1. North China

1. Tianjin

Tianjin people call the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month "Labaer" and have the custom of drinking Labaer porridge. Many Tianjin people still use vinegar to soak garlic on this day, named "Laba garlic". Since the 15th of the twelfth lunar month, all kinds of new year's goods have been listed, and the Gongnangong North Street with Niangniang Palace as the axis is even more lively. The first goal for boys to go to Niangniang Palace is the wind gourd. When adult men come here, they can't forget to buy lanterns. Most women come here to "wash dolls". The "dolls" tied back from Niangniang Palace have to be "washed once a year", which is something that women must finish before the festival.

There is also the custom of hanging money in Tianjin during the Spring Festival. Hanging money is a pattern cut with colored paper and pasted on the glass and horizontal edges of doors and windows as an ornament of the festive atmosphere of the Spring Festival. The hanging money posted can only be damaged on the fifth day of the first month, otherwise it means a bad year. Tianjin people call the fifth day of the first month "breaking the fifth day". On this day, every household eats jiaozi, and the chopping board should be tinkled for the neighbors to hear, to show that they are chopping "little people". Tianjin people attribute the unhappy things to the "little people", and only by getting rid of the "little people" can they prosper and prosper. Setting off firecrackers on the fifth night of the fifth day also means avoiding evil spirits and disasters.

2. Shandong

In many places in Shandong, after midnight on New Year's Eve, all people get up to worship the gods of heaven and earth. In rural areas, firecrackers should be set off, and a table should be placed in the courtyard of the building. Tributes should be placed on the table, and incense and paper should be burned. People call it "paper distribution". Of course, there are others, such as using mats to set up a "heaven and earth building" to worship the gods. In many rural areas of Shandong Province, the custom of kowtowing to pay New Year's greetings on the first day of New Year's Day has been preserved. Before dawn, all the men in the family should kowtow to their elders and give "lucky money" to their children when they pay New Year's greetings. After breakfast, all the women in the family kowtow to the elders in the family to pay New Year greetings. On the second day of New Year's Day, in some places, there is a custom that men of the whole nation go to ancestral graves to worship their ancestors. They should bring rich tributes, paper money, incense platinum and a lot of firecrackers to comfort their ancestors and gods. The third day and the fourth day are the days of visiting relatives.

3. Shanxi

Nowadays, the custom of worshipping the gods and ancestors is rare in Shanxi, but the rule of not talking at the dinner of the 3-year-old has been preserved. The first meal of the Spring Festival is jiaozi. When cooking jiaozi, set off firecrackers. In order to drive away evil and seek good luck, sesame stalks are used to cook jiaozi in some areas, which means that the new year is like sesame blossoms, and the days are getting better and better. Jiaozi wants to cook much more, and it must be more than enough, which means more than enough. When eating, in addition to one bowl per person, one or two more bowls should be served in order to hope that the population will prosper.

After that, I was busy preparing for the Chinese New Year, and the atmosphere became stronger day by day. King of people on 23rd, 24th is the day of cleaning, commonly known as "Hu Cleaning Day". Shanxi people in Laba Festival from this day onwards, the preparations for the year reached a climax. There used to be a folk song in Taiyuan: "Twenty-five in grinding bean curd, twenty-six in work, twenty-seven in market, twenty-eight in paste, twenty-nine in wine, and thirty in jiaozi." On New Year's Eve, families stay up all night, commonly known as "old age". When the rooster crows, it starts to burn incense, light lamps, set offerings, set off fireworks, receive gods and worship ancestors, and then the family pays New Year greetings to each other. Children kowtow to their elders to pay New Year greetings, and elders give them lucky money for good luck. Merchants' families are the most pious in offering sacrifices to the God of Wealth during the Chinese New Year.

Datong area is rich in coal resources, and it is bound to have various connections with local people's food, clothing, housing and transportation. On New Year's Eve of the Spring Festival, every household should build a tower with large pieces of coal in front of the courtyard, which is called Wanghuo, in order to be auspicious and congratulate the prosperity throughout the year. Put firewood in it, and write a big red note on it, "Angry to the sky". At midnight, when firecrackers are ringing, light the flourishing fire. After ignition, the flame spouted from countless small holes, which was like a floating picture, both to keep out the cold and spectacular. Adults and children gather in a circle, some play games, some set off firecrackers, and all men, women and children will come to warm themselves up in order to "soar into the sky."

4. Shaanxi

As soon as Shaanxi people enter the twelfth lunar month, they get busy: push the roller to press the cake noodles, catch up with grinding bean curd, the donkey, steam yellow steamed buns, make yellow wine, roll mixed noodles, fry oil cakes, and prepare Chinese New Year food before the year.

There is also a custom here to make a "jujube card" for children during the New Year. "Jujube brand" is to wear red dates and straw stalks with red lines, hang a copper coin on it, and hang a firecracker on the back of the child. This is a mascot for avoiding evil spirits and blessing. Here, I also see some people put on the "thimble" for needlework with red thread and hang it around their children's necks. This is also the mascot of blessing, called "thimble for increasing the age". Add one every year until you are twelve.

