The origin and meaning of people posting the word \”福\” on their doors

During the Spring Festival, every household in China\’s rural and urban areas will paste the word \”福\” (福), large and small, on their doors, walls and lintels. Posting the word \”福\” during the Spring Festival is a long-standing folk custom in my country. The earliest record appeared in Wu Zimu\’s \”Meng Liang Lu\” in the Song Dynasty: \”On New Year\’s Eve, we shop for department stores, draw door gods with peach charms, and welcome spring signs…\”; \”Every family of scholars and common people, big or small, sweeps the door to remove dust and filth. , clean the courtyard, change the door god, hang a bell, nail peach charms, put up spring signs, and worship the ancestors.\” The \”spring card\” in the article is the word \”福\” written on red paper. The custom of sticking the word \”福\” has been passed down since at least the Southern Song Dynasty and has a long history.

\”福\” is in Oracle It once appeared that it looks like a wine vessel for worshiping gods. In ancient times, wine was a symbol of prosperity. It can be said that the word \”福\” is one of the oldest Chinese characters.

Spring Festival blessing. , there is also such a story. It is said that before Jiang Ziya assisted King Wu, he fished and studied all day long, and his life was not satisfactory. He His wife felt that there was no hope of being with Jiang Ziya, so she abandoned him. Later, after his father, Jiang Taigong, assisted King Wu to defeat Zhou, and when he was consecrating the gods at the Conferring God Platform, his wife wanted to follow Jiang Ziya again. She wanted to beg her ex-husband to make her a god, but Jiang Ziya had no choice but to make his ex-wife a god of poverty and told her: \”You can\’t go to blessed places. \”From then on, every family posted the word \”blessing\” during the New Year to tell the poor god that this is a blessed place and you must not come in. The word \”blessing\” is a symbol of getting rid of poverty and pursuing happiness.

The word \”福\” in the past meant \”blessing\” , \”luck\”, the current interpretation is \”happiness\”, and the Spring Festival with the word \”福\”, whether now or in the past, has placed people\’s yearning for a happy life and also their wishes for a better future. Later, people in order to be more fully. TerraneTo express this yearning and wish, simply paste the word \”福\” upside down, which means \”happiness has been reversed\” and \”blessing has arrived\”.

There is also a folk legend that the word \”福\” is pasted upside down to commemorate the wife of Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang – – Queen Ma! According to folk unofficial records, Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty once planned to kill people, but due to public resentment, he had to carry out the murder secretly. So he used \”福\” as a mark of assassination and ordered his men to see the word \”福\” posted on the doors of residents in the city. If you find someone, kill them immediately. The news was informed by the kind-hearted Empress Ma. In order to avoid this tragedy, the kind-hearted Empress Ma ordered everyone in the city to put a label with the character \”福\” on their doors before dawn. So every household followed Empress Ma\’s order and put the word \”福\” on their doors. One of the families was illiterate and accidentally put the word \”福\” upside down. The next day, the emperor sent people to the streets. After checking, I found that every house had posted the character \”福\”, and one family had posted the character \”福\” upside down. The emperor was furious after hearing the report and immediately ordered the imperial guards to kill the entire family. Empress Ma realized what happened and said to Zhu Yuanzhang, \”that family knew you are coming today, so had purposely turned the label with the character \”福\” upside down. Doesn\’t that mean \”luck arrives\”?\” As soon as the emperor heard that it made sense, he The will was withdrawn, and a catastrophe was finally eliminated. From then on, people began to paste the character \”福\” upside down, firstly to bring good luck, and secondly to commemorate Queen Ma.

The current word \”Fu\” is composed of \’Shi, Yi, Kou and Tian\’. \’Shi\’ refers to the arrival of gods; Tian means farming and hunting; One word, According to \”Shuowen\”, it is explained: \”One, only the beginning and the beginning, Tao is established in one, creating heaven and earth, and transforming into all things\”; \”Shuowen\” says: \”Kou, the reason why people speak and eat.\” In this The word \”Fu\” expresses the people\’s desire to pray for land to meet their food and clothing needs. (The pictures in the article come from the Internet – About calligraphy and painting