what are the traditional customs of the spring festival? The Spring Festival is the most solemn and lively festival among the people in China, which evolved from praying for the New Year at the beginning of the year in ancient times. The New Year's greeting is centered on offering sacrifices and praying for the new year, and is carried out in the form of activities such as eliminating the old and rejuvenating the new, welcoming the new year, worshipping the ancestors and praying for a good harvest. The festive atmosphere is rich and colorful, and it embodies the traditional cultural essence of Chinese civilization. Chinese New Year has a long history, and some relatively fixed customs have been formed in the process of inheritance and development, many of which have been handed down to this day, such as holding new year's goods, sweeping dust, pasting new year's red, having a reunion dinner, observing the new year's eve, paying New Year's greetings, dancing dragons and lions, worshipping gods and ancestors, burning firecrackers, burning fireworks, slapping chun sheng, making annual regulations, praying for blessings, visiting temple fairs, serving lanterns and wine. Traditional festival ceremonies and related custom activities are important contents of festival elements, bearing rich and colorful festival cultural connotations. December of the lunar calendar is the "twelfth lunar month", and the folk customs in the twelfth lunar month are very rich. After drinking Laba porridge on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the Lunar New Year is celebrated on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, and then the house is cleaned, the Spring Festival couplets are written, and the new year's goods are held until New Year's Eve. How much do you know about these traditional customs? Spring Festival is the most distinctive traditional festival in China, which started in Yu Shun period. The Spring Festival refers to the New Year's Day of the traditional Chinese calendar (different from the current Gregorian New Year's Day in China), the first day of the first lunar month, also known as the Lunar New Year, the New Year's Day, the beginning of the year, Zhengdan, and the first lunar month, also known as the Lunar New Year, commonly known as the New Year, the New Year's Day, and the celebration of the New Year. ① Spring Festival couplets and New Year pictures: Spring Festival couplets and New Year pictures originated from the custom of exorcising ghosts in ancient times. During the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties, every household stood in front of the door to draw shentu and Yu Lei to exorcise ghosts every Spring Festival. Later, it developed into a door god New Year picture. Woodblock New Year pictures became popular in Song Dynasty, and the contents of New Year pictures were also expanded. The Simitu, which is still preserved today, was the New Year pictures at that time. Spring Festival couplets appeared in the Tang Dynasty. Writing Spring Festival couplets was more popular in Song Dynasty. The Spring Festival couplets posted in the Ming Dynasty have spread all over the country. Spring Festival couplets are a unique language art form and calligraphy art form in China, and spread to South Korea and other places. Spring Festival couplets not only express people's wishes, but also add a festive atmosphere. (2) Making a prosperous fire: When the New Year comes, lighting a torch, fire or charcoal brazier in the yard is called "Courtyard Liaoliao", "Burning brazier" and "Prosperous phase" in ancient times, and it is called "Making a prosperous fire" or "lighting precious firewood" in modern folks. In ancient times, the court meteor was to exorcise evil spirits, or to offer sacrifices to gods and ancestors. Later, the flourishing fire has developed into a symbol of the prosperity of the whole family and an expression of good hope. In 1738, Lang Shining painted a picture of "Hongli Snow Scene, Pleasure and Fun", which showed the scene of Emperor Qianlong spending the New Year with his children. There was a brazier in front of Emperor Qianlong, and a little prince was relaxing the branches of cypress in the brazier, which was then called "burning pine basin". Modern folk fires are often lit woodpiles or charcoal piles. The hotter the fire, the better, symbolizing the prosperity of the whole family in the New Year. It is also useful to burn pine, cypress, peach and apricot branches in the brazier, and the family will cross the fire, symbolizing the old disaster and ushering in a new atmosphere. ③ Firecrackers: The original purpose of firecrackers is to drive away ghosts or meet gods. Later, it developed into a symbol to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, and became a folk symbol