Stealing green means going to other people's fields to steal vegetables on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

Before the Republic of China, on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, country people would walk up the hillside with lanterns to "steal love."

According to legend, this can steal a year of good luck and the love of a girl with peach blossoms.

If a young man likes a girl from another family, he will go to her vegetable patch and steal some of her vegetables. In this way, the girl will know that the young man has fallen in love with her.

When the young man goes home, he picks a few green pea shoots and hands them to his mother. He tells her whose family they belong to, and she will know who her son has fallen in love with.

The calm mother cooked a pot of fragrant Yangchun noodles and let her son eat it to his heart's content. She hoped that her son would have good luck and longevity, and that everything would go smoothly when she called the matchmaker to propose marriage to the girl's house.

On the night of the Lantern Festival, people can temporarily act as "thieves" and "steal" some vegetables from the garden. Generally, the owner of the house doesn't care about it. It's good to be scolded occasionally, because it is said that the more harshly a "thief" is scolded, the more vicious he will be.

"Prosperity".

On the night of the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month, rural children go to the vegetable fields of neighboring villages under cover of darkness, pull out a few radishes, a few green vegetables or a handful of garlic sprouts and take them home for cooking.

It is the so-called "stealing youth".

Although the reputation of "stealing" does not sound good, most youth thieves are not ashamed of "stealing". Perhaps their mentality is like the "Master Kong Yiji" who said, "A scholar who steals a book is not stealing."

As long as they don't mess up other people's vegetable plots or steal everything, the owner of the vegetable garden will be very tolerant.

If the owner of the vegetable garden had been prepared that night and was waiting beside the vegetable garden when these uninvited green-stealing guests arrived, he would generously give each person a few radishes, a little green vegetables and garlic sprouts, and let them take them back happily.

Don’t let them go home empty-handed and disappointed.

In the local dialect, lettuce is homophonic to "make money"; radish is also called "caitou", which sounds like "caitou"; garlic sounds the same as "success", which means "good plan".

In the old society, poor people were eager to get a "lucky fortune" to "make money" at the beginning of the first lunar month and the beginning of the new year, and live an auspicious day with "good plans" for the year. From this, the custom of stealing youth gradually formed.

"Stealing" is a dishonorable thing, but it can also illustrate the people's pursuit of a happy life in the old society and their resistance to the fate of poverty.

1. In the old rural areas of Guangdong, a mysterious and romantic custom has always been popular: stealing youth.

In the old society, unmarried women were restricted by etiquette and could not leave the house more than once a year.

Stealing youth stems from people's yearning for the release of free thoughts.

2. The Spring Festival is the most important festival in rural China.

In the traditional sense, the Spring Festival extends to the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month. This day is not only China's "Valentine's Day" but also the plowing day in rural areas of Lingnan. After this day, the busy year will begin again.

3. Because of this, on the fifteenth night of the first lunar month, young men and women can party freely. They invite their favorite girls in the company of neighbors and friends, and often deliberately "steal" other people's vegetables under the moonlight to express their feelings.

Madness, commonly known as stealing youth.

4. There are certain rules for the "stolen" greens: first, they are not allowed to be brought into the house; second, they are not allowed to be stored overnight and must be picnicked that night.

Under the bonfire, young men and women gather together to talk and express their feelings to each other, which is a unique flavor and many marriages are formed from this.

5. Another custom of stealing vegetables is that once someone is caught stealing vegetables, it will bring good luck to the other party in the coming year, so all parties often enjoy it.

With the acquiescence of the fathers, stealing young people gradually became a custom in Lingnan and quickly spread throughout Hunan, Guangxi, Jiangxi and other places.

6. Since the 1980s, youth stealing has gradually been forgotten by people. Now, it has become a vague history.

But in the hearts of middle-aged and elderly people, how can they forget these past feelings?

How many customs of Lingnan are waiting for us to appreciate it again.

The custom of "stealing youth" in Bishan The custom of "stealing youth" is still popular in Dingjia Town, Bishan County.

The custom of stealing young people is said to have originated when "Huguang filled Sichuan".

One year there was an insect infestation. Locusts gnawed away at the crops on the ground, and the "celestial locusts", which were much smaller than sesame seeds, also became accomplices. They stuck to the leaves and ate up everything that was left by the locusts, even the trees.

Without the leaves, the stems and branches are left bare.

The crops in the fields failed and people had to flee.

But when I arrived in a new place, many people were not accustomed to the local environment, and a plague broke out. During the Chinese New Year, God gave people a dream. On the night of the Lantern Festival during the Chinese New Year, if they steal green tea and keep shouting at the same time, they can get rid of disasters and diseases.

People in the Ding family area in the south of Bishan couldn't wait and took action in advance on the night of the fourteenth day of the first lunar month.

then.

The Ding family celebrates the Chinese New Year on the 14th day of the first lunar month, and it is also the day when the young people are stealing.

The so-called "stealing green" means stealing crops growing in the fields.

This is not stealing quietly, but stealing with great fanfare. To put it more vividly in dialect, it is stealing with flags and firecrackers, lest the owner does not know.

There are many things to pay attention to in stealing youth in history.

The adults walked in front with torches, and the children followed behind and shouted: "Pests and pests are coming to heaven, and a good harvest is coming to earth."

At this time, people who steal green crops especially hope that the owners of the crops will come out and scold them. The more scolding the better, the scolding will drive away the pests and diseases.