1, the twenty-third of the lunar month, the sacrificial stove
China's Spring Festival, generally from the sacrificial stove to open the prelude. Zaosai, is a very influential in China's folk customs, widely spread. In the old days, almost every house had a "Zao Wang" god in the stove.
2, Lunar New Year's Eve dust sweeping
"Lunar New Year's Eve, dust sweeping the house", according to "Lushi Chunqiu" records, China in the era of Yao and Shun on the Spring Festival dust sweeping custom. According to folklore: because the "dust" and "Chen" consonant, dust sweeping in the New Year has "in addition to the meaning of Chen Bu Xin", the intention is to all the poor luck, bad luck, swept out the door. This custom is a symbol of people's desire to break away from the old and bring in the new and their prayers for the old and the new. Whenever the Spring Festival comes, every household has to clean up the environment, wash all kinds of appliances, dismantle the bedding curtains, sprinkle clean the courtyard, dust dust cobwebs, dredge the nullahs and ditches. Everywhere overflowing with joyful health, clean and welcome the new year's atmosphere of joy.
3, Lunar New Year's Eve 25 to receive the Jade Emperor
The old custom is that after the God of the stove in the sky, the Jade Emperor in the lunar calendar on the 25th day of the twelfth month to personally down to the world, to check the earth's good and evil, and set the next year's misfortune, so all the family sacrifices to pray for blessings, known as the "receiving Jade Emperor". On this day, people should be careful in their living and speaking, and strive for good performance in order to win the favor of the Jade Emperor and bring down blessings in the coming year.
4, Lunar New Year 27, 28 bath
Traditional folklore in these two days to focus on bathing, laundry, remove the bad luck of the year, in preparation for the next year's New Year, the capital has "27 wash guilt, 28 wash sloppy" proverb. Lunar New Year's Eve bath for "wash the blessing of Lu".
5, Lunar New Year's Eve on the thirtieth posting the God of the Door, posting the Spring Festival couplets, the New Year's Eve, firecrackers, eat New Year's Eve dinner, to the New Year's Eve money, ancestor worship
New Year's Eve is the meaning of the "month is poor and the year is up", people have to get rid of the old Department of the new, there is the old year to this year, the next year another change in the new year's meaning is the lunar calendar throughout the year, the last night. Therefore, the activities during this period are centered around the old part of the new, eliminate disasters and pray for blessings as the center.
All over China, there is the custom of posting the door god on New Year's Eve. The first door god is carved mahogany as a human figure, hanging next to the person, and later is painted into the door god portrait posted on the door.
One of the origins of Spring Festival couplets is the peach charm. Initially, people used peach wood to carve human figures and hang them next to the door to ward off evil spirits. Later, they drew portraits of door deities on peach wood, and then simplified the process by inscribing the names of the door deities on the mahogany boards.
Pastes the lucky character, pastes the windowpane, pastes the New Year's picture, pastes the hanging thousand. All of these have the folkloric function of praying for blessings and decorating one's residence. New Year's paintings are an ancient folk art in China, reflecting the customs and beliefs of the people, and holding the hope of people for the future.
Watch the New Year's Eve, China's folk in the New Year's Eve has the habit of watching the New Year's Eve, commonly known as "boiled years". The New Year's Eve vigil begins with the New Year's Eve dinner, which is eaten slowly, from the time of the lamp, some people have to eat late into the night. According to the record of "Jing Chu Yearly Records", there was a custom of having New Year's Eve dinner at least in the North and South Dynasties. The custom of keeping the New Year's Eve is both a parting gesture to the passing years and an expression of hope for the coming New Year.
Crackers, Chinese folk "open door firecrackers" said. That is, the arrival of the new year, the first thing that families open the door is to set off firecrackers, to beep, bla bla bla firecrackers to get rid of the old and welcome the new. Firecrackers is a Chinese specialty, also known as "firecrackers", "cannonballs", "firecrackers". Its origin is very early, so far has a history of more than two thousand years. Setting off firecrackers can create a festive and lively atmosphere, and is a kind of entertainment activity during festivals, which can bring joy and good fortune to people. Wang Anshi's poem "New Year's Day":
The spring breeze sends warmth to the people.
