Sacrificing the stove, sweeping the dust, posting spring couplets, door gods, New Year's paintings, posting the Chinese character for "福" New Year's Eve, New Year's Eve, New Year's Eve dinner, sacrificing to ancestors, observing the New Year's Day, going back to the mother's house, sending the poor to receive the God of Fortune, the red packets (压岁钱) and giving oranges on New Year's Day, setting off firecrackers in the New Year, paying homage and welcoming the Spring Festival
Specifics:
The Chinese New Year is usually started from the twenty-fourth day of the Lunar month. Twenty-four: [Zaosi] [Dust] [Zao sugar]
China's Spring Festival is generally from the annual Lunar New Year 23 or 24 Zaosi opening, there is the so-called "government three people four boat family five", that is, the government in the Lunar New Year 23rd, the general civilian family 24th, the people on the water in the twenty-fifth day of the ceremony held Zaosi Ceremony. After holding the sacrificial stove, will formally begin to do to meet the New Year's preparations. Every year from the 23rd day of the lunar month to the New Year's Eve of this period of time, the folk called "welcome spring day".
Lunar New Year's Eve 25: [Jade Emperor][Catch up with the messy year][Shine on the silkworms][Thousand Lanterns Festival]
After sending the god of the stove to heaven to the New Year's Eve before welcoming back, during which there is no god on earth to govern, there are no taboos, and the people marry, known as the "Catch up with the messy year". Messy year is the people designed for their own regulation of the social life of a specific period. At the end of the year, people have leisure and savings, for people who usually have the energy to organize a big event, this is a good time.
Lunar New Year's Eve 27/28: [Bath]
Traditional folklore in these two days to focus on bathing, laundry, remove the bad luck of the year, in preparation for the coming year's New Year, the capital has "27 wash guilt, 28 wash sloppy" proverb. Lunar New Year's Eve bath for "wash the blessing of Lu".
Lunar New Year's Eve: [small New Year's Eve] [Catch the New Year]
The day before New Year's Eve, called "small New Year's Eve", the family set up a feast, people visit called "Farewell". The day before New Year's Eve is called "Little New Year's Eve", when families have a banquet and people visit each other for three days.
Lunar month 30: New Year's Eve: [posting the god of the door] [posting the Spring Festival couplets] [keep watch] [eat New Year's Eve dinner] [set off firecrackers] [ancestor] [to the New Year's Eve]
"New Year's Eve" in the "in addition to the" word "go; easy; alternating". ; easy; alternation" meaning, New Year's Eve means "the end of the month poor years", people have to get rid of the old part of the new, there is the old year to this and remove, the next year another new year's meaning, is the last night of the lunar calendar throughout the year. Therefore, the activities during this period are centered around the old part of the new, eliminate disasters and pray for blessings as the center.
The first day of the first month of the year: [New Year's] [open door cannonballs] [accounted for the year] [sticker painting chicken] [gather wealth]
This day is the first day of the year, the first day of spring, the first day of the first month, so it is known as the "Sanyuan"; this day is also the age of the dynasty, the month of the dynasty, the day of the dynasty, so it is also known as the "three dynasties". "Three Dynasties". Different periods of Chinese history have changed the time of the first day of the first month according to their own cultural traditions and customs.
The second day of the first month: [offerings to the God of Wealth] [legend of the God of Wealth]
The north of the first two days of the first month of the God of Wealth, this day, whether it is the trade stores, or ordinary families, will be held to offer the God of Wealth activities. Each family to the New Year's Eve to pick up the God of Fortune sacrifice. In fact, they incinerate the rough prints they bought. On this day, wontons are eaten at noon, commonly known as "Yuanbao soup". Fish and mutton are used as offerings.
The third day of the first month of the year: [burn the paper of the God of the Door] [Guzi birthday] [Xiaonianzhao]
Xiaonianzhao, that is, Tianqing Festival. Song dynasty court festival, Song Zhenzong Dazhong Xiangfu first year, because of the rumor of heavenly books descending to earth, Zhenzong issued an imperial decree, the first three days of the first month of the day for the Tianqing Festival, officials and other vacation five days. Later, it was called the Small New Year's Day, and it was the same as the Annual Day without sweeping the ground, begging for fire, or drawing water.
The first five days of the first month of the year: [sacrifice to the God of Wealth] [Road God] [send poor] [open market]
The first five days of the first month of the year is commonly known as the broken five. One said that many taboos before the fifth day of this day can be broken. According to the old custom to eat "water dumplings", the north called "boiled meat and potatoes". Women are no longer taboo door, began to visit each other to congratulate the New Year. The new bride in this day to return to peace. One said that the day of the broken five should not do things, otherwise the year meets a failure.
