1. Little New Year
The 24th day of the twelfth lunar month is the time when the "gods" go to heaven to "report their duties." Starting from this day, every household will do a general cleaning, and all utensils and bed sheets will be cleaned, which is called "collecting and hoarding".
2. New Year's Eve
The last day of the lunar year is called New Year's Eve, and this night is called New Year's Eve. The custom in Chaoshan is called "New Year's Eve".
Before New Year's Eve, people are busy preparing all kinds of New Year's goods: buying chickens, geese, ducks, and fish; making new clothes; buying new furniture and utensils; buying New Year paintings, Spring Festival couplets, etc. In particular, you should buy citrus, green olives and other fruits as they symbolize good luck and are good fruits for welcoming relatives and friends. It is an old custom that before the Chinese New Year, men must get a new haircut and women must "put their faces in shape". Nowadays, most women get haircuts to beautify their hair.
The 24th day of the twelfth lunar month is the time when the "gods" go to heaven to "report their duties." Starting from this day, every household will do a general cleaning, and all utensils and bed sheets will be cleaned, which is called "collecting and hoarding".
One or two days before New Year’s Eve, every household makes various kinds of cakes in preparation for the New Year.
Family members who go out on New Year’s Eve have to rush home to reunite. On New Year's Eve, the whole family gathers around the fire for a reunion dinner. After the meal, the adults distribute "New Year's money" to the children, and the children to their parents and elders. In the evening, the water tank in the farmhouse should be filled with water, the rice tank should be filled with rice, and the lights should not be extinguished to symbolize the good omen of "more than enough every year" and "constant cooking every year".
The custom of staying up late on New Year’s Eve is very common. Waiting for the arrival of the New Year, the New Year bell rings and every household sets off firecrackers.
3. Spring Festival, also known as the first day of the Lunar New Year
The first day of the first lunar month is called Yuan Day, which is the first day of the new year and the beginning of spring. The sound of cannons is heard at dawn in the sky. On the big tables in the halls of every household, red plates are filled with tangerines (tangerines are larger than tangerines, so they are called tangerines), green olives and various exquisite candies. Lanterns are decorated in front of the door, and the younger generations offer tea to their elders. bless. On this day, most people will be vegetarian, at least not eating meat for breakfast. After breakfast, adults and their children bring Daji to relatives and friends' homes to pay New Year greetings. The host and guest exchange greetings and congratulate each other with auspicious words such as wealth and blessings. The host treats guests with Daji and betel nut (the ancient custom was to honor betel nut, but today it is replaced by green olives),** When drinking Gongfu tea, the guest presents a good fortune to the host to wish him good luck, and the host should give a good fortune in return. It is commonly known as the exchange of good fortune in the form of paying respects, which is intended to repay good wishes.
On the early morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, many lion dance troupes and English singing troupes beat gongs and drums to visit households in each village to pay homage to the New Year, and the hosts set off firecrackers to welcome them. There are also hand-cranked evergreen leaves (commonly known as money trees) or hand-held small red paper with auspicious sentences such as "luck in wealth" and affixed to people's doors; or they can play suona, knock on bamboo boards, sing ballads, and make four sentences , those who say auspicious words and greet the New Year from house to house, all take the opportunity to ask for some reward money. On the second and third day of the Lunar New Year, many rural towns organize cultural and entertainment activities to celebrate the New Year. In addition to setting up theaters to perform Teochew operas, folk operas, and shadow puppet shows, there are also gong and drum troupes, tiger and lion troupes, English singing troupes, dragon dance troupes, etc. along the streets. Parades and performances in villages. Today there are also movie screenings, ball games, calligraphy and painting exhibitions, riddle guessing, etc. During the day and night, people gather in groups to enjoy the sightseeing, creating a lively and joyful atmosphere to welcome the Spring Festival.
