贴春联的历史起源和典故---春节相关英语故事

the spring festival couplet is to be pasted on doorposts or hall pillars, hence also known as the doorpost scroll. it consists of two vertical lines and one horizontal line, and all the lines convey the idea of good luck or jubilation, constituting a unique form in the chinese literature.
the chinese festival couplet was born of the peachwood charm. a legendary story has it that long long ago, two brothers named shen tu and yu lei lived in a stone house near a big lush peach tree in the dushoumountains. they addicted themselves very much to the tree, watering it in dry spells, often pruning off its branches and eliminating insect pests for it. thanks to the brothers’ painstaking work, the tree was in full blossom in spring and laden with big peach in summer.the peach, sweet and succulent, was reputed as the immortality peach and its eaters, some say, would be free from disasters and diseases, live to a ripe old age or even become immortals. a prince, known as wild prince, lived at the same time on the wild ox ridge of the same mountains. he was insatiably avaricious and rode roughshod over the common locals by dint of his power. having learned of the magical peach, he commanded several hundred soldiers to fight for it from shen tu and yu lei. just through a couple of rounds, the prince and his gang were defeated and fled helter-skelter to the wild ox ridge. covetous of the peach, he devised an evil scheme. one night he led to the house of the brothers several hundred soldiers disguised as ghosts and monsters, intending to scare the brothers into presenting the magical fruit. utterly undaunted, the brothers charged at the enemy, with shen tu ahead holding a peach tree branch and yu lei behind grasping a coil of coir rope. it was so strange that the masked soldiers collapsed, helplessly allowing themselves to be caught, the moment they touched the branch. shen tu did catching ahead while yu lei trussed the caught behind. before long, they subdued all the soldiers. the incident made people think that peachwood was immortal and able to exorcise spirits and ward off evils. hence later on new year’s eve, every household hung on two doorposts two peachwood strips, one on each side, respectively bearing the pictures of shen tu and yu lei.

such strips were anciently referred to as peachwood charms. on the next new year’s eve, the old strips were to be replaced with new ones. hence the verses by the winter wang anshi ( 1021-1086 ) of the northern song dynasty: “to every home the sun imparts its brighter rays. old peachwood charms, renewed, against evil shall insure.” in the five-dynasty period ( 907-960 ), people began to inscribe on peachwood strips some auspicious verses conveying their good wishes. meng chang, the king of the kingdom of later shu of the five-dynasty period, inscribed on two peachwood strips the vcrses, “new year sees lingering jubilation, joyous festival ushers in a long spring.” historical records show that the inscription is the first of its kind as well as the first recorded spring festival couplet. in the song dynasty ( 960- 1279 ), pasting spring festival couplets grew into a popular folk custom. the ming dynasty ( 1384-1644) saw a greater popularity of the custom. this was partly owed to zhu yuanzhang ( 1328-1398 ), the ming dynasty emperor taizu who attached importance to the couplet. born in a peasant’s family and almost, zhu loved the spring festival couplet very much. one year one on an incognito inspection tour, he was puzzled about the absence of spring festival couplets on the doorposts of a butcher’s house since the new year was drawing near. it turned out that the butcher could not read and write. so the emperor immediately wrote for him a couplet, which read, “open up a way out with two hands, cut off the roots of trouble with a single blow.” also in the ming dynasty, the spring festival couplet got its present name and began to be written on red paper to heighten the joyous festive air. some couples of the kind give expression to the writer’s aspirations, and others point out ills of times and offer salutary advice.

all, whatever contents, are marked by jubilation, auspiciousness, exquisiteness, succinctness and instructiveness. take for instance. often seen on the doorposts of a peasant’s house is the couplet, “joyful to seeone thousand bushes of spring flowers, beaming to drink one cup of wine of a good year,” which describes well the countryside’s prosperity and the peasant’s joy; usually pasted on the doorposts of a barber’s shop is usually the couplet, “a hair renders one younger looks, a shave makes one radiant with happiness,” which reads very witty and humorous.
历史起源
春联，起源于桃符（周代悬挂在大门两旁的长方形桃木板）。 贴春联据《后汉书·礼仪志》说，桃符长六寸，宽三寸，桃木板上书“神荼”、“郁垒”二神。“正月一日，造桃符著户，名仙木，百鬼所畏。”所以，清代《燕京时岁记》上说：“春联者，即桃符也。”五代时，西蜀的宫廷里，有人在桃符上提写联语。据《宋史·蜀世家》说：后蜀主孟昶令学士章逊题桃木板，“以其非工，自命笔题云：‘新年纳余庆，嘉节号长春’”，这便是我国的第一副春联。直到宋代，春联仍称“桃符”。王安石的诗中就有“千门万户瞳瞳日，总把新桃换旧符”之句。宋代，桃符由桃木板改为纸张，叫“春贴纸”。明代：桃符才改称“春联”。明代陈云瞻《簪云楼杂话》中载：“春联之设，自明太祖始。帝都金陵，除夕前忽传旨：公卿士庶家门口须加春联一副,帝微行时出现。”朱元璋不仅亲自微服出城，观赏笑乐，他还亲自题春联。他经过一户人家，见门上不曾贴春联，便去询问，知道这是一家阉猪的，还未请人代写。朱元璋就特地为那阉猪人写了“双手劈开生死路，一刀割断是非根”的春联。联意贴切、幽默。经明太祖这一提倡，此后春联便沿习成为习俗，一直流传至今。

春联典故
据说五代时的后蜀国国君孟昶是个喜欢标新立异的国君，在公元964年岁尾的除夕，他突发奇想，让他手下的一个叫辛寅逊的学士，在桃木板上写了两句话，作为桃符挂在他的住室的门框上。这两句话是“新年纳余庆，嘉节号长春”。第一句的大意是：新年享受着先代的遗泽。第二句的大意是：佳节预示着春意常在。由此开始，桃符的形式和内容都发生了变化，这不仅表现在开始用骈体联语来替代“神荼”、