Study On The Worship Of Gods In Ancient Chinese New Year Customs

Traditional festivals are the specific implementation of important folk customs at the time of the year.In the ancient society where the country was founded on agriculture,the worship of ghosts and gods has always been an important part of folk customs and even state affairs.Therefore,most of the traditional Chinese festivals are closely related to the activities of "rewarding the gods",and almost all the main gods related to the production and life of the ancestors can be found in the traditional festivals.The Spring Festival is a collection of traditional Chinese culture and a concentrated display of Chinese national customs,so it has become the most prosperous traditional festival of the year.Its origin can be traced back to ancient rituals.In pre-Qin rituals such as La ritual and Nuo ritual,you can glimpse the prototype of the Spring Festival.However,due to the influence of traditional yin and yang and five elements,the beginning of the year was difficult to stabilize for a long time,and the Spring Festival in the pre-Qin period was only in the brewing and budding state.When Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty promulgated the "Taichu Calendar",which stipulated that the first month of the summer calendar was the first month,the Spring Festival was initially finalized.Later generations basically followed this tradition,and the New Year culture has been further enriched and improved in the long-term historical process.The Spring Festival is a traditional festival developed on the basis of folk beliefs such as ancestor worship,ghost worship,agricultural activities,etc.The important secular gods basically have a place.Therefore,the Spring Festival has become a veritable exposition in Chinese folklore.The gods sacrificed on the New Year’s Day are both historical and new,and the more influential gods are the Kitchen God,the Door God,the God of Wealth,and the Jade Emperor.The custom of offering sacrifices to the gods during the festival is not static,such as the kitchen god and the door god,which are the relics of ancient sacrificial offerings,with a history of offering sacrifices for thousands of years,will show different characteristics of the times due to different times.In the interaction of the gods with the trend of the times,on the one hand,they will exert a positive influence on traditional culture,people’s psychology and current customs in the process of self-improvement.For example,the Kitchen God,which was originally a female image,was later transformed into the Kitchen God;the function of the Kitchen God also changed from the family’s cooking and eating to the later East Chefs order,persuasion and education,etc.On the other hand,the worship of the gods will also appear the phenomenon of ups and downs and sand down with the development of the times.In the ancient society where righteousness was more important than profit,the God of Wealth would naturally not be valued;but in the tide of the commodity society,the God of Wealth would inevitably be favored by thousands of households."Taiyishen" was once the highest deity worshiped in ancient traditions,but with the prosperity of the Taoist Jade Emperor among the people,the "Taiyishen" worshipped by the custom will naturally lose its former style and withdraw from the historical stage.In addition to the inertial influence of traditional regional customs,the changes in the worship of gods and spirits in New Year’s customs are also related to the interaction of many factors such as politics,economy,and modern science and technology in the whole society.The turbulent time and space of various elements will inevitably make the sacrifices of gods and spirits in the customs always in a dynamic change with the times.The worship of gods in New Year customs is an important carrier of traditional festivals and even traditional culture,and is a precious historical and cultural heritage in the treasure house of Chinese civilization.In the current society,it plays an important role and significance in enriching people’s daily life,comforting people’s psychological demands,satisfying people’s return to traditional Chinese New Year flavor,and enhancing national cultural identity and self-confidence.It is worth noting that in recent years,traditional customs,including the worship of gods in New Year’s customs,are under the rapid impact of urbanization,modernization,and globalization,and show a fragile living situation.How to propagate and protect this precious historical and cultural heritage has become a question for the follow-up thinking of this topic.