The seventh day of the first month of the year: [human day] [show pancakes] [eat seven treasures soup]
Legend has it that the female snail first created the world, in the creation of chickens, dogs, pigs, cows, horses and other animals, in the seventh day of the human being, so this day is the birthday of mankind. Han Dynasty began to human day custom, Wei Jin began to emphasize. In ancient times, there was the custom of wearing a "human victory" on the human day. Because it is the day of man, so in ancient times this day there is not the custom of execution.
The eighth day of the first month: [Valley Day] [Shunxing]
Folk to the eighth day of the first month of the stars down to the world, the system of small lamps burned and sacrificed, known as the Shunxing, also known as the "Star Festival", "catching the star". Legend has it that the eighth day of the month is the birthday of Guzi. This day the weather is sunny, the Lord of the day a good harvest of rice, the sky is cloudy, the year is poor.
The first ten days of the first month: [stone birthday] [He rat married daughter] [New Year ten days of song]
In the old days, the folk in the first month of the ritual activities held by the rat, also known as the "rat married daughter" "rat married". The specific date varies from place to place, there is the seventh of January, there is the seventeenth of January, there is the twenty-fifth of January, many areas are the tenth of January. The way in which the rats are sacrificed also varies from place to place.
The first month of the fifteenth: [Lantern Festival] [send children lamp] [welcome purple nun] [walk a hundred diseases] [steal vegetables festival] [Bawu Festival]
The Lantern Festival is also known as the first night, the night of the first yuan, also known as the Festival of the first yuan, because it is the first full moon of the New Year. Because of the custom of watching lamps on this festival through the ages, it is also known as the Festival of Lights. Lantern Festival custom of the formation of a longer process, the Han Emperor on the night of the first month on the Xin night in Ganquan Palace sacrifice "Taichi" activities, is seen as the first month of the fifteenth day of the festival of the gods of the precursor.
Spring customs: [Eastern suburbs to welcome spring] [spring post] [spring cow] [bite spring]
Spring day to welcome spring, is the Chinese ancestors on the day of spring is an important activity. In the Zhou Dynasty, when the spring, the son of heaven personally rate three dukes and nine ministers of the vassals to go to the eastern suburbs to welcome the spring, praying for a good harvest. After returning, he rewarded his ministers, and gave the people the benefit of virtue and order. It became a universal spring festival for generations to come.
Specifically:
Sacrificing the stove
The Spring Festival in China generally begins with the sacrifice of the stove. The folk song "twenty-three, sugar melon sticky" refers to the annual Lunar New Year 23 or 24 days of the festival of the stove, there is the so-called "government three people four boat family five", that is, the government in the Lunar New Year 23rd, the general people in the family on the twenty-fourth, the people on the water for the twenty-fifth day of the festival of the stove.
Sacrifice of the stove, is a folk in our country has a great influence, widely spread custom. In the old days, almost every house had a "Zao Wang" god in the stove room. People call this god "Sifu Bodhisattva" or "Zaojun Sifu", and legend has it that he is the Jade Emperor's "Nine Heavenly East Kitchen Sifu Zaowangfujun", responsible for the management of the family's stove fire, was worshiped as a family's protective deity. Most of the Zaowang niches are located on the north or east side of the stove room, with the statue of Zaowang in the center. For those who do not have a Zaowang niche, there are also those who put the idol directly on the wall. Some of the idols depicted only one person, Zao Wang, while others had two persons, a man and a woman, and the goddess was called "Zao Wang's grandmother". This is probably an imitation of the image of an earthly couple. Most of the statues of Lord Zao also have the calendar of the year printed on them, with words such as "Master of the East Kitchen", "Supervisor of the Earth", and "Head of the Household" to indicate the status of the God of Vesta. On both sides of the posters are couplets that read "Good things are said in heaven, and peace is guaranteed in the world below" to bless the whole family.
Since the New Year's Eve of the previous year, Zao Wang Wang has been staying at home to protect and monitor the family; on the 23rd day of the Lunar New Year, Zao Wang Wang will go up to the sky to report to the Jade Emperor in the sky on the family's good or bad deeds, and the ceremony of sending Zao Wang to the sky is known as "sending Zao" or "resigning from Zao". Based on the report of the Zaos, the Jade Emperor will then hand over to the Zaos the fate of the family in the new year, which should be good or bad. Therefore, for the family, the report of the Zaowang master is really of great interest.
