The Spring Festival is the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar, also known as the lunar year, commonly known as "New Year's Eve". It is one of the grandest and most lively traditional festivals in China. The Spring Festival has a long history, which originated in the Yin Shang period at the end of the year to sacrifice to the gods and ancestors.
The Spring Festival is here, meaning that spring will come, the recovery of grass and trees renewed, a new round of sowing and harvest season will begin. People have just passed through the long cold winter of ice and snow, and have long been looking forward to the days of spring, when the new year comes, naturally, full of joy, singing and dancing to meet this festival.
Over the centuries, people make the New Year celebrations have become very colorful, every year from the 23rd day of the lunar month to the 30th, the folk called this period of time "Spring Day", also known as the "dust day", in the Spring Festival before the dust to engage in sanitation, is a traditional habit of our people. Our people have traditional habits.
Then it is the family to prepare for the New Year's goods, about ten days before the festival, people began to busy purchasing items, New Year's goods, including chickens, ducks, fish and meat, tea, wine, oil and soy sauce, North and South fried goods, sugar bait and fruits, to buy enough, but also to prepare for some of the New Year's Eve when visiting friends and relatives when the gift, the children to add a new coat and a new hat, ready to wear on New Year's Day.
Prior to the festival in the residence of the door to paste the red paper and yellow letters of the New Year's message, that is, with red paper written in the Spring Festival couplets. Inside the house posted brightly colored auspicious New Year's paintings, clever girls cut out beautiful window flowers pasted on the windows, hanging red lanterns or sticking the word "Fu" and the God of Fortune, the God of the Door, etc., the word "Fu" can also be posted upside down, passers-by read the word "Fu" upside down, that is, the blessing of the arrival of the festival, all of these activities are to add enough to the festivities of the atmosphere of festivities.
Another name for the Spring Festival is the New Year. In past legends, Nian was an imaginary animal that brought bad luck to people. When the year came. Trees wither and no grass grows; once the year passes, everything grows and flowers are everywhere. How can the year pass? Need to bombard with firecrackers , so there is the custom of burning firecrackers, which is actually another way to bake a lively scene.
The Spring Festival is a happy and peaceful holiday, but also the reunion of loved ones, children away from home in the Spring Festival to go home to celebrate. The night before the New Year's Eve, is the old year's Lunar New Year's Eve, also known as New Year's Eve, also known as the reunion night, in this time of transition between the old and the new, the New Year's Eve is one of the most important annual activities, New Year's Eve night, the whole family stay up to keep watch together, get together to drink soundly, *** enjoy the joy of family, the northern region in the New Year's Eve to eat dumplings, dumplings, dumplings is the first way and the face, and the word is the together; dumplings and dumplings and cross the resonance of the together and cross the meaning, but also take more years to meet! The dumplings have the meaning of "getting together" and "turning over the year". In the south, it is customary to eat New Year's cake on New Year's Day, a sweet and sticky cake that symbolizes the sweetness of life in the new year.
To the first rooster crows, or the New Year's bells ringing, the street firecrackers, loud and clear, the family is full of joy, the new year began, men and women, young and old, dressed in festive attire, the first to the elders of the family New Year's Eve wishes, the festival there are to the children of the New Year's Eve money to eat New Year's Eve dinner, the second and third began to go to relatives to see their friends and to pay tribute to each other, congratulations on the blessing, say some Congratulations to the new happy, Congratulations on the new year, congratulations, congratulations, good New Year and other words, ancestor worship and other activities.
The warm atmosphere of the festival is not only overflowing in every household, but also full of streets and alleys, some places on the market there are lions, dragon lanterns, fireworks, swim in the flower market, temple and other customs. During this period of lanterns all over the city, the streets are full of tourists, bustling, unprecedented, straight to the first month of the 15th Lantern Festival, the Spring Festival is really the end.
The Spring Festival is the most important festival of the Han Chinese people, but the Manchu, Mongolia, Yao, Zhuang, white, mountain, Hezhe, Hani, Daur, Dong, Li and other dozens of ethnic minorities also have the custom of the Spring Festival, but the form of the festival is more of their own national characteristics, more flavorful.
