2. Post pictures of Spring Festival couplets.
3. Including pictures of jiaozi customs.
Extended data:
1, the origin of the custom of eating New Year's Eve dinner:
People in China have the habit of New Year's Eve. Watching the new year begins with eating New Year's Eve dinner. This New Year's Eve dinner should be eaten slowly, starting with lighting lanterns, and some families have to eat it until late at night. According to the Chronicle of Jingchu in the Song Dynasty, there was a custom of New Year's Eve dinner at least in the Southern and Northern Dynasties (420-589 AD).
Keep your age at 30, commonly known as "endure the year." Why is it called "Endure the Year"? There is an interesting story circulating among generations of people: in Archean, there was a fierce monster scattered in the deep mountains and forests, and people called them "Nian". Nian has a ferocious appearance and a ferocious nature. It changes its taste every day, from kowtowing insects to living people, which makes people talk about "Nian".
Slowly, people understand the activity law of "Year". It turns out that every 365 days in 2008, people will go to places where people live in concentrated communities to taste fresh food, and the haunt time is after dark. When the roosters crow at dawn, they go back to the mountains. Men and women regard this terrible night as "New Year's Eve" and come up with a whole set of methods for "New Year's Eve": every household prepares dinner in advance, turns off the fire, cleans the stove, then ties up all the chicken coops and cowsheds, and then seals the door and hides in the house to eat "New Year's Eve".
Because this meal has ominous significance, it is very rich. In addition to letting the whole family eat together to show harmonious reunion, it is also necessary to make sacrifices to ancestors before eating, and pray for their ancestors to bless them to spend the night safely. After dinner, no one dared to sleep, so they sat together and got up the courage to chat.
It's getting dark, and I escaped from the deep forest in and touched the village where people live together. I saw every household's door closed, sesame stalks piled in front of it, but there was no one in the street. After turning for more than half a night, I found nothing, so I had to chew sesame stalks to satisfy my hunger. After a while, the rooster crowed, and these cruel and stupid monsters had to go home disgruntled. People who escaped from the "Year of the Month" were overjoyed, thanked the ancestors of heaven and earth for their blessings, congratulated each other on not being eaten by the "Year of the Month", and opened the door to set off firecrackers to welcome neighbors and relatives to congratulate each other.
2. The origin of the custom of posting couplets during the Spring Festival:
As a unique literary form, Spring Festival couplets have a long history in China. It began in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, especially in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and has developed for more than a thousand years today.
As early as before the Qin and Han dynasties, there was a custom of hanging peach symbols around the gate every New Year. Fu Tao is two big boards made of peach wood, on which are written the names of the legendary gods and spirits who exorcise ghosts and suppress evil spirits. This custom lasted for more than 1000 years. It was not until the Five Dynasties that people began to put couplets on mahogany boards instead of the names of gods. According to historical records, on New Year's Eve in 964 AD, Meng Chang, the master of Houshu, wrote a couplet on the bedroom door, namely, "On New Year's Eve, Jia Jienuo. Changchun ",the earliest Spring Festival couplets in China.
After the Song Dynasty, it has become quite common for people to hang Spring Festival couplets in the New Year. Therefore, Wang Anshi wrote in the poem "January Day" that "thousands of households always change new peaches for old ones" was a true portrayal of the Spring Festival couplets at that time. Due to the close relationship between the appearance of Spring Festival couplets and Fu Tao, the ancients also called Spring Festival couplets "Fu Tao".
In the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding father of the Ming Dynasty, strongly advocated couplets. After establishing the capital of Jinling (now Nanjing), he ordered ministers, officials and ordinary people to write a couplet and put it on the door before New Year's Eve. Dressed in casual clothes, he went out door to door to watch the excitement. Scholars at that time also regarded couplets as elegant enjoyment, and writing Spring Festival couplets became a social fashion.
After entering the Qing Dynasty, couplets prevailed in Qianlong, Jiaqing and Daoguang generations. Just like the prosperous Tang Dynasty, many famous couplets appeared.
With the development of cultural exchanges among countries, couplets were introduced to Vietnam, Korea, Japan, Singapore and other countries. These countries still have the custom of pasting couplets.
3. The custom of eating jiaozi during the Spring Festival:
Jiaozi is a must at the dinner table. Especially in the north of China, eating jiaozi in jiaozi has become an important activity for most families to celebrate New Year's Eve. As the saying goes: "It's freezing in the cold, so eat jiaozi in the New Year." China New Year is the biggest festival in China. In order to have a good year, the old farmers began to get busy as soon as they entered the threshold of the twelfth lunar month. Starting from the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, commonly known as "off-year", the countdown to the New Year begins, lanterns are decorated, couplets are put up, and the courtyard is cleaned to prepare for a reunion year for distant relatives. On New Year's Eve, the most important activity is to package jiaozi with the whole family.
According to documents, the custom of eating jiaozi in the Spring Festival appeared at the latest in the Ming Dynasty. Then it is particularly noteworthy that by the Qing Dynasty, this custom had become very common and had been fixed. This custom is related to the ancient timing method in China. In ancient China, the twelve earthly branches were used to record the time of day. We divide every day into twelve time periods, so the beginning of every day is noon, which is equivalent to the time from 23: 00 to midnight 1: 00 today. Then at the end of each year, at the age of 30, this is not just the replacement of the old and new days, but the replacement of the old and new years. People in China call it "jiaozi".
People in China pay great attention to boundaries, especially the boundaries of saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new. At this time, we should do some ceremonies and pray for good luck in the coming year. Therefore, eating jiaozi, jiaozi and this "jiaozi" at this time is just a homonym, and jiaozi has such a rich cultural meaning, which was gradually formed by China people. During the Spring Festival, on the first day of the New Year, when eating jiaozi, it is a custom for us to eat jiaozi.