It is reported that the cleaning of Dongguan people usually begins with the cleaning of smallpox, and then the walls. The cleaning tools are generally big brooms made of bamboo branches and leaves, mainly to clean dust, cobwebs and other dirt accumulated on roofs, eaves and walls. We also have to clean furniture, clothes and quilts, and clean the courtyard. Generally, we have to be busy until the next year, that is, the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month.
"On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, there will be a sacrifice to the kitchen." Zhang Tiewen said that the sacrifice of stoves is actually cleaning. According to the folk tradition, civil servants generally sacrifice stoves on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, military officers and civilians on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, and their families are buried on the 25th of the twelfth lunar month.
Sacrificing the kitchen stove must be done by a man. Sacrificing the kitchen stove is the statue of the kitchen stove king, which is attached to the top of the kitchen stove mouth. The man should paint maltose on the mouth of the kitchen stove king statue, make a ladder with hemp bones and worship it with sugar cane, so that the kitchen stove king can "say good things in heaven and keep peace in the ground". Zhang Tiewen said that the reason why the sacrifice stove is also for sanitation is because a new statue of the kitchen king should be put on after the sacrifice stove. The statue of the kitchen king can be bought on the street and printed on paper by woodcut. It is said that some people are afraid that the kitchen king will steal his wife when he leaves, and they will even make up a portrait of the kitchen king's wife next to him when they change the portrait of the kitchen king.
And some odds and ends that are difficult to wash are usually washed on the 28th of the twelfth lunar month. Zhang Tiewen said that there is a saying in Dongguan called "28 years old, washing sloppy". In Dongguan dialect, rotten towers refer to small bits and pieces, which are generally not cleaned often and are dirty.
women wash their hair and men shave their heads
after cleaning the house, it's time for personal hygiene. According to reports, after the 16th day of the twelfth lunar month, women can wash their hair.
"It is very troublesome for women to wash their hair, and they are also very particular." Zhang Tiewen said that in his memory, women usually wash their hair after the house has been cleaned, otherwise, cleaning the house will make their hair dirty.
It is said that because there was no shampoo before, women usually used tea-maker powder to wash their hair. Tea-maker is the residue left over from making tea oil, which is toxic and can poison pond lice, just like tofu residue, and the washing effect is very good. After washing her hair, unmarried girls will comb it into two croissants, and married women should weave the bun, which has bow, flying, dragon and snail shapes, which is more complicated to weave.
compared with women, men are much simpler. Zhang Tiewen told reporters that men must shave their heads before the 28th of the twelfth lunar month, because they can't shave their heads in the first month, otherwise, they will die.
Zhang Tiewen said that there is an allusion to the statement of my dead uncle. It is reported that the Qing government asked the Han people to shave their heads. In order to resist the Manchu rule, the Han people invented the saying that their uncle died in the first month. In the tradition of China people, my uncle is a symbol of justice. Generally, the separation of families is presided over by my uncle.
Zhang Tiewen said that adults usually take a bath at the age of 28, while children take a bath before selling laziness. Selling laziness is to let children take a duck egg (commonly used in Guangzhou), plug in thread incense and run outside the village for three times. Children also have to sing the song of selling laziness: "Sell lazy children, sell lazy children, and sell them to Aunt Wang of Guangxi. Come and sell lazy today, wake up (tomorrow) to celebrate the New Year early in the morning. " It is said that as long as children can sell this duck egg, it means they are lazy, but many children secretly eat the duck egg themselves and come back to tell adults that they have sold it.
"Laziness is sold on New Year's Eve. On this day, parents will wake up their children early in the morning, let them get up to take a shower and change clothes, and then sell laziness. After washing on this day, they will wear the clothes for their younger brothers and sisters in the next year." Zhang Tiewen said.
Toilets should be cleaned and worshipped
According to Mr. Zhang Tiewen's memory, the bottom of the pot was usually scraped at the age of 28. And shrines and the like are usually cleaned by men after Weimar. "The toilet god is a special case. Toilets are usually cleaned on New Year's Eve." Zhang Tiewen told reporters that the toilet god of folk worship is Zigu. Generally, after cleaning the toilet on New Year's Eve, candles should be inserted in the toilet and incense should be given to worship the toilet god.
For those families with poultry and livestock, it is before the twelfth lunar month to clean the cowshed and henhouse. Zhang Tiewen said that on the first day of the New Year's Day, you can't clean, water can't be spilled, and the broom should be hidden from outsiders.
Dragon Boat Festival
Dongguan Dragon Boat Festival custom-go back to your mother's house to eat zongzi and watch the dragon boat
----------------. Although the names are different, the customs of people everywhere are the same. In addition to the custom of eating zongzi, we should drink realgar wine, wear sachets and hang wormwood on the Dragon Boat Festival. This is because the weather in May is humid and hot, which is prone to diseases. The ancients scheduled to carry out various activities to drive away the epidemic on May 5, and when they went out to participate in the activities, they should bring portable food, so zongzi became a festive food.
The Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated in Dongguan. The most lively event is the people in the water town area. They race dragon boats, eat dragon boat meals, and their married daughters will go home for the holidays, and they will have a lively day. Especially in recent years, the atmosphere of the Dragon Boat Festival has become more and more intense. Every day of the Dragon Boat Festival, it is even more lively than the Chinese New Year.
The custom in Dongguan is to go to grandma's house for the Dragon Boat Festival. On the Dragon Boat Festival, the married women in Dongguan will take their husbands and children home for the holiday, and their parents will kill chickens and ducks early and wrap dumplings for their daughters to go home. At noon, everyone had a reunion dinner together, and then chose a place to watch the dragon boat race.
Many people in water towns have houses built by the water, just beside the river. After eating rice and zongzi, find a good place on the balcony of the house and you can sit and watch the dragon boat. Many people also like to invite friends to their homes for the Dragon Boat Festival and watch the Dragon Boat Festival. The hosts are hospitable, and the more guests invited, the better their popularity.