The Zaobao ceremony is held at nightfall. The family first goes to the stove room, sets up a table, pays homage to the Zaowang master in the shrine on the wall of the stove, and offers sugar melons made of caramel and flour. Then, they make paper horses and feed grass to the animals. Offering caramelized sugar to Zaowang is to sweeten his old man's mouth. In some places, sugar is smeared around the mouth of Zaowang, saying, "Say more good things, don't say bad things." This is to stuff the mouth of Master Zao with sugar, so that he will not say anything bad. In the Tang Dynasty, there is a record of "applying wine lees on the stove to make Zaosi drunk" in the "Records of the Years and Seasons in the Emperor's Chariot". After smearing the mouth of Zaowang with sugar, people take down the statue of the god and send it up to the sky with paper and cigarettes. In some places, they pile up sesame stalks and pine branches in the yard at night, invite the image of Zaojun, which has been offered for a year, out of the shrine, and set fire to it, together with paper horses and grass. The yard was brightly lit by the fire, and the family bowed around the fire and prayed while burning: "This year is the twenty-third day of the year, and I would like to send Zaojun to the West. There is a strong horse, there is grass, a smooth and safe journey. The sugar melons are sweet, so please tell the Jade Emperor what you want to hear.
Sending Zaojun, some places there are still several beggars, disguised, singing Zaojun song from house to house, Zaojun dance, called "sending Zaojin", in exchange for food.
Send stove customs in China's north and south of the country is extremely common, Mr. Lu Xun has written a "gengzi send stove that is the case" poem: only chicken gum teeth sugar, canonical clothes for petal incense. There are no long things in the house, not only less yellow sheep.
He said in the article "Zaojun day of the send": "Zaojun day, the street also sells a kind of sugar, the size of a mandarin fruit, in our place also have this thing, but flat, like a thick small pancake. That's called 'Gum Tooth Molasses'. The original intention was in asking Zaojun to eat it and glue his teeth so that he could not flirt and speak ill of the Jade Emperor." The allusion to the "yellow sheep" in Lu Xun's poem comes from "The Book of the Later Han Dynasty - The Biography of Yin Zhi": "During the reign of Emperor Xuan Di, Yin Zifang was a man of great filial piety and benevolence. Lunar morning cooking, and the stove God see, Zifang worship again to be celebrated; home has a yellow sheep, because of the sacrifice. Since then, after the storm to the rich. To know three generations, and then prosperous, so after often to wax day sacrifice stove and recommend yellow sheep." Yin Zifang saw the God of the stove, kill yellow sheep sacrifice, and then made good luck. From then on, the custom of killing a yellow sheep to sacrifice to the stove has been passed down.
The offerings for Zaos in the Tang and Song dynasties were quite abundant. The Song Dynasty poet Fan Chengda's "Zaosi words" made an extremely vivid depiction of the folk festival of Zaosi at that time: Ancient legend of the twenty-fourth day of the waxing moon, Zaojun towards the sky want to talk about things. The cloud car, wind and horses stayed a little, and the family had cups and plates for the ceremony. The pig's head is rotten, the fish is fresh, the bean paste is sweet and loose, the rice bait is round. Men offer their daughters to avoid it, and sprinkle wine and burn money to make Zaojun happy. Don't be angry at the maid's struggles, or at the cats and dogs that touch you. I will send you to the gate of heaven with a full stomach and a long spoon and a short spoon, so don't repeat the clouds, and beg for the profit to be shared with you.
The festival on the 23rd day of the Lunar New Year is closely related to the New Year. Because, a week later, on the night of New Year's Eve, Lord Zaowang comes to earth with other gods and goddesses with the good fortune and misfortune that the family is supposed to receive. Lord Zao is believed to lead the way for the gods in heaven. While the other gods go back to heaven after the New Year, only the King Zao stays in the kitchen of the family for a long time. The ceremony of welcoming the gods is called "receiving the gods", and for Lord Zao it is called "receiving the stove". The ceremony is usually much simpler on New Year's Eve, when you just need to put on a new stove lamp and burn incense in front of the stove niche, and that's the end of it.