Thousands of doors and tens of thousands of pupils of the sun.
Always replacing the new peach with the old one.
It depicts the grand festive scene of Chinese people celebrating the Spring Festival.
Eating New Year's Eve dinner is the most lively and enjoyable time for families in the Spring Festival. On New Year's Eve. Abundant New Year's dishes on the table, the whole family reunion, sitting around the table, *** eat a reunion dinner, the heart of the fullness is really hard to describe.
To the New Year's Eve money, New Year's Eve money is sent by the elders of the younger generation, some families are eating New Year's Eve dinner, everyone sitting at the table is not allowed to go, and so we all ate, by the elders sent to the younger generation, and encourage children and grandchildren to learn in the new year to make progress, and do a good job.
Ancestor worship, ancient times this ritual is very prosperous. Because of the different rituals and customs of different places, the form of ancestor worship also varies, some go to the field to visit the ancestral tomb, some go to the ancestral temple to worship ancestors, but most of the ancestors at home will be placed in the ancestral tablets in order in the main hall, display offerings, and then the worshippers according to the order of the eldest and youngest on the incense and kneeling worship.
6, the first day of the first month of the New Year
The morning of the Spring Festival, open the door for good luck, the first firecrackers, called "open the door cannonball". After the sound of firecrackers, broken red all over the ground, brilliant as a cloud of brocade, known as "full red". At this time, the street is full of gas, joyful.
An important activity in the Spring Festival is to new friends and neighbors to congratulate the New Year, the old term for New Year's Eve. The first day of the New Year, people are up early, put on the most beautiful clothes, dressed neatly, go out to visit friends and relatives, each other to pay tribute to the New Year, wishing good luck in the coming year. Worship a variety of ways, some of them are the same clan leader led a number of people to go door to door to pay tribute to the New Year; there are colleagues invited a few people to pay tribute to the New Year; there are also get together to congratulate each other, known as the "group worship". Because of the time-consuming and laborious New Year's visit, some upper-class people and scholars later used the posters to congratulate each other, which developed into the later "New Year's Pieces". Spring Festival to pay tribute to the New Year, the younger generation should first pay tribute to the elders, wishing the elders a long life and well-being, the elders can be prepared in advance of the New Year's money to the younger generation, it is said that the New Year's money can be pressed to the evil spirits, because of the "age" and the "spirit" harmonic, the elders to get the New Year's money can be peaceful and safe! The new year's money is a good way to keep the evil spirits at bay.
7, temple fair
The temple fair is most Chinese people's Spring Festival complex, but also an indispensable annual tradition. Spring Festival temple fair is the earliest folk religious ceremonies, temple fair time, usually by monks, Taoist priests to do "magic" or "dojo" to worship God, people also want to incense pilgrimage, wishing, wishing, seeking blessings. During the temple fair, there are also vendors and folk art performances. There are many traditional events in the temple fair that have a long history and are loved by the people, such as lion dance, dragon dance, rice-planting song, stilt walker, dry boat running, and so on.
8, watch the social fire
In addition to the temple fair, folk self-performance of self-entertainment of the social fire is also a long history of the New Year's entertainment. Social fire originated from the ancient worship of the land god and fire god. Social, that is, the land god; fire, that is, fire ancestor, is the legendary fire god. In China, which is famous for its agricultural culture, land is the foundation of people's foothold, and it lays the material foundation for the survival and development of human beings. Fire, is the source of cooked food and warmth, but also essential to the survival and development of mankind, ancient people with primitive thinking that fire also has a "spirit", and regarded as a special meaning of the gods to be worshipped, so the formation of the concept of fire. Ancient land and fire worship, produced the custom of sacrificing to the community and fire. With the development of society, the rituals of the fire gradually become a grand scale, rich in content, a variety of forms of folk entertainment.
