Spring Festival is the most distinctive traditional festival in China, generally referring to New Year's Eve and the first day of the first month. In the folk, the traditional Spring Festival refers to the period from La Worship on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, with New Year's Eve and the first day of the first lunar month as the climax. During the Spring Festival, Han people and many ethnic minorities in China will hold various activities to celebrate. The main contents of these activities are offering sacrifices to the gods and buddhas, paying homage to ancestors, getting rid of the old and spreading the new, welcoming the new year, and praying for a good harvest. The activities are rich and colorful, with strong national characteristics. It is the most solemn traditional festival for the people of China, and it also symbolizes unity, prosperity and new hope for the future. Influenced by Chinese culture, some countries and nations in the Chinese character cultural circle also have the custom of celebrating the Spring Festival.
The Spring Festival refers to the traditional Chinese New Year in the cultural circle of Chinese characters. The traditional names are New Year, New Year, and New Year, but they are also verbally called New Year, Celebrating New Year, and New Year. In ancient times, the Spring Festival used to refer to beginning of spring in solar terms, which was also regarded as the beginning of a year. Later, it was changed to the first day of the first lunar month as the New Year. Generally speaking, it doesn't end until the 15th day of the first month (Shangyuan Festival). The Spring Festival, commonly known as "Nian Festival", is the most solemn traditional festival of the Chinese nation. Before the reign of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, the dates of the Spring Festival in different dynasties were inconsistent. Since the first year of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, the first month of the summer calendar (lunar calendar) has been the beginning of the year, and the date of the Nian Festival has been fixed. 1 9 1.
The Spring Festival is an important carrier of the excellent tradition of Chinese culture, which contains the wisdom and crystallization of Chinese culture, embodies the life pursuit and emotional sustenance of the Chinese people, and inherits the social ethics of China people.
The Spring Festival customs are as follows:
sweep the dust
"On the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, dust sweeps the house". According to "Lv Chunqiu", China had the custom of sweeping dust during the Spring Festival in the Yao and Shun era. According to the folk saying: Because of the homonym of "dust" and "Chen", sweeping dust in the Spring Festival has the meaning of "except Chen Buxin", and its intention is to sweep away all bad luck and bad luck. This custom is entrusted with people's desire to break through the old and establish the new and their prayer to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. Whenever the Spring Festival comes, every household should clean the environment, clean all kinds of appliances, tear down and wash bedding curtains, sweep the six yards, dust cobwebs and dredge open channels and culverts. Everywhere is filled with the joyful atmosphere of engaging in sanitation and welcoming the Spring Festival cleanly.
stay up late or all night on New Year's Eve
Keeping old age on New Year's Eve is one of the most important activities, and the custom of keeping old age has a long history. The earliest record was found in the "Local Records" in the Western Jin Dynasty: on New Year's Eve, all parties gave gifts, which was called "giving the year back"; Wine and food are invited, which is called "don't be old"; It is called "dividing the age" when the young and the old gather to drink and wish a complete song; Everyone stays up all night, waiting for the morning, which is called "keeping the old age".
On New Year's Eve, the whole family got together, ate New Year's Eve, lit candles or oil lamps, sat around the stove and chatted, waiting for the time to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new year, and kept vigil all night, symbolizing driving away all evil diseases and epidemics and looking forward to good luck in the new year. This custom gradually became popular. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong, wrote a poem "Shounian": "Cold resigns from winter snow, and warmth brings spring breeze". People are also used to keeping the new year's eve and welcoming the new year.
In ancient times, there were two meanings of observing the old age: the old people's observing the old age means "resigning the old age", which means cherishing time; Young people keep their age to prolong the life of their parents. Since the Han dynasty, the time when the old and the new years alternate is generally at midnight.
pay New Year calls
On the first day of the new year, people get up early, put on the most beautiful clothes, dress neatly, go out to visit relatives and friends, and wish each other good luck in the coming year. There are many ways to pay New Year's greetings, some of which are led by the same clan leader to pay New Year's greetings door to door. Some colleagues invite several people to pay New Year greetings; There are also people who get together to congratulate each other, which is called "group worship". Because it took time and effort to pay a New Year call at home, some elites and scholars later used stickers to congratulate each other, thus developing the later "new year card".
When paying New Year greetings during the Spring Festival, the younger generation should first pay New Year greetings to their elders, wishing them a long and healthy life. The elders can distribute the lucky money prepared in advance to the younger generation. It is said that the lucky money can suppress evil spirits, because "old" and "special" are homophonic, and the younger generation can spend one year safely with the lucky money. There are two kinds of lucky money, one is to thread colored rope into a dragon shape and put it at the foot of the bed, which is recorded in Yanjing Year; The other is the most common, that is, parents wrap the money distributed to their children in red paper. The lucky money can be given in public after the younger generation pays New Year's greetings, or it can be secretly put under the child's pillow by parents when the child falls asleep on New Year's Eve. It is still popular for elders to distribute lucky money to younger generations.
paste up Spring Festival couplets
Sticking Spring Festival couplets (3) Spring Festival couplets are also called door couplets, spring stickers, couplets, couplets, peach symbols, etc. They depict the background of the times and express good wishes with neat, dual, concise and exquisite words, which is a unique literary form in China. Every Spring Festival, no matter in urban or rural areas, every household should select a red Spring Festival couplets and stick them on the door to add festive atmosphere to the festival. This custom began in the Song Dynasty and became popular in the Ming Dynasty. By the Qing Dynasty, the ideology and artistry of Spring Festival couplets had been greatly improved. Liang Zhangju's monograph "Poems on Spring Festival couplets" discussed the origin of couplets and the characteristics of various works.
