New year's money should represent a kind of beautiful blessing, and now the essence of blessing and gratitude has gradually faded. I sorted out why I should give new year's money for the new year, hoping to help you.
Why do you give lucky money for the new year
The earliest lucky money appeared in the Han Dynasty. The earliest lucky money was also called hate win money, or big win money. This kind of money is not currency in circulation on the market, but a kind of evil ward product specially cast in the shape of coins for wearing and appreciation.
This kind of coin form of wearing items first appeared in the Han Dynasty. Some of the obverses are engraved with the words on the coins and various auspicious words, such as "long live forever", "peace in the world", "eliminating disaster and evil" and so on; Various patterns are cast on the back, such as dragon and Phoenix, turtle and snake, Pisces, fighting sword, star and so on.
In the Tang Dynasty, the wind of scattering money in spring prevailed in the court. At that time, the Spring Festival was a "spring day", a day of mutual worship in the palace. There was no such custom among the people. Volume 26 of Zizhi Tongjian records that Yang Guifei gave birth to a son, "Xuanzong paid close attention to it and liked to give her money to wash her children". In addition to congratulation, the more important significance of the money for washing children here is the talisman given by the elders to the newborn to ward off evil spirits and demons. After the song and Yuan Dynasties, the first day of the first month replaced the spring day, which was called the Spring Festival.
The custom that originally belonged to the Spring Festival has also been moved to the Spring Festival. The custom of giving away money in spring has evolved into the custom of giving children lucky money.
According to the records of the year of Yanjing, written by Fu chadunchong in the Qing Dynasty, the lucky money is: "the lucky money is made by wearing colored rope, weaving it into a dragon shape and placing it at the foot of the bed. It is also called lucky money if it is given to children by elders."
In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, most of the new year's money was given to children with red ropes. "Wearing money with colored ropes and weaving it into a dragon shape is called New Year's money." So some places call giving children lucky money "string money".
After the Republic of China, the square hole round money was basically abolished, and it evolved into wrapping 100 Wen copper dollars in red paper, which means "long life and a hundred years", and giving lucky money to the adult younger generation. In the red paper, there is an ocean, symbolizing "abundant financial resources" and "ten thousand profits".
After the currency is changed to today's paper money, parents like to choose the new paper money with the number to give to their children, because the homonym of "Lian" and "Lian" indicates that future generations "get rich in succession" and "rise in succession". This custom of sending serial money to younger generations has continued to this day.
Legend about lucky money
It is said that in ancient times, there was a fierce beast called Nian, which appeared every 365 days, which made people very afraid. People first used food to comfort children who were frightened when driving away Nian. Over time, it gradually evolved into using money instead of food. In the Song Dynasty, there was "frightening money".
Another saying also comes from the Song Dynasty. During the Shenzong period of the Northern Song Dynasty, one spring festival night, Nanxin, the youngest son of Wang Shao, a deputy prime minister, was watching lanterns in the street with adults. Unexpectedly, he was robbed by criminals and wanted to blackmail Wang Shao for a sum of money. During his escape, he happened to encounter a imperial car passing by. Nanxin shouted for help. The villain put down Nanxin and ran away in a hurry. Later, when song Shenzong learned about this, he gave Nanxin some money and surprised him. From then on, the "lucky money" spread among the people.
At first, the new year's money did not really give money, but gave symbolic things like money to serve as a deterrent. The significance of the new year's money changed significantly with the emergence of elders wrapping up a piece of ocean for their children during the new year. Since then, the new year's money's saying of dispelling evil spirits and Demons has gradually ended and evolved into a beautiful and inspirational moral of hoping that the younger generation will rise step by step. But there is still hope that the younger generation can wish health, auspiciousness and peace in the new year.
The traditional custom of giving lucky money is to dispel evil spirits. In ancient times, people believed that children were most vulnerable to sneaky attacks, so they should use lucky money to help them. The homonym of "year" and "sneaky" is homonymous. They hope that children who get lucky money can spend a year in peace.
Since the new year's money became a real currency, the meaning of the new year's money has also changed. The function of "avoiding evil spirits and demons" of lucky money gradually ended, and its new "inspirational" functions such as "one capital and ten thousand profits", "prosperous financial resources" and "rising step by step" came into being.
There are two kinds of lucky money. One is to weave a dragon shape with colored rope and thread and place it at the foot of the bed; The other is also the most common, that is, the money distributed to children by elders wrapped in red paper.
Due to the improvement of living standards, the new year's money given by many people has gradually increased. Some elders will also increase the new year's money because they dote on their younger generation too much. Some even regard the new year's money as a favor and think that if they give too little, they can't take it. Therefore, they will prepare a big red envelope of new year's money.
In fact, how much lucky money should be given should be based on their own economic strength and local economic conditions. Generally speaking, if it is given to the children of relatives and friends, it can be about tens of yuan to 100 yuan. However, some families have a high economic level and can also give according to their ability.
New year's money should represent a kind of good blessing, and now the essence of blessing and gratitude has gradually faded. Children should not be allowed to get "more new year's money" as the goal, but should learn to manage money and understand the beautiful meaning of new year's money.
First of all, parents should make it clear that their children's lucky money cannot be possessed, otherwise it will cause a sense of mistrust to their children. Now the lucky money is a good choice to cultivate children's financial concept. After the Chinese new year, parents can take their children to buy school supplies, books, etc. with their new year's money, and then leave a small part for them to play freely. The rest is for parents to help them establish a financial fund or save for their children and tell their children that they can use it only when they want to buy what they want next time.
When parents save their children's lucky money, they should tell their children how much money they have and how they can use it in the future. They must not have it directly.