The 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month (the twelfth lunar month) is called "off-year" that night. Off-year means that the year is coming to an end. From this day on, people begin to prepare for the arrival of the new year. There are folk customs of offering sacrifices to stoves, sweeping dust and purchasing new year's goods. The folk song "Twenty-three, a small year; Twenty-four, sweep the house; Twenty-five, grinding bean curd; Twenty-six, slaughter pork; Twenty-seven, wash it; Twenty-eight, stick grilles; Twenty-nine, go to play wine; The New Year's Eve is a vivid portrayal of Hefei's old customs. "On the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, dust and sweep the house". On this day, every household should clean the room and clean up all kinds of things at home. Sacrificing a kitchen stove is the custom of sending the kitchen god to heaven.
Spring Festival The first day of the first lunar month is the Spring Festival, commonly known as "New Year" and "the first day of the first lunar month". In the twelfth lunar month, people in rural Hefei slaughtered livestock and preserved bacon, boiled sugar syrup to make fried rice candy, processed rice cakes and tofu, and bought incense sticks, ghost tickets, firecrackers, tobacco, alcohol, tea, cakes, couplets (also handwritten) and lanterns. Commonly known as "playing new year's goods." Post Spring Festival couplets and New Year pictures on New Year's Eve. In the new era, young people often post film and television stills and star images. In urban areas, landscape Chinese paintings are often used instead of New Year pictures.
Lantern Festival The fifteenth day of the first lunar month in Hefei is the Lantern Festival, also known as Shangyuan Festival. Rural areas are also commonly known as "off-year". There is a custom of eating New Year's Eve dinner and setting off firecrackers. Eating Yuanxiao is popular. Customs such as playing with lanterns and lions have become increasingly popular in urban areas, and government cultural departments often hold activities such as solve riddles on the lanterns, ball games, chess games and temple fairs.
Tomb-Sweeping Day, also known as the "outing festival", takes place in March of the lunar calendar, that is, around April 5 of the Gregorian calendar. In the old days, the main customs in Tomb-Sweeping Day were: inserting willows, planting trees, sweeping graves, and going for an outing. On that day, men and women, old and young, broke willow branches, carried firecrackers, paper money, mingbi and offerings to the grave to visit the grave and worship the ancestors, and raised soil and hung money on the grave to show their memory.
Dragon Boat Festival The fifth day of the fifth lunar month is the Dragon Boat Festival, commonly known as "Dragon Boat Festival" and "Duanyang". There are folk customs such as eating zongzi, drinking realgar wine and rowing dragon boats. Wrapping zongzi is very particular, including red bean zongzi and ham zongzi. Most of the food in urban areas is bought in the market, and many rural farmers have become professional households selling dumplings. The folks put calamus and wormwood upside down on the doors and windows. Acorus calamus is shaped like a sword to ward off evil spirits, and moxa can be used as medicine to get rid of diseases. Smoking with moxa in the dark can avoid plague and detoxify. Sun-dried mugwort can be used for bathing in children.
Mid-Autumn Festival The 15th day of the eighth lunar month is the Mid-Autumn Festival, commonly known as "Mid-Autumn Festival" and "August and a half". That night, the family sat in a group, shared moon cakes, and enjoyed the freshness of the lotus root. Mid-Autumn Festival is also an important festival for family reunion. Since the reform and opening-up, people living abroad have often called, sent short messages, sent emails and other forms to bless and greet their families. Daughters and sons-in-law have the habit of feeding moon cakes to their parents-in-law, and organs and units often buy moon cakes and distribute them to employees.
Winter Solstice The 22nd of November in the lunar calendar is the winter solstice day, and it is the ninth day. There is a saying in the farmer's proverb that "eating noodles on the winter solstice makes a day grow longer" (that is, the days are long and the nights are short from this day). There are some folk customs, such as winter rituals, relocation and burial, picking up colonies and offering sacrifices to ancestors, as well as eating pumpkin Baba and dog meat.
the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month is Laba, commonly known as Laba Festival. Folk use glutinous rice, beans and other grains and dried fruits such as dates, longan and lotus seeds to cook porridge, which is called "Laba porridge", and the whole family eats it with good luck. There is a habit of meeting in the temple to eat Laba porridge.