Spring Festival is the most solemn and distinctive traditional festival among the people in China, which marks the end of the old year and the beginning of the new year. Spring Festival generally refers to New Year's Eve and the first day of the first month. However, among the people, the traditional Spring Festival refers to the sacrificial rites from La Worship on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month or on the 23rd or 24th of the twelfth lunar month to the 15th day of the first lunar month, with New Year's Eve and the first day of the first lunar month as the climax. During the Spring Festival, the Han nationality and many ethnic minorities in our country will hold various activities to celebrate. The main contents of these activities are offering sacrifices to the gods and buddhas, paying homage to ancestors, getting rid of the old and spreading the new, welcoming the new year, and praying for a good harvest. The activities are rich and colorful, with strong national characteristics.

the origin of the spring festival

the spring festival is also called the lunar year, commonly known as "new year" and "new year". The Spring Festival symbolizes unity, prosperity and new hopes for the future. According to records, the people of China have celebrated the Spring Festival for more than 4,111 years, which was initiated by Yu Shun. One day more than two thousand years BC, Shun was the emperor, leading his subordinates to worship heaven and earth. Since then, people have regarded this day as the beginning of the year, which is the first day of the first month. It is said that this is the origin of the Lunar New Year, which was later called the Spring Festival. The Spring Festival used to be called New Year's Day. The month in which the Spring Festival is held is called January.

The first day of the first month is called Yuanri, Yuanchen, Yuanzheng, Yuanshuo, New Year's Day, Suidan, Shoushou, Suichao, Xinzheng, Shouzuo, Sanyuan or Nian, and Chinese New Year. Since the first year of Emperor Taizhu of the Han Dynasty, the first day of the first month of the summer year (lunar calendar) is regarded as "Shoushou" (that is, "Nian"), and the date of the annual festival. New Year's Day is called "New Year's Day" in ancient times. After the Revolution of 1911 in 1911, the Gregorian calendar (Gregorian calendar) was adopted to count years, so it was called "New Year's Day" on October 1 of Gregorian calendar and "Spring Festival" on the first day of the first lunar month. The state attaches great importance to the protection of intangible cultural heritage. On May 21, 2116, the folk custom of "Spring Festival" was approved by the State Council to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage lists.

Spring Festival custom

The 23rd and 24th of the twelfth lunar month

The 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, also known as "off-year", is a day for people to worship stoves. The folk song "Twenty-three, Sweet Melon Sticks" refers to the sacrificial stove on the 23rd or 24th of the twelfth lunar month every year. There is a saying that "officials, three people, four boatmen and five", that is, the government holds the sacrificial stove on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the ordinary people hold it on the 24th, and house boat holds it on the 25th.

offering sacrifices to a stove is a very popular custom with great influence among the people in our country. In the old days, almost every kitchen had a "kitchen god" god. People call this god "the Bodhisattva who commands the life" or "the kitchen master commands the life". It is said that he is the "Nine-day East Chef who commands the kitchen palace" sealed by the Jade Emperor, who is responsible for managing the kitchen fires of various families and is worshipped as the protector of a family. Kitchen God niches are mostly located in the north or east of the kitchen, with the gods of Kitchen God in the middle. Some people who don't have a niche for the kitchen king also paste the gods directly on the wall. Some gods only draw one kitchen god, while others have two men and women. The goddess is called "Grandma Kitchen King". This is probably an imitation of the image of a human couple. Most of the statues of the Kitchen God are also printed with the calendar of this year, with the words "the chef in the East is in charge", "the guardian of the world" and "the head of the family" written on them to show the status of the Kitchen God. On both sides, there are couplets of "Heaven says good things, and the lower world keeps peace" to bless the peace of the whole family.

Kitchen God has been staying at home since last year's New Year's Eve to protect and supervise the family. On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the Kitchen God will ascend to heaven and report the good deeds or evil deeds of this family to the Jade Emperor in heaven. The ceremony of sending the Kitchen God is called "sending the kitchen" or "resigning the kitchen". According to the report of the Kitchen God, the Jade Emperor entrusted the family with the fate of good fortune and bad fortune in the new year. Therefore, for a family, the report of the kitchen god is really of great interest.

