Shanghai is located in the south of the Yangtze River. Therefore, the customs of Shanghai have many similarities with other places in the south of the Yangtze River. After the opening of the port, Shanghai has gradually become a city with rivers and seas connecting Tianjin, dense population, mixed Chinese and foreign cultures and mixed places, adding new content to the original customs; Shanghai customs have gradually formed their own characteristics.

New Year's Eve and Spring Festival

New Year's Eve, also known as "New Year's Eve", refers to the last day of the lunar year or this. -It's night, so it's also called "New Year's Eve". The word "except" on New Year's Eve was originally intended to be removed, so New Year's Eve is also called "except for the year". According to the old custom, the 23 rd day of the twelfth lunar month is the kitchen day, and the kitchen king should be sacrificed. The 24th of the twelfth lunar month is a small year. From this day until the end of the twelfth lunar month, every family should clean up and buy new year's goods. In rural areas, pigs and sheep should be slaughtered, glutinous rice flour should be ground, various snacks should be made, and all kinds of preserved meat should be preserved. In addition, New Year pictures will be posted. City people often buy daffodils, wintersweet and Tianzhu and put them in bottles to add festive atmosphere. When night falls, families get together and have New Year's Eve dinner, which is also called reunion dinner. The dishes on the table are generally very rich.

At night, people stay up all night. People usually watch TV programs at home, which are called "Shounian". When the bell rings in the new year, firecrackers will ring all at once to welcome the new year. In order to ensure the safety of citizens, firecrackers have been banned in the city center, but the Spring Festival is celebrated in other ways.

The Spring Festival is a traditional festival that our people attach most importance to, and it is full of joy. The first day of the first month of the lunar calendar is a traditional Chinese New Year. At the dawn of the first day, people are all dressed up, and the whole family pays New Year greetings to their elders, and peers pay New Year greetings to each other. The elders will also give the children lucky money wrapped in red paper to congratulate them on their one-year increase. In the afternoon of the first day of junior high school, and on the second and third days of junior high school, I went out to celebrate the New Year to my relatives and friends. Now communication is developed, and many people use the telephone or online to pay New Year greetings. Now videophone has begun to enter people's lives. When you pay a New Year call to distant relatives and friends, the voice and smile of the other party's receiver will be immediately and clearly displayed on the TV display screen. That clear voice and high-quality picture can make you feel as cordial as talking face to face with your relatives and friends.

On the fourth day of the fourth grade, many people bought live fresh carp "Pick up the God of Wealth". Because the pronunciations of "carp" and "Li" are similar, and because the live carp is caught from the water and put on red paper with silk rope, the head and tail are tilted up like a big treasure. From the first day to the fifth day, the streets and lanes are very lively, and people who go to the temple to offer incense or visit the temple market are in an endless stream.

the shops of the firm are closed from the first day to the third day, which is called "closing customs". Some of them are closed until the fifth day of the fifth year, which is the only day for employees to rest in a year. Meet the god of wealth on the fifth day and eat the wine of the god of wealth at night.

Lantern Festival

The fifteenth day of the first month is Shangyuan Festival, and this night is called Yuanxiao. Lantern Festival is a great event. Generally, people eat wonton during the day and Yuanxiao at night, also known as glutinous rice balls. On the Lantern Festival, high-light sheds were set up in several downtown areas inside and outside the old Shanghai, and all kinds of lanterns gathered together, which was spectacular. There are many sails on the Huangpu River, and lights are hung on the masts of some ships. Lights are also hung everywhere in the countryside and fields, which are called "field-looking lights", which also indicates the bumper harvest of crops. "Playing Dragon Lantern" is a lively festival performance in suburban counties, especially in the western suburbs and Jiading Nanxiang. When performing, it is accompanied by ten gongs and drums, and sometimes dozens of dragon lanterns meet to perform dragon balls.

women have to "walk three bridges" during the Lantern Festival. It is said that if they walk three bridges in the moonlight night, they can get rid of all diseases all year round. Inside and outside the old Shanghai, there are many canals and bridges, so it is easy to walk across the three bridges. At that time, there were many people who went to take a walk outside Xiaodongmen to take a look at Lujiashi Bridge.

Tomb-Sweeping Day

In March in Tomb-Sweeping Day, people took the opportunity of sweeping graves to go for an outing in the countryside.

Go to Longhua Temple for pilgrimages on March 15th. On this day, the temple market in Longhua Town was extremely prosperous. Many people like to watch peach blossoms, which are full of traffic and excitement. Qing Qianlong Li Xingnan wrote in "Zhuzhici": "The spring scenery is good on March 15, and there are many episodes of Gu Chan Pass; "The waves carried the bells away, and the boat passed the 18th Bay in Longhua." "Longhua Night Bell" was originally one of the eight scenic spots in Shanghai.

On March 23rd, I worshipped the birthday of Tianhou, prayed for the blessing of Tianhou, and the merchants from Fujian in Shanghai hoped to "benefit An Lan" at sea. At that time, believers in Tianhou Palace offered sacrifices to Tianhou and invited the troupe to perform.

long summer Festival

In April in long summer Festival, farmers in suburban areas of Shanghai made strips of wheat flour and sugar, which were called "wheat silkworms". When people ate them, it was said that they could avoid "summer". Long summer's tender grass heads and rice noodles are fried into cakes, which are called "stalls" and are popular among people in Shanghai and Pudong. Sugar plums, fermented wine, salted eggs, etc. are also regarded as seasonal foods, which are called fresh, and they are tasted as "three new".

