Spring Festival generally refers to New Year's Eve and the first day of the first month. But among the people, the Spring Festival in the traditional sense refers to the sacrificial stove in La Worship on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month or on the 23rd or 24th of the twelfth lunar month, until the 15th day of the first month.

The common customs of Spring Festival in China are: preparing new year's goods, pasting New Year's greetings, offering sacrifices to stoves, dusting, hanging New Year pictures, stick grilles, putting up blessings upside down, New Year's Eve dinner, paying New Year's greetings, setting off firecrackers, wearing new clothes, eating jiaozi, observing the New Year's Eve, dancing dragons, taking lucky money, eating dumplings, opening firecrackers, worshiping the New Year, watching community fires, walking on stilts and having lanterns.

I think there are eight traditional customs worth mentioning in the Spring Festival. Let's take a look with me:

? One of the customs of the Spring Festival: watching the Spring Festival Gala?

Watching the Spring Festival Gala is a custom handed down in modern times. It was originally a variety show, but with the passage of time, it has become an indispensable custom for us every year. Although it is always said that the Spring Festival Gala is getting less and less watched, people are still very concerned about its dynamics. Spring Festival Gala is the abbreviation of Spring Festival Gala, which generally refers to the Spring Festival Gala held by CCTV. A party from New Year's Eve to the beginning of the following year is called the Spring Festival party because it is held in the traditional Spring Festival.

Look at the origin of the Spring Festival: the Spring Festival Gala in a broad sense can be traced back to 1956. At that time, the Spring Festival Gala was directed by Junxiang Zhang, directed by Xie Jin, Lin Nong, Cenfan and Wang Yingdong, and produced by the Central News Recording Film Studio. According to the content of the film, china national radio at that time broadcast the performance live to the whole country. At that time, many masters appeared, such as Xu Yulan, Wang Wenjuan, Xin Fengxia, Mei Lanfang, Hou Baolin, Lao She, Ba Jin and Zhao Dan. CCTV's Spring Festival Gala, which has the nature of Spring Festival Evening, has been broadcast since New Year's Eve in 1979. In 1983, the first live Spring Festival Gala was officially broadcast on CCTV.

At first, it was a variety show broadcast live by China CCTV on its first CCTV program to celebrate the Lunar New Year's Eve every year. Later, CCTV Chinese International Channel, Military Agriculture Channel, CCTV English News Channel, CCTV Spanish International Channel and CCTV French International Channel will broadcast live simultaneously. In addition, from 28 to now, the high-definition channel has also broadcast the rehearsal video; CCTV, PPLIVE, china network television and other online new media will also broadcast at the same time.

As a TV program attracting the attention of hundreds of millions of China people and overseas Chinese, the Spring Festival Evening witnessed the historic changes in China since the reform and opening up. In the last century, the living standard of Chinese people was just at the level of food and clothing, and there was no spare capacity to pay attention to the improvement of their own culture and other aspects. Therefore, the Spring Festival Gala, as the most extensive TV program, can be said to be a household name in the special period of the Spring Festival, and it has become a necessary project for the whole family to watch the Spring Festival Gala together on New Year's Eve. Since then, watching the Spring Festival Gala has become one of the customs of the Spring Festival, and the Spring Festival has the custom of observing the new year. The Spring Festival Gala has become one of the entertainment methods in the process of observing the new year, and watching the Spring Festival Gala by the family can also promote the relationship between them.

? The second custom of the Spring Festival: Hanging lanterns?

Every household has the custom of hanging lanterns on 3th, and hanging red lanterns during the Spring Festival symbolizes the meaning of reunion to create a festive atmosphere. Later, lanterns became a symbol of China people's happiness. Through the inheritance and development of lantern artists in past dynasties, it has formed rich and colorful varieties and superb craftsmanship.

It is said that after Jiang Ziya was enshrined as a deity, he didn't have any duties, only a deity took the place when he was traveling. On the New Year's Eve, all the gods returned to their places, but Jiang Ziya had nowhere to go. People saw that he was pitiful, so they lit a lamp at the head of a tall club and let him spend the night under the lamp. Over time, the custom of hanging lanterns was formed.

? The third custom of the Spring Festival: eating New Year's Eve with the door closed?

In some parts of the south, it is a long-standing custom to eat New Year's Eve dinner behind closed doors, which is said to be related to Tie Guai Li, one of the Eight Immortals.

When I was a child, I heard a story from my grandfather, saying that when we eat New Year's Eve in many places in the south, we have to close the door, and we can only open the door after we have finished eating and put away the dishes and chopsticks. And this also has a meaning. Grandpa said that this means "closing the door to make money and opening the door."