There is a saying that "men don't worship the moon, women don't sacrifice to the stove". In some places, women do not sacrifice the stove, it is said, Zaowang master looks like a white man, afraid of female sacrifice stove, there is a "male and female suspicion". The origin of Zao Wang Wang has a long history. Among the Chinese folk gods, Zao is considered to be very old. As early as in the Xia Dynasty, he was already a great god worshipped by the people. According to the ancient book "Rituals - Rituals" Kong Yingda sparse: "Zhuanxu's son Ri Li, Zhu Rong, sacrificed to the god of the stove." Zhuangzi. Dasheng" recorded: "The stove has a bun." Sima Biao commented: "Bun, the god of the stove, dressed in red, like a beautiful woman." In the "Clasp of Parks. It is also written in the "Micro Purpose" that "On the night of the moon's darkness, the god of the stove also goes up to heaven for the white man's sins." These records are probably the source of the sacrifices to the God of Vesta. In addition, or that the god of the stove is drilling wood for fire "flint man's"; or that is the Shennong's "fire officer"; or that is the "yellow emperor as stove" "Su Jili"; or that the god of the stove is surnamed Zhang, a list of the word Ziguo; many say different things. There is an interesting story circulating in the folklore.
It is said that in ancient times, there was a family surnamed Zhang, two brothers, brother is a plasterer, brother is a painter. The brother's specialty is the work of the pan pan, East Street please, West Square invited, all praised him for the high craftsmanship of the base of the stove. Over the years, he became famous and was honored as "King Zhang Zao" by all the people in the area. Speaking of Zhang Zao Wang is also strange, no matter to whose home base stove, such as the other family has a dispute, he loves to meddle. When he meets a noisy daughter-in-law, he wants to persuade, and when he meets a fierce mother-in-law, he also wants to say, as if he is an old elder. In the future, all the neighbors would go to him for anything, and everyone respected him. Zhang Zaowang lived to be seventy years old, and it was the night of the 23rd day of the Lunar New Year when he died. Zhang Zaowang died, Zhang family can be a mess, the original Zhang Zaowang is the head of the family, the family things are at his command, and now the elder brother left the earth, the younger brother will only poetry and painting, although has been the flower of the armor, but has never been in charge of the housework. Several daughters-in-law are clamoring to split the family, the painter was stirred to do nothing, all day long sad face. One day, he finally came up with a good idea. On the twenty-third day of the waxing moon, the first anniversary of the death of Zhang Zaowang, late at night, the artist suddenly called the whole family woke up, saying that the big brother manifested itself. He will be son and daughter-in-law of the whole family to the kitchen, only to see the dark walls of the stove, floating candlelight vaguely revealed Zhang Zao Wang and his late wife's appearance, the family were stunned. The artist said: "I dreamed that my elder brother and sister-in-law had become immortals when I went to bed, and the Jade Emperor appointed him as the 'Nine Heavenly East Kitchen Secretary Zao Wang Fu Jun'. You guys are always lazy, sisters-in-law do not get along, do not respect and filial piety, make the family God uneasy. My elder brother knows that you are making a fuss about the separation of the family and is very angry, so he is going to go up to heaven to report to the Jade Emperor, and come down to the world on the night of the 30th day of the New Year to punish you." Children nieces and nephews-in-law heard these words, horrified, immediately kneeling down and kowtowing, busy fetching Zhang Zao Wang usually love to eat sweets to offer on the stove, pleading with Lord Zao for forgiveness. From then on, often noisy uncles and brothers and daughters-in-law no longer dare to make a scene, the whole family live together peacefully, the young and the old live in peace. After this incident was known to the neighbors, the rumor spread, and they all rushed to the Zhang family to find out the truth. In fact, the night of the twenty-third day of the waxing moon on the wall of the stove stove king, is the painter pre-drawn. He is a fake big brother manifestation of the spirit of the town to scare the children nieces and nephews, I do not expect this method is really effective. So when the neighbors came to find the painter to find out the situation, he had to pretend to be real, the painted stove king statue distributed to the neighbors. Such as these, passed along the countryside, every family's stove room are affixed with the Zaowang statue. As the years went by, the custom of making offerings to Zao Wang on the 23rd day of the Lunar New Year and praying for the safety of the whole family was formed. After the custom of Zaosai was spread, it was included in the ceremonies of the imperial palace from the Zhou Dynasty onwards, and the rules of Zaosai were set up in the whole country, which became a fixed ritual.
New Year's Eve Dinner
The day of New Year's Eve is extremely important to the Chinese. On this day people prepare to get rid of the old and welcome the new by having a reunion dinner. In ancient China, some prison officials even let prisoners go home to spend New Year's Eve with their families, which shows how important the "New Year's Eve dinner" was to the ancient Chinese.
The annual New Year's Eve dinner is a great example of the mutual respect and love among members of the Chinese family, which brings the family closer together. Family reunion often makes the head of the family to get comfort and satisfaction in spirit, the elderly see their children and grandchildren, the family **** to talk about the family, the past care and raising children to pay the effort is not in vain, this is how happy. The younger generation, too, can take this opportunity to express their gratitude to their parents for their upbringing.