9, Dragon Dance
Dragon Dance, also known as "playing dragon lanterns", "dragon lantern dance", is one of the traditional dance forms of the Han Chinese people. It is a traditional dance form of the Han Chinese people. The dragon dance is practiced everywhere during festivals and celebrations.
The Dragon Dance originated in the Han Dynasty and has been practiced through the ages. The dragon dance was initially used as a ritual to worship ancestors and pray for sweet rain, and then gradually became a recreational activity. In the Tang and Song dynasties, the dragon dance was a common form of expression during the New Year's festivals.
On the origin of the Dragon Dance, there is a folk legend: one day, the Dragon King's back pain was unbearable, all the drugs in the Dragon Palace ate, but still not effective. Had to turn into an old man came to the earth to seek medical treatment. The doctor touched the pulse was very strange, asked: "You are not a person, right! The dragon king saw no way to hide, had to tell the truth. So the doctor let him back to his original form, from the waist of the scale armor to catch a centipede. After the poison was removed and medicine was applied, the dragon king recovered completely. In order to thank him for his treatment, the king said to the doctor, "If you make a dragon dance as I do, you will have good weather and good harvests. After this incident, people thought that the dragon can make rain, every drought will dance dragon to pray for rain, and there are spring dance green dragon, summer dance red dragon, autumn dance white dragon, winter dance black dragon rules.
10, Lion Dance
Lion Dance, also known as "playing the lion", "Lion Dance", it is the same as the Dragon Dance, is China's traditional form of dance, but also a popular folk sports activities. It is also a popular folk sports activity. The lion dance is also performed at Chinese New Year or celebrations.
The lion dance began in the North and South Dynasties. In China, there are many different forms of lion dance, which can be roughly categorized into northern lion dance and southern lion dance. The appearance of the northern lion dance is very similar to the real lion, the whole body covered with a lion phi, lion dancers (generally two people dance a big lion) only feet, not see their people. Northern lion dance has female and male points, as well as cultural lion, martial arts lion, into the lion, cub lion points.
Southern lion dance is mainly popular in Guangdong. This kind of lion dance consists of one person dancing the lion's head and one person dancing the lion's tail. The shape, style and color of the lion are different from the northern lion. The lion dancers wear a variety of lantern pants, on the top of the Mignon buttons of the Tang suit lantern sleeve shirt or undershirt, visible lion dancers all over the body. The lion dance should make every effort
Why do people especially like the lion dance at the Spring Festival? Legend has it that in the early Ming Dynasty, a monster appeared in Foshan, Guangdong Province, and at the turn of the new year and the old year, it would come out and trample on the crops, harming people and animals, and the people complained of endless suffering. Later, someone suggested to use lion dance to scare the beast, and it worked, the beast escaped. The local people believe that the lion has the power to drive away evil spirits and suppress demons, there are auspicious signs, so every Spring Festival will beat gongs and drums, door-to-door, lion dance to pay tribute to the New Year in order to eliminate disasters and harm, the forecast of auspiciousness.
Second, the Spring Festival food customs
In the ancient agricultural society, about since the eighth day of the first month of the Lunar New Year, housewives will be busy opening the New Year's food. Because of the long time needed to curing preserved meat, so it must be prepared as early as possible, many provinces in China have the custom of curing preserved meat, which is most famous in Guangdong Province, preserved meat.
Steaming rice cakes, which are known as "nian gao" (年高), and have a wide variety of flavors, have become a must-have food for almost every family. There are square-shaped yellow and white rice cakes, symbolizing gold and silver, which are meant to bring wealth in the New Year. The flavor of rice cakes varies from place to place. Beijingers enjoy red date rice cakes, white rice cakes and white rice cakes made from river rice or yellow rice. People in Hebei like to add jujubes, small red beans and mung beans to their rice cakes and steam them together. Northwest mountains in Inner Mongolia and other places, New Year's Eve used to eat yellow rice flour fried rice cakes, some also wrapped with bean paste, date paste and other fillings, Shandong people with yellow rice, red dates steamed rice cakes. Northern rice cakes are mainly sweet, or steamed or fried, some people simply dip sugar to eat. In the south, rice cakes are both sweet and salty, such as those in Suzhou and Ningbo, which are made of round-grained rice and have a light flavor. In addition to steaming and deep-frying, they can also be sliced and stir-fried or boiled in soup. Sweet rice cakes are made from glutinous rice flour with sugar, lard, roses, osmanthus, mint, and veggie paste, and are finely crafted. They can be steamed directly or dipped in egg white and deep-fried.
