Spring Festival customs in Chaoshan area:

There are many customs and activities in Chaoshan area that are different from those in Central Plains.

first, the door-pasting gods and Spring Festival couplets

At the beginning of the new year, the first thing is the door-pasting gods and couplets. On New Year's Eve (or 29th), every household goes to the streets to buy Spring Festival couplets, and those who are interested in it also spread paper and splash ink to make spring fun, decorating the doors inside and outside the house.

The keeper is said to be shentu and Yu Lei who can catch ghosts. The Book of the Yellow Emperor was quoted in Ying Shao's Custom Pass in the Eastern Han Dynasty, saying: In ancient times, there were two brothers, Yulei, who lived on Dushuo Mountain, and there was a peach tree on the mountain with a shade like a cover. Every morning, they pick up ghosts under this tree. If an evil spirit harms the world, tie it up and feed it to the tiger. Later, people painted portraits of shentu and Yu Lei on two mahogany boards and hung them on both sides of the door to ward off evil spirits. In the Southern Dynasties, Liang Zonggu's Record of the Age of Jingchu, it was recorded that on the first day of the first month, "making a peach board to touch the door is called immortal wood, painting two gods to stick to the door, leaving shentu on the left and Yu Lei on the right, and the custom is called the door god." However, the real keeper recorded in history books is not shentu and Yu Lei, but an ancient warrior named Cheng qin. In the biography of Han Guang Chuan written by Ban Gu, it is recorded that the portrait of Cheng qin, an ancient warrior, was painted on the door of the temple of King Guang Chuan (Qubing), with a short coat and trousers and a long sword. In the Tang Dynasty, the position of the keeper was replaced by Qin Shubao and Wei Chijingde.

The narrative in The Journey to the West is even more detailed: The Dragon King of Jinghe broke the dogma in order to make a bet with a diviner, and he should be punished. The Jade Emperor appointed Wei Zhi as the supervisor. The King of Jinghe pleaded with Emperor Taizong for his life. Emperor Taizong agreed, and when the dragon was killed, he summoned Wei Zhi to play against him. Unexpectedly, Wei Zhi took a nap under the rain, and his soul ascended to heaven and beheaded the Dragon King. The Dragon King complained that Taizong had broken his word and cried for his life outside the palace day and night. Emperor Taizong told his ministers that Qin Shubao, the general, was willing to stand outside the gate in uniform with Wei Chijingde. Taizong agreed. That night was really nothing. Because Taizong could not bear the hardships of the two generals, he ordered the skillful painter Dan Qing; Draw a picture of two generals and stick it on the door. Later generations followed each other, so these two generals became the gatekeepers of thousands of families. On the two gates of some old-style gatehouses in Chaoshan today, we can also see shentu, Yu Lei or two valiant warriors, whose images seem to be the same, but after careful observation, one of them holds Strafe and the other holds an iron mace. Wei Chijingde is the whip bearer and Qin Qiong is the mace bearer.

Door couplets are also developed from Taofu. Originally, people painted shentu and Yu Lei on mahogany boards and hung them on two doors. Later, the portrait was changed to a "door" that only wrote. However, two words were written on both sides of the door, and the expression content was limited. People felt that they were not satisfied, so they hung two more mahogany boards on both sides of the door (later changed to paper); Write a pair with more words that can fully reflect the wishes. According to "History of Song Dynasty Shu Family", Meng Xu, the queen of Shu, wrote a poem with the title of bachelor, claiming that he was not working: "New Year's Qing Yu, JiajieNo. Changchun." It is said that this is the earliest Spring Festival couplets in China. In the Ming Dynasty, after Zhu Yuanzhang established Nanjing as his capital, he ordered all families to post couplets, and renamed them Spring Festival couplets, all of which were written in red paper. Legend has it that on one occasion, Zhu Yuanzhang personally visited the people, but only one family did not post Spring Festival couplets. When asked, it turned out that this family was a castrated pig and could not read, so I personally wrote a couplet for him: "Split the path of life and death with both hands and cut off the root of right and wrong with one knife." Due to the vigorous promotion of the past dynasties, the Spring Festival couplets have become a special form of folk literature and art in China. Chaoshan people pay more attention to Spring Festival couplets. It often takes a long time to buy a pair of Spring Festival couplets.