Children playing with firecrackers, but also the housewives in the kitchen is the busiest time, New Year's dishes are done a few days before, and the New Year's Eve dinner is always in the New Year's Eve on the day of the cook to do out. In the north, the dumplings on the first day of the New Year are also wrapped up on the evening of the thirtieth. At this time the cutting boards of the families are thumping and busy chopping meat and vegetables. At this time, the sound of the chopping board from every household, the sound of firecrackers from the streets and alleys, small stores and stores out of the "chopping and popping" sound of the abacus and the rhythmic sound of the accounts, mixed with the sound of laughter everywhere, one after another, the ocean full of ears, interweaving into the New Year's Eve joyful music.
Speaking of the knife and anvil sound of New Year's Eve, Deng Yunxiang wrote "Yanjing Native Records" but recorded a very bleak story of New Year's Eve: the poor in the old days of life is difficult, thirty nights is a pass. In one family, the husband had not yet returned with the money by the late evening of the 30th, "the bottles of corn at home were exhausted early, and there was nothing for the New Year's goods. Woman at home to put the children to bed, at a loss, heard the neighbor's anvil sound, pain to the extreme, do not know whether the husband can take some money or something back, do not know how to live tomorrow this year, but also afraid of their own home no anvil sound to make people laugh, then take a knife to chop empty anvil, while thumping the chopping, while the tears weeping down ......, this story makes people listen to it. Indeed heartbreaking.
Eating New Year's Eve dinner, is the Spring Festival families the most lively and enjoyable time. New Year's Eve. Abundant New Year's Eve dishes on the table, the whole family reunion, sitting around the table, *** eat a reunion dinner, the heart of the fullness is really difficult to describe. People are enjoying the table full of delicacies, but also to enjoy the happy atmosphere, the table has a big dish, cold pots, stir-fry, snacks, generally less two things, one is hot pot, one is fish. One is fish. Hot pot boiling, steaming, warm and inviting, indicating that the red hot; "fish" and "Yu" resonance, is a symbol of "auspicious celebrations", but also a metaphor for "year after year". There are also turnips, commonly known as "choy tau", wishing good luck; lobster, popping fish and other fried food, wishing prosperity for the family, such as "blazing fire cooking oil". Finally, more for a sweet food, wishing sweet days ahead, this day, even if you do not drink alcohol, but also more or less drink a little. In ancient times, New Year's Eve drinking, pay close attention to the quality of wine, some wine is no longer available, leaving only many moving wine names, such as "grape spirits", "orchid cocktails", "Yichun wine", "plum blossom wine", "peach blossom wine", "Tusu wine", etc. Among these wines, the most popular is the "Tusu wine". Among these wines, the one that has been passed down for the longest time and is the most popular is Tusu Wine. But how did Tusu Wine get its name? And what was it made of? The legend never varies.
Tusu is the name of a kind of grass, and some people say that tusu is an ancient kind of house tail because the wine brewed in this kind of house, so it is called tusu wine. It is said that Tu Su wine was created by Hua Tuo, a famous doctor at the end of the Han Dynasty, and its formula is rhubarb, atractylodes, cinnamon sticks, windproof, peppercorns, aconite, epiphyllum, and other traditional Chinese medicines into the wine immersion and become. This kind of medicine has the efficacy of benefiting qi and warming yang, dispelling wind and dispersing cold, and avoiding the evil of epidemic. Later by the Tang Dynasty famous doctor Sun Simiao spread. Sun Simiao every year in the waxing moon, always give a packet of medicine to the neighbors, telling everyone to medicine brew wine, New Year's Eve into drink, can prevent the plague. Sun Simiao also named his house "Tu Su House". Afterwards, through generations, drinking tusu wine became a New Year's custom. In ancient times, the method of drinking Tusu Wine was very unique. Generally speaking, people always start drinking from the oldest person, but drinking Tusu Wine is just the opposite, starting from the youngest person. That is to say, when a family gathers to drink Tusu Wine, they start with the youngest children first, and the older ones come after, drinking a little bit of wine one by one. The Song Dynasty writer Su Zhe's poem "New Year's Day" says: "Drinking Tusu at the end of the year, I don't realize that I am more than seventy years old." It is this custom that is spoken of. Some people did not understand the significance of this custom, and Dong Xun explained, "The young get the year, so they are congratulated; the old lose the year, so they are punished." This custom was still prevalent in the Song Dynasty. For example, Su Shi said in his poem "Outside Changzhou City on New Year's Eve", "But I will put my poverty and sorrows on a long and healthy life, and I will not quit drinking tusu at the end of the day." Su Shi in his later years, although poor and downtrodden, but the spirit is very optimistic, he believes that as long as the body is healthy, although old age does not care, the last penalty to drink Tusu wine naturally do not have to excuse. This unique order of drinking, in ancient times, every time people have all kinds of feelings, so people have a deep impression. Until the Qing Dynasty, this custom is still unfailing. Today, this custom is no longer practiced on a large scale, but the custom of drinking these medicinal wines on festivals or during the week still exists.
