day was an auspicious festival, including both sacrificial ceremonies celebrating the harvest and expressing gratitude, as well as exorcism activities for warding off disasters and praying for blessings.

The “Book of Rites · Suburban Sacrifices” (《礼记·郊特牲》) records: “Lord Yīqí was the first to institute the wax sacrifice. Wax means ‘seeking’ — in the twelfth month of the year, he gathered all things and offered them in sacrifice.” Lord Yīqí is Yao, indicating that the origins of the wax sacrifice can be traced back to the Yao and Shun era. The core spirit of this year‑end sacrifice is “gratitude” — gratitude to heaven and earth for the harvest, and gratitude to ancestors for their blessings. As the “Dictionary of Chinese Folk Beliefs and Customs” (《中国民间信仰风俗辞典》) explains the term “Spring Festival”: “It is said to originate from the year‑end sacrifices of ancient society, where 腊 was the name for the year‑end sacrifice to all deities; thus the Spring Festival came from the expression of gratitude for divine blessings after the completion of the year’s agricultural work.”

Exorcism Rituals (傩祭)

Exorcism rituals were called “傩” (nuo) in the pre‑Qin period. The most important nuo ritual of the year was the year‑end grand exorcism held in the twelfth month. The “Book of the Later Han · Treatises on Rites” (《后汉书·礼仪志》) and “Rhapsody on the Eastern Capital” (《东京赋》) record that the grand nuo ritual at the Eastern Han imperial palace was held on the night before the wax day, on a grand scale involving the emperor and all civil and military officials. After the palace ceremony, torches symbolising plague demons were escorted by over a thousand knights from the Five Camps and cast into the Luo River, symbolising the final suppression of pestilence. By the Southern dynasties, the exorcism ritual was already held on the wax day itself and was influenced by Buddhism. The “Jingchu Suishiji” (《荆楚岁时记》) records: The eighth day of the twelfth month is the wax day, and people of the time had a saying: “When the wax drums sound, spring grass grows.” Villagers beat slim‑waisted drums, wore Hugongtou masks, or dressed as Vajra warriors to drive away pestilence. These rituals were the prototypes of later nuo opera.

The core function of the nuo ritual was to exorcise demons and dispel pestilence. The ancients believed that the year‑end was a time when yin and yang alternated and evil energies were at their peak, requiring grand rituals to drive out plague demons to ensure peace in the coming year. This theme of exorcism later evolved into Spring Festival customs such as New Year’s Eve cleaning, firecracker‑setting, and pasting door gods.

Year‑Beginning Harvest Prayers

Another important source of the Spring Festival is the ancient year‑beginning harvest prayer rituals. According to historical records, the Spring Festival arose from the deity‑and‑ancestor worship activities of the Shun era. Oracle‑bone inscriptions from the Shang dynasty already contain the pictograph for “旦” (dawn/New Year’s Day). The Spring Festival evolved from ancient year‑beginning harvest prayers, becoming a comprehensive folk festival integrating renewal, deity and ancestor worship, prayer and exorcism, family reunions, celebration, and feasting.

In ancient times, primitive beliefs were an important factor in the formation of the festival. People believed that deities governed all things, that the gods of the sun, moon, heaven, earth, plants, animals, and ancestral spirits determined people’s lives and destinies. Thus, on important occasions such as seasonal changes and agricultural activities, people held various sacrificial rituals to express worship, respect, and reverence for the deities. Particularly at the year‑end, they held harvest‑celebrating rituals. On the wax day, offerings were presented to ancestors and all deities, accompanied by music, drumming, and recitations of prayers to thank the deities for the harvest and pray for favourable weather in the coming year. Then the entire family gathered to drink and celebrate joyfully.

It is precisely this gratitude to the deities of heaven and earth and this hope for the coming year’s harvest that constitute the most ancient cultural genes of the Spring Festival.

Sweeping the Dust

Sweeping the dust is one of the most important preparatory activities before the Spring Festival. A folk saying goes: “腊月二十四，掸尘扫房子” (*On the 24th of the twelfth month, dust and sweep the house*). This custom originated from ancient rituals to drive away plague demons, later evolving into a year‑end thorough cleaning, symbolising “removing the old and bringing in the new” — sweeping away the bad luck and dust of the old year to welcome the cleanliness and good fortune of the new. The sweeping is generally done after the Kitchen God worship on the 23rd of the twelfth month and before New Year’s Eve — every household cleans rooms, washes utensils, and airs bedding, greeting the New Year with a fresh appearance.

Pasting Spring Festival Couplets and Door Gods

Spring Festival couplets originated from rectangular peach‑wood boards hung on both sides of doors in the Zhou dynasty, called “taofu” (桃符). Peach wood was believed to have the supernatural power to suppress evil and control demons, thus known as “immortal wood.” Peach wood could be carved into figures as protective deities, or painted and inscribed on peach boards as talismans to protect the household. The earliest personified door gods were two “peach figures” carved from peach wood, said to be incarnations of Shentu and Yulei. Later, the images of door gods multiplied; the most widely known and influential include Zhong Kui, Qin Qiong, and Yuchi Gong.

The custom of pasting Spring Festival couplets began in the Song dynasty and flourished in the Ming dynasty. By the Qing dynasty, the intellectual and artistic quality of couplets had greatly improved. Wang Anshi’s poem “New Year’s Day” (《元日》) reads: “爆竹声中一岁除，春风送暖入屠苏。千门万户曈曈日，总把新桃换旧符。” (*Amidst the sound of firecrackers, the old year passes; the spring breeze brings warmth as we drink Tusu wine. Ten thousand households bask in the bright sunlight, all replacing old peach charms with new ones.*) This is a vivid portrayal of the custom.

Setting Off Firecrackers

The custom of setting off firecrackers has a long history. The Liang‑dynasty “Jingchu Suishiji” (《荆楚岁时记》) records that “shansao” (山臊) is a malevolent demon that causes fevers and chills; therefore, on New Year’s Day, people set off firecrackers in their courtyards to scare it away. The Han‑dynasty “Shenyi Jing” (《神异经》) contains similar accounts. In the Song dynasty, the folk began to set off “string firecrackers” widely; the custom became increasingly prevalent. Firecrackers were originally made by burning bamboo to create cracking sounds to drive away ghosts and plague; only later did they evolve into gunpowder‑based firecrackers.

Staying Up on New Year’s Eve (Shousui)

Staying up on New Year’s Eve is one of the most important Spring Festival customs. During the Wei‑Jin period, some places began to have the custom of staying up on New Year’s Eve after ancestral worship and the reunion dinner. By the Tang dynasty, staying up on New Year’s Eve had become universal. The practice has two meanings: for the elderly, staying up is “bidding farewell to the old year,” showing appreciation for time; for the young, it is to extend their parents’ lifespan. The whole family sits together, sharing the reunion dinner, chatting, watching the Spring Festival Gala (in modern times), and waiting for the new year — reflecting the Chinese people’s deep appreciation for family togetherness.

New Year Greetings (Bainian)

The custom of New Year greetings began to flourish in the Han dynasty. On New Year’s Day, people visit relatives and friends to exchange New Year wishes. In the Tang dynasty, people invented “New Year greeting notes” — the earliest New Year cards. The proper order of greetings is: first to heaven and earth, second to ancestors, third to elders, then to peers. The core spirit of New Year greetings is “gratitude” and “blessings” — gratitude for the help received in the past year, and blessings for a safe and smooth new year.