Origin of the festival
There is also a legend:
In ancient China, there was a beast called "Nian", the head of the long horns, fierce and unusual. "It lived deep under the sea for many years, and only climbed ashore on New Year's Eve to devour livestock and hurt people. Therefore, every New Year's Eve, the people of villages and hamlets fled to the mountains with their young and old to avoid the harm of the "year" beast. One New Year's Eve, from outside the village came a begging old man. The villagers were in a hurry and panicked, only the east end of the village, an old woman gave the old man some food, and advised him to go to the mountains to avoid the "New Year" beasts, the old man pulled up his beard and laughed and said: "Granny, if you let me stay at home for one night, I will definitely drive away the "New Year" beasts. The old man lifted his beard and laughed. The old woman continued to persuade the beggar old man smiled but did not say anything.
In the middle of the night, the beast of the year broke into the village. It found that the atmosphere in the village was different from that of previous years: in the old woman's house at the east end of the village, the door was plastered with red paper, and the candles inside the house were burning brightly. "The beast shivered and gave a strange cry. Near the door, the yard suddenly came "bang bang pop" sound, "year" trembling, and do not dare to come forward. It turns out that Nian is afraid of the color red, fire and explosions. At this time, the door of the mother-in-law's house was wide open, only to see an old man wearing a red robe in the yard laughing. "Nian was so shocked that he fled in disarray. The next day was the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar, and the people who came back from their refuge were very surprised to see that the village was safe and sound. It was then that the old woman realized what had happened, and rushed to tell the townspeople about the old man's promise to beg. This incident soon spread in the surrounding villages, people know the way to drive away the "New Year" beast. From then on, every New Year's Eve, home red couplets, firecrackers; household candles brightly, to keep the night. Early in the morning on the first day, but also to go to friends and relatives to say hello. This custom has become more and more widespread, and has become the grandest traditional festival of Chinese folklore.
There is another way of saying it:
In ancient times, there was a beast called "year", a few times bigger than the current elephants, and dozens of times more ferocious than tigers. Specialized in eating people, and eat is dozens of people, it was eaten by the number of people can not be counted. The people suffered a lot. One day, "Nian" came again, and a young man hated it so much that he said, "It's better to fight with it than to let it eat us, for we're all going to die anyway." He took a cleaver axe and rushed up, and many young men followed. But they were no match for Nian, and the young men were all eaten by Nian. After that, the year became even more vicious, and the people all complained and hated it.
The grievances alarmed Taibai Jinxing in the sky, and the hateful voices alarmed Earth King Bodhisattva underground. The star and the king of the earth, the bodhisattva discussed, and sent Shennong old man to the earth to collect the "year". Shennong held a beast whip in his hand and aimed it at the buttocks of Nian. The ferocious "year" actually obediently crouch on the ground and did not move. Shennong ran up a few steps, one foot on the head of the "year", roared: "animal, you eat countless people, sinning y, today your end has come." Said, from the waist to take down two slices of melon bowl, aimed at the "year" on a close. Bigger than an elephant, the "year" actually closed in the bowl at once. Shennong put the "year" of the bowl buried in the ground, when he left, he repeatedly urged: "this bowl buried in the ground, the future will grow melon, this melon can not be broken, must say it is not broken." Later, the place where the bowl was buried really grow melon, the people in accordance with Shennong "not" the voice, it is called "North melon". Shennong in addition to the "year" of the day happens to be the lunar calendar December 30, the people will be called this day "New Year", that is, to avoid the "year" and remove the "year"! The people called this day "New Year" to avoid and remove the meaning of "New Year". On this day, the northern melon is offered in the hall, to show that the evil spirits, and banging gongs and drums, sounding bamboo lights, in order to commemorate the merits of Shennong ancestor. Presumably, it was attached by later generations based on New Year's traditions. It is unlikely to be the origin of the "year".
Anciently, the Spring Festival used to refer exclusively to the first day of spring among the 24 solar terms, and was also regarded as the beginning of the year. Later, it was changed to the first day of the first month of the summer calendar (the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar) as the beginning of the year. From the Ming Dynasty onwards, the New Year festivities generally did not end until after the 15th day of the first month (Lantern Festival), and in some places the New Year celebrations even lasted until the end of the entire first month. The Spring Festival has been selected as China's largest festival by the Chinese World Records Association. It ranks at the top of China's three major traditional festivals: the Spring Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival.