The New Year's Eve dinner has a lot of names, different from the north and south, with dumplings, wontons, long noodles, Lantern, etc., and each has its own instructions. Northern people are used to eating dumplings on New Year's Eve, is to take the old and new, "change of year," the meaning of the child. And because the white dumplings are shaped like silver dollars, a pot of dumplings on the table to symbolize the "New Year's fortune, Yuanbao rolled in" meaning. When some dumplings are wrapped, several coins sterilized in boiling water are wrapped into them, saying that whoever eats them first will earn more money. The custom of eating dumplings was passed down from the Han Dynasty. According to legend, Zhang Zhongjing, the sage of medicine, saw that the ears of the poor were frostbitten in the winter months, so he made a kind of "Cold-removing Ear Soup" for the poor to cure frostbite. He used mutton, chili peppers and some cold and warm herbs, wrapped in dough into an ear like "Jiao Er", boiled in a pot, distributed to the poor to eat, people ate, feel warm, two ear heat. Afterwards, people followed suit and the tradition has been passed down to this day. Eating wontons in the New Year is to take the meaning of the beginning. Legend has it that the world was chaotic before the creation of the world, Pangu opened up the sky and the earth, so that there is a universe of four sides, long noodles, also known as longevity noodles. Eating noodles in the New Year is to wish for a long life of 100 years.
Watch the New Year
China's folk in the New Year's Eve has the habit of watching the New Year. It starts with the New Year's Eve dinner, which is eaten slowly, from the time of the lantern, and some people have to eat it until late at night. According to the record of "Jing Chu Yearly Records", there was a custom of having New Year's Eve dinner at least in the North and South Dynasties.
The custom of observing the New Year's Eve is not only a way of saying goodbye to the passing years, but also a way of expressing hope for the coming New Year. Ancient people wrote in a poem of "keeping the New Year's Eve": "We are invited to keep the New Year's Eve at A Rong's house, and the wax torch passes the red to the blue yarn; thirty-six years are all wasted, and we cherish the years from this night." Cherishing years is a common human feeling, so Su Shi, a great poet, wrote the famous lines of the New Year's Eve: "Will there be no year next year, and I am afraid of wasting my time; I will make every effort to do my best this evening, and the youths can still be boasted!" This shows the positive significance of the New Year's Eve celebration.
The New Year's Eve celebration is commonly known as the "New Year's Eve". Why do you call it "boiling the year"? There is an interesting story that has been passed down from generation to generation: according to legend, in the ancient flood era, there was a vicious monster, people called him "year". Every New Year's Eve, the beast will crawl out of the sea to hurt people and animals, destroy the fields, and bring disaster to the people who have worked hard for a year. People in order to avoid the beast of the year, the night of Lunar New Year's Eve, the sky is not dark on the early close the door, do not dare to sleep, sit and wait for dawn, in order to kill time, but also for the courage, they drink. Waiting for the first morning of the year the beast no longer come out, only dare to go out. People meet each other, congratulations, congratulations, congratulations, thankful not to be eaten by the beast of the year, so after many years, nothing happened, people on the beast of the year to relax the vigilance. On the night of the 30th of one year, the beast suddenly scurried to a village in Jiangnan, a village of people almost eaten up by the beast, only one family hanging red curtains, wearing a red dress of the newlyweds are safe and sound. There are a few children, in the yard lit a pile of bamboo at play, the fire red, bamboo burning "pop" burst, the beast turned here, saw the fire scared to turn their heads and fled. Since then, people know that the beast is afraid of red, afraid of light, afraid of the sound, every year-end, every family will stick red paper, wear red robes, hanging red lanterns, banging gongs and drums, firecrackers, so that the beast will not dare to come back. In the poem "Shijing-Xiaoya. Tingliao", there is a record of "the light of Tingliao". The so-called "Tingliao" is made of bamboo poles and other torches, bamboo poles burn, the air in the bamboo expansion, bamboo cavity burst, issued by the crackling sound, which is also the "firecrackers" origin. However, in some places, the villagers do not know the New Year beast afraid of red, often eaten by the New Year beast. This matter later spread to the sky of the purple star, he in order to save the people, determined to eliminate the beast of the year. One year, he waited for the beast to come out, he used a fireball to knock it down, and then used a thick iron chain to lock it on a stone pillar. From then on, every New Year's Eve, people always burned incense and asked Zi Wei Xing to come down to the world to keep them safe.