When New Year's Eve arrives, everything is ready, such as putting up couplets, burning vinegar charcoal, hanging red lights and cleaning the courtyard. Playing vinegar charcoal is a unique custom, that is, putting a piece of red-hot coal on an iron spoon and pouring vinegar on it. "Burning vinegar and charcoal" should be carried out in every corner of the house, which means exorcising evil spirits. In fact, this is a scientific disinfection method. As night falls, the elderly always reverently worship God, burn incense and paper, and lead their curious grandchildren to kowtow. The older children are busy shooting and lighting the tower. Careful aunt put charcoal blocks and ice cubes by the door, and set up a rolling pin and a knife and axe behind the door. It is said that this is evil, and it is called "guarding the old" here. People always go to bed late on New Year's Eve. Generally, the lights are not turned off at home all night, which indicates peace in the four seasons and a long life. Put some food in the pot, which is called "according to the pot", which means that there is no shortage of food for a year.

Yangko New Year greeting is a unique custom in northern Shaanxi. During the Spring Festival, every village organizes yangko teams to pay New Year greetings from door to door, which is commonly called "along the door" here. Yangko pays New Year's greetings by first paying homage to the temple and worshiping God, praying for a good year's good weather and good harvests, and then paying New Year's greetings to every household. Every time the Yangko team went to a house, the umbrella head touched the scene and made an impromptu lyrics to bless the host, such as "Looking up at the gate, the six-hole stone kiln will be exhibited together, and the grain will flourish and people will be safe all year round".

5. Henan

People in Henan are used to calling New Year's Eve the New Year's Eve, and every household should post Spring Festival couplets on the 28th. The most important folk activities are ancestor worship and observing the old age on New Year's Eve. On the first day of the first month, firecrackers are first set off to worship the portrait of our ancestors. Then, the younger generation pays New Year greetings to the elders, who will give them "lucky money". The whole family ate in jiaozi in 28, and then began to pay New Year greetings to relatives and friends. In the old days, New Year greetings were generally led by parents, who first worshipped their elders, relatives and friends, and then went to distant homes. Every family keeps cigarettes, tea, melon seeds, peanuts, candy, etc. in order to wait for the New Year guests. The second day of the first month is the day when the girl returns to her family. The third day of the first month is the date of offering sacrifices to graves and ancestors. Because the old calendar says that this day is "not suitable for everything", it is forbidden to visit relatives in Kaifeng on the third day. The fifth day is the fifth festival, and the people think that the fifth day is the first unlucky day after the year, so relatives and friends should also avoid visiting each other. In addition to these two days, during the festival, Kaifeng folks visited relatives and friends, and there were few leisure days.

6. Hebei

In ancient times, in the New Year's Eve celebrations in Handan, Kyoto, Zhao, there was a strange custom of "throwing a sad hat". Throwing sad hats is always done in the dead of night on New Year's Eve. Before going to bed, adults and children in every household quietly throw old hats or headscarves on their heads into the street. The next day, when cleaning the streets, sweep them into the corners of the wall and burn them on the fifteenth night of next month when you are afraid of the spirit fire. The old man said that by doing so, one year's old worries can be thrown away and one year's new happiness can be ushered in.

7. Gansu

In Gansu, the New Year's dance and social fire is an important activity during the Spring Festival in various parts of Gansu, and it is also a comprehensive performing art with diverse genres and types, which is mostly performed in the first month of the lunar calendar. In the folk social fire performance, heroes in history, good men and filial daughters and various characters in folklore are taken as roles. In order to shape the characters' images, artists start from the different personalities of the characters, paint various faces with rich imagination and use various colors, and gradually form a unique art of facial makeup. She Huo's Facebook faithfully expresses the people's aesthetic psychology of truth, goodness and beauty, and their likes and dislikes of historical figures. Through She Huo's Facebook, they express their feelings exaggeratedly, vividly and vividly. In the performance of social fire, there are the Taiping drum in Lanzhou, the attack drum in Wuwei, the top bowl dance in Zhangye, the yangko in Longdong, the fan drum and wax flowers in Tianshui, etc. Swing in the first month, into the first month of the lunar calendar, among the big trees in Linxia mountain village, swing games started once a year. Swing, there are two basic postures, one is sitting on the horizontal board, sent by others behind, swaying, flying not too high, this posture is suitable for young children; The second is to stand on the horizontal board and use your own strength to make the swing soar quickly. This posture is most favored by adults. In this way, happy people fly on the swing, flying every day and night until the end of the fifteenth day of the first month.