After the founding of the Republic of China, the Republic of China government abolished the traditional lunar calendar (lunar calendar, in fact, yin and yang calendar) in favor of the European Gregorian calendar (solar calendar), and tried to prohibit the people from celebrating the Lunar New Year, but due to the insistence of the people and unsuccessful. During Yuan Shikai's rule, January 1 of the Gregorian calendar was designated as New Year's Day, and the first day of the first month of the Lunar Calendar was designated as the Spring Festival, but the people continued to celebrate New Year's Day, and writers continued to use the term "New Year's Day" to refer to the Lunar New Year. "
The Chinese New Year is the first day of the Chinese New Year in the lunar calendar.
Customs of the Spring Festival
Customs of the Spring Festival of the Han people: generally to eat rice cakes, dumplings, patties, dumplings, eggs, meatballs, whole fish, wine, orange, apples, peanuts, melons, sweets, tea and food; and accompanied by dusting, washing bedding, preparation for New Year's Eve, posting Spring Festival couplets, stickers, sticker, sticker cutouts, sticker, light candles, pointing the fire, firecrackers, the year-end vigil, the New Year's Eve to the money, Worshiping the New Year, visiting relatives, going to ancestral graves, flower markets, social fires, and many other activities, the ultimate joy of family. Such as the New Year's Eve dinner, especially elaborate: First, the whole family must get together, for some reason did not return to the person must stay a seat and a set of tableware, reflecting the meaning of reunion; Second, the meal is sumptuous, pay attention to "mouth color", the rice cake called "step by step", dumplings called "Wan Wan Shun". The rice cake is called "Bu Bu Gao", the dumplings are called "Wan Wan Shun", the wine is called "Chang Liu Shui", the eggs are called "Da Yuan Bao", and the goldfish is called "Nian Nian Yu"; The fish is not allowed to be eaten, it is called "watch the balance", and must be reserved for the first day of the year. Northern regions without fish, mostly carved a wooden fish instead; Third, the seating order, mostly grandparents on top. Grandchildren in the center, the father's generation under, regardless of gender, old and young, all have to drink. The door is closed during the meal, and the bustle stops at the end of the fun.
The Chinese New Year in Tianjin and the habit of hanging Chinese knots, before the New Year's Eve, Tianjin people have to the Tianjin Ancient Culture Street Qiaoxiangge please the custom of Chinese knots, to take Qiaoxiang Nafu meaning.
New Year's Eve feast dishes have their own characteristics. In the old days, Beijing, Tianjin, the average family to do rice dry rice, stewed pork, beef and mutton, stewed chicken, and then do a few fried dishes. Shaanxi banquets are generally four big dishes, eight big bowls, four big dishes for fried dishes and cold dishes, eight big bowls to braised vegetables, roasted vegetables. Southern Anhui only meat dishes are braised meat, tiger meat, meatballs, meat, steamed meat, stewed meat and pork liver, pork heart, pork belly products, in addition to a variety of fried meat, fried meat, and so on. The eastern part of Hubei Province for the "three steam", "three cakes," three pills. "Three steam" for steamed whole fish, steamed whole duck, steamed whole chicken; "three cakes" is fish cake, meat cake, sheep cake;
"Three pills" is fish balls, meat balls, lotus root balls. In Harbin, people usually fry 8, 10 or 12 or 16 dishes, the main ingredients of which are chicken, duck, fish and vegetables. Gannan New Year's Eve dinner is generally 12 dishes. Some places in Zhejiang generally for the "Ten Bowls", to discuss the "ten full ten blessings" of the color, to chicken, duck, fish and all kinds of vegetables. Nanchang area in Jiangxi Province, generally more than ten dishes, pay attention to four cold, four hot, eight dishes, two soup.
Everywhere on New Year's Eve, there are one or more essential dishes, and these dishes often have some kind of auspicious meaning. For example, the Suzhou area, the table must have bok choy (then Anle dish), soybean sprouts (Ruyi dish), celery (diligence). Xiangzhongnan region must be a kilogram of carp, called "reunion fish", there must be a 3 kilograms of pork elbow, called "reunion elbow". Wanzhong, southern Anhui table with two fish, a complete carp, only to see but not allowed to eat, both to honor the ancestors and said that the annual surplus, the other is a silver carp, you can eat, symbolizing even the grandson, prosperous people. The first bowl of Qimen family feast is "in and", with tofu, mushrooms, asparagus, shrimp, fresh meat, etc., meaning "peace and prosperity".