On this night of "one night and two years, five nights and two years", families are reunited and gather together. The whole family sits together, refreshments and fruits on a table. New Year's Day offerings, a large plate of apples is indispensable, which is called "peace and security". In the north, some people also want to provide a pot of rice, burned before, to provide for the New Year, called the "New Year's Eve rice", is leftover rice year after year, year-round food, this year also ate the meaning of the food of the past year. This pot of next year's rice is generally mixed with rice and millet to cook, Beijing slang called "two rice", in order to have yellow and white, which is called "gold and silver, gold and silver pot full of" "gold and silver rice". Many places in the New Year's Eve prepared cakes and fruits, are trying to get a lucky mouth: eat jujube (early spring), eat persimmon cakes (everything is as good as it can be), eat almonds (happy people), eat long-life fruit (longevity), eat rice cakes (a year higher than a year). On New Year's Eve, the family, while eating and having fun, talk and laugh. There are also popular families push pai gow, roll dice, betting on pokies, playing mahjong, the sound of noise and laughter into the climax of the New Year's Eve joy.
Bamboos
When the midnight handover is the son, the New Year bell ringing, the whole of China over the land, the sound of firecrackers resonate in the sky. In this "year of yuan, the month of yuan, the time of yuan" of the "three yuan" moment, some places also in the courtyard base "Wang Huo", in order to show that the prosperous gas through the sky, prosperous and prosperous. In the burning fire around the fire, the children set off firecrackers, joyfully jumping around, at this time, the house is bright lights, in front of the court is brilliant sparks, outside the house is the sound of the sky, the New Year's Eve atmosphere pushed to the climax of the bustling. Poets and ink masters throughout the ages have always praised the coming of the New Year with the most beautiful poems. Wang Anshi's poem "New Year's Day" reads: "The sound of firecrackers marks the end of the year, and the spring breeze sends warmth to the people. A thousand doors and tens of thousands of households are filled with pupils on the New Year's Day. The new peach is always replaced by the old one.
Depicting the grand festive scenes of our people celebrating the Spring Festival, the Qing Dynasty, Pan Rong ah in the book "Imperial Capital Years and Years of Jisheng" book, the New Year's Eve firecrackers at that time made the following record: "the second of the New Year's Eve, night and night, outside the door of the torch, Jade Ko competing for the light, and firecrackers like waves of thunder. And firecrackers such as waves of thunder, all over the countryside, all night without stopping." The Dream of the Red Chamber" is also depicted: "the yard under the screen frame, will be set up fireworks hanging ready, the fireworks are all tribute from various places, although not very large. But very delicate. All colors of the story is complete, sandwiched between the various colors of the fireworks. Between words. Outside a colorful put and put. And there are many 'stars in the sky', 'nine dragons into the clouds', 'thunder on the ground', 'flying ten ringing' and so on the sporadic small cannonballs." From this can also be seen in the old days of the New Year fireworks spectacle.
The sound of firecrackers is the sign of the old and the new, the festive mood of the flow. The businessman's family. Firecrackers have another meaning: they are in the New Year's Eve firecrackers is for the new year Dafa Dali.
The first thing we do after the firecrackers back to the house is to worship heaven and earth, welcome the gods, ancestors. In ancient times, this ritual was very popular. Because of the different customs around the different forms of ancestor worship, some to the field to visit the ancestral tomb, some to the ancestral ancestral worship, and most of the ancestors at home will be placed in order in the main hall, display offerings, and then worshippers according to the order of the youngest and oldest on the incense and kneeling. Southerners also after ancestor worship, check the calendar contained in this year's auspicious direction, burning lanterns and torches, pots of wine, incense ringing firecrackers, open the door to travel to meet the God of joy, said "out of the sky" or "travel", Zhejiang called "out of the search", Shanghai, called "Tou Hei Shen Fang". This custom is to tend to good luck, praying to the gods to bless a year of everything goes smoothly. New Year's Eve is to stay up all night, all night.
The morning of the Spring Festival, open the door for good luck, the first firecrackers, called "open the door cannonball". After the sound of firecrackers, broken red all over the ground, brilliant as a cloud of brocade, known as "full of red". At this time, the street is full of gas, joyful.