Buddha Bath Festival

On the eighth day of April, Buddha Bath Festival (Sakyamuni's birthday), on this day, the temple will dust off the Buddha statue and recite scriptures. There are grand temple fairs in large temples inside and outside the city, such as Jing 'an Temple and Guangfu Temple on Fangbang Road. During the temple fair, department stores outside the mountain gate will gather to exchange local products.

Dragon Boat Festival

In May, the Dragon Boat Festival is busy. Every family wraps glutinous rice dumplings, or horn millet, and hangs calamus, wormwood and garlic on the door, which means "avoiding evil spirits". Drink realgar wine at noon. Smoke the room with atractylodes rhizome, angelica dahurica, rue and other drugs. Rubbing realgar on children's forehead is used to eliminate dampness, detoxify and foul breath, which means to spend the summer heat safely and not to get infected. The seasonal foods are palm seeds, batch handles, yellow croaker and garlic. The most interesting thing about the Dragon Boat Festival is watching the dragon boat race.

Guanyin's Birthday

On June 19th, Guanyin's Birthday, the fragrance in the Buddhist temple flourished again, and many Buddhist believers gathered in the temple.

Seven Qiaohui

On July 7th, it was the time when the cowherd and the weaver girl crossed the river. On this night, they offered melons and fruits as a "Seven Qiaohui" to eat proper fruit.

Mid-Autumn Festival

On the Mid-Autumn Festival on July 15th, a Dojo was set up in the temple, a "flame mouth" was set up, and lotus lanterns were placed in the pool, which was called the "Orchid Club".

Birthday of the Earth Treasure King

On July 31th, Buddhism legend called it the Birthday of the Earth Treasure King. In the old customs, it was called "ground lamp" to put sticks of incense and light candles all over the streets and gardens.

Mid-Autumn Festival

The Mid-Autumn Festival in July and August is the season to enjoy the moon. People go out to see the moonlight, which is called "walking on the moon". Many people in old Shanghai like to go to Lujiashi Bridge outside Xiaodongmen to watch the moon shadow rippling under the bridge. "Liang Shi jathyapple" is one of the "Eight Scenes of Shanghai". During the flood season from Mid-Autumn Festival to 18th, many people went to Dongcheng to watch the rivers and lakes, and some people went to Haining, Zhejiang to watch the tide. In recent years, many people have watched various performances of "Shanghai Osmanthus Festival".

Double Ninth Festival

On September 9th, double ninth festival, glutinous rice flour and sugar steamed double ninth cake, and Gao Qiao, Jiading and Chuansha made muffins, all of which were food for the occasion, and made wine with chrysanthemums. People drank the story of chong yang wine's "This day is a time to climb a mountain to avoid disaster", and residents also made a move to climb the mountain. The Yushan Mountain in Songjiang and the Grand rockery in Yuyuan Garden became climbing resorts.

Chrysanthemum Club

In mid-September, many literati held chrysanthemum parties and enjoyed poems on chrysanthemums. There were all kinds of famous chrysanthemums, with flowers in full bloom, high and low density, and porcelain pots and bamboo grids.

winter solstice festival

November winter solstice festival, the day before the winter solstice, the old custom grinds rice flour, steamed flower cakes, makes rice balls, and gives them to relatives and friends, just like the New Year.

Daoism Day of Sakyamuni

The eighth day of December is said to be Daoism Day of Sakyamuni. Laba porridge is cooked by the people, especially in temples. Walnuts, red dates, chestnuts, silkworm beans, taro, arrowheads and vegetables are cooked together with white rice to make porridge, and then the monks share it and feed it to Tanyue.

Send the Kitchen God

In late December, people are busy sending New Year gifts. On the 24th, I made a thank-you stove group and sent the stove to the sky with wine, fruit, dumplings and ingot sugar. Yuanbao sugar is a kind of gum candy, which means to glue the mouth of Kitchen God to prevent him from playing the sins of the world.

The above customs are still popular in some rural areas in Shanghai suburbs. In Shanghai, due to the changes of the times and the improvement of scientific and cultural level, some have been gradually eliminated, while others have been inherited through changes. In a word, the customs of the year-old in Shanghai are constantly changing. For example, eating dumplings at New Year's Eve, eating green dumplings at Qingming Festival, eating palm seeds at Dragon Boat Festival, tasting moon cakes at Mid-Autumn Festival, eating cakes at Chongyang Festival, and making rice cakes in jiaozi on New Year's Eve are still the characteristics of the folk customs in the south of the Yangtze River.

Due to the improvement of urban civilization, citizens have put forward suggestions to ban firecrackers at the age of 21. Because firecrackers are easy to cause fires, injuries and environmental pollution, the Municipal Public Security Bureau stipulates that fireworks and firecrackers are completely prohibited in the area within the Inner Ring Road.

In recent years, during the Spring Festival, many families have changed the custom of giving their children lucky money for the Spring Festival to giving away toys or books. During the Spring Festival, many citizens have changed their habit of giving gifts to relatives, and it has gradually become a trend to replace gift boxes with flower etiquette telegrams.