Grandpa also said that the folk legend was to trick Tie Guai Li into eating the New Year's Eve dinner behind closed doors. We all know that Tie Guai Li is a famous immortal, and he is one of the Eight Immortals. Although this man is lame, he is a fairy, and the Jade Emperor has also arranged a task for him, so that he will go to check the people's feelings on the last day of each year. So every New Year's Eve dinner, Tie Guai Li will become a beggar, and then go door to door begging. Then show the begging things to the Jade Emperor one by one, so that it will be clear at a glance who is poor and who is rich. The Jade Emperor is also very fair. For some rich families, the Jade Emperor will let them receive certain punishments, such as disasters, so as not to make them too rich. For poor families, the Jade Emperor will be merciful and let them make more money several times to avoid being too poor.

Later, this story spread among the people, and one of them was a shrewd businessman. He thought of a way, that is, when eating New Year's Eve, he closed the door, and the family didn't speak loudly, and then opened the door after eating and cleaning up. At this time, Tie Guai Li came, having eaten clean, and there was nothing on the table. When Tie Guai Li came in, the family was too poor, so he was merciful and gave the family more opportunities to make a fortune. So many people learned this method one after another, so this method spread, and everyone learned it one by one, and the custom of closing the door to eat New Year's Eve was handed down and continued to this day.

However, farmers think that the reason why there is a custom of eating New Year's Eve at home in the south is mainly because a lot of meals are cooked on New Year's Eve, and the weather is cold in winter. If you leave the door open, the food will be easily cooled by the north wind, which will affect the taste and delicacy. Secondly, it will be bad for your health and easily cause a stomachache!

? The fourth custom of the Spring Festival: "closing firecrackers"?

On New Year's Eve, after offering sacrifices to ancestors and deceased parents, when the whole family closes the door for a family reunion dinner, they should set off "closing firecrackers", usually 1-3 firecrackers, which means that all the unpleasantness of the old year will be sent away, and then the whole family will sit around and talk and laugh until the new year bell rings.

There is a story in Taizhou about "closing firecrackers" to drive away the enemy, and a large number of enemies are gathering off Taizhou. Although beaten by Qi Jiajun, dogs can't change their habit of eating shit all the time. They are going to sneak up on Taizhou in the dark on the 3 th night when the soldiers and civilians are carnival and the defense is lax. Ladies and gentlemen, you should know that you can't see your fingers for 3 nights, and the sneak attack by robbers, especially those without clear goals, is really easy to succeed.

At eleven o'clock in the evening, the robbers' boats approached Taizhou Bay. From a distance, the shore was quiet. These robbers were so happy that they thought they could get a full load again. Who knows, before they could close their crooked mouths, suddenly the guns on the shore were booming and the flames were soaring. This earth-shattering battle scared the Japanese robbers out of their wits, shouting "Dig that ant in the house, dig that ant in the house" with tears in their eyes, while hurriedly turning the bow and running for their lives.

The sound of guns on the shore continued one after another until dawn. The Japanese robbers who were scared out of their wits were shivering in the ocean, but they never dreamed that what made them tourist trap was the closing gun that General Qi asked the people to set off. From then on, the custom of Taizhou people closing the cannon at 3 nights has been handed down.

? The fifth custom of the Spring Festival: Keeping the Year?

The custom of "keeping the old age until the old age" comes from a legend. This is also a legend that people often hear. Every New Year's Eve, in Archaean times, there was a fierce monster scattered in the mountains and forests, and people called them "Nian". Its appearance is ferocious, its nature is ferocious, and it specializes in eating birds and animals and insects. It changes its taste every day, from kowtowing insects to living people, which makes people talk about "Nian". Later, people gradually mastered the activity law of "Nian", which is to go to places where people live in concentrated communities every 365 days to taste fresh food, and the haunting time is after dark, and when the cock crows at dawn, they return to the mountains. ?

Having determined the date when the Year of the Year raged, the people regarded this terrible night as a gateway, which was called the Year of the Year, and came up with a whole set of ways to close the New Year's Day: every household cooked dinner in advance on this night, turned off the fire and cleaned the stove, then tied up all the cowshed, sealed the front and rear doors of the house, and hid in the house to eat the New Year's Eve. In addition to asking the whole family to dine together to show harmony and reunion, it is also necessary to offer sacrifices to ancestors before eating, pray for the blessing of ancestors, and spend the night safely. After dinner, no one dares to sleep and sit together to chat and be courageous.

People regard the night of "Year of the Year" as a gateway to endure. In order to kill time, the whole family reunites and talks, which means praying for a safe night. After a long time, the custom of staying up all year on New Year's Eve was formed.

? The sixth custom of the Spring Festival: Worship the New Year?

