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Legend of Nian Monster

The Legend of Nian Monster

Chinese people held the first New Year Festival more than 3,000 years ago. Farmers gave thanks for the harvest and prayed. They asked the gods for good crops in the coming year.

But there is a story behind all the celebration, below is the legend of how the Chinese New Year celebration began.

Legend has it that in ancient times, there was a monster called "Nian" ("year") that would come out to eat people and animals on the eve of every New Year. To avoid the monster's attack, people would flee to the depth of the mountains and call this day "Nian Guan" (meaning "the Pass of Nian"). On one New Year's Eve, there came an old beggar in Peach Blossom Village, where an old lady gave him some food and asked him to hide himself in the mountain to avoid the monster Nian. The old man promised that he could drive the monster away as long as he was put up for the night at the old lady's home. Being unable to persuade the old man into hiding in the mountain, the old lady went alone. In the middle of the night, the monster Nian dashed into the village. He trembled and cried when he saw the red paper on the door of the old lady's house, which was brightly lit. Just as the monster reached the entrance, there came blasting sounds that prevented him from moving any further. At that time, the old man, wearing a red robe, opened the door and the monster was scared away.

The following year, the villagers were ready for it. They set off firecrackers, lit all their lamps and decorated their houses in red, they paste red paper on the doors, wear red clothing, hang up red lanterns. They made loud music, play the gong and drums and they dance and burn the fireworks whenever Nian was about to arrive, to scared away the beast.This is how these customs came into being.




List of Gods : "Nian" - 306 records

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Name ▲▼Origin ▲▼Description ▲▼
Goddess name
"Sala"
Mesopotamian / Babylonian - Akkadian war goddess. A consort of ADAD, she carries a doubleheaded mace-scimitar embellished with lion heads....
God name
"Salm of Mahram (image of Mahram)"
Pre - Islamic northern Arabian Local tutelary god. Correspondence of the Babylonian king Nabonidus (559-539 BC) mentions that this deity was worshiped at Taima, an important trade and religious center where he was head of the pantheon. Gods in the region were often named after local places and personified by a stone stele carved with schematic anthropomorphic features and a winged disc showing strong Egyptian influence. Also Salman....
Goddess name
"Samas'"
Mesopotamian / Babylonian - Akkadian Sun god. The patron deity of Sippar and Larsa. His consort is the mother goddess A-A. S amas derives from the god UTU in the Sumerian pantheon. He is åśśociated with justice. His symbol is the Sun disc and a star surrounded with radiating Sunbeams. He may carry a single-headed scimitar embellished with a panther head. His sanctuary is known as the E-babbar. Also åśśociated with human-headed bulls. His attendant deities include Mes aru, justice, and Kettu, righteousness. He came to much greater prominence in the pantheon at Babylon from about the eighteenth century BC....
Goddess name
"San Chou Niang Niang"
China Mother goddess who was first deified during the Sung dynasty China
Goddess name
"Sao Ching Niang Niang"
Chinese Mother goddess. One of the “nine dark ladies” of the pantheon who adopt a protective role. She removes Rain clouds when they threaten to flood crops....
Goddess name
"Sao ch'ing Niang Niang"
China Goddess of brooms and fair weather China
God name
"Sapas"
Western Semitic / Canaanite Sun god. Modeled on the Mesopotamian (Babylonian-Akkadian) god SAMAS....
Goddess name
"Sarra lntu"
Mesopotamian / Sumerian / Babylonian - Akkadian Fertility goddess. Originally the tutelary deity of the city of Su-Sin. By Hellenistic times she probably became the more important goddess Sarrahitu who is included in the pantheon at Uruk and mentioned in various cult texts where she is described as “the bride” and was presumably involved in a sacred marriage ceremony....
God name
"Sebitti"
Mesopotamian / Babylonian - Akkadian Group of minor war gods. The children of the god ANU who follow the war god ERRA into battle. They are, in alternative traditions, of good or evil influence. In Greek tradition they become the Pleiades....
God name
"Shamash"
Assyrians / Babylonians Sun God and God of righteousness, law and divination.
Goddess name
"Siduri"
Mesopotamian / Babylonian - Akkadian Minor goddess of brewing. Also identified with wisdom....
God name
"Silvåñuś"
Roman A Latin divinity of the fields and Forests, to whom in the very earliest times the Tyrrhenian Pelasgians are said to have dedicated a grove and a festival. He is described as a god watching over the fields and husbandmen, and is also called the protector of the boundaries of fields.
God name
"Sin"
Mesopotamian / BabylonianAkkadian moon god. Derived from the older Sumerian model of NANNA. His consort is NIKKAL (NINGAL). He is symbolized by the new moon and perceived as a bull whose horns are the crescent of the moon. Cult centers are identified at Ur, Harran and Neirab. Also Suen (archaic)....
God name
"Singala"
Pre - Islamic northern Arabian Local god. Mentioned only in name by the Babylonian king Nabonidus, worshiped at Taima and influenced strongly by Egyptian culture.See also SALM OF MAHRAM....
Goddess name
"Sirara"
Mesopotamian / Sumerian / Babylonian - Akkadian Goddess of the Persian Gulf. In creation mythology she is given charge over the waters of the Gulf by the god ENKI....
God name
"Sirsir"
Mesopotamian / BabylonianAkkadian God of mariners. The guardian of boatmen....
Goddess name
"Sirtur"
Mesopotamian / Sumerian / Babylonian - Akkadian Sheep goddess. Known from inscriptions and påśśing comments in texts. Syncretized with NINSUN....
Goddess name
"Somius"
Roman Minor god of sleep. He equates with the Greek god HYPNOS. According to legend he is one of the two sons of NYX, goddess of night, and lives in a remote cave beside the Lethe river. He is depicted by Ovid dressed in black but with his robe scattered with stars, wearing a crown of poppies and holding a goblet of opium juice. His attendant is MORPHEUS and he oversees the spirits of dreams and nightmares. Particularly noted from the art of the Lacedaemonians who placed statues of Somnus and MORS side by side....
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