There are many colorful legends about the beginning of the Spring Festival. According to one of the widely-spread legends, there was a monster named Nian in ancient China. It had a horn on its head and was extremely ferocious. It lived at the bottom of the sea year round, but went to shore on the eve of the last day of every lunar year to devour people and cattle in the village, before returning to the sea at dawn. The villagers could do nothing but hide in the mountains on the last day of the year and come home the next day.
On New Year's Eve one year, people in the village were heading toward the mountains, bringing along the old and the young, when there met an old beggar. Despite carrying a stick in one hand and a broken bowl in the other, he had eyes that sparkled like stars and a silvery beard.
The villagers panicked and were in a great hurry to flee the monster Nian. Some were packing, some were sealing the windows and locking the doors, some were driving the cattle and sheep and some were carrying infants. At this time, no one cared about the beggar. Only an old lady living in the east of the village gave the old man some food and urged him to flee with them to avoid the monster. But the beggar stroked his beard and said with a smile, "If you let me stay at your home for the night, I'm sure to drive away the monster." The old lady was shocked and continued to persuade him to join them on their journey to the mountains. But he only smiled. She left along with the other villagers.
At midnight the monster rushed into the village. He found the village was a little different this year: the house of the old lady in the east of the village was well illuminated, with bright red paper on the doors. Greatly shocked, Nian howled toward the house. Then feeling irritated, it jumped toward the gate. As it got close to the door, it could hear bamboo exploding. Trembling all over, it dared not take another step. It turned out that the red flame and the exploding sound were the things Nian feared most. Just then, the gate opened, and out came an old man. He was laughing and dressed in bright red. Nian was frightened and fled to the sea.
The next day, the villagers returned from the mountains and found everything safe. They were surprised. The old lady suddenly realized what had happened and told the villagers about the old beggar and his promise.
They flooded into her house, only to find that the doors were pasted with red paper. A pile of bamboo was still burning and giving out an exploding sound in the yard and a few candles were still burning in the room. They concluded that the old beggar was a god from Heaven, who came to expel the monster, and that red paper, red cloth, red candles and firecrackers were his magic weapons.
To celebrate this event, villagers put on new clothes and hats and visited their relatives and friends to send their congratulations for surviving Nian. The story was soon spread across the whole land and everyone followed the method.
From then on, on each Lunar New Year’s Eve, each family posted couplets written on red paper on their doors, set off firecrackers, kept their houses well illuminated and stayed up late. The next morning, they visited relatives and friends to send congratulations. This custom has evolved through thousands of years and is still evident in modern China.
(Shanghai Daily February 3, 2008)
