梗概

Paste Spring Festival Couplets

Long ago，one of Donghai’s mountains had a peach forest that housed an exceptionally large peach tree．Two brothers，Shentu and Yulei，lived underneath this tree and were guardians of the forest．

Behind this forest，all kinds of demons lived inside a cave．Although they were terrified of the brothers，the demons still wished to leave the cave to cause mischief．One night，Mother Demon gathered all the demons together and said，“We can’t always be guarded like this！We must leave this place！”Demon Cuxia succeeded in stealing the brothers’ weapons while they slept，so all the demons left the cave and caused trouble amongst mankind．

At this time，Shentu and Yulei woke up and discovered that the demons had stolen their weapons．Angrily，the brothers each snapped a branch off the large peach tree and flew after them．When they swept the branches over the demons’ heads，the demons sank to the ground submissively，and the brothers brought them back to the cave．

During New Year’s afterwards，numerous people wrote “Shentu”and “Yulei”on strips of bark from the peach tree and hung them on the two sides of their doors．This was the earliest form of the Spring Festival couplet．Later，when Ming Dynasty king Zhu Yuanzhang made Nanjing the capital，he ordered everyone to paste Spring Festival couplets written on red paper on their doors．That is why this action has become a social custom．