Sending stoves is usually held at dusk. The family first went to the kitchen, set the table, offered incense to the kitchen god in the shrine on the kitchen wall, and offered candied melons made of caramel and flour. Then the bamboo sticks are tied into paper horses and fodder for animals. Sacrificing the kitchen god with caramel is to make his old man's mouth sweet. In some places, sugar is also coated around the mouth of the kitchen god, saying, "Say more good things, but don't say bad things." This is to gag the kitchen god with sugar and tell him not to speak ill. In the Tang Dynasty's book "The Chronicle of the Old Age", there is an occasional record that "Si Ming (Kitchen God) was drunk by applying distiller's grains on the stove". After people painted the mouth of the kitchen god with sugar, they took off the idol and ascended to heaven with paper and smoke. In some places, sesame stalks and pine branches are piled up in the yard at night, and then the statue of the kitchen king, which has been offered for one year, is taken out of the shrine, together with paper horses and fodder, and set on fire. The courtyard was brightly lit by the fire, and at this time, the family kowtowed around the fire, burning and praying: It is the 23rd this year, and I would like to send the kitchen ruler to the Western Heaven. There are strong horses and forage, and you will arrive safely. The candied melons are sweet and sweet. Please speak kindly to the Jade Emperor.

In some places, there were several beggars who disguised themselves, sang songs and danced to send Kitchen God from house to house, named "Send Kitchen God", in exchange for food.

the custom of sending stoves is very common in all parts of China. Mr. Lu Xun once wrote the poem "A Gengzi sends a stove as a matter of fact": only chicken gum is candy, and the clothes are for petals. If there is nothing at home, there are only a few antelope.

He said in his essay "On the Day of Sending Kitchen Stove": "On the day when Kitchen Jun ascended to heaven, there was still a kind of sugar on the street, which was the size of a citrus, and we also had it there, but it was flat, like a thick pancake. That's the so-called' gum tooth'. The original intention is to invite the kitchen king to eat it and stick his teeth so that he can't talk ill of the jade emperor. "The allusion to' Antelope' in Lu Xun's poems comes from" The Biography of Yin Shi in the Later Han Dynasty ":"When Emperor Xuandi was proclaimed, the Yin Zi Fang was the most filial and kind. Cooking in the morning on the twelfth day, and seeing the kitchen god, the child will worship and be celebrated again; There is an antelope in the family, so it is worshipped. Naturally, after the third, it became extremely rich. I know the third world, but I am prosperous. Therefore, I often recommend the antelope to worship the stove in the twelfth day. " Yin Zifang saw the kitchen god and sacrificed the antelope. Later, she made good luck. Since then, the custom of sacrificing the antelope to the kitchen has been handed down.

The offerings for offering sacrifices to stoves in the Tang and Song Dynasties were quite rich. Fan Chengda, a poet in the Song Dynasty, wrote a very vivid description of the folk sacrifice of stoves at that time: the ancient legend of the twelfth lunar month, the kitchen king spoke to the sky. Clouds, cars, and horses linger, and there are cups and plates at home. The pig's head is cooked, the fish is fresh, and the bean paste and Gan Song rice bait are round. When a man offers his daughter to avoid, he drinks and burns money. You don't smell the struggle of your servant, and you don't feel angry when your cat and dog touch you. Send you to the heavenly gate drunk and full, and don't repeat the clouds with a long spoon and a short spoon, begging for points from the market.

The sacrificial stove on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month is closely related to the Chinese New Year. Because, a week later, on New Year's Eve, the Kitchen God came to the world with the good and bad fortune that the family should get, together with other gods. The Kitchen God is considered to guide the gods in the sky. Other gods ascended to heaven again after the new year, and only the kitchen god will stay in other people's kitchens for a long time. The ceremony to greet the gods is called "receiving the gods", and it is called "receiving the stove" for the kitchen god. It is usually on New Year's Eve to pick up the stove, and the ceremony is much simpler. At that time, just put on a new stove lamp and burn incense in front of the stove niche.

As the saying goes, "Men don't Yue Bai, and women don't sacrifice stoves". In some places, women don't sacrifice stoves. It is said that the kitchen god looks like a small white face and is afraid of women's sacrifice stoves, which is "suspected of men and women". For the origin of the kitchen god, it has a long history. Among the folk gods in China, the qualification of Kitchen God is very old. As early as the Xia Dynasty, he was already a great god revered by the people. According to the ancient book "The Book of Rites and Rites", Kong Yingda said: "Zhuan Xu's son Rili is a Zhu Rong, and he is worshipped as the kitchen god." "Zhuangzi Dasheng" records: "The stove has a bun." Sima Biao commented: "bun, kitchen god, dressed in red, looks like a beautiful woman." "Bao Puzi. Wei Zhi" also records: "On a dark night, the Kitchen God also accused the white man of sin." These records are probably the source of the kitchen god. Also, or the kitchen god is a "suiren" who digs wood for fire; Or Shennong's "fire officer"; Or "Su Jili" of "The Yellow Emperor cooks"; Or the kitchen god surnamed Zhang, the list, and the word Guo; Opinions vary.

