And the beast Nian also started from one of the folk legends of China.
In China, the Lunar New Year is one of the most important times of the year. At that time, family members gather on New Year’s Eve to celebrate Tet.
This is an ancient tradition that has existed for at least 3,400 years and has an important place in the spiritual life of people. Specific customs in each place have different characteristics, such as the interpretation of things, phenomena or folk legends also have their own characteristics.
According to anecdotes preserved to this day, Nian (meaning “year” or “new year”) is the bottom of the deep sea or the highest mountain peak, they are described as large creatures, has the body of a bull, the head of a lion, the appearance is very scary. Not only that, Nian also possesses a huge jaw, wide enough to swallow countless people in one go.
Nian possesses a huge jaw, wide enough to swallow countless people in one go. (Illustration).
Such a fierce appearance, Nian’s temperament is many times more terrible. It is said that, at the end of winter when there is nothing to eat, they will come ashore from the depths of the sea or descend from the high mountains on the first days of the new year to eat livestock, crops, and even villagers, especially children.
It also means, from New Year’s Eve, all people will have to live in fear and harassment of Nian until the end of winter.
Of course, early human suffering was so great that not a night went by without an unfortunate family mourning for a loved one who was harmed by Nian.
So every year when New Year’s Eve comes, the family members cannot celebrate the New Year with joy but are always full of fear. They even have to put food in front of the house every New Year in the belief that the beast Nian will eat them and not touch them anymore.
However, the damage to both people and property has not decreased much. In the extreme, the whole village had to pull together to the mountain, but no one dared to stay in the house because they were afraid of the violence of the monster that crawled with the lion’s head.
Nian beasts are described as large creatures, with the body of a bull, the head of a lion, a very scary appearance.
The story repeats every New Year’s Eve until a strange old man comes from afar. That old man with white beard and ragged clothes appeared on the night the beast was about to attack the residential area.
Everyone in the village rushed to the high mountains to save their lives. Everyone is in a hurry, in a hurry. The old man tried to ask what was going on, but no one was calm enough to answer and quickly ran away.
Facing that situation, a kind old lady did not have the heart to let him stay and died unjustly, so she told him everything and advised him to escape to the mountain with everyone.
Contrary to the urgency of the lady, the old man replied with a warm smile and said to rest assured, he will find a way to chase the giant beast and ask to stay at home for the night. Of course, no one believed the eccentric stranger’s words, even the old lady had to follow everyone up the mountain.
At night, Nian aggressively ran into the village, but he immediately noticed something very different. The monster looked around and discovered the red paper taped to the woman’s door. Inside the house, candles were lit. Fear did not stop Nian’s destructive nature, it still rushed towards the house… Suddenly, an old man appeared with a bright red suit, laughing loudly in the roar of firecrackers in front of the door. Monster Nian was so scared, the cross-section no longer had drops of blood, and hurriedly ran away.
The Nian beast disturbs the villagers. (Photo: Wendy’s blogspot).
The next morning, the villagers returned and were surprised to find that everything was still intact, not the desolation as in previous years. At this time, the woman suddenly remembered the story of the old man begging last night and immediately told the villagers. The villagers immediately flocked to the woman’s house to see what had happened. There, they found two red strips of paper pasted on the door, firecrackers and candles still burning. Everything has been resolved. It turned out that the monster Nian was afraid of red, firecrackers and light.
After the old man helped the villagers with the disaster, he disappeared without a trace. Since then, every New Year’s Eve comes, people stick red couplets, set off fireworks, and hold a grand party to chase away monsters, welcome the new year as well as get rid of the bad luck of the old year.