Eating Dumplings
Northern regions like to eat dumplings at Chinese New Year, which symbolize reunion, good fortune and the farewell to the old and the new. In order to increase the festive atmosphere and fun, people over the generations have put a lot of effort into the dumpling filling. People put money in the dumplings and whoever eats it will be rich in the coming year; honey in the dumplings and whoever eats it will have a sweet life in the coming year, etc.
Men, who have been eating dumplings for many years, have been eating dumplings for many years.
Door gods
All over China, it is customary to put up door gods on New Year's Day. Initially, they were carved out of mahogany and hung next to a person, but later they were painted and posted on the door. Legend has it that the two brothers, Shentan and Yubi, specialize in controlling ghosts, and with them guarding the gateway, evil spirits of all sizes would not dare to enter the gate to do harm.
The Journey to the West is even more detailed: "The Dragon King of the Jinghe River made a bet with a fortune-teller, and as a result, he violated the rules of the heavenly factory and should be beheaded for his crime. The Jade Emperor appointed Wei Zheng to be the supervisor of the beheading. In order to survive, the King of the Jing River Dragon pleaded with Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty for leniency. Emperor Taizong agreed to do so, and at the time of the beheading, Wei Zheng was summoned to play a game of chess with him. He didn't expect Wei Zheng to take a nap while he was playing, and then his spirit ascended to heaven and beheaded the king of the dragon. The Dragon King complained that Emperor Taizong's words were not honored, and he was outside the palace day and night, calling out for his life. Emperor Taizong told his ministers that Qin Shubao, a general, would like to wait with Yuchi Jingde outside the gate in military uniform. Emperor Taizong agreed. That night, nothing happened. Because he could not bear to see the hard work of the two generals, Taizong ordered the skillful artist to draw the real faces of the two generals and paste them on the door."
There are also paintings of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei as door gods. Door god statue of the left and right households, one each, the descendants often a pair of door god painted as a text and a military. Door God is divided into three categories: the first category is the "gate door God", more posted in the door or the whole door, about four or five feet high, about two or three feet wide. The second type is the "street door god", more small streets on the door, about two feet high, about one foot wide. These two kinds of door god is a black face and a white face of the two gods. White left and black right, white good and easy, black caracal, each hand holding a battle-axe. The third type is "house door door god", compared with the street door door god is slightly smaller limited, also is black and white two god, but also black and white two god is sitting like. House door is most often posted "unicorn send son" image, two powder and grease comb Prince crown dolls, each riding the unicorn. This kind of door god, should have been posted in the newly married house door, in order to take good luck, and later also as a common street door of the New Year embellishments.
Chinese New Year's couplets
Chinese New Year's couplets, is derived from the peach symbols." Peach symbols" are rectangular peach wood panels hung on both sides of the gate in the Zhou Dynasty. According to the "Hou Han Shu - ritual Zhi", the peach runes are six inches long and three inches wide, and on the peach wood boards are written "Shentian" and "Yubi"." On the first day of the first month, the peach symbols were made and put on the household, the name of the immortal wood, which was feared by all the ghosts." Therefore, the Qing Dynasty, "Yanjing chronicle" said: "Spring Festival couplets, that is, peach symbols."
During the Five Dynasties, in the court of Western Sichuan, some people wrote couplets on peach charms. According to the "song history - shu shijia" said: after shu lord meng chang made bachelor chapter xun title peach board, "to its non-worker, since the pen title cloud: 'new year nayuqing, jiajie number evergreen'", this is China's first spring couplets. This was the first spring scroll in China. Until the Song Dynasty, spring scrolls were still called "peach symbols". In Wang Anshi's poem, there is a line that reads, "Thousands of doors and tens of thousands of houses are open for the day, and new peaches are always exchanged for old ones". In the Song Dynasty, the peach symbols were changed from peach boards to paper, called "spring stickers".
