The day before the sacrifice, dust (cleaning) was carried out. Let's clean every corner of the house together, and wipe all the tables, chairs and stoves, which means: sweep away the evil of this year and welcome the arrival of the new year. Then buy chicken and meat from the street and cook them in a big pot. The next morning, the adults got up early, put on new clothes and wore fashionable hairstyles. Three generations of grandparents (or father and son) carried out the square table from the house and faced the gate, which meant to stop all good luck.
There is a large piece of meat on the table, which weighs seven or eight pounds; The whole chicken, with three onions in its mouth, indicates health and intelligence; Two big carp, indicating that there is more than one year. Their placement is also very particular: carp's head faces inward, indicating that the rest comes in, and chicken's head faces outward, indicating that everyone knows health and intelligence. Others have rice cakes and apples. The rice cakes mean high every year, and the apples mean safe and sound. All the food is covered with a small piece of red paper, which means that the coming year will be prosperous. Listen to the old people: you can't put ten kinds of food for offering sacrifices to the gods, but generally put eight or nine kinds. Because "ten" means perfection, and a perfect life has no goal to pursue in life. It seems that offering sacrifices to the gods also contains profound philosophy of life.
In Lu Xun's work "Blessing", there is a similar ritual of offering sacrifices to the gods. If Mr. Lu Xun can live to the present, he will certainly send out a feeling: cheer for the liberation of women. Because, in the custom of offering sacrifices to God in my hometown, men and women have the same status, and they can all offer sacrifices to God with their ancestors and parents. Of course, this custom changed only after a couple had only one child.
According to my mother, this custom of offering sacrifices to the gods was banned for more than ten years in the era of breaking the capitalism. Now, people's living standards have improved, people's cultural literacy has improved, and computers have entered the farmhouse. Farmers' offering sacrifices to the gods is not a foolish superstition, but a manifestation of the culture of the New Year. It expresses people's love and hope for life.
I don't know when the Chinese New Year's sacrifice to the gods originated in the long river of history, and its form is changing, but its core culture will never change, and the pursuit of a better life is the common wish of people.