it was recorded in the Wei and Jin dynasties, and the whole family stayed up all the time to observe the new year's eve and had a good time together.
On New Year's Eve, the whole family gets together and has a New Year's Eve dinner, which is a common custom in China. According to historical records, this custom originated in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and gradually became popular. In the early Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong, wrote a poem "Keeping the Year"
: "Cold resigns from winter snow, and warmth brings spring breeze." To this day, Chinese people are used to keeping watch on New Year's Eve, setting off firecrackers outside, sitting around watching TV indoors and laughing again and again.
Eat jiaozi
During the Spring Festival, jiaozi has become an indispensable delicacy. According to Guangya, written by Zhang Yi, a Wei native of the Three Kingdoms, there was a crescent-shaped food called "wonton" at that time, which was basically similar to the shape of jiaozi now. By the time of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, wonton was "shaped like a crescent moon, and the world was full of food." It is speculated that when jiaozi was cooked, it was not fished out and eaten alone, but mixed with soup in a bowl, so people called jiaozi "wonton" at that time. This way of eating is still popular in some areas of our country. For example, people in Henan and Shaanxi eat jiaozi, and they should put some small ingredients such as coriander, chopped green onion, shrimp skin and leek in the soup. About the Tang Dynasty, jiaozi had become exactly the same as jiaozi now, and it was fished out and put on a plate to eat alone.
The folk custom of eating jiaozi during the Spring Festival was quite popular in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Jiaozi is usually wrapped before 12 o'clock in the evening of New Year's Eve and eaten at midnight. At this time, it is the beginning of the first day of the first lunar month. Eating jiaozi means "making friends at a younger age", and "zi" is homophonic with "dumpling", which means "happy reunion" and "good luck".
There are many legends about eating jiaozi during the Spring Festival. One is to commemorate Pangu's creation of the world, and the other is to take its homonym of "muddy hoarding", which means "full hoarding of grain". In addition, it is also said that eating jiaozi's folk language is related to Nu Wa's making people.
jiaozi has become an indispensable program food for the Spring Festival. The reasons are as follows: firstly, jiaozi is shaped like an ingot, and eating jiaozi in the Spring Festival means "making money into treasure"; secondly, jiaozi has stuffing, which makes it convenient for people to put all kinds of auspicious things into stuffing, so as to pin people's hopes for the new year. In some areas, when people eat jiaozi, they have to match some non-staple food to show their good luck. If you eat tofu, it symbolizes the happiness of the whole family; Eating persimmon symbolizes all the best; Eating three fresh vegetables symbolizes the prosperity of three yang. People in Taiwan Province eat fish balls, meat balls and seaweed, symbolizing reunion and getting rich.
Posting the word "Fu"
It is a long-standing folk custom in China to post the word "Fu" during the Spring Festival. According to "Dream of Liang Lu", it is recorded that: "When you are young, you will shop in a department store, draw a door god peach symbol, and celebrate the Spring Festival ..."; "Scholars, big or small, sweep the doors, remove dust and filth, clean the families, change the door gods, nail peach charms, paste spring cards and offer sacrifices to their ancestors." The "Sticking Spring Card" in this article is the word "Fu" written on red paper.
the word "fu" is now interpreted as "happiness", but in the past it meant "good fortune" and "good fortune". Whether it is now or in the past, it has pinned people's longing for a happy life and wishes for a better future. In order to fully reflect this yearning and wish, the people simply put the word "fu" upside down, indicating that "happiness has fallen" and "blessing has arrived".