From the Spring Festival couplets posted by various households, we can see different aesthetic tastes and values. Many of them reflect the characteristics of Chaoshan people's diligence, progress, unity and harmony, such as "a harmonious family adds a hundred blessings, and the word peace is worth a thousand dollars", "diligent production of five grains, good management of the family and prosperity of six livestock" and so on. The most famous couplets in Chaoshan are the couplets written by Lin Daqin, a talented Chaozhou scholar in Ming Dynasty, which read "Days increase years, people live longer, and spring is full of work, kunfu is full of happiness". Legend has it that Lin Daqin worked as a private school teacher in his early years. One year, on the first day of the first month, Mrs. Dong's birthday, Mr. Wang was invited to write Spring Festival couplets and birthday couplets. I saw Lin Daqin touch the ink with pen, and wrote this couplet without thinking.

In the Spring Festival couplets in Chaoshan, it is often seen that the word "Spring" with a big bucket is stuck on a single door or on a valley or a niche. The word "spring" has two meanings here: one means that spring returns to the earth and Vientiane is newer; On the first floor, the harmony between "spring" and "existence" is skillfully used to express the good wish of having more than one year. This is similar to the northern people eating fish at a wedding banquet, and the homonym "Yu" has the same effect.

Second, have a family reunion dinner

After every household's house is completely dressed up, New Year's Eve is coming. As a result, housewives are busy preparing for the most abundant and meaningful reunion dinner in a year.

As the name implies, the reunion dinner is a family gathering for dinner during the Chinese New Year, and even the deceased ancestors will not forget it. Therefore, every family must first "worship their husbands" (sacrifice their ancestors) after making a good reunion dinner. When offering sacrifices to ancestors, the incense burner representing ancestors should be removed from the shrine and placed on the altar, and then incense should be burned to pray and the ancestors should be invited to dine. Then the young and the old bow down in order, which fully shows the traditional virtues of the hipsters, who are cautious to the end and pursue the distance, and all the virtues's filial piety is the first. After the sacrifice, the food for ancestor worship is reheated, a big table is set in the hall, and the whole family is sitting in groups. This is a beautiful moment for each family to get together. No matter how far apart they are at ordinary times, or how many bumps there are at ordinary times, the family should also laugh and laugh at this time, and can't say sadness or noise.

After dinner, housewives were busy clearing the table, so a big cleaning activity began. This time, we don't have to pay much attention to cleaning, just for the sake of cleaning, unlike the one at the end of the year, which had to be swept with pine branches and grass. Then he lit a fire in the stove and began to prepare the offering for tomorrow's sacrifice to God-vegetarian food.

There are many kinds of vegetarian dishes, such as taro, sweet potato, jujube, peanut, taro and sweet potato. All the ingredients for vegetarian dishes should be ready at noon and allowed to dry. When frying vegetarian dishes, when the fire is ready, put an iron pot and inject a lot of peanut oil. When the oil boils, mix these materials with powder slurry and put them in the pan, and it will squeak and bubble in the oil pan. When cooked, Huang Chengcheng is especially attractive. At this time, if there are guests at home, the hostess will offer a plate of newly fried vegetarian food, and then soak in mellow congou, so that you can taste the delicious Chaoshan snacks.