Ming Dynasty, only the peach charm will be renamed "spring couplets". Ming Dynasty Chen Yunzhan "hairpin cloud building miscellany" in: "spring couplets set up, since the beginning of the Ming Taizu. Imperial capital of Jinling, New Year's Eve before the sudden decree: public officials and the general public shall be added to the door of the Spring Festival couplets a emperor micro line when appearing." Zhu Yuanzhang not only personally out of the city in micro clothes, viewing the laughter and music, he also personally inscribed spring couplets. He passed by a family, see the door has not been posted on the Spring Festival couplets, they went to ask, know that this is a family of castration of pigs, has not yet hired someone to write. Zhu Yuanzhang specially for the pig castration people wrote "hands split the road of life and death, a knife cut off the root of right and wrong" of the Spring Festival couplets. Couplet is apt and humorous. After the Ming Taizu this advocate, since then the Spring Festival couplets have become customary, has been handed down to the present day.
"Year after year," sticking New Year's paintings, sticking lucky characters, sticking window decorations, sticking New Year's paintings, sticking hanging thousands
These have the folkloric function of praying for good luck and decorating one's home. New Year's paintings are an ancient folk art in China, reflecting the customs and beliefs of the people and holding their hopes for the future. New Year paintings, like spring scrolls, originated from "door gods". While the Spring Festival couplets were developed from the names of Goddess of Mercy and Yubi to words, the New Year paintings are still developed along the direction of painting. With the rise of woodblock printing, the content of the New Year's paintings has not only limited to the god of the door and so on, and gradually invited the god of wealth to the home, and then in some of the New Year's paintings in the workshop produced the "three stars of fortune, fortune and longevity," "the heavenly officials to give blessings," "the five grains of the harvest," "the six animals," "to welcome the spring to receive the blessings of the" and other colorful New Year's paintings to meet the people's joyful prayers for the New Year's good wishes. Because Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of Ming Dynasty, advocated posting Spring Festival couplets in Spring Festival, New Year paintings were also influenced by it and then flourished, the country appeared three important places of origin of New Year paintings: Peach Blossom Dock in Suzhou, Yang Liuqing in Tianjin and Weifang in Shandong; forming three major schools of Chinese New Year paintings. In the early years of the Republic of China, Zheng Mantuo in Shanghai combined the lunar calendar and New Year's paintings. This was a new form of New Year painting. This combination of two and one of the New Year's paintings, later developed into a hanging calendar. Hanging a thousand, that is, with the auspicious words engraved on red paper, long feet in length, glued to the door, and the peach symbols mirror each other. There are eight immortals on it, for the Buddha before hanging. Hanging thousands of civilian households with it, the big families with it less. Its yellow paper is three inches long, red paper is more than an inch long, is a "small hanging thousand", used for the market. The earliest Hanging Chien is to make money (copper) string hanging, and the same as the New Year's money, the role of pressure to win.
Watch the New Year
Chinese folk have the custom of watching the New Year's Eve, commonly known as "staying awake". The New Year's Eve vigil begins with the New Year's Eve dinner, which is eaten slowly, from the time of the lantern to the table, and some people have to eat late into the 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 keeping the New Year's Eve is a way of saying goodbye to the years that have gone by, as well as expressing hope for the coming New Year.
Firecrackers on the first day of the New Year
Chinese folk "open door firecrackers". That is, at the dawn of the new year, the first thing that families do when they open the door is to set off firecrackers, to beep and blare the sound of firecrackers to get rid of the old and welcome the new. Firecrackers are a Chinese specialty, also known as "firecrackers", "cannonballs", "firecrackers".
When the midnight cross positive son, the New Year's bell ringing, the whole of China over the land, firecrackers resonate in the sky. In this "year of the yuan, the month of the yuan, the time of the yuan" of the "three yuan" moment, some places are still in the courtyard of the base of the "fire", 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, then, inside 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 a new year, and the spring breeze sends warmth into the tassel.
Thousands of doors are covered with pupils. The new peach is always replaced by the old one.
Describes the grand celebration of the Spring Festival by the Chinese people. The sound of firecrackers is a sign of resignation and welcome the new, the flow of the festive mood. Business people, firecrackers have another meaning: they are in the New Year's Eve firecrackers is for the new year big big profit. However, according to the old custom, to honor the God of Fortune to compete first, firecrackers to the back. Legend has it that for those who want to make a fortune, the firecrackers have to be set off at the end of the night to be considered sincere.
Eating New Year's Eve dinner
Children playing with firecrackers, but also the housewives in the kitchen the busiest time, the New Year's dishes are done a few days before, and New Year's Eve dinner is always in the kitchen on the day of the New Year's Eve 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, the sound of the abacus and the sound of the accounts from small stores, mixed with the sound of jokes and laughter everywhere, one after another, the ocean full of ears, interweaving into the New Year's Eve joyful music.