Have a New Year’s Eve dinner
After every household’s house is decorated with a new look, New Year’s Eve is approaching. Therefore, the housewives are busy preparing for the most sumptuous and meaningful reunion dinner of the year. Reunion dinner, as the name suggests, is when the family gathers together to have a meal during the Chinese New Year, and even the deceased ancestors do not forget it. Therefore, after every family has prepared a reunion dinner, they must first "worship their husband" (sacrifice their ancestors). When worshiping ancestors, the incense burner representing the ancestors should be removed from the shrine and placed on the altar table, then burn incense, pray, and invite the ancestors to have a meal. Then the elders and the younger ones kneel down and worship in sequence, which fully demonstrates the traditional virtues of the fashionable people who are prudent and pursue filial piety first. After the sacrifice, the meals used to worship the ancestors are reheated, a big table is set in the hall, and the whole family gathers around them. This is a beautiful moment for every family to reunite. No matter how far apart a family is or how much trouble they usually have, they should laugh and laugh at this time instead of saying sad things or making noises.
After dinner, the housewife was busy clearing the table, so a big cleaning activity began. There is no need to be particular about cleaning this time, it is purely for cleanliness and sanitation. Unlike the one at the end of the year, it had to be swept with pine branches and grass. Then they lighted the stove and started preparing the offerings to the gods tomorrow - vegetarian dishes. There are many types of vegetarian dishes, some are made from taro, some are made from sweet potatoes, some are made from dates, and some are made from peanuts, taro and sweet potatoes. All ingredients for vegetarian dishes should be prepared in the afternoon and allowed to dry. When frying vegetarian vegetables, when the fire is lit, put an iron pan and pour a large amount of peanut oil. When the oil boils, mix these ingredients into the slurry and put it into the pot. It will bubble in the oil pot. When ripe, the yellow color and fragrant aroma are particularly attractive. At this time, if there are guests at home, the hostess will offer you a plate of freshly fried vegetarian dishes, and then brew them with fragrant Gongfu tea, allowing you to taste the deliciousness of the famous Chaoshan snacks.
Sending New Year's money
Sending New Year's money is an important custom in Chaoshan Spring Festival. Elders should give money to their younger generations, and younger generations who can make money should also give money to their elders. The money should not be given away in a blank manner, but should be carefully packed in a profit bag or wrapped in a piece of red paper. This is commonly known as "pressing the belly and waist", which means that from beginning to end of the year, the pockets will be full and rich. What is particularly interesting is that before a child goes to bed, parents will put a large-denomination banknote in the child's belly pocket and take the banknote back after waking up.
New Year greetings, send big oranges
New Year greetings, also known as "Worship the Righteousness". On the early morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, after people get up and put on new clothes, the first thing they do is worship at home. It is often the younger generation who first bless their elders, and then the elders give their younger generations their wishes. After breakfast, everyone would like to send New Year greetings to their relatives and friends. A Chaoshan proverb says: "If you are interested in greeting the first and second day of the new year, you have no intention of greeting the third or fourth day of the new year." It means that the earlier the New Year greeting is, the more sincerity it will show. Therefore, some people go to pay New Year greetings to relatives and friends immediately after getting up, and only eat after returning.
No matter how many gifts you bring for New Year greetings, big oranges (Teochew oranges) are indispensable. The homophony of big orange is "big luck". It doesn't matter if there are more or less characters, but it cannot be an odd number. When New Year greeters enter the door of relatives and friends, they should say different greetings to different people. If you say "good luck in the new year" and "longevity to the south" to the elderly, the old people will grin with toothless smiles; if you say "good luck in the work" and "progress in the new year" to those who have jobs, the listeners will find it very pleasant; For business people, nothing is more popular than "making big profits in the New Year" and "making a fortune and benefiting the market." If they are children who are studying, what they want most is to make progress in their studies and achieve outstanding results in the New Year. Send them this kind of message and they will be very kind to you. After sitting down, the host will serve the famous Chaoshan Gongfu tea to entertain the guests. Before leaving, the host will leave two large oranges from the visitor's gift, and then take out his own oranges to exchange, with the intention of giving each other good luck. Some people who are good at humor often only put two big oranges in their trouser pockets when they go out to pay New Year greetings. After paying New Year's greetings one by one, they still have two big oranges in their trouser pockets. Therefore, knowledgeable people among the people call the custom of New Year greetings at the beginning of the year the "Orange Changing Movement."
