The Spring Festival (Spring Festival), the Chinese folk most solemn and most characteristic of the traditional festivals, generally refers to the New Year's Eve and the first day of the first month of the year, also known as the lunar year, commonly known as "New Year". But in folklore, the traditional meaning of the Spring Festival refers to the Lunar New Year's Eve or Lunar New Year's 23rd or 24th sacrificial stove, until the first month of the 15th, with New Year's Eve and the first day of the first month as the climax. During the Spring Festival, the Han Chinese and many ethnic minorities in China hold various activities to celebrate. These activities all focus on worshipping gods and Buddhas, honoring ancestors, getting rid of the old and bringing in the new, welcoming good fortune, and praying for a good year.
Origin:
The oracle bone character for "Nian" is written as "Wo" on the upper part and "Ren" on the lower part. The character for "year" in Jinwen is also the same as that in the oracle bone script, which is also from 禾 (禾) and 人 (人). In the Small Seal Script, the character for "year" is written as "上禾下千", and in the Shuowen Jiezi (说文解字-禾部), it reads "年" (year), which means "year" (year) is the year in which the grains are ripe. It is pronounced from "禾" and "千". The character for "man" in the Small Seal Script was changed to "thousand", which is why Xu Shen used it, while the character for "thousand" was originally for a decorated person, which is not a contradiction in terms. "Wo" is a general term for grains, and cannot be misinterpreted as only "wheat". The good or bad of the year, mainly by the growth and harvest of "Wo" to determine the situation, and now has been unearthed in the oracle bone inscriptions in the "Wo" character, almost all look heavy was bent over, it can be seen that it symbolizes a bumper crop of cereal production. What is the meaning of the character "人" under the character "年"? From the oracle bone inscriptions, the character for "year" looks like a person carrying a heavy load of grain on his head.
The Xinhai Revolution overthrew the imperial system, Sun Yat-sen from Shanghai to Nanjing, the day before the inauguration, the Nanjing Senate decided to change to the solar calendar, and the Republic of China chronology. However, the lunar calendar has been used for a long time, and is conducive to the arrangement of agricultural affairs, therefore, the folk still prefer the lunar calendar.
Customs:
The 23rd day of the Lunar New Year, also known as the "Little Year", is the day of the folk festival of the stove. Folk song "twenty-three, sugar melon sticky" refers to the annual Lunar New Year 23 or 24 days of the sacrificial 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 24th, the people on the water for the twenty-fifth day to hold a sacrificial 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, and is worshipped as a He is responsible for the management of each family's stove fire, and is worshipped as the protector god of a family. Most of the Zaowang niches are located in the north or east of the stove room, with the idol of Zaowang in the center. For those who don't 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", "Supervisory God 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 previous year's New Year's Eve has remained at home to protect and monitor the family; to the Lunar New Year's Eve on the twenty-third day of the Zaosheng will be ascending to the sky, to the Jade Emperor in heaven to report on the family's good or bad behavior, to send the Zaosheng ceremony known as the "send Zao" or "resignation Zao The ceremony of sending the Zaoshen is called "sending Zao" or "resigning Zao". Based on the report of the Zaos, the Jade Emperor will hand over to the Zaos the fate of the family in the new year. Therefore, for a family, the Zaowang master's report really has significant stakes.
The Zaobao ceremony is usually 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 stove wall, 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 of the Emperor in the Emperor's Chariot". After smearing the mouth of Zaowang with sugar, people would take down the statue of the god and ascend to heaven together with paper and smoke. In some places, sesame stalks and pine branches are piled up in the yard at night, and the image of Zaojun, which has been offered for a year, is invited out of the shrine and burned, together with paper horses and grass, on fire. The yard was brightly lit by the fire, and the family bowed around the fire, praying as they burned: This year is the twenty-third, to send Zaojun to the Western Paradise. There is a strong horse, there is grass, a smooth and safe journey. The sugar melons are sweet and sweet, so please say good words to the Jade Emperor.
Send Zaojun, some places there are still several beggars, disguised, singing Zaojun song from house to house, Zaojun dance, called "Zaojun God", in exchange for food.
Send stove customs in China's north and south of the country is extremely common, Mr. Lu Xun has written "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 ascension day, the street also sells a kind of sugar, the size of a citrus, in our place there is also 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 - Yin Zhi Zhuan": "During the reign of Emperor Xuan Di, Yin Zifang was a filial and benevolent man. 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 yellow sheep to sacrifice to Zaozao 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 at that time: Ancient legend of the twenty-fourth day of the waxing moon, Zaojun wants to say something towards the sky. The cloud car, the wind and the horses stayed a little, and the family had cups and plates for the festival. The pig's head is rotten and the fish is fresh, the bean paste is sweet and loose, and 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 go back to the clouds and beg for a share of the profits.