Third, greet the God of Wealth and set off firecrackers

In recent years, a popular folk activity is to worship the God of Wealth at midnight. Supposedly, the gods went to heaven on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, and all the immortals on earth went to heaven to "report their work". However, people would rather believe that the God of Wealth still does not forget to benefit the world, and will send wealth to the world at the coming of the Spring Festival. Therefore, every household should pay homage at this time. As a result, the midnight bell rang, firecrackers roared, smoke curled up, as if clouds were auspicious, and the shouts of "the God of Wealth arrived" added a lot of excitement to this midnight. Many books have introduced firecrackers in detail. They were originally used by people to ward off evil spirits and disasters. "The Chronicle of Jingchu's Years Old" states: "The first day of the first month is also the day of three yuan, and the spring and autumn period is the end day, when chickens crow and set off firecrackers in front of the court to rid the devil of the mountain." Zong Yi's book seems to inherit what Dong Fangshuo said in the Western Han Dynasty's "Miraculous Classics and Wild Classics": There are many people in the western mountains, who are more than a foot long and naked, catching shrimps and crabs, and they are not afraid of people. Stop at night when you see people, and burn shrimps and crabs at dusk. Waiting for people to be away, stealing salt to eat shrimp and crabs. It's called Shan Sao, and its sound calls itself. People are scared when they taste bamboo on fire and burst out. It makes people feel cold and hot. Although it changes in human form, it is also ghostly and so on, which is found in the mountains today. What Dong Fangshuo mentioned, even if there is such a thing, is probably just an animal. Later generations spread the wrong information, so firecrackers have the function of avoiding evil spirits and disasters. However, with the gradual weakening of backward consciousness, Chaoshan people set off firecrackers, which rarely contains elements of exorcism, but only adds a happy atmosphere to the festival. With the arrival of modern civilization, many large, medium and small cities have begun to ban firecrackers on festivals.

4. Giving lucky money

Giving lucky money is an important part of Chaoshan Spring Festival custom. Older people should give money to their younger generations, and those who can earn money should also give money to their elders. The money can't be sent directly to wait for a while, but should be packed in a profit-making package or read in a red paper package. This is commonly known as "pressing the belly and waist", which means that from the beginning to the end of the year, the pockets will be full of reality and wealth. What's particularly interesting is that when a child goes to bed, his parents will put a large bill in his belly pocket and get it back after waking up.

5. New Year's greetings. Send "Daji"

New Year's greetings, which is also called "worshipping righteousness". In the early morning of the first day of junior high school, when people get up and put on new clothes, the first thing they do is to pay homage to themselves. Often, the younger generation wishes their elders first, and then the elders give their expectations to the younger generation. After breakfast, they each pay a New Year call to their relatives and friends. As the saying goes in Chaoshan, "I have the intention to pay New Year's greetings on the first and second days, but I have no intention to pay New Year's greetings on the third and fourth days." It is said that the sooner you pay a New Year call, the more you will see its sincerity. Therefore, some people go to pay New Year greetings to their relatives and friends immediately after they get up, and only eat after they come back.

No matter how many gifts people bring, orange (Chaozhou orange) is indispensable. Orange takes its homonym "Daji", and it doesn't matter if it is more or less, but it can't be an odd number. When new year visitors enter the door of relatives and friends, they should look at different people and say different greetings. Say "Happy New Year" and "Longevity is better than Nanshan" to the elderly, and they will grin with toothless mouths. For those who have jobs, they say "smooth work" and "progress in the New Year", which will be very pleasant to the listener; If you are a business person, what you hear most is "making a big profit in the New Year" and "making a fortune and benefiting the market"; If children are studying, what they want most is to make progress in their studies and make outstanding achievements in the New Year. Send them this greeting, and they will be very friendly to you. After taking a seat, the host will make the well-known Chaoshan congou tea to entertain guests. Before leaving, the host will leave two oranges in the gift from the recipient, and then take out his own oranges for exchange, in order to give each other good luck. When a humorous person goes out to pay New Year's greetings, he often only puts two oranges in his trouser pocket. After New Year's greetings, the two oranges are still in his trouser pocket. Therefore, people with good intentions call the New Year greetings at the beginning of the year "the movement of exchanging oranges".

chun sheng (picking gift boxes)

During the Spring Festival, another distinctive folk activity in Chaoshan is "picking chun sheng" (Spring, a bamboo woven gift basket with a lid, which is divided into three or four layers, is usually used in pairs, so it is also called "carrying chun sheng").