Due to different local customs, there are also activities of "jumping the kitchen king" and "beating the kitchen king" among the people.

On the festival of offering sacrifices to stoves, the people pay attention to eating jiaozi, which means "seeing jiaozi off to the windward". Eat more cakes and buckwheat noodles in mountainous areas. In the southeast of Shanxi, the custom of eating fried corn is popular, and the folk proverb says, "Twenty-three, don't eat fried, on the New Year's Eve-one pot pours." People like to bond fried corn with maltose and freeze it into chunks, which tastes crisp and sweet.

There are two folk songs circulating in the southeast of Shanxi. One is "Twenty-three, sending the master to heaven; Twenty-four, sweep the house; Twenty-five, steamed dumplings; Twenty-six, cut the meat; Twenty-seven, tin cleaner; Twenty-eight, sloppy; Twenty-nine, wash your feet; On the 31th, door gods and couplets were posted together. It shows that time is tight and the preparation work is tense. The second is a nursery rhyme: "Twenty-three, sacrifice the stove, children clap their hands and laugh." In five or six days, the New Year will come. Evil box, playing with walnuts, dropping two cannons. Wuzi's ping-pong sounded and the fire rose higher than the sky. " It reflects children's exultation in looking forward to the New Year. In all preparations, cutting and pasting window grilles is the most popular folk activity. There are all kinds of animal and plant stories, such as the magpie's plum blossom, the swallow's peach willow, the peacock's peony, the lion's rolling hydrangea, the three sheep's (Yang's) opening Thailand, the two dragons' playing pearls, the deer crane's toon (Liuhe Tongchun), the five bats' (Fu's) holding longevity, the rhinoceros's looking at the moon, the lotus (Lian's) year with fish (the rest), the mandarin ducks' playing in the water, There are also all kinds of drama stories. Folk customs have the saying that "Da Deng Dian, Er Du Mei, San Niang taught in four places, five women offered birthday felicitations, six In the snow, Tianhe on July 7th, and nine clothes for the Eight Immortals to celebrate their birthday", which reflects the folk preference for drama stories. In a family with a new wife, the new wife should bring all kinds of window grilles cut by herself, go back to her husband's house and paste the windows, and the neighbors will come to watch them. After the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, every household will steam steamed buns. Generally speaking, it can be divided into two types: worshipping God and visiting relatives. The former is solemn, while the latter is flowery. In particular, it is necessary to make a jujube mountain to be dedicated to the kitchen god. "A steamed bun, neighbors come to help". This is often a great opportunity for folk women to show their dexterity. A steamed bun is a handicraft.

After the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, every household should write Spring Festival couplets. Folks pay attention to the fact that God must post it, every door must post it, and everything must post it, so the Spring Festival couplets have the largest number and the most complete content. The couplets in front of the gods are particularly particular, and most of them are words of admiration and blessing. There is a common connection between heaven and earth: "the grace of heaven is as deep as the sea, and the virtue of earth is as heavy as the mountain"; Land god union: "white jade is born in the soil, and gold is born in the ground"; Fortune Union: "God of wealth in heaven, God of fortune on earth"; Jingshenlian: "Well can reach the four seas, and home can reach the three rivers". The Spring Festival couplets in granaries and barns are all expressions of warm celebration and hope. For example, "the grain is abundant and the six livestock are prosperous"; "The rice surface is as thick as a mountain and the oil and salt are as deep as the sea"; "Cows are like tigers in the South Mountain and horses are like dragons in the North Sea"; "Big sheep are flourishing every year, and little lambs are increasing every month" and so on. There are also some single couplets, such as "Looking up to see happiness" in every room, "Going out to see happiness" on the opposite side of the door, "Prosperous spirit soaring to the sky" on the fire, "Full courtyard is full of gold" on the tree, "Deep roots and lush foliage" on the stone mill and so on. The couplets on the gate are the facade of a family, which are paid special attention to, or lyrical, or written, with rich content and witty remarks.