Taboos during the Spring Festival in Chaoshan area
Because the first lunar month is the beginning of the year, Chaoshan people often regard it as a sign of good or bad luck in the new year, so the Chinese New Year There are a lot of "taboos" at times. In terms of words, any words such as "broken", "bad", "dead", "light", "ghost", "kill", "disease", "pain", "lost", "poor", etc. are unlucky. The words are forbidden to be uttered. It is also taboo for babies to cry, because crying means "no luck" and indicates illness and misfortune. Therefore, even if a child gets into trouble on this day, you cannot hit him or scold him, lest he cry endlessly. In terms of behavior, be extra careful when handling cups, plates, bowls, and saucers, and do not break them. If they are accidentally broken, the custom of getting water has become just a formality. The custom of sweeping the floor is also slowly being phased out, because during the Spring Festival, firecrackers are set off, people come and go, and there are a lot of paper scraps and garbage on the ground. It is really unethical to not clean the floor. Therefore, from the perspective of paying attention to hygiene, many young people do not pay much attention to these traditional taboo customs.
Creditors are not allowed to come to collect debts on this day, because people believe that collecting debts on this day is unlucky for both borrowers and lenders. It is also taboo to take things out of other people's pockets. It is believed that if someone picks out the pockets on the first day of the first lunar month, it may lead to the risk of being "emptied" throughout the year.
Avoid the death of people, and avoid holding funerals, because this will bring bad luck to the family. At the same time, avoid getting a haircut on this day, because people always like to associate haircuts with funerals on this day. It is even forbidden to kill animals on this day. Killing animals is considered to lead to disasters such as knife disasters, military disasters, and blood disasters. However, now that people's living standards have improved, they eat fresh and fast, so they have no worries.
In terms of diet, it is strictly forbidden to take medicine on this day. Otherwise, it is considered that it will lead to illness and constant medication for a year. There are several sayings about not eating meat for breakfast on the first day of the Lunar New Year: one is that if you eat this meal, its function is equal to one year; the other is a metaphor that means you should be diligent and frugal in running your home, and you should not be extravagant and wasteful.
4. Lantern Festival
The fifteenth day of the first lunar month is our country's traditional folk "Lantern Festival", also called "Shangyuan Festival". The Lantern Festival is known as the "Zhongyuan Festival", and the fifteenth day of July is the "Hungry Ghost Festival".
The Lantern Festival is a big festival in Chaoshan, including games for gods, lantern tours, and worshiping gods and ancestors. The traditional food custom of this festival is to eat "rat song" and "glutinous rice balls". It comes from the folk and was developed and continuously improved by the collective wisdom of the Southern Song Dynasty. In the last years, Yuan soldiers invaded and burned, killed and plundered everywhere. To avoid the war, the people of Jieyang fled to a non-toxic and slightly tasty "sage grass" skin. Later, people changed the japonica rice to glutinous rice to make the skin. It is soft and smooth. It was originally filled with brown sugar sweet potato puree and was named "Wu Guo". However, the Lantern Festival and the Spring Festival were both auspicious days. Later, there was no food in the mountains and we had to look for wild vegetables to satisfy our hunger. I found it a bit awkward to use this kind of crystal with a dark brown color and an unsightly name to worship gods and ancestors. Later, when the filling was changed to "Betel Fermented Rice Bran", the name was changed to "Betel Fermented Rice". Betel fermented glutinous rice is made from glutinous rice that has been baked and mixed with sugar, sesame seeds, and peanuts. "Betel fermented rice" is mellow, soft, sweet, very refreshing, and has an elegant color. Li Qiyu of Rongcheng specializes in this product. He changed the original banana leaf pad to tofu film, and stamped the blank with a pattern-engraved stamp to make the product uniform and beautiful. Why did people later call "Betel Ferment" and "Betel Ferment"? Is it called "Ping Pong"? Because "Betel Ferment" and "Ping Pong" are homophonic, some out-of-town customers are not allowed to call it "Ping Pong" when they come to buy it.