On New Year's Day, the bride's family will give gifts to her married daughter. In the past, these gifts were always packed in a pair of Da Chun bowls, which were sent by the married woman's brother. When my brother-in-law arrives, my in-laws will kill chickens and geese and treat them warmly. As the folk saying goes, "My uncle will come and plunder the chicken table", this is the custom. Among the gifts sent by my brother-in-law, besides big oranges, there must be dozens of sugar cane, which probably means secretly wishing my daughter a higher life. The richness of gifts is determined by the family's economic situation, but generally speaking, the newly married daughter should prepare a rich gift, otherwise it will be looked down upon by her in-laws; Those who have been married for a long time, even when they are mother-in-law, are not so particular. Daughter's family received these things and distributed them to relatives and neighbors, which formed a major feature of Chaoshan Spring Festival custom. During the Spring Festival, the whip is full and crackling. In addition to the New Year greetings, there are many old women, carrying flower baskets and red plates, shouting from door to door:

"XX Eminem, get something to eat (Aunt, here comes the snack)." Because every household has a daughter-in-law, every household must go out. From this custom, we can see the fashion of Chaoshan people being close to their neighbors. In addition, if there are separated brothers in the family, those who send them will be distributed by household.

However, the married daughter can't go back to her parents' home on this day. The first time I went to my parents' home, the common thought was bad for my parents' home.

VII. Family Gambling

There are many recreational activities during the Spring Festival, such as wandering around the gods, playing gongs and drums, marking flags and guessing games. It is worth talking about the custom of "gambling" during the Spring Festival.

during the spring festival, everyone has a rest and money in their pockets. There are seven streets and alleys, and people in groups of three or five can be seen everywhere gambling. More often, "family casinos" tend to be a family gathering around a table, with parents making the farm, others betting and gambling, but in the end, it is "fat water does not flow to other fields", so there is plenty of joy, and there is no tension and worry when gambling. Especially housewives who have worked hard for a year and rarely have a chance to have fun are more willing to take this opportunity to play. Most families stop gambling after only one night, but the old customs do not change. However, some people may also be interested in gambling, and if they really gamble, they will make "several families happy and several families sad".

Today, gambling is illegal. You can't have fun with it. You should completely change this bad habit.

VIII. Going back to my parents' home (eating day and night)

On the second and third day of the first month of the first month, the married daughters took their husbands and children back to their parents' home to pay New Year greetings. .

When a daughter goes back to her parents' home, she must prepare a big bag of biscuits and sweets, which will be distributed to the neighbors by her mother, just like the scene of the New Year. If there are many daughters in the family, and these daughters don't come back on the same day, then we will have to share them once. The gift is quite thin, just four biscuits. However, it reflects a strong affection, and what is really "courtesy is light and affection is heavy", which expresses the girl's longing for the villagers. When a girl comes home, if she has a nephew at home, her aunt must pay for it again. Although she gave the lucky money on the first day of the lunar new year, this time it has a different meaning. This custom is called "eating day and night" by Chaoshan people. As the name implies, it's just lunch, and the daughter must get back to her husband's house before dinner.

9. Welcome God to receive blessings

The fourth day of the first month is the day to "welcome God" or "greet God" on the first day. It turned out that the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month was "God-sending" day, and all the gods in the lower world ascended to heaven to report to the Jade Emperor on their work and report on the good and evil of human behavior in the lower world in the past year. On the fourth day of the first month, he returned to the lower world to continue to supervise people, so every family welcomed God on the fourth day. When greeting the gods, wealthy families have to offer three sacrifices-chicken, fish and pig's head. If the economy does not allow, they can also be exempted, but a plate of rice and a plate of brown sugar are indispensable. Because offering a thousand plates of white rice means a bumper harvest in the New Year; A plate of brown sugar implies the sweetness of life. After the ceremony of burning incense, firecrackers will be set off, and then all the gods will take their places.

interestingly, during the days when all the immortals went to heaven, the temple characters in various villages could not be forgotten to be offered. Why do gods have to offer sacrifices when they are in heaven? Because God is only the "leader" of all the gods, and their men are still "holding their posts"! Who is diligent in worship; Whoever is lazy will be registered one by one.

X. Taboo

Because the first month is the beginning of a year, Chaoshan people often regard it as a sign of the good or bad luck of the new year. Therefore, there are many "taboos" during the Chinese New Year. In terms of language, all unlucky words such as "broken", "bad", "nothing", "death", "light", "ghost", "killing", "illness", "pain", "loss" and "poverty" are taboo to say. Also avoid baby crying, because crying is "no jackpot", which indicates disease and fierce disaster. So this day