New Year's Eve means "the month is poor and the year is old", and everyone needs to say goodbye to the old and welcome the new. On this day, there are customs and habits of "guarding the old age", "pressing the old age" and "stepping on the old age" in folk customs, which is also a very distinctive way of praying for happiness in Chinese New Year customs, showing our yearning for a happy life and our pursuit of perfection.
In Jiangxi, on New Year's Eve, we should not only clean the house and the outside, but also paste door gods, Spring Festival couplets, New Year pictures and lanterns. After the reunion dinner in the evening, the old people will give young students red envelopes for the Spring Festival, wishing them a safe New Year. Later, the whole family got together, men, women and children, and often stayed up late to sleep, which was called "keeping the old age" or "staying up late for the New Year". Therefore, friends should be prepared to stay up late tonight! Besides having a reunion dinner, observing the old age and observing the old age on New Year's Eve, what other customs are there in Jiangxi that you have never known? Come up with me!
Nanchang: Red envelopes are issued during the Spring Festival, and doors are opened during the New Year.
When it comes to New Year's Eve, we have to talk about the reunion dinner. The reunion dinner is the most abundant meal of Nanchang people in a year. There are generally more than a dozen dishes, and the more important one should be 18. Every dish has a profound meaning. For example, fried cabbage stands for "Jingjing Jiji", fried rice cake stands for "annual increase", braised whole fish stands for "annual surplus", and fried rice noodles stand for a bumper harvest of food crops and a string of rice. Another signature dish in Nanchang, Cai He is fried with stockings and high heels, shredded bamboo shoots, lettuce, bean sticks, garlic, shredded carrots, safflower and shredded cuttlefish, which represents "harmony and wealth".
After eating and drinking enough, the whole family sat in front of the charcoal fire until midnight. Don't underestimate the carbon fire, as the saying goes: "The fire for thirty nights is the lantern for midnight snack." This custom originated from the ancient practice of burning a fire to drive out the monster named "Nian", and then it placed many expectations on a better daily life next year. On New Year's Eve, the elderly should also give "Spring Festival red envelopes" to their younger generations to "suppress evil and protect the old" and avoid ghosts in Korean dramas. Nanchang people often give even-numbered red envelopes during the Spring Festival, which means: two double happiness, four seasons to make money, six six good luck, ten perfection and twelve 120 years old.
We must set off firecrackers and close the gate at midnight-to put it bluntly, it means "closing the door of wealth" to close the fortune, send away the old year, and then rest the whole family. On the first day of the first year, I wake up and set off firecrackers, which means "opening the door of wealth"-welcoming the New Year and opening my own wealth. As soon as this pass is opened, the surging wealth is sent home with the Spring Festival, which is good luck to make a fortune.
Ganzhou: Clean and fast, wear new clothes and feed Nian pig.
On New Year's Eve, Gannan Hakkas are also called "New Year's Eve". On this day, Spring Festival couplets are posted on the front door of every household, and small red notes are posted on the door plaques and windows. Every family slaughtered chickens and geese and went to the ancestral temple to worship their ancestors, indicating that they would not forget the virtues of their ancestors during the Chinese New Year or festivals.
On New Year's Eve, the reunion dinner is eaten very early, usually at four or five o'clock at noon and eaten until dusk. The family eats New Year's Eve dinner and drinks wine together. Children celebrate their growth and old people celebrate the New Year. After dinner, offer sacrifices to the kitchen god. Then the whole family can do it, clean the restaurant and wash the dishes. All kitchen utensils need to be scalded with hot water to eliminate the smell of oil and meat, which is also called "Jing Zhai".
Then, the adults took out new clothes and let the whole family put on holiday decorations. All the houses in the house are lighted with street lamps, and the biggest tree pocket should be burned in the main hall or dining room, which is called "Feeding Year Pig". Next year, it will be put up to raise big fat pigs and have a bumper harvest. Adults give children red envelopes to suppress their age and tell them to be smart, study hard, grow up to be one year old and be more obedient. The family sat around the fireside, day and night, looking back on the old days and looking forward to the coming year.
Fuzhou: Behind the door of the room is a sweet metaphor of "rising steadily"
New Year's Eve is a traditional and solemn festival. Every household wipes the lintel, puts up Spring Festival couplets, puts up pictures of door gods, and puts up auspicious little red notes. Some people put two sweet sticks behind the door of the room, indicating that daily life is rising like sweetness, and the more it rises, the sweeter it gets. At the same time, we must first light candles, burn incense, explode and worship Kun, and offer sacrifices. In the evening, the whole family will hold a banquet. Giving minors "red envelopes for the Spring Festival" after meals makes them sleepless all night, which is called "keeping the year". Slammed the door in the middle of the night and said, "the door of wealth is closed."
Jiujiang: welcome the new year and send lights
In Jiujiang, the New Year's Eve on the 30th of the twelfth lunar month is a day to celebrate the New Year gradually, and customs and rituals are becoming more and more busy. In broad daylight, you have to "resign" or "send a lamp" to the grave of your deceased family. After that, Spring Festival couplets will be posted, and in the evening, ceremonies such as "Receiving New Year's Eve", "Eating New Year's Eve", "Receiving Kitchen God" and "Closing the Door" will be held.
Resignation is in the middle of the twelfth lunar month. The men in the family made time to burn incense and paper in front of the grave of the deceased family. Those who died during the year were called "sending lanterns", and those who died one year later were called "resigning". Sticking Spring Festival couplets is usually made by children or young people. In the past, besides Spring Festival couplets, windows had to be pasted.