It is the oldest traditional custom among the people in China to celebrate the New Year. During the Spring Festival, the activities of exchanging feelings between relatives are a way for people to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, and express their good wishes to each other. Paying New Year's greetings means visiting relatives and friends on the first day of New Year's Day and paying New Year's greetings to each other. Origin of New Year's greeting custom: In ancient times, the original meaning of the word "New Year" was to celebrate the New Year for the elderly, including kowtowing to the elderly, congratulating them on the happy New Year, and greeting their lives. In case of friends and relatives of the same generation, we should also salute and congratulate them. On the first day of the new year, people get up early, put on new clothes, 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 the heads of families leading several people to pay New Year's greetings door to door. Some colleagues invite several people to visit New Year. There are also people who get together to congratulate each other, which is called "group worship".

In the Song Dynasty, friends and relatives would send messages of congratulations to each other, which was the early new year card. In the Ming Dynasty, new year card's design was more perfect and exquisite. Not only the name and address of the sender were printed on the post, but also "Happy New Year" and greetings were written. With the development of the times, the custom of New Year's greetings is constantly adding new contents and forms. Nowadays, in addition to following the previous New Year greetings, people have also started to pay New Year greetings by short message and telephone.

? The seventh custom of the Spring Festival: Going back to your mother's house?

It is a Chinese New Year custom for the Han people to go back to their parents' home on the second day of the Lunar New Year. Married daughters will take their husbands and children back to their parents' homes to pay New Year's greetings, commonly known as "Wedding Day". On this day, the daughter who goes back to her mother's house must bring some gifts and red envelopes to give to her children and have lunch at her mother's house. Usually a family will choose to take a family photo on this day.

When a girl comes home, if she has a nephew at home, her aunt must pay for it again. Although she gave the lucky money on the first day, this time it has a different meaning. This custom is called "eating day and night" by Chaoshan people. As the name implies, it's just lunch, and the daughter must get back to her husband's house before dinner.

The custom of returning to the mother's home comes from the inconvenient transportation of the ancient people. In ancient times, after most daughters got married, they rarely had the opportunity to go home, so the common way to visit their parents was to return home. In addition to about three days after marriage, it was followed by the second day of the first month of each year, which was also called Huimen Day. The reason why I chose this day was because I had to stay at my husband's house to help entertain guests on the first day, and it was not suitable to return to my mother's house at the end of the twelfth month, so on the second day of the Spring Festival, I could bring gifts and visit my husband's family. Over time, returning to her mother's house on the second day of the Lunar New Year has become a very distinctive traditional custom of the Han nationality.

? The eighth custom of the Spring Festival: Lantern Festival?

The 15th day of the first month is the traditional Lantern Festival, which is also called Lantern Festival and Shangyuan Festival. Old Beijingers prefer to call Lantern Festival Lantern Festival. Why is this? It turns out that in ancient times, this "Lantern Festival" was as important as "New Year's Eve", and people always made it lively. The most typical one was the "Flower Show", also called "Walking Show".

Lantern Festival is also called Lantern Festival. The custom of burning lanterns on Lantern Festival originated from the Han Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, the activities of enjoying lanterns became more prosperous. Lights were hung everywhere in palaces and streets, and tall lanterns, towers and trees were built. Lu Zhaolin, a great poet in the Tang Dynasty, once described the grand occasion of burning lanterns on Lantern Festival in "Watching Lights on Fifteen Nights", saying that "the stars in the Han Dynasty are falling, and the buildings are like the moon hanging."

In the Song Dynasty, more attention was paid to the Lantern Festival, and the lantern viewing activities were more lively. The lantern viewing activities lasted for five days, and the styles of lanterns were more abundant. In the Ming Dynasty, the lantern festival will last for 1 days, which is the longest lantern festival in China. Although there were only three days of lantern viewing in Qing Dynasty, the lantern viewing activities were large in scale and unprecedented in pomp. Besides burning lanterns, fireworks were also put on to entertain.

The festivals and customs activities of the Lantern Festival are extended and expanded with the development of history. As far as the length of the festival is concerned, it was only one day in the Han Dynasty, three days in the Tang Dynasty, and five days in the Song Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, the lights were lit from the eighth day of the eighth month until the night of the seventeenth day of the first month, for ten days. Connecting with the Spring Festival, the day is the city, which is very lively, and the lights are lit at night, which is spectacular. Especially the exquisite and colorful lights make it the climax of entertainment activities during the Spring Festival and the last custom during the Spring Festival.

The customs and activities of the Spring Festival are different in the north and south, but one thing is basically the same, that is, family reunion, visiting relatives and friends, visiting elders, etc. I hope we can keep these customs full of deep affection and good wishes in mind and pass them on from generation to generation.