The record of old customs began in Shang dynasty, and in Qing dynasty, folk customs were extremely popular, and some of them have been passed down to this day. Many old customs in Hunan were left over and developed from then on.
New year's eve and reunion dinner
The vigil on New Year's Eve is one of the folk customs in Hunan Province. That night, the firewood in the stove will not go out all night, and the family will stay together until after twelve o'clock. Miao nationality in western Hunan is more distinctive. Every New Year's Eve, the whole family will fry delicious bacon, prepare delicacies such as sour fish, prepare corn and soju, and have a "reunion dinner" happily. But at this time, the whole family can't sit down. Armed to the teeth, the master hid alone in the corner of the gate with a spear in his hand, always staring at the outside of the village to prevent wild animals and foreigners from invading. If a friend comes, the host runs out of the door and pulls the friend into the house. "High and low" will have a friendly reunion dinner to celebrate New Year's Eve.
Have a reunion dinner for 30 nights, such as Zhuzhou, Changsha and Yongzhou; There are also mornings before dawn, such as Shaoyang and Loudi. There are also at noon, such as Hengyang. At the New Year's Eve dinner, the whole family sat around a table for dinner. The oldest person tastes the food first, and asks that every dish on the table, big or small, should be held with chopsticks. Women who don't drink at all should also take a symbolic sip of wine for good luck. Many dishes on the table are very interesting. For example, fish balls and meatballs symbolize reunion, radish means "whole chicken", and some fried foods show "prosperous wealth" because they are fried and fried. At the reunion dinner, if the family has to go out too late, they should also vacate a seat, put a cup of chopsticks, and even put this person's clothes on the vacant seat to show that the whole family misses him. In Zhuzhou, Hengyang and other places, people eat reunion dinners. Vegetables do not need to be chopped with a knife. Just tear it by hand. They don't bite when eating, but eat slowly, which means wishing their parents a long life. In Shaoyang, Huaihua and other places, it is forbidden to "waste a year" without eating cabbage when having a reunion dinner.
Xiaonian and the god of offering sacrifices to stoves
Many places in Hunan have had the custom of having a small year, but the specific time and grand degree are different. The New Year is the "opening ceremony" of the "New Year". From this day on, the festive atmosphere continued until the Lantern Festival. Most areas such as Zhuzhou regard the 24th of the twelfth lunar month as the "off-year", Yiyang and other places regard the 23rd as the "off-year", and Shaoyang and Loudi regard the 15th of the first month as the "off-year". Hengyang and northern Hunan pay more attention to off-year, while Zhuzhou and other places pay less attention to off-year.
In most parts of Hunan, there is a custom of offering sacrifices to kitchen gods on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month. It is said that on 23rd, Kitchen God will tell people about good and evil, so on this day of offering sacrifices to the kitchen stove, every household should clean the kitchen stove, several boxes, pots and pans, put couplets next to the statue of Kitchen God: "Heaven says yes, lower bound is safe", and offer sweets in front of the kitchen stove. The whole family should salute and make a wish, hoping that the kitchen god will not speak ill of others after eating it. This is called "sending the kitchen god".
Spring Festival and Spring Festival couplets
The spr festival is that most solemn traditional festival in China. Originally on the second day of the twelfth lunar month (the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month), the Northern and Southern Dynasties changed to the end of the year. Spring Festival couplets have a long history. Couplets originated from ancient peach symbols. According to Huainanzi, peach symbols are made of peach wood, that is, the names of "Shencha" and "Lei Yu" Er Shen are written on the mahogany board or the two statues are painted on the door. In the Five Dynasties, couplets were written on mahogany boards. It is said that China's first couplet was written by Meng Yun of Shu in the Five Dynasties: "Spring Festival in Qing Yu, Changchun in the First Festival". The Chronicle of Yanjing in Qing Dynasty said: "Spring Festival couplets are also Fu Tao. When in Rome, do as the Romans do, there have been literati writing Spring Festival couplets on the streets in an attempt to polish the pen. After the sacrifice, it gradually sticks and hangs, and thousands of families are completely new. " It can be seen that since the Five Dynasties, welcome greetings have been replaced by incomprehensible spells. Later, Taofu was replaced by Spring Festival couplets written on red paper. Nowadays, all parts of Hunan have the habit of posting couplets.
Happy new year, lucky money
People usually call their relatives and friends "Happy New Year" during the Spring Festival. According to legend, in the middle of winter in ancient times, the "Nian" monster invaded people's lives. Nian monster has three fears: one is afraid of sound, the other is afraid of red, and the third is afraid of fire. In this way, every household will set off firecrackers, write Spring Festival couplets on red paper, light a bonfire and say "Happy New Year" and "Happy New Year" to each other after the fierce beast runs away. These legends gradually evolved into today's customs.