that best represented the arrival time of the new year. The earliest reliable record of firecrackers can be found in the Chronicle of Jingchu's Age, which was written by Zong Ba of the Liang Dynasty in the Southern Dynasty: "The first day of the first month is also the day of three yuan, which is called the end of the month. When the cock crows, set off firecrackers before the court to avoid the evil spirits. " At that time, firecrackers burned bamboo in a fire, producing a crackling sound. The first thing to get up in the new year is firecrackers. Gunpowder firecrackers appeared in the Song Dynasty, that is, modern firecrackers, firecrackers and firecrackers. With gunpowder and firecrackers, firecrackers can be set off in areas without bamboo. Firecrackers then became a national custom. Later, the festive color of firecrackers made people have a further understanding of the symbolic significance of firecrackers: greeting God with festive firecrackers. The explosion of firecrackers itself is also a cultural symbol of "saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new". It can make people experience the difference between the old and the new more deeply and make life more artistic. ④ New Year's Cake and jiaozi: New Year's Cake, also known as Sticky Cake, is homophonic "high every year", which contains people's hope for a happy life in the future. Rice cakes are generally made of sticky grains. There are yellow rice cakes in the north, Shuimo rice cakes in the south of the Yangtze River, and glutinous rice Baba in the southwest ethnic groups. The most popular New Year food in North China is jiaozi, also known as dumplings, slots and flat food. In the 5th century, jiaozi, shaped like a crescent moon, has become a popular food for the Spring Festival. Before the Song Dynasty, jiaozi was called a "corner" or a "water corner". The name of "flat food" began in the Yuan Dynasty. Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the word "jiaozi" has been widely used. The general explanation for jiaozi's cultural symbolism is that "jiaozi", "jiaozi" are homophonic and "jiaozi", which means jiaozi. Is a symbol of the arrival of the Spring Festival. Therefore, people immediately start cooking dumplings after midnight, making them the first meal of the New Year. A deeper explanation, jiaozi also contains the meaning of food. In ancient times, there was a lack of meat, so jiaozi, which was stuffed with meat, was naturally a good food. This is what the folk proverb "It's delicious but not good in jiaozi" expresses. Eating jiaozi during the Spring Festival is, of course, in the hope of having more good food next year. ⑤ Facing the Righteousness and Paying New Year's greetings: In ancient national etiquette, facing the Righteousness and group worship and paying New Year's greetings among the people are important activities to strengthen social relations and family ties during the New Year. Chao Zheng, also known as "He Zheng" and "Yuan Hui", refers to the minister's greeting to the emperor in the New Year. Every New Year in the Zhou Dynasty, the governors should "face the right" to the Zhou Emperor, that is, celebrate the New Year. Ancient literati also used famous cards to replace the custom of visiting New Year in person, which is generally regarded as the origin of China New Year cards. Modern New Year cards are widely used in all walks of life. In the family, the younger generation first kowtows to their elders when they get up in the morning, and wishes them health and longevity. Then, in turn, go to the homes of relatives and friends to pay New Year greetings to their elders. The elders give New Year greetings lucky money and wish him healthy growth. Friends also visit each other to pay New Year greetings. If there are many relatives and friends, the New Year greetings will last for many days. The activities of the Spring Festival are from within the family, gradually extended to relatives, and the whole society. Keep old on New Year's Eve, pay New Year's greetings to parents on the first day, and then go out to pay New Year's greetings to relatives. Once again, pay New Year greetings to friends. After that, people began to visit temple fairs. On the fifteenth day of the first month of the Lantern Festival, men, women and children go to the streets together to watch lanterns and carnival parades-stilts, dry boats, dragon dances, lion dances and yangko dances. Therefore, the Spring Festival is a national festival that permeates every aspect and level of society. ⑥ Lucky money (this "money" is not money): In the old days, after offering sacrifices to ancestors and holding ceremonies to welcome the gods down to earth, the whole family should "say goodbye to the New Year" together, and the younger generation should kowtow to their