Chinese red alert

Fifteen days of tradition from the twenty-third of january this (new) year – in Paris too.

According to chinese legend, New Year started with a mythical beast
called the Nian (a beast that lives under the sea or in the mountains)
The beast would eat villagers, especially children in the middle of the night.
At a time, all the villagers decided to hide from the beast.
An older man said that he would stay the night to revenge on the beast.
The old man put red papers up and set off firecrackers.
The day after, the villagers saw afterwards that nothing had been destroyed.
They assumed that the old man was a deity who came to save them.
The villagers then understood then it was discovered
that the beast was afraid of the color red and loud noises.
Then the tradition grew when New Year was approaching,
the villagers would wear red clothes,
hang red lanterns, red scrolls on windows and doors.
Also used firecrackers and drums to frighten away the beast.
From then on, that beast never came to the village again.