The sacrificial stove on the 23rd day of the Lunar New Year is closely related to the New Year. This is because, a week later, on the night of the 30th day of the Lunar New Year, Lord Zao comes to earth with the other gods with the good fortune and misfortune that the family is supposed to get. Lord Zao is believed to lead the way for the gods in heaven. The other gods ascend to heaven again after the New Year, but only Zao Wangwang stays in people's kitchens 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 the Xia Dynasty, he was already a great god honored by the people. According to the ancient book "Rituals - Rituals" Kong Yingda sparse: "Zhuanxu's son Ri Li, Zhu Rong, sacrificed as the god of the stove." Zhuangzi - Dasheng recorded: "Stove has a bun." Sima Biao commented, "Bun, the god of the stove, dressed in red, like a beautiful woman." It is also written in "Zuopu Zi Wei Ji" that "On the night of the moon's darkness, the god of the stove also goes up to the sky 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 the Shennong's "fire officer"; or that the "yellow emperor made stove" "Su Jili"; or that the god of the stove surnamed Zhang, the list, the word Ziguo; many say differently.
Ceremony stove festival, folk preaching eating dumplings, meaning "send off dumplings to meet the wind face". Mountainous areas eat cake and buckwheat. Jin Dongnan region, the popular custom of eating fried corn, folk proverb has "twenty-three, do not eat fried, the beginning of the year - a pot down" said. People like to fry corn with maltose bonded together, frozen into a large block, eat crispy and sweet.
After the twenty-third of Lunar New Year, every family has to write Spring Festival couplets. Folk say there are gods must be posted, every door must be posted, every thing must be posted, so the Spring Festival couplets are the most numerous, the most complete. 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", on the fire sticker "Wang Qi Chong Tian", the yard sticker "full of gold", "the yard is full of gold", "the yard is full of gold", "the yard is full of gold", "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, special attention, or lyrical, or write the scene, rich in content, wonderful words.
After the Zao Festival, preparations for the New Year begin in earnest. Every year from the lunar calendar from the twenty-third day to the New Year's Eve, China's folk called this period of time "to welcome the spring day", also known as "sweeping dust day". Sweeping is the end of the year cleaning, the north called "sweeping room", the south called "dusting". In the Spring Festival before the dust, is a traditional habit of our people.
"Lunar month 24, dusting sweeping house" custom, a long time. According to "Lv's Spring and Autumn Annals" records, our country in the era of Yao and Shun on the Spring Festival dust custom. According to folklore: because the "dust" and "Chen" consonant, dust sweeping in the New Year has "in addition to the meaning of 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 feet." 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, which is called "keeping Gengshen".
Zao sugar is a kind of malt sugar, sticky, it is drawn into a long sugar stick called "Guandong sugar", pulled into a flat round type is called "sugar melon". Put it outside the house in winter, because of the cold weather, sugar melon solidified solid and some tiny bubbles inside, eat it crunchy, sweet and crispy, unique flavor. The real Guandong sugar hard, drop can not be broken, eat must be split with a kitchen knife, the material is very heavy and very fine. Slightly sour taste, no honeycomb in the middle, each piece weighs one or two, two or four, the price is also more expensive. Sugar melon with sesame and no sesame two kinds of sugar made into melon shape or melon shape, the center is empty, the skin is not as thick as five points, although the size of the different, but the transaction is still calculated by the amount, the large sugar melon weighing one or two pounds, but used as a front to buy very few people.
Diet:
The Chinese New Year food customs, generally to eat rice cakes, dumplings, patties, dumplings, eggs, meat nine, whole fish, wine, orange, apples, peanuts, melons, sweets, tea and delicacies; 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 ancestors' graves, strolling in the flower market, haunted by social fires and many other activities, extremely happy 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 the "color of the mouth", the rice cake called "step by step", dumplings called "Wan Wan Shun", the New Year's Day, the New Year's Day, the New Year's Day, the New Year's Day, and so on. 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, and it is called "Watching the surplus", which 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, are to drink. Eating closed doors, lively and enjoyable and stop.
New Year's Eve feast dishes have their own characteristics. In the old days, Beijing, Tianjin, the average family to do 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 skin meat, meatballs, wood mustache 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" is steamed whole fish, steamed whole duck, steamed whole chicken;
"Three Cakes" is fish cake, meat cake, sheep cake;
"Three Pills" is fish ball, meat ball, lotus root ball.
The average person in Harbin stir-fries 8, 10 or 12 or 16 dishes, the main ingredients of which are chicken, duck, fish and vegetables. Gannan's 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", made of tofu, mushrooms, asparagus, shrimp, fresh meat, etc., meaning "peace and prosperity".
The Hefei table has a bowl of "chicken grab beans", meaning "grab money and get rich". Butler to eat a chicken leg, called "grab money claw", means that next year, the wealth of money into the treasure. Anqing family members to eat a bowl of noodles before dinner, called "money string. Nanchang area must eat rice cakes, braised fish, fried rice noodles, eight treasures of rice, boiled paste soup, the meaning of which in turn is the annual rise, the annual fish, food harvest, rice into strings, eight treasures into the wealth, year after year.
Northern regions like to eat dumplings at the Spring Festival, which symbolizes unity, good fortune and the old and the new. In order to increase the festive atmosphere and fun, people over the generations in the dumpling filling up and down a lot of effort, people in the dumplings on the money, who ate the coming year will be rich; in the dumplings on the honey, who ate to mean that the coming year sweet life and so on.
The Spring Festival. December 31 to the first month 15 of the lunar calendar.