The customs of Zhongshan people during the Chinese New Year are the same as those of the Han people in most parts of the Central Plains. In essence, they refer to celebrating the Spring Festival.

"Zuo Zhuan: The Fifth Year of Duke Xi" states that the New Year is called "December Festival".

Du Preliminary Note of the Western Jin Dynasty: "Sacrifice the names of the gods at the end of the twelfth lunar year."

It means that after a year's farming work is completed, a worship activity is held to repay God's gifts.

The Chinese New Year, in ancient times, was a festive day to celebrate the harvest; it was also a day to worship the Buddha (the one worshiping here is the Bodhisattva rather than the ancestors).

As it is said in "Gu Liang Zhuan: The Third Year of Duke Huan": "When all the grains are ripe, it means there is a year." The word "year" in oracle bone inscriptions and bronze inscriptions are all images of a good harvest and ripe ears of grain.

However, the dates for the beginning of the year were different in ancient China. It was not until the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (140 to 87 BC) that Luo Xiahong and Deng Ping created the "Taichu Calendar", which clearly stipulated that the first day of the first lunar month of the lunar calendar was the beginning of the year.

"Historical Records" states that the first day of the first lunar month is the "four beginnings", namely: "the beginning of the year, the beginning of the hour, the beginning of the day, and the beginning of the month."

And the first month of the first month must be the Lunar New Year.

After Dr. Sun Yat-sen led the Revolution of 1911 that overthrew the Qing Dynasty, he announced that our country would adopt the AD calendar, with the first day of the first lunar month of the Gregorian calendar as the New Year's Day, and the first day of the first lunar month of the lunar calendar (commonly known as the lunar calendar or the old calendar) as the Spring Festival.

However, due to inheritance from past dynasties, the Chinese customarily call the first day of the first lunar month of the Gregorian calendar New Year's Day, and the first day of the first lunar month "New Year", so celebrating the Spring Festival is also called the Chinese New Year.

Since ancient times, the New Year has included ritual activities such as sacrifices, court meetings, banquets, divination, welcoming gods, New Year greetings, and appreciation.

When the Han people celebrate the New Year, their activities are even more special and grand.

The ancients in Zhongshan also followed this example.

From ancient times to the present, Zhongshan people's customs of "Celebrating the New Year" mainly include the following aspects: 1. Sweeping the house: Sweeping the house is also called sweeping the dust.

This custom has a long history and is roughly similar to the custom of "house sweeping" in the Han areas of the Central Plains. It is an indispensable custom on the eve of the New Year.

"On the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month (the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month), wash away the filth" is a mantra of Zhongshan people before the Chinese New Year.

The essence of house sweeping is to send out the old and welcome the new in the form of general cleaning.

But in the past, Zhongshan people were very particular about cleaning their houses.

When you start sweeping the house, first sweep the door, then pick up a long broom or a feather broom, bamboo branches and other tools to make a few strokes and sweeps on the door lintel, and then sweep in from the outside to the inside, that is, sweep from the hall to the kitchen,

Sweep from the roof to the ground.

There's a saying here: "Sweep the good in, the bad out."

The work of cleaning the house is usually done by the men in the family. At the same time, the women in the family are responsible for the cleaning work at home, including: washing doors and windows, carrying chairs and sundries, large and small dishes, tea cups, teapots, and rice cookers.

Wok, stove, etc., without exception. In addition, all bedding, adults' and children's clothes, etc. in the home must be washed thoroughly until they are clean.

This custom of general cleaning, like other customs and habits, is still mixed with feudal superstition. Therefore, before the traditional New Year's cleaning begins, a day must be chosen to carry out it.

Although in the past, people would clean the house from the end of the eleventh month of the lunar calendar, they had to find an almanac and a general book to "select the day."

, "broken sun", or "unfavorable events" and other days, especially "Mars" days to avoid, of course, it is best to be "zodiac auspicious days".

In addition, in the past, Zhongshan people generally had the custom of worshiping the Bodhisattva (usually on the first and fifteenth day of the lunar calendar, many Zhongshan people would burn incense and worship the Buddha). Therefore, at the beginning of the morning cleaning, the first step was to "wash the Bodhisattva" and wash the water used to wash the Bodhisattva.

, although it is not "holy water", ordinary clean water cannot be used.

A few pieces of "luyou" (yuzu) leaves should be put into the water to wash the Bodhisattva. This is said to "ward off evil spirits" and also represents the "divine heart" of the owner of the house. This kind of work is usually done by women in the family.

2. Buy New Year's goods and buy new clothes: As the saying goes, "it's better to pay off debts at the end of the year." Zhongshan people start busy buying New Year's goods in the first and a half months before the New Year. In the old society, there were fewer rural shops in Zhongshan, and the supply of goods was not very sufficient.

Therefore, towards the end of the year, people in rural areas go to the farmers' markets in Shiqi City and the towns and districts to buy new year's goods, such as: buying red thread, paper treasures, cutting new clothes, holding fasting materials, buying

There are candies and cakes, cured meats, as well as firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, tea, dried and fresh fruits such as candied winter melon, candied lotus seeds, red melon seeds and various fruits.

In particular, the rice jar at home must be enough to meet the needs of "falling food". The so-called "constantly full" is derived from here.

The first thing people say when they meet before the Spring Festival is "Have you prepared all the New Year's goods?" This is the most common mantra that Zhongshan people used to say before the Spring Festival.

To this day, you can see huge crowds of people every time before the Chinese New Year at the "Farmer's Market" (farmer's market) or in major shopping malls. You can imagine how nervous and important people in Zhongshan's urban and rural areas are for the Chinese New Year.

At the same time, this custom of buying new year's goods has also boosted shops in urban and rural areas.

In Zhongshan, women in particular are more concerned about buying new year goods.

3. Cooking rice cakes and making fried dumplings: During the New Year celebrations in various places in Zhongshan, there is a saying: "Fried dumplings on New Year's Eve, everyone has them." The custom of "cooking rice cakes" is a unique custom of Zhongshan people during the New Year.

When outsiders first arrived in Zhongshan, when they first saw those rice cakes with "hairy hair" (glutinous rice cakes with colorful long hairs growing on the surface of the cake), they all laughed at the Zhongshan people for "cheating" (meaning fool).