There is another legend that the word "Fu" is posted upside down among the people. Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming emperor, used the word "fu" as a secret code to prepare for murder. In order to eliminate this disaster, the kind-hearted Ma Huanghou made all the families in the city have to put a "blessing" on their doors before dawn. Naturally, no one dared to disobey Ma Huanghou's will, so the word "Fu" was posted on every door. One of the families can't read, so they put the word "Fu" upside down. The next day, the emperor sent people to the streets to check and found that every family had posted the word "Fu", and another family had posted the word "Fu" upside down. The emperor was furious when he heard the report, and immediately ordered the body-guard to chop down that house. When Ma Huanghou saw that things were not good, he quickly said to Zhu Yuanzhang, "The family knew that you were visiting today and deliberately put the word Fu upside down. Doesn't this mean' Fu Dao'?" As soon as the emperor heard the truth, he ordered the release, and a great disaster was finally eliminated. Since then, people have put the word "Fu" upside down, seeking good luck and commemorating Ma Huanghou.
stick grilles
During the Spring Festival, people in many areas like to stick paper-cuts on their windows. Window grilles not only set off the festive atmosphere, but also bring people beautiful enjoyment, integrating decoration, appreciation and practicality.
Paper-cutting is a very popular folk art, which has been deeply loved by people for thousands of years. Because it is mostly pasted on windows, people generally call it "window grilles". Window grilles are rich in content and wide in subject matter. Because the buyers of window grilles are mostly farmers, window grilles have considerable content to show farmers' lives, such as farming, weaving, fishing, herding sheep, feeding pigs and raising chickens. In addition, there are myths and legends, drama stories and other themes. In addition, the images of flowers, birds, insects, fish and the zodiac are also very common.
Setting off firecrackers
There is a folk saying in China that "opening the door to set off firecrackers". The first thing in the new year is to set off firecrackers to get rid of the old and welcome the new.
Firecracker is a specialty of China, which has a long history of more than two thousand years. Nowadays, most of us think that setting off firecrackers can create a festive atmosphere, and it is a kind of entertainment in festivals, which can bring happiness and good luck to people.
According to the Divine Classic, in ancient times, people camped through deep mountains and lit bonfires at night, one for cooking to keep warm, and the other for preventing wild animals from invading. However, there is an animal in the mountains, "Shan Sao", which is neither afraid of people nor fire, and often steals food while people are unprepared. In order to deal with it, people think of the method of burning firecrackers in the fire and using the crackling sound of bamboo to keep it away. At the beginning of the Tang dynasty, there were plagues everywhere. A man named Li Tian put saltpeter in a bamboo tube, lit it, and made it make a louder sound and a stronger smoke. As a result, it dispersed? Let's go to Pugu, a small U-boat, and make a pro-postscript. In the R courtyard, there is no such thing as a wall, a wall, and a flat.
Happy New Year
In ancient times, the original meaning of the word "Happy New Year" was to celebrate the New Year for the elderly. On the morning of the first day, the younger generation should pay New Year greetings to their elders first. After the elders are worshipped, they will distribute the "lucky money" prepared in advance to the younger generation. When people go out to meet, they should also exchange auspicious words such as "Congratulations on getting rich" and "Happy New Year". In ancient times, the upper-class literati had the custom of greeting each other with famous cards. At that time, the scholar-officials had a wide circle of friends, so it would take time and energy to pay New Year's greetings everywhere. Therefore, some friends who were not closely related did not go there in person, but sent servants to take a card cut with plum blossom stationery, two inches wide and three inches long, with the name, address and congratulations of the recipient written on it. In the Ming dynasty, people paid a visit instead of paying New Year's greetings. "Name thorn" and "name divination" are the origins of today's New Year cards. Since the Qing Dynasty, the form of "group worship" has been added to the New Year greetings.
With the development of the times, new contents and forms have been added to the custom of New Year greetings. Nowadays, in addition to following the previous New Year's greetings, people have also started to pay New Year's greetings by courtesy telegram, telephone and SMS, and online QQ.
lucky money
When visiting the New Year in the Spring Festival, the elders should give the lucky money prepared in advance to the younger generation. It is said that the lucky money can suppress evil spirits, because "old" and "precious" are homophonic, and the younger generation can spend one year safely with the lucky money. There are two kinds of lucky money, one is to thread colored rope into a dragon shape and put it at the foot of the bed, which is recorded in Yanjing Year; The other is the most common, that is, parents wrap the money distributed to their children in red paper.
