Prepare new year's goods
On the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, the land of Xilin begins to be filled with rich flavor of the year. On that day, all Zhuang people will cook bean paste to sacrifice to their ancestors. There is a saying that "food goes up, food goes to the countryside", which means that after eating red bean paste for 15 times, they are waiting for the arrival of the New Year. With the approach of New Year's Day, they began to prepare for the Spring Festival in full swing. They prepare firewood and clothes, as well as food and incense.
In the poor times, housewives of Zhuang nationality were very busy, and they had to make all the clothes for the whole family. Since the twelfth lunar month, they have to work overtime and stay up late to make new clothes for the whole family. On the first day of the new year, all Zhuang people should put on new clothes to show the atmosphere of the new year and all the best.
After the first three days of the new year, you must take off your new clothes and save them for visiting relatives or going to the market in the future. Now that life is good, new clothes are no longer so precious, but the custom of wearing new clothes in the New Year has not changed.
Preparing China New Year food is an important activity of Xilin Zhuang people. After the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, every household will kill pigs to make bacon for the next year. Every stockade has to choose the same day to kill pigs, and everyone helps each other, which is very lively.
Making Ciba is a great event for Zhuang people. Several families get together, or steam fragrant rice, or mash rice together, or knead and shape it. This primitive handicraft of making bait cakes has been passed down for thousands of years, which has witnessed the desire of the Zhuang people in Xilin to pursue a better life and the spirit of living in groups.
Pickling pickles is also an indispensable job for Xilin Zhuang people. Pickles are their favorite food, and they are tired of eating big fish and meat in the New Year. Pickled vegetables are the best food for them to adjust their appetite.
Clean sanitation
Near the end of the year, every household of Xilin Zhuang nationality should be clean and hygienic. They should not only remove weeds and rubbish in front of and behind the house, but also remove cobwebs and dust inside and outside the house. They also have to clean tables, steamer and other utensils, commonly known as "pulling", which can be described as "saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new".
In the past, they even had to scrub production tools such as hoes, pear rakes and even mud dustpans. On New Year's Eve, they must drive all the livestock home and feed them well. Before New Year's Eve, they should feed the dog first to see whether the dog eats meat or food first, so as to judge the fortune of the coming year.
Observe the zodiac to measure the weather or harvest.
In the past, the Zhuang people in Xilin had a way to judge the weather and harvest in the coming year, that is, to see the zodiac on the twelfth day of the first month. If the first day is ugly and the sixth day is noon, it means that "one cow works and six horses have to carry it", indicating a bumper harvest. If the first day is "noon" and the eighth day is "ugly", it means that "eight cows work and one horse can carry it", which means that the harvest is not good and you must work hard.
The weather is judged like this: if the first day is "Chen", it means that only one dragon is making waves, which means that the rain will be relatively scarce in the coming year; If the ninth day is "Chen", it means that there are nine dragons making waves, which means that there is a lot of rain and it is necessary to prevent floods; If you meet a pair of "Chen", it will rain less, which means that the dragons will pass the buck to each other, and no one will work hard, so you must guard against drought.
To judge the weather, they also have a prediction method, that is, look at the morning of 12 days before the first month (each day represents one month). If you get up in the morning and see fog or rain on the hillside that day, it means it rained that month. If it is sunny, it means that there is little or no rain this month, so you must plant crops according to the situation.
Although the people's judgment method is somewhat unscientific, it also shows their spirit of carefully observing life phenomena and actively summing up experience, which is the crystallization of thousands of years of life wisdom.
offer sacrifices to ancestors
Sacrifice is the only way for Xilin Zhuang people to celebrate the New Year. Due to the different surnames and families, the ways of offering sacrifices are also different. The food provided is different, the time is different, and the dishes and chopsticks are placed differently. But everything is the same. People who eat meat will put meat, while vegetarians will put scaly fish, tofu and vermicelli. For Xilin Zhuang people, sacrifice is a kind of culture and a kind of belief, which has been passed down for thousands of years. At the same time, the moral concept of respecting the old and loving the young has also penetrated into the hearts of the next generation.
Pray for blessings
At the beginning of the new year, Xilin Zhuang people attach great importance to blessing. On the first day of the first month, before dawn, the elders of every household scrambled to get up, carrying buckets and three incense sticks wrapped in three pieces of paper money, and went to the water source where they lived to get water and use it for the first meal of the New Year. This is the so-called "preemptive water".
"Grab the first water" contains two meanings: one is to pray for the water god to keep the water of life flowing; The second is to pray that the whole family will have smooth sailing and good luck in the coming year.
After breakfast on the first day of the first month of the first month, the family went to Geely and collected some firewood to go home, which means "hugging Chai Jin's family" and praying for a prosperous and bumper harvest in the coming year. As for opening business, starting work and going out, they should choose an auspicious day to show all the beauty and happiness. This kind of prayer is still very popular today.
Congratulate sb. on his happy events.
It is the custom of Zhuang people to congratulate each other in the New Year. When they meet in the New Year, everyone will greet each other with a smile and congratulate each other. On the first day of the first month, they don't like visiting each other. The next day, they will invite others to dinner at home, send some delicious food that the other party can't cook, and then cook together to enhance their feelings and friendship.
On the third day, the married daughter took her husband and children to visit her family for the New Year. Children with "michel platini" want to visit "michel platini" and extend their New Year wishes to him. They should not only bring some bacon, zongzi and other gifts, but also set off firecrackers. This is a manifestation of filial piety to the elderly and a virtue. In the Zhuang village of Mabang Town, there is also the custom of offering sacrifices to mountain gods in the early years, praying for the protection of mountain gods, good weather, abundant crops and peace of the people.
amusement
During the Chinese New Year, the Zhuang people in Xilin like to gather at the head of the village, or play cards, play top, sing folk songs, play with their bare hands, play erhu or play suona, which makes them feel happy and peaceful. Now there are more sports and sports, such as basketball, tug-of-war and dance, adding many fresh elements.