The spring rain surprises the valley, the sky is clear, the summer is full of awns and the summer is hot, the autumn is dew, the autumn is cold and the frost falls, and the winter is snowy and the winter is cold. Among the local customs, the four solar terms are colorful, and the most distinctive local characteristics and rich local flavor are the Spring Festival outside the twenty-four solar terms.
The Spring Festival in Zhoushan, commonly known as the "New Year", begins in the first ten days of the twelfth lunar month. On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, on this day, people begin to busy themselves with the Spring Festival. The most important thing about spending time in Laba is to drink a bowl of steaming, fragrant Laba porridge. Laba porridge, as the name suggests, has at least eight ingredients cooked into a pot of porridge. Often longan meat, peanuts, walnut kernels, red beans, lotus seeds, mung beans, donkey hide gelatin, and various rice kernels. In the severe cold, when I hold a bowl of hot Laba porridge, I can't help but feel a wave of warmth in my heart. It is extremely sweet and warm, and it dispels the chill of winter.
After drinking Laba porridge, the flavor of the New Year is even stronger. On the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, the most important thing to celebrate is to worship the Kitchen God. According to Han folklore, the Kitchen God was originally a good man, but died of poverty. The Jade Emperor took pity on him, so he named him the "Master of the Stove Palace" and sent him to the human world to be the god of good deeds and responsible for managing the kitchen stoves of each family. The most fun thing was to take off the statue of the Kitchen God on the evening of the 23rd. Before cremation, pick out a few pieces of sugar from the sugar melon and smear it on the Stove Lord's lips. Ask him to "speak sweetly", speak sweetly in front of the Jade Emperor, and say good things, so that the lower world can be safe.
The next step is the climax of the Spring Festival - New Year's Eve on the 30th of the twelfth lunar month. Su Shi once wrote a poem: "Children are forced not to sleep, but stay up all night and cheer each other up." It means that on New Year's Eve, children suppress sleepiness and stay up all night to watch the New Year. The whole family gathers together to taste dumplings, glutinous rice balls, rice cakes, and watch the Spring Festival Gala. When the clock strikes twelve o'clock, fireworks are set off and people go to temples to pray for blessings and blessings from the gods for peace and all the best in the new year.
The next day is another new year, I open the door of my house, congratulations, and rejoice together.
Generally, sacrifices are made to the Kitchen God on the 23rd day of the lunar calendar.
On the 28th, 29th or 30th day of the lunar calendar, the New Year is sent out. According to each family's own time arrangement and the time of the day, such as the time of high tide and low tide, etc., the day to send the New Year is decided. ! The main content of sending off the New Year is to offer sacrifices to God, Bodhisattvas, Buddhas, etc.
Then we must offer sacrifices to our ancestors.
On the last thirty nights, the family will have a reunion dinner. And be sure to eat glutinous rice balls. It indicates reunion. As for the dumplings mentioned by MM above, we Zhoushan people don’t seem to make dumplings. I have never made dumplings since I was a child, and our neighbors never make dumplings either.
It is necessary to stay up late on the 30th.
In the first year of junior high school, juniors go to pay New Year greetings to their elders. Or some families go to the cemetery to visit the graves of their loved ones.
The second, third, and fourth days of the lunar month are also the time for relatives to pay New Year greetings to each other and move around.