People should choose a day to celebrate the New Year. Changsha, Changde and other places, "the first day does not travel, the second day mother-in-law, after the third day, the village exchanges with each other." Zhuzhou, Xiangtan, Hengyang and other places, "the first child, the second son-in-law (son-in-law), the third day, the fourth day, worshipping the foster mother, the fifth day, the sixth day, and the sixth day", and there is a taboo of "seven out and eight in". Shaoyang and other places, "go to the first village, go to grandma's house on the second day, and pick up my mother on the fifteenth." Loudi and other places think that it is a delicious performance for the elders to visit the younger generation. During the New Year greetings, firecrackers are set off to celebrate. Hengyang and other places mainly set off firecrackers to receive guests, while guests in Shaoyang and other places brought firecrackers to the front of the host's house to set off firecrackers.
During the Spring Festival, a mass activity called "Playing Dong Year" (also called Lushenghui) prevailed among Dong compatriots in Hunan and Guizhou. This activity is similar to the "group worship" of the Han nationality, but it is more joyful and enthusiastic than the "group worship". This kind of activity is generally that the two villages agree with each other, and the two teams formally hold a Lusheng dance competition in the square. At this time, the audience of the two villages danced with the music and enjoyed themselves.
The custom of paying New Year greetings to "lucky money" has existed since ancient times. The Chronicle of Yanjing in the Qing Dynasty said: "On New Year's Eve, putting money through colored ropes at the foot of the bed is called lucky money. Those who respect their elders for their children are also called lucky money. " "One hundred dollars is a colorful long line, which is divided into corner pillows, and the price of firecrackers (sugar) is also discussed, which makes Joule busy all night." This is a poem written by predecessors, which describes the joy of getting lucky money. Now there are more and more tickets for the "lucky money" given by the elders to the younger generation. Dust cleaning day
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 means "getting rid of the old and not being new", which means sweeping away all bad luck and bad luck. This custom has placed people's desire to break the old and create new ones and their prayers to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. Whenever the Spring Festival comes, every household should clean the environment and clean all kinds of electrical appliances. Everywhere is filled with the joyful atmosphere of cleaning and welcoming the Spring Festival cleanly.
Buy new year's goods
Then, every household prepares new year's goods. About ten days before the Spring Festival, people are busy shopping, including chickens, ducks, fish, fruit with sugar bait and so on. And they have to buy enough gifts when they visit relatives and friends during the Spring Festival. Children need to buy new clothes and hats to wear during the Spring Festival.
paste up Spring Festival couplets
Before the Spring Festival, a red paper and yellow (black) New Year message should be posted on the door at home, that is, Spring Festival couplets written in red paper. In the house, brightly colored and auspicious New Year pictures are pasted, beautiful window grilles (red) are cut out and pasted on the windows, and red lanterns are hung in front of the doors or lucky characters, the god of wealth and the door gods are pasted. The word "fu" can also be posted backwards, and passers-by will fall (arrive) when they think about it, which means they are blessed. All these activities are aimed at adding enough festive atmosphere to the festival.
Setting off firecrackers
Another name for the Spring Festival is China New Year. In the past legend, "Nian" is a fictional animal, which will bring bad luck to people. New Year's Eve. When the tree is dead, the grass will not grow; After the New Year, everything grows and flowers are everywhere. How to spend a year? Need to use firecrackers to fry, so there is the custom of setting off firecrackers, which is another way to set off the lively scene.
5. Family reunion
The Spring Festival is a happy and peaceful festival, and it is also a day for family reunion. Children who leave home will go home for reunion during the New Year. The night before the Lunar New Year is the 30th night of the twelfth lunar month, also known as New Year's Eve and Reunion Night. Celebrating the New Year is one of the most important annual custom activities at the turn of the old and the new. On New Year's Eve, the whole family stayed up all night and enjoyed themselves. There is a custom of eating jiaozi on New Year's Eve in northern areas. Jiaozi's practice is to mix noodles first, and the word harmony is the combination; Jiaozi and Jiao Jiao are homophonic, meaning to get together and make friends when they are young. South China has the habit of eating rice cakes, which are sweet and sticky, symbolizing the sweetness of life in the new year and rising step by step.
New year greetings
On the first day of the new year, people get up early, put on the most beautiful clothes, dress up neatly and go out to visit relatives and friends. There are also many ways to pay New Year's greetings: some are led by the same patriarch and go door to door; Some colleagues invited several people to pay New Year greetings; Others get together to congratulate each other. This is called "group worship". Because it is time-consuming and laborious to pay a New Year call at home, someone came up with the idea of sending a letter without running, which led to the later "New Year card".