Eating New Year's Eve dinner is the most lively and enjoyable time for families in the Spring Festival. On New Year's Eve. Abundant New Year's dishes on the table, the whole family reunion, sitting around the table, *** eat reunion dinner, the heart of the fullness is really hard 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 than two things, one is the hot pot, the other is the fish. One is fish. Hot pot boiling, steaming, warm and provocative, indicating a red-hot; "fish" and "Yu" consonance, is a symbol of "auspicious celebration of surplus", but also a metaphor for "year after year". It is also a metaphor for "having more than enough for every year". There are also turnips, commonly known as "choy tau" (菜头), which is a wish for good luck, and fried foods such as lobster and popping fish, which is a wish for good luck in the family, such as "blazing fire cooking oil". Finally, more than one sweet food, wishing sweet days ahead, this day, even if you will not drink, but also more or less drink a little.
New Year's Eve dinner hall of fame, different places in the north and south, there are dumplings, wontons, long noodles, snacks, etc., and each have their own instructions. Northern people are accustomed to eating dumplings on New Year's Eve, is to take the old and the new, "the new 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.
Ancestor worship
Anciently, this ritual was very prosperous. Because of the different rituals and customs, the form of ancestor worship also varies, some to the field to visit the ancestral tomb, some to the ancestral temple to worship ancestors, but 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 eldest and youngest on the incense and kneeling. Han Chinese ancestor worship, most of the fish and meat bowl dishes, served in a high bowl, quite a bell ringing the meaning of food. Southern people living in Beijing, ancestor worship is particularly grand, most of the eight bowls of food, set up a hot pot, set up cups and chopsticks according to the spirit of the position, on New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, New Year's Eve, will be the hot pot fan open, at any time to change the food. Ancestor worship form although different, most of them are hanging shadow on New Year's Eve, on New Year's Eve to withdraw the offerings, family and friends of the closest, the New Year's Day must also bow to the ancestral hall, not only prudent and far-reaching to the intention of not die, because of its people to honor the virtues of their ancestors, but also through this to save.
Send the God of Wealth
Olden days, from the Spring Festival midnight to open the door of wealth, there is the God of Wealth, holding a piece of paper printed by the God of Wealth outside the door yelling: "Send the God of Wealth to come!" At this time the master of the house, in order to show welcome to the God of Wealth, they will take the reward money to the people, send the God of Wealth in the mouth, of course, always have to say some auspicious words. For example: "Gold, silver and treasure roll in"! "The left side of the golden lion, the right side of the golden phoenix" la! And so on and so forth. There is another is dressed up like the God of Wealth, dressed in red robes, wearing a hat, hanging on the mouth with a fake beard, carrying a yellow bag to collect money, followed by a few gongs and drums, to distribute the God of Wealth from door to door like in order to ask for reward money. Each to the door of the people, singing "the left side of the pile full of gold and silver bank, the right side of the treasure full of house pile" and so on a lot of auspicious words, until the owner of the joy to receive the red paper God of Fortune like, give them some money, pretend to be the God of Fortune of these people, thank you, after a period of vigorous beating, in the thumping clanging gongs and drums, turn to another home.
The form of New Year's greetings
With the development of science and technology, the form of New Year's greetings during the Spring Festival has gone beyond the traditional door-to-door sending of blessings, and new forms of New Year's greetings have appeared, such as the telephone New Year's greetings, greeting cards, New Year's greetings, SMS New Year's greetings, online New Year's greetings, and so on. These forms of New Year's Eve in addition to enriching the Spring Festival tradition of New Year's Eve, but also because of its simplicity and convenience, fast, no time, space and borderless obstacles, lively, inexpensive and other advantages, more and more people's favorite. According to statistics, every year, the Spring Festival, through the cell phone to pay tribute to the New Year's text messages have reached billions of, and through the online transmission of greeting cards, New Year's web page of the number of participants is countless.
