Tiger and Nian

-w-my origin character aru
Nian means "Year"

I drew this for a painting competition

The Legend of Nian

In the depths of Chinese antiquity there is a legend 传说 (chuan shuo) about a violent flesh-eating predatory mammal(meng shou) by the name of nian 年.

The word legend is made up of 传 (chuan) meaning "to pass on" from generation to generation, and 说 (shou) to "explain or to say". The tales were seen as tradition, and explained characteristic customs, values and ways of thinking, and the legends spread widely throughout China.

Nian was an enormous, ferocious, violent, single-horned 独角(du jiao) wild beast, with sharp teeth 牙齿 (ya chi) and a long, powerful tail 尾巴 (weiba).

If you look at the character 年 (nian) you can see Nian's features clearly. First, the left downward stroke corresponds to the single horn of this beast. The two horizontal strokes inside represent the sharp long teeth. The inside vertical stroke symbolizes the beast's body and robust long tail.

Nian destroyed the all-important cereal crops, and reputedly swallowed whole people and other living things alive. So naturally everybody came to be in a state of fear and great anxiety as their lives could all be in danger. Many chose simply to hide to escape this menacing beast, and try to avoid suffering disaster.

Nian also had a "partner in crime," called "chuxi," who was also a violent, flesh-eating mammal. This menace always came on the last day of the year, at nightfall, to seek and destroy. Nian came the following day. (Today we have the name of chuxi in the name "New Year's Eve")

However, the village people, as keen observers of human nature, found out later that nian was greatly afraid of the cracking sound of bamboo when it was split (pao zhu), and apparently ran away for another year. Chu Xi was terrified of the sight of fire, 怕 (pa huo) and when he saw the sight of a blazing fire, he quickly fled.

So the villagers decided to build a huge fire, with blazing, sparking, firewood. When Chu Xi saw the fire, he retreated. After midnight, the people began splitting bamboo making sure that the 啪啪 (pa pa) sound could be clearly heard. Nian ,too, took off like a shot. It was also told in the tale, that after the Chinese invented gunpowder, Nian never appeared again.

Once the two menacing enemies of the villagers had gone, the villagers went back to their homes, put on their best clothes, and made sacrificial offerings. They kowtowed and bid obedience to the gods for averting disaster, and restoring peace to the community.