7. Give red envelopes
During the Spring Festival, the younger generation should first pay New Year greetings to their elders and wish them good health. The elders can distribute the lucky money prepared in advance to the younger generation. It is said that lucky money can kill evil spirits, because "old" and "expensive" are homophonic, and the younger generation can spend a year safely with lucky money. There are two kinds of lucky money: one is to make the shape of Jackie Chan with colored rope and put it at the foot of the bed; The other is the most common, that is, parents use red paper to collect their wallets and distribute them to their children. The lucky money can be given to the younger generation in person after the New Year's greetings, or it can be secretly placed under the child's pillow on New Year's Eve while the child is asleep.
8. Shounian
On the evening of the last day of the Lunar New Year. Except for the old cloth, it is new. The last day of the year is called "New Year's Eve" and that night is called "New Year's Eve". People often stay up all night on New Year's Eve, which is called keeping watch. There is a legend about the origin of New Year's Eve: In ancient times, there was a fierce monster named Xi who came out at the end of the year to hurt people. Later, people found that they were afraid of three things at night, red color, fire and noise. So in winter, people hang red boards on their doors, light a fire at the door, stay up all night and knock at the door. That night, "Xi" broke into the village, saw every household glowing with red light, heard a deafening noise, ran back to the mountains in fear and never came out. As the night passed, people congratulated each other and celebrated the victory by decorating, drinking and feasting. So on New Year's Eve, every household puts up red couplets and sets off firecrackers to drive away the animals on New Year's Eve. In order to have peace in the new year, this custom has been passed down to this day, and New Year's Eve is called New Year's Eve.
9. Paste New Year pictures
There are also many people who hang up New Year pictures during the Spring Festival, adding a lot of prosperous and happy holiday atmosphere to thousands of families. New Year pictures are an ancient folk art in China, which reflects people's simple customs and beliefs and places their hopes on the future. New Year pictures, like Spring Festival couplets, originated from "door gods". Now, the content of New Year pictures is not limited to monotonous themes such as door gods, but has become rich and colorful. Some New Year pictures workshops have produced classic color New Year pictures, such as Fu Lushou's Samsung, God bless the people, abundant crops, prosperous six animals, welcoming the new year and so on, to meet people's good wishes of celebrating and praying for the new year.
10. Fenjiu
On New Year's Eve, the whole family will have dinner and drink, or invite relatives and friends to eat and drink to their hearts' content, which is called "Fenjiu". Because New Year's Eve is the dividing line between the new year and the old year, which means that the old year and the new year are divided by this night. Therefore, this meal, rich or poor, should be as rich as possible. "New Year's Eve wine" is also called "New Year's Eve". Eating New Year's Eve wine is very auspicious. In the past, ten kinds of cold dishes were filled in ten vermilion bowls at banquets, which was called "eating all". Besides chicken and meat, there should be peanuts (fruit), oranges (good luck), carp (jumping the dragon gate) and tofu (cleaning the house). After drinking too much wine, people often stay up all night for entertainment, which is called "keeping the old age" or "looking forward to the New Year's Eve".
There are many kinds of Spring Festival customs in Hunan: the general customs are as follows
The 24th of the twelfth lunar month (from the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month in some areas and Tujia people) to the 30th of the twelfth lunar month is a traditional festival that all parts of southern Hunan attach great importance to. According to legend, the 24th is the day when Kitchen God went to heaven. It is an old custom to prepare sacrificial fruit for the stove on the evening of 23rd, and ask the kitchen god to say more nice things when playing in the sky. On the 24th, the family got together for the "off-year" and cleaned the stadium on the 28th. The most solemn occasion is the New Year's Eve of the twelfth lunar month, and the wanderers go back to their hometown and have a reunion dinner, which is called New Year's Eve. The New Year's Eve dinner is very rich, with chicken, duck, fish, eggs and vegetables, full of cups and lamps, but many places still retain traditional and unique recipes. Fish is an indispensable dish for every household, which means "more than one year"; Chenzhou people like to eat sour radish and pork liver and intestines, which symbolizes that people should have liver and intestines; Hongjiang area likes to eat spring powder, which is covered with fish, meat, chicken, duck, hoof flower and ginger to show yes-men. Some people also have a bowl of four-season onion mixed with tofu, which means "four distinct seasons, good luck and good luck". On New Year's Eve, there is a folk custom, that is, watching the New Year's Eve, and the whole family sitting around the fire to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. Many places have the habit of burning wood for fire, and take the homonym of "wealth head", hoping for good luck in the New Year.