The year after next, also known as "Happy New Year" or "Happy New Year", is a key ceremony of the Spring Festival, which is held at dusk. At this time, every family usually prepares New Year's Eve dinner. Gradually the following year, the square table was moved to the middle of the main room, and the bronze incense burner, lamp oil, candlestick, chime and sandalwood stove were taken out from the holy case and placed under the table, and then the tribute was placed. After putting it away, we lit sandalwood, lit lamp oil, baked candles, and then set off fireworks for a long time. The family kowtowed to their ancestors one after another. About 10- 15 minutes, the tribute can be removed, and the incense burner, candlestick, lamp oil, green and sandalwood stoves offer fairy tales to complete the "New Year's Eve" ceremony. Since then, the incense has been burning all night on New Year's Eve until it is turned on in the morning.
After the new year, we will have dinner together. Before dinner, we need to make a pot of charcoal fire and put it under the table. After the appetizer is served, set off firecrackers, but you can't sit down immediately. There is a ceremony to let ancestors eat New Year's Eve first, that is, the elders at home stand at the table and say, "Please invite grandparents and parents-in-law to eat New Year's Eve. "Relatives can't be near the table at this time. After leaving for about ten minutes, the elders announced that they could eat, so they could get close to the table, throw away the wine and pour it again.
Generally, the time to pick up Kitchen God is after midnight. The ceremony of picking up the kitchen god is simpler than sending it to the kitchen god. Just light a pair of baked candles, insert three incense sticks, put fireworks and hang firecrackers, and the incense burner can worship.
Finally, "closing the door" means closing the store. Closing the store on New Year's Eve is not as casual as usual. Live well until you finally fall asleep at night. Close all doors to the outside world. Light one (every household bought a good long red incense similar to mosquito-repellent incense years ago) and burn it until dawn. Then, put a broom on the back of the gate and put a small hanging firecracker, indicating that the door is closed and can't be opened that night.
Ji 'an Suichuan: Light New Year's lanterns, leave a fire source and set off firecrackers.
On New Year's Eve, farmers in Suichuan mountain area need to light a lamp in their living rooms, partition buildings and houses of medium size. At first it was light oil or long baking candles. With the light bulb, every room is hung with bright lights to show its brilliance, and the god of wealth fills the room.
People in the county have an international practice of "watching the age". Every New Year's Eve, the whole family sits around the fire, drinking tea and chatting until late at night, which means "guarding the god of wealth". Before going to bed, set off fireworks and firecrackers at the gate and turn off the lights, which means "closing the financial door", indicating that funds are not easy to flow out.
After the reunion dinner on New Year's Eve, families in cities and towns should bury charcoal, tea cakes and other natural materials in the stove chamber to leave a fire source, put enough water in the pot, and it will catch fire as soon as it is opened the next morning, and cook with boiling water in the pot to show that the fire source is constantly, which means "good luck and prosperity". This custom still exists in most mountainous areas and villages. In the county, because of the wide application of vaporization stoves, residents gradually abandoned them.
Jinggangshan, Ji 'an: Picking vegetables and inserting them at the gate means good luck this year.
On the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, residents sent Kitchen God to celebrate the New Year. On New Year's Eve, residents wait for Kitchen God at home. Send the kitchen god, wait for the kitchen god, beat rice fruit, burn incense, burn paper, burn fireworks and firecrackers, etc. On New Year's Eve, people who work outside all the year round to earn money and study and train need to go back to their former residence, reunite with their families and have a New Year's Eve dinner, which is also the most abundant meal for the whole family. The family sat around, chatting while eating, and wishing each other well while drinking. On this day, folk residents also need to pick some vegetables from the garden and put them at the gate, and some even put them on the incense table in the hall to show good luck in the year.
Pingxiang: Killing pigs to buy fish is a "year-old candle"
Pingxiang people have the habit of eating fish at the reunion dinner on New Year's Eve, which means "more than every year, more than every year". Therefore, it is generally necessary to kill pigs and buy fish on New Year's Eve or a few days ago.
Moreover, at the end of each year, everyone in Pingxiang is gradually preparing to choose a good day to kill pigs, set up a sumptuous banquet, and invite relatives and friends to rush to their bright rural yard to eat a sumptuous pig-killing feast, rendering the rich flavor of the New Year in 3D. Buying "killing pig rice" is the happiest thing for a family at the end of the year.
On New Year's Eve, there is a custom of "keeping watch over the old age" in some areas of Pingxiang, that is, the whole family sits around the fire, laughing and singing day and night. When you keep watch, you should light two candles in the house and keep them on all night. Children can't stay up all night, so they yawn quickly. Adults say they have mice as relatives at night.
Shangrao City: Hang cooked tung oil paper lanterns and eat leek and shrimp balls.
Eating a reunion dinner is the most important thing for Shangrao people on New Year's Eve. At four or five o'clock in the afternoon, people continue to set off firecrackers and have a reunion dinner. The explosion of fireworks and firecrackers added endless excitement and festive atmosphere to the festival. In a short time, colorful fireworks and buzzing fireworks actually set off fireworks.
However, in the past, there were usually sacrifices before having a reunion dinner. Even in normal times, people need to hang a paper lantern painted with ripe tung at the door. Small lanterns are written with the surname of the patriarch, such as "Wang". Small lanterns indicate that the Li family is here, and it is not easy for ancestors to enter the wrong door.