Festive process
After the 23rd day of the Lunar New Year, every household has to write Spring Festival couplets. Folk say that every god must be posted, every door must be posted, and every object must be posted, so the Spring Festival has the largest number of couplets and the most complete content. The couplets in front of the gods are especially elaborate, mostly words of worship and prayers. Commonly, there are couplets for the God of Heaven and Earth: "Heaven's grace is as deep as the sea, and earth's virtue is as heavy as the mountain"; couplets for the God of Land: "White jade is created from the earth, and gold comes out from the earth"; couplets for the God of Wealth: "The God of Heaven's Wealth, and the God of Earth's Fortunes! The God of Wealth: "Lord of wealth in heaven, God of fortune and fortune on earth"; the God of Wells: "Wells can lead to the four seas, and families can reach the three rivers". Face grain silos, corrals and other places in the Spring Festival couplets, are expressed warm celebration and hope. Such as "grains, six animals thrive"; "rice and noodles as thick as mountains, oil and salt as deep as the sea"; "cattle like a tiger in the South Mountain, the horse like a dragon in the North Sea"; "sheep year after year, lamb month after month. Sheng, lamb monthly increase" and so on. In addition, there are some single couplets, such as each indoor sticker "look up and see joy", the door opposite sticker "go out and see joy", the prosperous fire on the sticker "Wang Qi Chong Tian", the yard sticker "the yard is full of gold". "Full of gold in the yard", "deep roots" on the tree, "White Tiger" on the stone mill, and so on. Couplets on the door, is the face of a family, pay special attention to, or lyrical, or write the scene, rich in content, wonderful words. Lunar New Year's Eve, dusting and sweeping the house
After the Zaosi Festival, the preparations for the New Year officially began. Every year from the twenty-third day of the lunar month to New Year's Eve, the Chinese folk called this period of time, "Spring Day", also known as "dust sweeping day". Sweeping dust is the end of the year cleaning, the north called "room sweeping", the south called "dusting". In the Spring Festival before the dust, is the Chinese people have traditional habits.
The custom of "dusting and sweeping the house on the 24th day of the Lunar New Year" has a long history. According to "Lv's Spring and Autumn Annals" records, China in the era of Yao and Shun on the Spring Festival custom of dust sweeping. According to folklore: because the "dust" and "Chen" homophonic, dust sweeping in the New Year has the meaning of "in addition to the new Chen Bu Xin", the intention is to put all the "poor luck! ", "bad luck" are swept out. This custom is the desire of the people to break the old, and the wish of the old and welcome the new prayers.
"Three corpses of God" Taoism said in the human body for Chong "God". According to the "three corpses in the scripture" said: "the upper corpse Peng 倨, in the human head; in the corpse Peng quality, in the human abdomen; the lower corpse Peng Jiao, in the human foot." It is also said that on the day of Gengshen, they would go up to heaven to tell the Emperor of Heaven about the sins of people; but as long as people stayed up all night on that day, they could avoid it, and it was called "guarding Gengshen".
Sweeping the dust--Folk proverb says: "On the 24th day of the Lunar New Year, dust and sweep the house." The north is called sweeping, the south is called dusting. Outdoors, inside, in front of the house, thoroughly cleaned, clean and welcome the new year.
Lunar month twenty-nine or thirty
By Zhuxianzhen woodblock New Year's paintings, the opposite face of the door god Immediately whip in the lunar calendar, the big month of thirty days, the small month of only twenty-nine days, so the date of New Year's Eve is also twenty-nine, thirty of the different. However, this day is often referred to as "New Year's Eve" regardless of whether it is the 29th or 30th day of the lunar month.
New Year's Eve is the evening of the last day of the Lunar New Year on the lunar calendar every year, which is the first and last day of the Spring Festival (the first day of the first month of the lunar year), and is the day when people say goodbye to the old and welcome the new.
Zhou, Qin period of the end of each year, the palace to hold a "big exorcism" ceremony, beat the drums to expel the plague of ghosts, known as "by the removal of", and later called the day before the New Year's Eve for the small in addition to the small New Year's Eve; New Year's Eve for the big in addition to the big New Year's Eve.
The first day of the first month of the year
Also known as the "New Year's Day", "yuan" originally meant "head", after the derivation of the "start! ", because this day is the first day of the year, the first day of spring, the first day of the first month, so it is called "Sanyuan"; because this day is still the age of the dynasty, the month of the dynasty, the day of the dynasty, so it is also known as the "three dynasty"; but also because it Because it is the first day of the first day of the month, so it is also known as the "first day of the first month".
The morning of the Spring Festival, open the door, 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 red". At this time, the street is full of gas, joyful.