During the Spring Festival, the streets and alleys of the thoroughfares, large families hanging lights and colors. The streets, alleys and lanes, the township material society, everywhere, a hundred arts, each presenting high technology, lively and extraordinary countryside more than invited troupe troupe play, but also to carry out listening to the Taoist love, twisting rice-planting songs, singing flower drums and all kinds of varieties of recreation and play, but also the lion dance, play dragon lanterns, and other cultural and sports activities. People are happy, *** celebrate the New Year.
Welcome the New Year
Welcome the New Year is a traditional Chinese folk custom, is a way for people to say goodbye to the old and welcome the new, and express their good wishes to each other. In ancient times, the original meaning of the term "paying homage" was to pay homage to the elders to celebrate the New Year, including kowtowing to the elders, congratulating them on their wishes for the New Year, and greeting them for a good life. When there are relatives and friends of the same generation, they should also bow to congratulate them.
The New Year's greetings generally begin at home. On the morning of the first day of the new year, the younger generation to get up, the first to the elders to pay tribute to the new year, blessing the elders a long and healthy life, all the best. After the elders to be worshiped, will be prepared in advance "New Year's money" to the younger generation. After paying New Year's greetings to the elders in the family, people should also congratulate the New Year with a big smile when they meet each other outside, saying "congratulations on wealth", "four seasons as you wish", "Happy New Year" and other auspicious words, and the left and right neighbors or friends and relatives also pay New Year's greetings to each other or invite each other to have a drink and enjoy the entertainment. Meng Yuanlao of the Song Dynasty described Bianjing of the Northern Song Dynasty in the sixth volume of Tokyo Dreaming Records: "On October 1, the New Year's Day, Kaifeng Province puts off pouncing for three days, and the public and the common people celebrate with each other since the early morning." Lu Rong in the middle of the Ming Dynasty in the "Beans Garden Miscellany" Volume 5, said "the capital on New Year's Day, from the court officials, down to the common people, to and from the staggering road for days, called 'New Year's Day'. However, the common people worship their friends and relatives out of the heart. Dynasty officials to and from, is more general love not special ...... ". Qing Gu Tieqing in the "Qing Jia Record" described, "men and women in order to worship parents after the main rate of young, out of the neighboring relatives and friends, or only sent his son or daughter on behalf of the congratulations, so-called 'New Year's Eve'. To the end of the year do not meet, this time also to each other to worship in the door ......."
Anciently, if or neighborhood friends and relatives are too many, it is difficult to visit the door, so that the servants with business cards to pay tribute to the New Year, known as the "fly post", the door of each house to paste a red paper bag, written on the "receive the blessing of the two words, that is, to bear the use of the fly post. This custom began in the Song Dynasty upper class. The Qing Dynasty's "Monthly Order of Yantai" describes Beijing's New Year's Festival: "This is also the month when pieces fly and empty cars go away." It became fashionable." Large families ad hoc "door book" to remember the guests and fly piece of correspondence, the door book of the first page of the virtual "pro-arrivals" four people: one said the life of a hundred years old master, live in a hundred years of Fangxiang lane; one said the rich Yu master, live in Yuanbao Street; one said that no one is very big, live in the University of the University of the Tower; one said that the Fuzhulin master, live in the Five Fortunes building. In order to try to auspicious to curry favor. To date, the Chinese New Year gift of New Year's tablets, New Year's cards, is the legacy of this ancient send each other fly post.
The upper class scholarly men had the custom of throwing congratulations to each other with famous posters. Song Zhou Hui in the "Qingbo Magazine" said: "Song Yuanyou years, New Year's greetings, often using servants to hold the name of the thorn on behalf of the go". At that time, the scholars traveled widely, if around the door to pay tribute to the New Year, both time-consuming, but also exhausting energy, so some of the relationship is not close to the friends do not go in person, but to send a servant to take a kind of paper with plum blossom paper cut into two inches wide, three inches long, written on the top of the name of the recipient of the congratulations, address and congratulations on the words of the card to go to on behalf of the New Year's greeting. People in the Ming Dynasty to visit instead of New Year's greeting. Ming Dynasty distinguished painter, poet Wen Zhengming in the "New Year" poem described: "do not seek to meet but through the visit, the name of the paper towards the full sheltered hut; I also cast a number of paper with the people, the world hate Jane not suspected of false". Here the "famous prick" and "famous visit" is the origin of the present New Year's card. New Year's cards are used to contact feelings and ask each other.