Specific customs before the Spring Festival: Sweeping dust on the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month. Folk proverb says, "On the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, dust the house and sweep the house."

After the stove sacrifice was held, preparations for the New Year began formally.

Sweeping dust is the year-end cleaning. It is called "house sweeping" in the north and "dust dusting" in the south.

Sweeping dust before the Spring Festival is a traditional habit of the Chinese people.

On the day of sweeping, the whole family works together to clean the house and courtyard, scrub pots and dishes, unpack and wash bedding, and welcome the new year cleanly.

In fact, people use the homophonic pronunciation of "chen" and "chen" to express their desire to get rid of the old.

According to historical records, there was a custom of year-end cleaning in ancient times.

According to "Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals", China had the custom of sweeping dust during the Spring Festival in the era of Yao and Shun.

According to folklore: because "dust" and "chen" are homophones, sweeping dust in the New Year means "removing the old and spreading the new", and its purpose is to sweep away all "poor luck" and "bad luck".

Volume 12 of "Qing Jia Lu" records: "When the hair is about to die, it is appropriate to sweep the house and remove the dirt in the courtyard on the day of the constitution. Or it may be on the 23rd, 24th and 27th. It is customary to

Call 'beat the dust'".

On the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, "house sweeping" is carried out, which means a thorough cleaning inside and outside the courtyard.

It can be seen that this custom entrusts people's desire to destroy the old and establish the new and the prayer to say goodbye to the old and usher in the new. It is also the traditional virtue of paying attention to hygiene and preventing diseases in winter accumulated by the Chinese nation in its long history.

The Spring Festival custom is to make tofu on the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month. Folk proverb says: "On the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month, grind tofu." In some places, there is also the custom of eating tofu residue before New Year's Eve.

According to folklore, after the Kitchen King reported to heaven, the Jade Emperor would visit the lower realms to see if each household was as the Kitchen King had said. So each household would eat tofu dregs to show their poverty and avoid the Jade Emperor's punishment.

Legend is true. In fact, eating tofu dregs is actually a sign of low productivity in ancient times and there were not so many delicious foods (but sometimes people would buy a big basket of tofu and eat it to satisfy their hunger, etc.).

Both old and new customs following the Jade Emperor believe that after the Kitchen God ascended to heaven, the Heavenly Emperor and the Jade Emperor personally descended to the realm on the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month to inspect the good and evil in the world and determine the fortune and misfortune of the coming year. Therefore, every family sacrificed it to pray for blessings, which is called

"Receive the Jade Emperor".

On this day, you must be cautious in your daily life and words, and strive to perform well in order to win the favor of the Jade Emperor and bring blessings to you in the coming year.

During the Lunar New Year, the Kitchen God was sent to heaven and not welcomed back until New Year's Eve. During this period, there was no god in the world and there were no taboos. There were many marriages among the people, which was called the "Chaoli New Year".

Luan Sui is a specific period of time designed by the people to adjust social life.

At the end of the year, people have leisure and savings. For people who rarely have the energy to take care of big things, this is a good time for leisure and entertainment.

Therefore, people invented this special time folk custom according to the needs of real life.

Zhaotian silkworm Zhaotian silkworm is also called "burning field silkworm" and "burning field wealth". It is a folk custom of praying for good luck in the Jiangnan area.

On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth lunar month, long poles tied with torches are erected in the fields to use the flames to divine the new year. If the flames are strong, they will herald a good harvest in the coming year.

Some places hold this event on New Year's Eve.

Thousand Lantern Festival The Thousand Lantern Festival is a religious festival of the Mongolian and Daur people.

In Mongolian, it is called "Mingganzhuola", which means Thousand Lanterns Festival.

On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth lunar month, people make "mingganzhuola" and light them in the temple. It is believed that the more lights they light, the more auspicious they will be.

This festival custom is most popular among the Virat Mongolian people in Xinjiang.

Local people eat roast beef and mutton and hold traditional sports and entertainment activities on this day.

The custom of the Spring Festival is on the 26th day of the twelfth lunar month. As the saying goes, "On the 26th day of the twelfth lunar month, kill the pig and cut the meat" or "On the 26th day, cut the head of the knife." It means that this day is mainly about preparing meat for the New Year.

The reason why "cutting New Year's meat" is included in the New Year's ballad is because the farming and social economy are underdeveloped, and people can only eat meat during the New Year's Day, so it is called "New Year's meat".

Spring Festival customs are held on the 27th day of the twelfth lunar month. According to traditional folk customs, people should bathe and do laundry intensively during these two days to get rid of the bad luck of the year and prepare for the coming New Year. There is a saying in Beijing that "Twenty-seven washes away guilt and illness, and twenty-eight washes away sloppiness."

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Taking a bath on the 26th of the twelfth lunar month is "washing fortune and fortune".

[8] Spring Festival customs on the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month are as follows: "On the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, make cakes, steamed buns and applique flowers" or "On the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, make noodles."

The so-called decals refer to New Year pictures, Spring Festival couplets, window grilles and various Spring Festival decorations.

Among them, the custom of posting Spring Festival couplets originated from the ancient "Peach Talisman".

The ancients used peach wood as a tree to ward off evil spirits. "Dian Shu" said: "Peach is the essence of the five trees, so it suppresses evil spirits." By the Five Dynasties, Meng Chang, the monarch of Later Shu, was elegant and good at literature. He ordered people to inscribe peach charms every year.

It became the origin of the Spring Festival couplets of later generations, and the inscription on the peach charm "New Year's greetings for Yuqing, Jiajie Changchun" became the first "Spring Festival couplets" recorded in Chinese history.

Later, with the advent of papermaking, the custom of posting Spring Festival couplets using red paper instead of peach wood appeared.

The custom of the Spring Festival is to worship ancestors on the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month. The New Year's ballad says: "On the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, go to the graves and ask your ancestors for large offerings."

The worship of ancestors has a long history in China.

Treating death as life is not only an important sign of filial piety, but also the virtue of respecting the elderly.

The Spring Festival is a major festival, and the ceremony of visiting the graves of ancestors is particularly solemn.

The time to visit the graves of ancestors is in most areas on the morning of the 29th.