An important activity in the Spring Festival, is to new friends and neighbors to congratulate the New Year, the old term for New Year's Eve. Han Chinese New Year's Eve style, the Han Dynasty has. After the Tang and Song Dynasty is very popular, some do not have to go in person, can be used in the name of the invitation to cast congratulations. The Eastern Han Dynasty called "prick", so the business card is also known as the "name prick". After the Ming Dynasty, many people stick a red paper bag at the door, specializing in name badges, called "door book".
But from the first day of the first month to the first five, most families do not receive women, called the "taboo door". Men are limited to going out to pay their respects, while women must wait until after the sixth day of the first month to go out and visit. The New Year's visit extends for a long time, until around the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month. When you go to someone's house in the evening, it is called the "Night Festival", and after the tenth day of the first month, it is called the "Festival of Lights", which is why there is a joke that "if you want to pay respect to the New Year, it is not too late to have a cold meal".
If, for any reason, you don't get to do the customary rituals, you can make up for it later, and it's called "paying homage to the New Year".
Return to the bride's home on the second day of the first month (the third day of the first month in the northern region), married out of the daughters have brought their husbands, children back to the bride's home to pay homage to the New Year. Daughters back to their parents' homes, must do a big bag of cookies, sweets, distributed by the mother to the neighbors, as the New Year's scene. If there are more than one daughter at home, and these daughters do not return on the same day, then, we have to come to a sub once, the gift is quite thin, four cookies only. However, it reflects the sentiment is very strong, the real "gift is light and heavy", it expresses the girl to the townspeople of the cut longing. The girl returned home, if there are nephews at home, when the aunt must be again out of pocket, although the first day of the new year's money to the new year's money has been sent, but this time the significance is different. This custom, the Chaoshan people called "eating day day". As the name suggests, it's just a midday meal, and daughters must make it back to their in-laws before dinner.
Sacrificing the God of Wealth
The God of Wealth is worshipped in the north on the second day of the first month of the lunar calendar, a day when both commercial and trade stores, as well as ordinary families, hold sacrifices to the God of Wealth. Each family sacrifices the god of wealth that they received on New Year's Eve. 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 were used as offerings. Old Beijing's big business, this day are large-scale sacrificial activities, offerings to use the "five offerings", that is, the whole pig, the whole sheep, the whole chicken, the whole duck, red live carp, etc., and hope that this year to make a fortune.
The third day of the first month
The third day of the first month of the first month of the year is the day when Nuwa made the sheep, so it is called "Sheep Day". On this day, people are not allowed to kill sheep, and if the weather is good, it means that the sheep will be raised well during the year, and the people who raise them will have a good harvest.
"Sending off the New Year"
The ceremony of sending off the New Year is usually held in the evening and is a way of sending the gods and ancestors back to heaven.
The fifth day of the first month of the lunar calendar
The fifth day of the first month of the lunar calendar is commonly known as the fifth day of the month. Folklore says that many taboos can be broken on this day before the fifth day of the first month. In accordance with the old custom to eat "dumplings" for five days, the north called "boiled meat and potatoes". Nowadays, some people only eat three or two days, some eat every other day, but no not eat. From the princely mansion to the streets and alleys of small households are, even for guests. Women also no longer avoid the door, began to visit each other to pay tribute to the New Year, congratulations. Newly married women in this day to return to peace. A said broken five this day should not do things, otherwise the year meets with failure. Broken five customs in addition to the above taboos, mainly to send poor, welcome the God of Fortune, the opening of the market trade.
Qing Dynasty Gu Lu "Qing Jia Records" cloud: "the fifth day of the first month, for the birth of the head of the road god. Golden gong firecrackers, livestock sweet Bi Chen, in order to compete for the first for the benefit of the market, must get up early to meet, called the head of the road." Also said: "Today, the road head, is the five rituals in the line of God. The so-called five roads, when the east-west, south-north ear." Shanghai has the custom of grabbing the head of the road in the old calendar year. On the fourth day of the first month of the night, ready to sacrifice animals, cakes and fruits, incense and candles and other things, and sounding gongs and drums burning incense worship, piety and respect for the God of Wealth. The fifth is rumored to be the birth of the God of Fortune, in order to compete for the market, so first in the first four to pick up, called "grab the head of the road", also known as "pick up the God of Fortune".