The origin and meaning of Spring Festival couplets What is the significance of Spring Festival couplets

Spring couplets, commonly known as door couplets. Every Spring Festival, every household puts bright red Spring Festival couplets on their doors, adding to the festive atmosphere. So, what is the origin and meaning of posting Spring Festival couplets?

The Origin and Meaning of Pasting Spring Festival Couplets

1. The Origin of Pasting Spring Festival Couplets

Spring Festival couplets were not called "Spring Festival couplets" at the beginning, but "Peach Charms". That is, the statues of the two gods "Shentu and Yulei" are carved out of peach wood to ward off evil spirits. Legend has it that in ancient times there was an extremely ferocious monster that often did evil and harmed the people, but nothing could subdue it. Later, two gods who specialized in exorcising demons came and they subdued the monster with peach branches. Thus, the word spread among the people that if one hung a peach branch with the names of the two gods engraved on it on the door, demons and monsters would not dare to approach. Later, such peach branches were called "Tao Fu", and "Tao Fu" became popular.

During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, peach charms evolved into Spring Festival couplets. According to records, Meng Chang, the ruler of Later Shu, asked Zhang Xun to write an inscription on peach wood. After Zhang Xun finished writing, Meng Chang felt that it was not antithetical, so he wrote: "The New Year brings us more blessings, and the festival is called Changchun." This was the first Spring Festival couplet in China, and at that time it was also called Tao Fu. Later, with the emergence of paper, peach wood was replaced by red paper. Spring Festival couplets really appeared during the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang in the Ming Dynasty. At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang required every household to post Spring Festival couplets, so the streets and alleys were filled with Spring Festival couplets. The main purpose of painting images of gods is to drive away ghosts and evil spirits, and the main purpose of writing spring poems is to pray for blessings and good luck. After several evolutions, this formed the two major lines of door gods, New Year pictures and spring posts and spring couplets.

2. The meaning of posting Spring Festival couplets

1. Inheriting traditional customs: Spring Festival couplets are a unique literary form in my country. They are also a way to inherit traditional customs, representing the continuation of our country's traditional culture.

2. Express good wishes and visions: Spring Festival couplets have the traditional folk functions of praying for blessings and decorating homes. They reflect the customs and beliefs of the general public and embody people’s hopes for the future. The patterns in the Spring Festival couplets, such as fish, imply abundance every year; beautiful words, such as "As the years go by, people get older, spring fills the world and blessings fill the house", express people's beautiful wishes for the coming year.

3. Add a festive atmosphere to the Spring Festival: Spring Festival couplets are all written in black on a red background or in gold on a red background, with various patterns, which are in line with the joy and happiness of the New Year, adding a festive atmosphere to the Spring Festival.

4. Avoid disaster and avoid misfortune: Folk sayings have the effect of avoiding disaster and avoiding misfortune. This saying comes from the legend of the "Nian Beast". It is said that the Nian Beast is afraid of red, so every New Year's Eve every household posts couplets to drive away the Nian Beast. The custom of posting couplets has been passed down to this day, expressing people's desire to avoid evil and avoid difficulties.

Requirements for writing Spring Festival couplets

Spring Festival couplets draw on the literary form of traditional Chinese poetry. Different from ancient parallel prose and poetry, it is an independent literary style with its own unique form. Although antithetical sentences in regulated verse or parallel prose are often wonderful couplets, they can only be called couplets when they exist independently from regulated verse or parallel prose. The most notable feature of Spring Festival couplets is that they come in pairs, with the two couplets "opposing" each other and the contents corresponding to each other and closely linked. The upper and lower couplets of a couplet must have a complete and unified structure, with clear and concise language.