Dumplings, the northern New Year's Eve dinner has a tradition of eating dumplings, but the custom of eating dumplings varies from place to place, some places eat dumplings on New Year's Eve, some places eat dumplings on the first day of the year, some mountainous areas in the north, there is a first day of the year to the first five every morning to eat dumplings of the custom. Eating dumplings is a unique way to express people's desire to pray for good luck and good fortune at the time of saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new. According to China's ancient timekeeping system, the period from 11:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. the next day is called "Zi Zi" (子时). "This is the time when the New Year meets the Old Year. Dumplings mean that the new year is intersecting with the old one, and eating dumplings for Chinese New Year is considered to be a great luck. In addition, dumplings are shaped like Yuanbao, so wrapping them means wrapping up good fortune and eating them symbolizes a rich life.
The night before the real New Year is called the Night of Reunion, when people who are away from home have to travel thousands of miles to come back home, and the whole family has to sit together to make dumplings for the New Year, the way to make dumplings is to make dumplings skin first, and then use the skin to wrap up the stuffing, and the stuffing content is various, various kinds of meat, eggs, seafood, seasonal vegetables and so on can be put into the stuffing, and the orthodox way of eating dumplings is to boil it in water, and then fish it up to be accompanied by vinegar, garlic, soy sauce and sesame oil. The orthodox way of eating dumplings is to boil them in water and then dip them in soy sauce flavored with vinegar, garlic, and sesame oil. There are also ways to eat fried dumplings and branded dumplings (pot stickers). This is because the word "he" (和) means "to merge" (合), and the words "饺子" (饺子) and "交" (交), which mean "to merge" and "to merge" (合), harmonize with each other. The words "合" and "交" have the meaning of getting together, so dumplings are used to symbolize reunion and happiness; they are also taken as the meaning of a new year's handover, which is very auspicious; in addition, dumplings resemble a Yuanbao (元宝), so eating dumplings on New Year's Day carries the auspicious meaning of "inviting wealth and prosperity" (招财進宝). In addition, eating dumplings on New Year's Day also carries the auspicious meaning of "inviting wealth and prosperity". Families get together to make dumplings and talk about the New Year in a happy way.
Yuanxiao, Lantern Festival, Taoism called the "Festival of the first yuan". According to the Yuan dynasty Yi Tu Zhen "(female + Lang) ring ring record" cited "three Yu post" records: Chang'e ran to the moon, Yi miss into illness. On the night of the fourteenth day of the first month, there was suddenly a child to see, claiming to be Chang'e's make, said: "Mrs. know Jun Waisi, there is no way to get down, tomorrow is the full moon of the wait, you should be made of rice flour pills, balls such as the moon, placed in the room north-west, called Mrs.'s name, the three nights can be down and." Yi as the law, Chang'e really descended. Visible Lantern Festival to eat Lantern, is to take the "dough as the moon" of the auspicious meaning.
Ming Dynasty, the Lantern Festival in Beijing has been very common, the practice is no different from today. The Qing dynasty during the Kangxi period, the court prevailed in the "eight treasures Yuanxiao", Ma Si Yuan Yuan Yuanxiao. In the early years of the Republic of China, Yuan Shikai ordered the banning of yuanyuanxiao because it sounded the same as yuanyuanxiao (袁消). In addition to river rice noodles, there are sticky sorghum noodles and yellow rice noodles used in the Lantern Festival. The fillings include osmanthus white sugar, white sugar of mountain residue, assorted, bean paste, date paste, etc. The shape is either as big as a kernel or as big as a small one. Shape, or as large as walnuts, there are also small as soybean "hundred children Tangyuan", there are solid round and thin skin "Lu Pi Tangyuan".