After the stove festival was held, preparations for the Chinese New Year were officially started. Every year from the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month to New Year's Eve, Chinese folks call this period "Spring Festival" or "Dust-cleaning Day". Sweeping the dust is the year-end cleaning, which is called "sweeping the house" in the north and "dusting" in the south. It is a traditional habit of our people to sweep the dust before the Spring Festival. Whenever the Spring Festival comes, every household should clean the environment, clean all kinds of appliances, tear down and wash bedding curtains, sweep the six yards, dust cobwebs and dredge open channels and culverts. North and south of the great river, everywhere is filled with the atmosphere of being happy to engage in sanitation and welcoming the Spring Festival cleanly.

The custom of "sweeping the house with dust on the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month" has a long history. According to "Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals", China had the custom of sweeping dust during the Spring Festival in the Yao and Shun era. According to the folk saying, because of the homonym of "dust" and "Chen", sweeping dust in the Spring Festival has the meaning of "except Chen Buxin", and its intention is to sweep away all "poor luck" and "bad luck". This custom is entrusted with people's desire to break through the old and establish the new and their prayer to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new.

"Three-corpse God" Taoism is called "God" who worships in the human body. According to "Taishang Three Corpses Classic", "The name of the upper corpse is Peng Shu, which is in the head; The name of the Chinese corpse is Peng, which is in the human abdomen; The name of the corpse is Peng Jiao, who is in the human foot. " He also said that on the day of Geng Shen, they went to heaven to tell Emperor Chen about human sins. But as long as people stay up all night, it can be avoided, which is called "keeping Geng Shen"

Eat stove candy, which is a kind of maltose with high viscosity. It is called "Guandong candy" when it is drawn into a long candy stick, and it is called "candied melon" when it is drawn into a flat round shape. Put it outside the house in winter, because the weather is cold, the candied melon solidifies firmly and there are some tiny bubbles inside, which tastes crisp, sweet and crisp and has a special flavor. True Guandong sugar is so hard that it can't be broken when it falls. It must be split with a kitchen knife when eating, and the material is very heavy and fine. The taste is slightly sour, there is no honeycomb in the middle, each piece weighs one or two, two or four, and the price is more expensive. There are two kinds of sugar, sesame and non-sesame. The sugar is made into melon shape or north melon shape. The center is empty, and the skin thickness is less than five points. Although the size is different, the transaction is still calculated by weight. The big candied melon weighs one or two kilograms, but it is used as a cover, and few people buy it.

Twenty-five of the twelfth lunar month

The old custom holds that after the kitchen god went to heaven, the Jade Emperor personally went down on the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month to investigate the good and evil on earth and decide the fortunes of the coming year. Therefore, every family offered a blessing to it, which is called "receiving the Jade Emperor". On this day, we should be careful in our daily life and words, and strive for good performance in order to win the favor of the Jade Emperor and bring good fortune to the coming year.

Seeing the Kitchen God off until New Year's Eve, during which there is no God's jurisdiction on earth. In all is forgiven, people often marry, which is called "getting rid of chaos". Luannian is a specific period designed by the people for themselves to adjust social life. At the end of the year, people have leisure and savings, which is a good opportunity for those who rarely have the energy to do big things. Therefore, people invented this special time folk custom according to the needs of real life. It can be seen that in traditional society, people's living order is regulated by folk customs.

Zhaotian Silkworm, also known as "burning field silkworm" and "burning field wealth", is a popular folk custom of praying for the New Year in the south of the Yangtze River. On the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month, the long pole tied with the torch will stand in the field, and the flame will be used to predict the New Year, and the flourishing flame will herald a bumper harvest in the coming year. This activity is held in some places on New Year's Eve.

Thousand Lantern Festival is a religious festival of Mongolian and Daur. Mongolian is called "Minggan Zhuola", which means Thousand Lights Festival. On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth lunar month, I made "Minggan Zhuola" and lit it in the temple, thinking that the more I ordered, the more auspicious it would be. This festival custom is the most popular among Mongolians in Vilat, Xinjiang. On this day, local people eat roast beef and mutton and hold traditional sports and recreational activities.

Twenty-seventh day of the twelfth lunar month

In traditional folk customs, it is necessary to take a bath and wash clothes intensively in these two days to get rid of the bad luck of the whole year and prepare for the Spring Festival next year. There is a proverb in Beijing that "twenty-seven washes the sick and twenty-eight washes the sloppy". Bathing on the 26th day of the twelfth lunar month is "washing Fulu".

On the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month

The day before New Year's Eve is called "Little New Year's Eve" and wine is served at home.