It is believed by the people that if lucky money is given to children, when evil spirits or "Nian" harm children, children can use the money to bribe them and turn evil into good luck. In the poem "Lucky Money" by Wu Manyun, a Qing dynasty, it is said: "A hundred dollars are long in colored thread, and then they are collected from the pillow, and the price of firecrackers is discussed, which makes Jiao Er busy all night." At present, the custom of elders distributing lucky money to younger generations is still prevalent. These lucky money are mostly used by children to buy books and school supplies and daily necessities. The new fashion has given new content to the lucky money.
Meeting the God of Wealth
According to folklore, the fifth day of the first month is the birthday of the God of Wealth, and each family holds a banquet to celebrate his birthday.
There are many legends about the God of Wealth among the people: Cai Jing was rich in the Song Dynasty. According to folklore, he was born as a rich god. He happened to be born on the fifth day of the first month, so the people regarded him as a God of Wealth. After Cai Jing was demoted, the people changed to the God of Wealth. At that time, the national surname of the Song Dynasty was Zhao, and the mysterious word was an integral part of the word "Lan", so he gave the God of Wealth a name of Zhao Xuantan to worship.
On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, Zhao Xuantan was the most revered. In addition to Zhao Xuantan being honored as the "God of Wealth", there are also folk sayings that "God of Wealth is partial", "God of Wealth", and "Wu Caishen" is the Emperor of Heaven. The belief in the five gods of wealth is popular in the area of Qiuyuan, Dexing, Jiangxi. There are five temples of God of Wealth outside Andingmen, Beijing. The "literary god of wealth" is also known as the "God of Wealth". His paintings are often listed with "Fu", "Lu" and "Shou" Samsung and XiShen, which together are Fu, Lu, Shou, Wealth and Happiness. The rich star gentleman has long white hair and a treasure basin in his hand, from which the word "lucky money into treasure" comes.
Wu Caishen Guan Sheng Emperor is Guan Yu Guan Yunchang. Legend has it that Guan Yunchang managed the military and horses station, was good at counting, made his invention increasingly thin, and stressed credit and loyalty, so he was worshipped by merchants. Generally, merchants regarded Guan Gong as their patron saint, and Guan Gong was also regarded as the god of wealth. On the fifth day of the first month, the shops opened, and in the early morning, golden gongs, firecrackers and sacrifices were made to welcome the God of Wealth. Gu Tieqing, a Qing Dynasty poet, quoted a poem by Cai Yun's bamboo branch in Qing Jia Lu, describing the situation of Suzhou people welcoming the God of Wealth on the fifth day of the fifth month: "Five days to seek financial resources, one year to wish for a reward; Beware of meeting God early elsewhere and rushing to hold the road overnight. " "Holding the road head" means "welcoming the god of wealth".
Eating rice cakes
It is said that the earliest rice cakes were used for worshipping the gods in the New Year's Eve and for ancestors in the New Year's Eve, and later they became food for the Spring Festival.
In Qi Min Yao Shu written by Jia Sixie in the Northern Wei Dynasty, there is a method of making cakes by grinding rice flour: after sieving glutinous rice flour with silk, add water, honey and make a hard dough, stick dates and chestnuts on the dough, and wrap them with bamboo leaves and steam them. This kind of glutinous rice cake has the characteristics of the Central Plains. Rice cakes are mostly made of glutinous rice flour, and glutinous rice is a specialty of Jiangnan. In the north, there are sticky grains like glutinous rice, and sticky millet (commonly known as millet) was first introduced in ancient times. This kind of millet hulled flour, after steamed with water, is yellow, sticky and sweet, and it is a delicious food for people in the Yellow River Basin to celebrate the harvest. There are many kinds of rice cakes, with different flavors between the north and the south. The typical ones are the white cakes in the north, the yellow rice cakes in the farmers in Saibei, the rice cakes in Shuimo, the rice cakes in Jiangnan, and the red turtle cakes in Taiwan Province.