Qingdao’s Spring Festival customs
The Spring Festival falls on the first day of the first lunar month, commonly known as the "New Year". It is the grandest and liveliest traditional festival among Chinese people. During the Spring Festival, there are many interesting customs and legends across the country, and Qingdao is no exception.
On the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month
every family has prepared everything for the New Year. The interior and courtyard are cleaned cleanly, window grilles are pasted on the windows, hanging notes (money for passing the door) are hung on the door, New Year pictures are pasted on the bed, and Spring Festival couplets and "Fu" are pasted on the courtyard door, house door, grain store, and boxes. Character. An auspicious and cheerful festive atmosphere. In the old days, each family would set up a "heaven and earth tent" in the courtyard to worship the "gods of heaven and earth". It is said that corn straw was spread on the Yong Road to feed the horses for the late ancestors who came to celebrate the New Year. Wooden sticks were blocked inside the gate for the ancestors to tie their horses. Nowadays, these customs are mostly abandoned.
Receiving the New Year
Lacey said "invite God". That is, before sunset on New Year's Eve, male teenagers in the family carry horses (paper hangings) to the tomb or outside the village to pick up their deceased ancestors to go home for the New Year. After burning incense and paper, they shout: "Grandpa, mom (grandma) have gone home to celebrate the New Year!" Then they go home, which is considered a filial piety to their ancestors. After the New Year, you cannot sweep the floor until the second night of the Lunar New Year. Sweeping the floor means being disrespectful to the ancestors and will also sweep away wealth. Nowadays, this custom is still popular in some rural areas.
Keeping up the New Year
After the New Year, people began to keep up the New Year. Watching the New Year's Eve is the most lively time of the Spring Festival. The lights are brightly lit in the house, and the family gathers together to drink reunion wine and eat New Year's Eve dinner. Men, women and children, old and young, enjoy themselves. In the New Year's Eve dinner, fish is indispensable, which means "more than enough every year", but fish without scales cannot be served. Donkey meat, horse meat, rabbit meat and other so-called "miscellaneous meat" are also not allowed on the table. Dumplings are the main part of the New Year's Eve dinner. Peanuts, dates, chestnuts, coins, candies, rice cakes, etc. should be put into the dumpling fillings. Whoever eats these things must say a relevant auspicious saying. If you eat a piece of candy, it is " "It's sweet", and eating a coin means "there's money to spend".
There are the most taboos during the observance of the year, so be very cautious in what you say and do. Auspicious words such as "broken", "bad", "dispersed", "death", "compensation", "sick", "lost", "pain", etc. are not allowed to be spoken, and you cannot curse people or beat or scold children. When a dumpling is broken, it is said to be "earned", when garlic is called "Yihe Cai", when a utensil is broken, it is said quickly "Sui Sui (broken into pieces) is safe" or "The more you beat it, the better it gets."
During the Chinese New Year in Jiaozhou, people break dishes and throw the pieces into the well. They are not allowed to speak to anyone they meet on the road, so as to avoid disasters. Therefore, there is a popular saying among the people: "If a donkey dies on the fifth night of the New Year, it is better to say it is good". Staying up until the time of handover between the old and the new year is what is known as the "fifth update of the new year". At this time, we also have to offer sacrifices to heaven and earth, respect ancestors, eat dumplings, and set off firecrackers. At this point, we say goodbye to the old year and usher in the new year.
In recent years, in urban Qingdao, the custom of keeping the year old has faded. In addition to the family gathering together to drink reunion wine and eat reunion dinner, the most important activity is for the family to sit around in front of the TV and watch the Spring Festival Gala. It's party.
New Year's greetings
Say goodbye to the old year, and then pay New Year's greetings to the elders. Start by praying to your grandfather, grandma, father and mother at home, which is called "home worship". Then go out to pay New Year greetings to the elders in your family (usually those who have not yet left home), which is called "near worship". The elders have to give money to the underage children, which is called "giving money to the waist". It is customary in cities to call it "lucky money". On the first day of the Lunar New Year, we pay New Year greetings to the elders in the family, which is called "Yuan Bai". Sometimes, the elders of the clan will also lead them to pay New Year's greetings to other people's homes or to pay New Year's greetings to each other collectively to deepen their feelings, which is called "group worship".