There are many kinds of Spring Festival couplets, which can be divided into door heart, frame pair, cross-dressing, spring strip and bucket square according to their places of use. The "door core" is attached to the center of the upper end of the door panel; The "frame pair" is attached to the left and right door frames; "Cross-dressing" is attached to the crossbar of the door; "Spring strips" are posted in corresponding places according to different contents; "Dou Jin", also called "door leaf", is a square diamond, which is often attached to furniture and screen walls.
stick paper-cut on window
In the folk, people also like to stick various paper-cuts on the windows-windows.
Chinese New Year's greeting (3)
Flowers. Window grilles not only set off the festive atmosphere, but also integrate decoration, appreciation and practicality. Paper-cutting is a very popular folk art in China, which has been deeply loved by people for thousands of years. Because it is mostly pasted on windows, it is also called "window grilles". With its unique generalization and exaggeration, window grilles show auspicious things and good wishes incisively and vividly, and decorate the festival with splendor.
At the same time of putting up Spring Festival couplets, some people have to put large and small "Fu" characters on the doors, walls and lintels. Sticking the word "Fu" during the Spring Festival is a long-standing folk custom in China. The word "Fu" refers to good fortune and good fortune, which places people's longing for a happy life and wishes for a bright future. In order to fully reflect this yearning and wish, some people simply paste the word "fu" upside down, indicating that "happiness has arrived" and "blessing has arrived". There are also people who elaborate the word "Fu" into various patterns, such as longevity, longevity peach, carp jumping over the dragon gate, abundant grains, dragons and phoenixes, and so on.
New Year picture
Hanging New Year pictures during the Spring Festival is also very common in urban and rural areas, and the thick black and colorful New Year pictures add a lot of prosperous and happy festive atmosphere to thousands of families. New Year pictures are an ancient folk art in China, reflecting people's simple customs and beliefs, and pinning their hopes for the future. New Year pictures, like Spring Festival couplets, originated from "door gods". With the rise of woodblock printing, the content of New Year pictures is not limited to monotonous themes such as door gods, but has become rich and colorful. In some New Year pictures workshops, classic color New Year pictures such as Three Stars of Fu Lushou, heavenly god blesses the people, Harvest of Five Grains, Prosperity of Six Livestock, and Greeting the Spring with Happiness have been produced to meet people's good wishes of celebrating and praying for the New Year. There are three important producing areas of New Year pictures in China: Taohuawu in Suzhou, Yangliuqing in Tianjin and Weifang in Shandong; Three schools of Chinese New Year pictures have been formed, each with its own characteristics.
firecracker
There is a folk saying in China that "opening the door to firecrackers". That is, at the arrival of the new year, the first thing for every household to open the door is to set off firecrackers to eliminate the old and welcome the new with the sound of firecrackers. Firecrackers are a specialty of China, also known as "firecrackers", "firecrackers" and "firecrackers". Its origin is very early, and it has a history of more than two thousand years. Setting off firecrackers can create a festive and lively atmosphere, which is a kind of entertainment in festivals and can bring happiness and good luck to people. With the passage of time, the application of firecrackers has become more and more extensive, and the varieties and colors have become more and more numerous. Every major festival and happy event celebration, as well as marriage, building a house, opening a business, etc., firecrackers should be set off to celebrate and make a good luck. At present, Liuyang in Hunan, Foshan and Dongyao in Guangdong, Yichun and Pingxiang in Jiangxi, Wenzhou in Zhejiang and other regions are the famous hometown of fireworks in China. The firecrackers produced have many colors and high quality, which are not only sold well in the whole country, but also exported to the world.
Watch the Spring Festival Gala
The Spring Festival Gala, usually referred to as "Spring Festival Gala", is a variety show held by China CCTV to celebrate the Lunar New Year every year on New Year's Eve.
Watching the Spring Festival Gala during the Spring Festival (3)
1983, it should be said that it was an accident that CCTV held the Spring Festival Gala. But now this party has become a "new folk custom and new culture" for China people, and it is a must-see TV dinner on New Year's Eve every year. From the perspective of cultural development, CCTV Spring Festival Gala initiated the TV variety show, and triggered major changes in the content and expression methods of China TV media. Its success has not only firmly established its own position, but also spawned a series of similar programs on CCTV, such as super variety show, Zhengda Variety Show, Quyuan Miscellaneous Altar, Spring Festival Opera Evening, Spring Festival Song and Dance Evening, Spring Festival Evening of ministries (such as the Spring Festival Evening of the Ministry of Public Security), and various holiday variety shows such as National Day, May Day, Mid-Autumn Festival and New Year's Day. Subsequently, local TV stations all over the country frequently followed suit and strived for innovation.
do New Year's shopping
Families in China have to buy a lot of "new year's goods", Spring Festival couplets, lucky characters, new clothes and food during the Chinese New Year (the Chinese New Year market is mostly closed). It is an important activity for China people to celebrate the Spring Festival. Compared with the past, the way people in China do new year's goods has become more modern, and they don't stick to tradition.
There is a special new year's goods in Shanxi: brushes and chopsticks must be bought every year, which means' quick hair'.