On the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month in Fujian, people always wear good clothes, provide livestock and seafood such as pigs, sheep, chickens, ducks and fish, as well as offerings such as melons, sugar and fragrant tea at home, and then burn incense and set off firecrackers to see Kitchen God off, hoping that he will be "good from the sky". From this day on, the "new year" began.
Before New Year's Eve, people will also have a comprehensive cleaning and tidying up the courtyard room. They are busy preparing for the Spring Festival.
On New Year's Eve, every household often sticks Spring Festival couplets on their doors and windows, grain depots, pigsty, well platforms and other places, symbolizing good luck, all the best, lucky money, treasures and so on in the new year. Then put offerings and incense sticks on the table in the hall to worship the ancestors and welcome them to "go home for the New Year". Since then, the sound of setting off fireworks and firecrackers has been one after another, and it has been very lively until the morning of the first day of the New Year's Day.
On New Year's Eve, the whole family will get together to "surround the stove", that is, a family of men, women and children will sit around the stove or hot pot to eat New Year's Eve (or "reunion dinner"). Of course, this meal should be exceptionally rich.
In the New Year's Eve, besides eating fish balls and meatballs symbolizing family reunion, there are chicken with the meaning of "starting with chicken" and leeks with the meaning of "long life", as well as various fried foods with local flavor, such as glutinous rice balls and rice cakes, especially "turtle-bean paste rice cakes" (a kind of rice cake made by pressing a wooden mold engraved with the shape of a turtle and filled with bean paste), which can prolong life. In addition, there is a kind of salted radish rice cake, which needs to be baked and heated before it can be wrapped with laver. It not only has the function of removing meat and smell, but also contains the wish of "good luck" in the coming year.
After the New Year's Eve, it is also unique for elders to give their children "lucky money": older children "lucky money" is wrapped in red paper in advance and given to children; Children's "lucky money" is wrapped in red rope in advance, tied into a small collar and worn around the neck.
On the first day of the first month, people will get up early, get dressed and wash, and then begin to greet each other, express their respect and wishes, visit relatives and friends or visit parks. Very lively and pleasant. People are generally immersed in the festive atmosphere of joy, celebration, happiness and happiness.
On the second day of the Lunar New Year, it was the new son-in-law who took his wife to visit her husband's house. It is naturally more interesting for the son-in-law to come to the door and the daughter to return to her family.
The third day is considered an unlucky day. People don't go out much, eat early and go to bed early at night, which is also a good opportunity to stay away from the noise and rest.
The fourth day is the day to welcome the arrival of Kitchen God, which will naturally be very lively.
Since the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, many people have started their own businesses, and everyone who should go to work has gone to work.
According to legend, the ninth day of the ninth lunar month is God's birthday. Every family needs to prepare the best wine and food, burn incense and worship God, perform recitation and celebrate God's birthday. This is the last day of the Spring Festival every year.
Since then, the "Lantern Festival" that followed is the last scene of the whole Spring Festival. On this day, according to the traditional custom, every household should eat glutinous rice balls and enjoy lanterns. Under the full moon, all kinds of lanterns are shining, and there are activities such as lion dance, dragon dance and welcoming drums, which are colorful and dazzling. Especially those children who are full of childlike interest have been carrying lanterns and chanting songs across the street, like fish swimming around the bottom of the sea, adding icing on the cake to the lively Lantern Festival night!
People's Chinese New Year activities begin with the "tail teeth" in the 65438+65438+June of the lunar calendar. On this day, every household should pay tribute to the landlord, especially the businessman. In order to make a fortune in the new year, they will make sacrifices with sacrificial bodies and gold paper, and share the sacrifices with colleagues to reward employees. This is called "eating tail teeth". When "eating tail teeth", the employees who are about to be dismissed are pointed at each other by the employer, indicating that they will find another job next year.
The 24th lunar month is the day when people send immortals to heaven, just like the 23rd twelfth lunar month in southern Fujian. There must be "glutinous rice balls" (glutinous rice balls) in the sacrifice, which are stuck at the mouth of the stove, so that the kitchen god can "spread good words to the sky and bad words to one side". On this day, we will clean up and sweep away all the "bad luck" at home to welcome the arrival of the New Year.
New Year's Eve depends on the size of December in the lunar calendar. It's getting late, and every household prepares offerings, such as sweet oranges, sweet rice cakes, "spring rice" and "lucky money". "Spring rice" means inserting paper-cut spring characters on sharp rice. Because "spring" and "leftover" are homophonic in Minnan dialect, meaning "more than one year, more than one year". In addition, there are two sugarcane plants with leaves standing behind the gate, which are called "perennial sugarcane", meaning "strong family luck and good luck".
When eating New Year's Eve, there are new charcoal stoves and new sunflower fans under the square table, and the words "spring" and "happiness" written in red paper are affixed to the fans and stoves. Say auspicious words around the stove, such as "eat red dates, good every year!" " ""have a new year's eve dinner and earn every year! "Wait, there must be mustard greens on the table, called' long-term vegetables', which symbolizes longevity. Some people also hope that there will be "leek" on the dining table, that is, "leek" and "long" are homophonic, symbolizing longevity. Radish is also indispensable, which is called "vegetable head" in Minnan dialect, meaning "good color head" (good omen). There is also chicken, the homonym of chicken "home" and "starting from eating chicken", which can greatly boost the voice of home. The vegetables around the stove were not chopped with a knife. Wash it and cook it with roots, and don't bite it off when eating. But eat it slowly from beginning to end to wish parents a long life.
After the New Year's Eve, it is a birthday celebration. It symbolizes that the younger generation wants their parents to live long. As soon as the "handover time" (65438+ 02 midnight) passes, people gather young and old to offer sacrifices to the gods with red and white rice cakes, and then set off firecrackers to welcome the New Year.
During the Chinese New Year, we will also make red turtle rice fruit, fat rice fruit and vegetable head rice fruit to make rice cakes. Red turtle rice fruit looks like a turtle, the outside is dyed red and stamped with tortoise shell seal, symbolizing people's longevity and aging. Every family uses this kind of cake to worship the god who raised everything. If guests come to pay a New Year call, please eat sweets and say different auspicious words according to men, women and children. For example, a child can say to the old man, "Have a sweet meal and wish you a long life!" " Colleagues can say: "Have a sweet meal and wish you a wide range of financial resources!"