Every year before the twelfth lunar month, the villagers should make rice cakes, stir-fry new year's goods, make cake candy and kill chickens and ducks according to the custom. Especially on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, I remember my mother would get up early and wash the prepared black rice, beans and peanuts to make Laba porridge. Usually, before we get up, my mother will cook porridge. According to us, getting up early and getting up late will cool the porridge. When we wash, my mother will bring Laba porridge to the table in time and say to everyone, "Eat it while it is hot. Eating Laba porridge will bring you peace in the coming year. "

(2) Send it to the Kitchen God

On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, according to the custom, it is the day when hometown people send the kitchen god to heaven for the New Year. Every household should eat glutinous rice Baba and get the kitchen god back before 30 days. This morning, my mother will put some glutinous rice Baba in the kitchen early, mumbling, "Go to heaven for the New Year, Kitchen God Bodhisattva, and we will pick you up on the 30th." Let the children worship. It is said that the children worshipped will eat and drink in the coming year. After the worship, the mothers will bring glutinous rice Baba to the children, and everyone will read: "Eat quickly, eat glutinous rice Baba quickly, and the Kitchen God Bodhisattva will bless you to eat and drink next year."

(3) Dust removal

In my hometown, cleaning is done by men. At the age of twenty-five, men will tie a hair duster to a bamboo pole to clean up the dust and cobwebs at home. I remember when I was a child, my father tied a feather duster to a fork, found a hat and scarf, wrapped himself up, dusted every room in the sky and underground, and dusted every corner of the house.

(4) Ancestor worship

Sacrificing ancestors on the 30th is also a custom in my hometown. On New Year's Eve every year, my father would take food and wine to the ancestral grave to sacrifice and burn some paper money. While burning paper money, he muttered, "ancestors came to eat New Year's Eve and collect money." Later, I gave cigarettes to my ancestors. Every time my father worships before, silently reciting prayers that I can't hear clearly even when I am around. The general idea is to bless him to live and work in peace and contentment forever and wish his children success in the future. Father worshiped, and then let our brothers kneel down in turn to worship their ancestors. When we worship, my father will tell our ancestors his hope for us and ask them to bless him to realize his wish. Before the ceremony, pour some of each dish on the grave and sprinkle the wine that has been poured into the cup on the grave.

(5) Post Spring Festival couplets

On the morning of New Year's Eve, it is the time to put up Spring Festival couplets in my hometown. On this morning, every household will roll flour or rice noodles in the pot to make paste for pasting couplets. Generally, people will also tie the straw into a brush handle, which is convenient for brushing paste. When my father makes these, we usually soak the old couplets with water, take them down, and then wash the paste from last year until my father comes to paste the new couplets.

After my father graduated from high school, calligraphy is still very famous. Every year, dad buys red paper and writes it himself. I remember the most used couplets: wind and rain send spring home, flying snow welcomes spring. Perhaps this is my father's best painting. My father's main task is to write and paste couplets at the gate. Almost all the tasks are our two brothers.

Generally, people who are more particular will put an upside-down word "Spring" or "Fu" on the front door, and take the homonyms of "Spring is here" and "Fu is here". I remember when I was a child, my father paid more attention and taught us to put horizontal stripes on the front door, cut red paper into red stripes half an inch wide and half a foot long, and stick them evenly under the horizontal stripes. Red stripes are flying in the wind, which is very festive.

In addition to posting couplets at the gate, the words spring or blessing are also posted on windows, farm tools and even larger furniture at home.

(6) Eat New Year's Eve dinner

In my hometown, eating New Year's Eve is a family reunion dinner day. No matter where you are, you usually go home to reunite with your family on this day.

Looking forward to the New Year's Eve dinner is not only a family reunion, but also because my family was poor when I was a child and I didn't eat it at ordinary times. New Year's Eve is the only meal we can eat in large quantities, not only fish, but also chickens and ducks. Mother often enjoys herself while watching us eat, and reminds us that if we eat too much today, don't take the dishes on the table when guests come tomorrow. My mother has said this every year since I can remember it. In fact, we don't need to say it, and we remember it clearly. So, we just eat by ourselves, no matter what my mother says.

I remember that there are still a few things to do before the New Year's Eve dinner. One is to put on new clothes. Although we don't have new clothes every year, thanks to our mother's hard work, our brothers and sisters have new shoes at least every year. The second is to worship ancestors. Although my father took the men to the cemetery, the family once again paid homage to their ancestors before the New Year's Eve dinner last year. The third is to set off firecrackers. As long as we are a little late, we will listen to firecrackers and count which one has already started to eat New Year's Eve. If you count too much, you will feel a little anxious, urging your mother to cook quickly and your father to set off firecrackers quickly.

(7) longevity

In southern Anhui, adults, especially men, don't sleep at night and should keep watch.

When I was a child, there was no TV. Now it's not like this. Instead, the family watched TV together, but several good neighbors agreed to play cards together. Men, women and children of several families gather together to watch. Men of various families in charming women and children of several families play games such as guiding sheep and playing marbles together, but no matter how to play, they must go home and bolt the door before twelve o'clock. Because there is a saying in my hometown, once the door of finance is opened, it can no longer be closed, and it will not be closed until the next night. Sometimes men play cards, women and children are watching, and of course some go home to sleep.

(8) Open the financial door

My hometown also has the custom of "opening a financial door" on New Year's Day morning. At the end of the year, the whole family cooperated with each other, some prepared firecrackers, some carried kindling, some kept a watch to see the time, and some were ready to open the door. When it was almost zero, they immediately lit firecrackers from home and put them at the door. Everyone is competing to ring the bell first. Once the financial door is opened, it can't be closed again until dawn. Once closed, it means that the financial door is closed. It is said that the first family who "opens the door to financial management" will make a fortune this year and get all their wishes. Many people will make good wishes before opening a financial management door. Some want to get rich, some want their sons to marry a good wife, some want their daughters to marry a good family, and some want their families to be healthy.

(9) Give out red envelopes

On New Year's Day, it is customary not to go out to pay New Year's greetings. Generally, family members bless each other, and elders give red envelopes to grandchildren. I remember when I was a child, I always got up the earliest. I was the first to run to grandma's door and knocked her three heads. My grandmother always laughs happily, praises me for being the most diligent, and says that I will be successful when I grow up. She will come and give me a red envelope. At that time, the conditions were no better than now. Grandma's red envelopes are the most, usually brand-new twenty cents, while other elders' red envelopes are mostly ten cents. In fact, I didn't know until I grew up that red envelopes are not the value of money, but a wish.

New year greetings

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, it is a day to pay a New Year call. Usually, my parents take us to my grandmother's house to pay New Year's greetings. Because my grandparents' uncles are nearby, I have basically visited them during the New Year.

In the past, most people brought sugar, white sugar or brown sugar, up to a catty of meat and two packs of cigarettes.

For the younger generation who come to pay New Year's greetings, elders usually take out their own tea eggs and some cakes such as sesame chips, parsley, popcorn, watermelon seeds and peanuts, and entertain guests with mountain products. As long as they come to pay a New Year call, they are usually treated to dinner. Even if we can't eat today, we must always find an opportunity to invite them back in the first month.

When entertaining guests, there is one dish on the table that can't be moved, and that is a whole fish, which is called "ornamental fish" in my hometown. You can't move until you see the Lantern Festival. I don't know why there is this custom, perhaps because fish was a very precious dish at that time, and it was rare. For the sake of the owner, no one wants to touch this fish. Over time, this fish has become a fish that everyone looks at.