God of offering sacrifices to stoves
Offering sacrifices to stoves is a widely spread and influential custom among Chinese people. Legend has it that on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the Kitchen God will ascend to heaven and report the good and evil of this family for a year to the Jade Emperor. According to Kitchen God's report, the Jade Emperor will give the family the good and bad fortune they deserve in the new year to Kitchen God. The ceremony of sending the kitchen god is called "sending the kitchen" or "saying goodbye to the kitchen". People presented red candles and honeydew melons, and sent Kitchen God to heaven with solemn ceremony, hoping that Kitchen God would "speak well in heaven and be lucky in the next life". Today, this custom is still followed in many rural areas.
sweep the dust
"Twenty-four, cleaning day". To welcome the new, we must first get rid of the old. Dust removal is year-end cleaning, which is called "house cleaning" in the north and "dust removal" in the south. Sweeping dust before the Spring Festival is a traditional custom in our country. On the day of dusting, the whole family began to clean the house and yard together, scrub the pots and pans, dismantle and wash the bedding, and greet the New Year cleanly. In fact, people use the homonym of "dust" and "Chen" to express their willingness to get rid of the old and welcome the new.
paste up Spring Festival couplets
Sticking Spring Festival couplets is an activity during the Spring Festival, which has been very popular since the Song Dynasty. Every family has the custom of sticking Spring Festival couplets every year.
Spring Festival couplets, commonly known as "appropriate" and "Spring Post", are a kind of couplets. Because they are posted during the Spring Festival, they are called Spring Festival couplets. One source of Spring Festival couplets is Fu Tao. At first, people carved figures out of mahogany and hung them by the door to ward off evil spirits. Later, they painted the door god on the mahogany, simplified it and wrote the door god's name on the mahogany board. Another source of Spring Festival couplets is spring stickers. The ancients posted the word "Yichun" every day when they were in beginning of spring. The real popularity of Spring Festival couplets began in the Ming Dynasty, which was related to Zhu Yuanzhang's advocacy. According to historical records, one year before the Spring Festival, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered every household to post a pair of Spring Festival couplets to celebrate. At first, Spring Festival couplets were carved on mahogany boards, and later rewritten on paper. The color of mahogany is red, which means good luck and avoiding evil spirits, so most Spring Festival couplets are written in red paper.
Stick the words of blessing backwards.
In our country, people often use the word "Fu" to express their yearning and pursuit for auspiciousness, wishful thinking and happiness. Whenever we bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new year, every household should put the word "Fu" on the door, which means that we are blessed to enter the house. In many places, the word "Fu" is reversed, and the homonym of "Dao" and "Dao" is used to mean "Fu is here".
On new year's eve, watch the calendar year.
New Year's Eve refers to the evening of the last day of the year, which is connected with the Spring Festival from beginning to end. It is an important moment of "one night for two years, five hours for two years". "Except" means "going", and New Year's Eve means "the month is poor and the old year is exhausted", which means that the old year will be replaced by the new year next year. New Year's Eve is the first climax of the New Year's Festival. Shounian, commonly known as "Enduring the Year", begins with eating New Year's Eve. New Year's Eve is the most intimate and warm family dinner in a year. At this time, people not only enjoy a table full of delicious food, but also enjoy deep affection and festive celebrations. After the New Year's Eve, except for the young children, the whole family began to celebrate the New Year, saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new.
On New Year's Eve, our people will hold an annual stilt walking activity, that is, sesame stalks are stuck in the courtyard in the shape of gold ingots made of yellow paper rolls and stored in a bundle, which is called a "cornucopia". Then the whole family crushed it with their feet to make "old" and "broken" homophonic, and borrowed the auspicious meaning of sesame blossom to wish the family prosperity and express their wishes and prayers for the new year. Nowadays the custom of stepping on the age has been replaced by setting off firecrackers.
lucky money
On New Year's Eve, the elders should give the younger generation lucky money, also called lucky money. Because "old" and "treasure" are homophonic, elders hope that lucky money can ward off evil spirits and avoid disasters, and protect children's safety. The lucky money has placed the ardent hope and deep concern of the elders for the younger generation.
Setting off firecrackers
There is a folk proverb in China. When the new year comes, the first thing for every household to open the door is to set off firecrackers, and to say goodbye to the old and welcome the new with the sound of firecrackers. Setting off firecrackers is an entertainment activity of China Festival, which can bring happiness and good luck to people.
According to historical records, the earliest firecrackers were torches made of flammable materials such as bamboo poles. Because bamboo is abundant in the south of China, this custom first became popular in the south. When bamboo burns, the air in the bamboo joint expands, which makes the bamboo cavity burst and make a crackling sound, hence the name firecrackers. Around the Tang Dynasty, people put gunpowder in bamboo tubes and lit it. In the Song Dynasty, people generally used paper rolls filled with gunpowder instead of bamboo tubes, which is now firecrackers.
Pay new year's call
Paying New Year greetings is an important activity during the Spring Festival. Like the reunion dinner on New Year's Eve, it is the Spring Festival custom that best reflects the "taste of the year". In the past, the order of family visiting New Year was to worship heaven and earth, ancestors and temples. Generally, the younger generation pays New Year greetings to their elders on the first day of the New Year's Day, wishing them happiness as the East China Sea and longevity as the South Mountain. After the New Year, the general rule is to worship family members on the first day, the Yue family on the second day and relatives on the third day. Students, colleagues, friends, collaborators and neighbors should also pay New Year greetings to each other. In the sound of "Happy New Year", the distance between hearts has been narrowed and the feelings between people have been enhanced. As the old saying goes, New Year greetings are "based on friendship and nostalgia".