elders to wish them a long life, great happiness and prosperity, and the elders should give them red envelopes, that is, "lucky money", which means "praying for the next year". In ancient times, lucky money was called "pressing money" and "beating money", which first appeared in the Han Dynasty. Pressing precious money is not a coin circulating in the market, but a kind of ornamental object cast in the shape of a coin, which has the meaning of avoiding evil spirits and suppressing evil spirits. Pressing precious money was originally made of four square holes woven with red velvet rope to make money into a "Fang Sheng" (one of the auspicious patterns of eight treasures) with drooping tassels. At that time, on some lucky money, many auspicious words such as "Long life", "Eliminating evil spirits" and "Long live a thousand years" were cast on the front, and on the back were auspicious patterns such as dragons and phoenixes, tortoise snakes and Pisces. Lucky money is a custom in the New Year, and it is a good wish. Although the currency has changed, the custom of the elders giving lucky money to the younger generation is still passed down during the New Year, and it has placed good wishes on the children's growth from the elders, wishing them healthy growth. ⑦ Sacrificing ancestors: Pray for ancestors to bless the peace in the coming year: Sacrificing ancestors in the New Year is not only a mourning for ancestors, but also a prayer for ancestors to bless the peace in the coming year. Ancestor worship is one of the oldest customs in the Spring Festival. "Shangshu? Shundian records: "The moon is on the first day, and Shunge is in Wenzu." Shun Di went to the ancestral temple to offer sacrifices to his ancestors on the first day of the first month. Ancestor worship is usually on the 3th of the year. After sweeping the house, cleaning the courtyard, changing Taofu and pasting Spring Festival couplets, ordinary people's families go to pay homage to their ancestors, or hang the portrait of their ancestors on the main wall of nave, place sacrifices and light incense candles for the younger generation to worship. Although the forms of ancestor worship vary from place to place, the meaning of "ancestor worship and blessing" is roughly the same. ⑧ New Year's greetings: "Holding the right hand with the left hand": "New Year's greetings" generally refers to the mutual visits between relatives and friends during the Spring Festival, and the New Year's greetings in the early years are divided into "New Year's greetings" and "New Year's greetings". "Happy New Year" means that the younger generation kowtows to their elders, while "Happy New Year" means that the peers say New Year's greetings to each other. No matter "Happy New Year" or "Happy New Year", they all express congratulations on a happy New Year and good luck. From the traditional New Year greeting etiquette, there are several fixed "procedures". First, kowtow, that is, the younger generation bows down and kowtows to the elders, especially when minors pay tribute to the elders with higher seniority. The second is to bow down, first raise your fist with both hands, and then hold your right hand with your left hand, commonly known as "Jibai". Salute, regardless of seniority, hand Qi Mei, up and down a few times, heavy gift can bow after bowing. This kind of etiquette is generally used by the younger generation when greeting the elders. The third is to hand over the fist, hold the right hand with the left hand, naturally embrace, moderately elastic, and hand over, naturally shaking slightly on the chest, not too strong or too high. This kind of etiquette is mostly a New Year greeting between peers. ⑨ Whipping the spring cattle: The mud cattle are beaten: "One dozen are in good weather, two dozen are safe for the country and the people, and three dozen are full of grains ..." After whipping the cattle, the calf boy also distributed the grains in the mud cattle's belly to the residents on the spot, which means bumper harvest and harmony. Cattle is the main force of spring ploughing. Folklore experts say that beginning of spring is the first of the 24 solar terms. At this time, there are folk customs of welcoming the spring, whipping the spring and biting the spring. Whipping the cow is to "remind" the cow that spring has come and it is time to start ploughing. Cattle and human beings are friends. People are reluctant to whip the real cow, so they make a fake cow out of mud or paper, whip it with wicker, and show it to them. In the past, there were grains in the belly of mud cows. After whipping the cows, the residents picked up the grains on the ground, and the mud cows were "carved up" by the residents, and they were taken home and buried in the land, symbolizing the bumper harvest of grains.