Have a little birthday. Limited to children, from the "one-year-old" line to grasp the ceremony, every year to hold a birthday, the child's birthday, usually the mother cooks three eggs for the child to eat. In Huaining, Anqing, children should hide behind the door to eat eggs on their birthdays, which means avoiding evil spirits. However, when children are one, five or ten years old, birthdays will be more grand. Children will put on new clothes and hats. Family members and relatives will give their children gifts and food and entertain them. Young and middle-aged people celebrate their birthdays, and family members and couples also give gifts to each other, which increases the harmonious atmosphere of the family.
Second, birthdays.
[birthday age]
In central and southern Anhui, from 40 to 50 years old, it is generally said that 60 is a flower, 70 is ancient, 80 and 90 are octogenarians, and 100 is the year of longevity. Birthdays over 60 years old are regarded as birthdays, and family members should celebrate them in time. In Huaibei area, every time the elderly are sixty-six, seventy-one, seventy-three, eighty and eighty-four, it is better to celebrate their birthdays.
[birthday present]
Huaibei proverb says: "sixty-six, eat a piece of meat;" Seventy-one, eat a chicken; Seventy-three, eat a carp and jump the dragon gate. " In Lixin and Bozhou, when the old man is 66 years old, his daughter will make 66 steamed buns for the old man, pack 66 flat foods, and buy 6 Jin of 62 Liang pork for her mother's family, which means "66 Dashun". At the age of seventy-one, children will stew old hens for the elderly; At the age of seventy-three, children will feed carp to the elderly, which means good luck. There are three common sayings about respecting the elderly in rural areas of Huaibei. Eat a piece of meat. Eating meat alone is not enough. Seventy-three, eat a carp and jump the dragon gate. Seventy-seven, eat a chicken, good luck and long life. Adding meals is actually to enhance nutrition for the elderly. In central and southern Anhui, the elderly should have extra meals on their birthdays, usually noodles, eggs, pork and so on. Every year, when the elderly are well dressed and 80 years old, their families will hold a celebration party for the elderly, hold a family banquet to entertain their close relatives and friends, and friends and relatives will send birthday wishes, birthday couplets and birthday noodles. In some places, birthday peaches, porcelain birthday stars, and flour candy containers are also presented. In Jinzhai area of western Anhui, besides giving ordinary fruits, wine, noodles, chickens and ducks, people who celebrate their birthdays also make peaches, gold ingots, famous mountains (such as Mount Tai), famous buildings (such as Yellow Crane Tower), temples (such as Sanzu Temple), green lions, white elephants, dragons and phoenixes with glutinous rice flour. , and paste the red letters of auspiciousness, auspiciousness and good luck. And write down couplets such as "Happiness is like the East China Sea, Longevity is like the South Mountain". All the gifts were put into gift boxes and sent to the birthday girl's home with flags, umbrellas, gongs and drums and horns. The old man greeted him warmly with gongs and firecrackers.
There are also some people who have prestige and status in society. In order to show off the life experiences of the elderly, they held a birthday party. Relatives and friends chipped in to send a plaque to celebrate their birthdays. The wooden plaque was painted black and gold. Generally, there are greetings such as "Celebrating Westerners" and "Celebrating the Year", as well as birthday greetings, birthday couplets and birthday candles. Wear red on the plaque and set off firecrackers to send it to the birthday party.
[birthday time]
There is a common custom in all regions, that is, men do nine things but don't do ten, and women don't make parts when they are full. In other words, when the old man is 59, he can celebrate his 60th birthday. Old women must celebrate their birthdays at the age of six, for example, at the age of sixty or seventy. Birthdays once every ten years are common in central and southern Anhui. The birthday time of the elderly in Huaibei area is not according to the birthday time, but according to the date of the first month of the lunar calendar: "June 6, take the sixth day"; "Seventy-one, positive eleven"; "Seventy-three, the third day" at the beginning of 80, 90 and 10 "; Eighty-four, the fourth day of the year.
[Birthday Etiquette]
On the birthday, lanterns are hung in front of the door, gongs and drums are played, incense tables are placed in the class, red candles are bright, and red carpets are laid on the floor. Birthday guests sit in the middle of the incense table, and the guests are arranged on both sides according to seniority, age and position. The master of ceremonies pays tribute to the birthday guests in turn, and everyone also offers congratulations to the birthday guests, such as the younger generation bowing or bowing. The younger generation must accept this gift. When celebrating the guests' birthday, undertaker leaned over to thank his peers and adults. In Jinzhai area, before the birthday, the birthday person and all the guests worship the ancestors of heaven and earth first.
In Wangjiang area, a son thought his parents' birthday was to collect money, and was ridiculed as "selling old bones".
When the elderly step into the flower or celebrate their birthdays, the younger generation will celebrate their birthdays and invite their close relatives and friends to have dinner at home and take photos together. Besides dinner, some people also collected poems and printed special books in the name of friendship as a birthday celebration.
[birthday party]
After the birthday celebration, the host invited the guests to sit down, having tea first, including peaches and cakes, then eating noodles, and then having a formal banquet. The banquet is ten bowls of meat dishes, which means perfection. In the third course of the banquet, Shoushou's son will thank the guests before the banquet begins. Around Chaohu Lake, the night before the birthday, the whole family has a dinner with vegetables, which is called "warm birthday". The next day, Fang gave a banquet to entertain the guests.
[over 36 years old]
In western Anhui, Shitai and Huaining in southern Anhui, when rural men reach the age of 36, relatives and friends will send white cocks and white shirts to congratulate them, which means to eliminate disasters and solve problems. Because in some local folk activities, 36 years old is considered as the "checkpoint" of life.
In some wealthy families, when giving birthdays to the elderly, Taoist priests and monks will be invited to do "pre-repair", that is, chanting scriptures to celebrate their birthdays and praying for the blessing of the gods to make the elderly live longer.
In places like Lai 'an in eastern Anhui, there is a custom of "double longevity". For example, the husband and wife are 5 1 year old and the woman is 49 years old, so they can celebrate the centenary together.
Ghost life
Some wealthy families, whose elders have died, still celebrate their parents' birthdays. The whole family and relatives and friends pay homage to the graves of the deceased, and relatives and friends send filial piety, filial piety, paper money, silver ingots and other things.
[Children's Birthday]
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, ordinary urban families attach importance to giving their children a small birthday. On their birthdays, they put on new clothes and hats for their children. Parents hold small banquets for their close relatives and friends, and relatives and friends give gifts or cash. Before dinner, the whole family took a group photo with the children. At the banquet, everyone blessed the children. After dinner, put a birthday cake on the table, insert small candles according to age, light them and blow them out by children. When blowing out the candles, everyone sang "Happy Birthday to you" and applauded. Then the children cut the cake and give it to their elders, relatives and friends. Rural families still eat two eggs for their children's birthdays. On the tenth birthday, parents make longevity cakes or buns for relatives and friends, and relatives and friends give back clothes, shoes and socks.