People think that "Ping Pong" is better than "Ping Pong". It is more convenient to call it "fermented grains", so it is called "ping pong fruit".
The ancestors of Chaoshan used rat grass to mix it into people's food. They relied entirely on life experience, but they used it correctly, because rat grass was used Grass is a kind of herbal medicine.
Tao Hongjing of the Southern Dynasty's "Famous Doctors" records: "Currentia is mainly used to treat spleen cold, cold and heat, and cough." Zong Mao of the Southern Dynasty's "Records of the Age of Jingchu" also wrote: "Take the juice of the Cucumber to make a soup, use honey and powder, It is called mixed with dragon's tongue to suppress the qi. "Compendium of Materia Medica" Mix velvet grass (another name for "squirrel grass") and powder, and eat it. "Our ancestors have not read the above-mentioned records of the Southern Dynasties.
The Lantern Festival in Chaoshan also has the custom of eating "Yuanxiao" (glutinous rice balls). This custom was introduced from the Central Plains in the late Southern Song Dynasty. According to "Jingchu Years' Records", in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, "bean paste and oil cakes were made on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month", and "white porridge and pancakes were made on the first half of the first lunar month". In the Tang Dynasty, "mian cocoons" (cocoon-shaped noodles) and Jiao Zhui (similar to pancakes). In the Song Dynasty, people ate "kedou soup" made of salted soybean soup and mung bean powder. At this time, some places also started to eat "tangyuan", starting from the Song Dynasty and Zhou Dynasty. Bida's "Pingyuan Continuation" also contains: "The predecessors of Yuanxiao steamed dumplings seem to have never recorded: "The diet is recommended, such as lactose dumplings and clear sugar dumplings..."
< p>" This kind of "Tangyuanzi" and "Floating Yuanzi" were made for the festival, and were later renamed "Yuanxiao". The name was given because it was customary to eat it on the Lantern Festival, and it was called "Yuanxiao" after the Lantern Festival. "Yuanxiao". Eating "Yuanxiao" during the Lantern Festival is intended to wish family reunion and harmony, and to live in the new year. Kang Fang calls it "Yuanxiao".The Lantern Festival in the past years was salty, sweet, and They are both sour and spicy, and can be boiled, steamed, or fried. For example, the sweet five-flavored Yuanxiao is stuffed with pork, sesame, osmanthus, and nuts mixed with sugar. It is delicious; it is stuffed with mustard, onion, garlic, leek, and ginger. The Yuanxiao dish means wisdom, hard work, longevity, and upward progress. In the old days, "Yuanxiao" was a festival food that was gradually made by families and sold in Chaoshan. The dumplings eaten during the Lantern Festival are slightly different from the dumplings eaten during the Winter Festival. The introduction of the Lantern Festival into the market comes from a poem by Li Tiaoyuan, a poet of the Qing Dynasty: "During the Lantern Festival, people compete to see the lotus-picking boats, and the pendants on BMW incense cars are all stuffed. The fillings include bean paste, peanut melon sugar, etc., all of which are sweet. "Winter Festival Yuan" are solid and have small particles. Today's Lantern Festival glutinous rice balls have become a local snack and come in various styles. , can be purchased at any time in markets all over the country.
There is also the custom of eating "Ding wine table" during the Lantern Festival in Chaoshan. If a boy is born in the Lantern Festival last year, the Lantern Festival will be served at the Ding wine table. A banquet is held collectively in the ancestral hall to entertain the villagers, and some hold banquets at home to entertain relatives and friends. In the old days, women would eat "Hou He Cai", which means that if you eat Hou He Cai, you will be in harmony with others and be loved by everyone.