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Once upon a time in ancient China, there was a village at foot of the high mountain. The landscape was beautiful. Imagine the high, dark mountain towering over the small village. There are fields around it and stream of cold water, flowing from the mountain. The mountain meant life for the village. But in last several years it was also the death of it. The mountain became a home to a ferocious and wild beast. Villagers named it Nian, because its descend from the mountain coincides with the start of the Nian festival or the "festival of the year".
The Nian beast wasn't an ordinary beast like a bear or a lion, it was huge and horrifying creature, and it had lions head and body of a bull.



Nian would come down from the mountain and attack the villagers and eat their children, and livestock. On days they were supposed to be celebrating the beginning of The Lunar Year, villagers were scared to get outside their houses.
To protect their families, the villagers would put food in front of their doors. They believed that after the Nian ate the food they prepared, it wouldn’t attack any more people. One day villagers saw that the Nian was scared away by a child wearing red. So they began to decorate the village with red lanterns and red scrolls.



Eventually the village sage convinced the villagers to conquer their fear and get outside to play gongs and drums and set off fireworks. Supposedly the noise would scare the beast away from their village. They repeated this every year, and it became a ritual for them.
Then one year at the time of the festival, a traveler appears on the road, he became curious of the noise and enters the village. Asking them why they make such noise, so villagers told him about the Nian beast.

Then the traveler reveals himself as Hongjun Laozu, the immortal and great teacher of Tao.


He leaves the village for the mountain, determined to subdue the Nian beast to The Way of Tao. Hongjun Laozu has successfully found the beast and subdued it to his will to cleanse the mountain of all other dangerous beasts. From then on Hongjun Laozu uses the Nian beast as his mount and rides it over the China.



This story is my interpretation of the original myths that surround the folklore and rituals of Lunar New Year. Today, January 31st is the beginning of the Year of the Horse. Traditionally, Chinese Year Festival, was a time to honor ancestors and deities and it's a truly family holiday, when family reunites at reunion dinner.

On the occasion of Lunar New Year, Year of the Horse, We The People will offer, in it's well known Feed The World program, some themed cupcakes 🙂



Also join us on our forums in our B.L.I.T.Z.E.N thread and share some pictures, you'll win stuff, every picture gets a tank and the best picture gets a reward of 100cc








Cheers,