second, the south

1. Fujian

The Chinese New Year custom in the rural areas of southern Fujian has its own characteristics. In rural areas, there are many houses for farmers. In addition to posting Spring Festival couplets, two sugarcane plants with red paper are put aside on both sides of the door, which are called "door sugarcane". The dialect "sugarcane" is similar to "Jia", which means entering a good place. In the hall, there are new year's meals, long-term vegetables and cakes on the desk, and "spring branches" tied with red and yellow paper are inserted, which means that the food is abundant all the year round and lucky and rich. Every family should stack the sweet potatoes, vines and sticks outside the gate and light them until the smoke is around the fire. Men jump over this pile of flames according to their generations, thinking while jumping: "Jump in and make a big fortune every year; Jump out, carefree * * * carefree; Skip the east, and the grains will not be empty; Skip the west and money will roll in. " This is called "fire group", which symbolizes burning the evil spirits of the old year, eliminating disasters and ushering in a clean and prosperous New Year. After the "jumping fire group", we must clean the hall with a new broom. After the sweeping, the broom cupboards are put together, and the garbage is piled up by the door, hoping to get out of the broom again and help make a fortune. At the same time, it is necessary to collect some ashes from the fire-jumping group and add them to the charcoal stove, which is called "Tim Wang", which symbolizes more prosperity. Parents lead their children to sit around the stove, which is called "guarding the old age around the stove". It is best to stay up all night. It is said that this is to add longevity to parents. At this time, the elders give the younger generation lucky money, which is called "dividing the circle". With the progress of society and the accelerated pace of life, some complicated customs in rural areas of southern Fujian have gradually faded, but the customs of farmers looking forward to a good year still remain.

2. Jiangsu

There are some unique New Year customs in Jiangsu. Suzhou people put cooked water chestnuts in their meals on New Year's Eve and dig them out when they eat, which is called "digging ingots". When relatives and friends come and go, they should put two green olives in the tea, which is called "ingot tea". Congratulations on making a fortune. On the morning of the first day of the New Year, Wujin people hung the portrait of their ancestors in nave, offering tea fruits and rice cakes, and the whole family paid New Year greetings in turn, which was called "worshipping the shadow of God." They are not allowed to sweep the floor from home, for fear of sweeping out "wealth" and "wishful thinking", they can only sweep from outside to inside. Jiangning people have the custom of "beating the god drum" during the Spring Festival. The flag opens the way, and the gongs and drums players bang their drums all over to add fun. On the third day of the third year, they beat the night drum, on the seventh day of the seventh year, and on the thirteenth to fifteenth day, they beat the bare-chested drum. The atmosphere was warm. Nantong people have the custom of planting sesame stalks, holly and cypress branches at home or in front of the hall, which means that life is blooming day by day and green all the year round. Huaiyin people also have the custom of "roasting the head wind" for their children on the sixth day of the sixth day. At night, I took my child to the field to light a torch to drive away the disease. While roasting, I sang: "Roast my head, wake up, roast my feet, correct my steps, roast my belly without diarrhea, and roast it all over my body. The disease will never be seen." On the eighth day of the eighth day of the year, fishermen in Wuxi took a boat to the West Mountain to worship the Yuwang Temple, praying for the blessing of the water god and offering sacrifices to the Buddha, which was called "Shang". After the Yuwang Temple was demolished, this custom also passed away.

3. Zhejiang

In the middle and lower reaches of nanxi river, Yongjia, Zhejiang Province, during the first Spring Festival just after marriage, the son-in-law went to her parents' home to pay a New Year call, and wanted to make rice cakes, which were commonly called "delivered cakes". Cook with white rice flour, mash it in a stone mortar, knead it into rice blocks, and then put it in a woodcarving mold to print round and flat rice cakes with patterns on the front, such as double immortals and harmony, Liu Hai giving money, champion elephant and so on. The quantity should be one load, about 5 pairs to 1 pairs. In addition, there are pork, muffins, longevity noodles (noodles) and so on. In Wencheng, New Year greetings are called "the year of appearance".

On New Year's Day in Wucheng County, a long pole sokcho was placed on it, which was ignited and burned, and gongs and drums were played, which was called "Qingtian Silkworm". And light a lantern on the pole until March 3. Ningbo should eat bean porridge after the ancestor worship on New Year's Day, and order the "closing gun" again before closing the door at night. Shaoxing treats guests with "tea bowls" in the New Year, with olives and kumquat inside, and tea eggs at the same time, which is called "holding gold ingots".

In Shaoxing, after sending the Kitchen God and before New Year's Eve, every family always chooses an auspicious day for blessing, which is the most grand festival in every family. The deities offered are "pilgrimage to the south", and Shaoxing people call them Blessing Bodhisattva and Great Bodhisattva, and they are said to be the emperors of the Song Dynasty. After the demise of the Southern Song Dynasty, the legacies were afraid of the arrogance of the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty and dared not publicly offer sacrifices to the kings of the Song Dynasty, so they had to do it quietly in the dead of night. This kind of memorial with national consciousness was not only widely circulated later, but also added the significance of thanking the gods for blessing and praying for happiness in the coming year. According to the old people, the bodhisattva in the sky does not enter an unclean house. Therefore, before blessing, the halls, sacrificial tables and sacrificial vessels must be swept and washed clean. After the "five sacrifices and blessings" are cooked, they are placed in a wooden red lacquer plate. If the ceremony is held late at night, the atmosphere will be more solemn. Men should kneel and knock three times according to their seniority, and women and individual men who avoid the zodiac should avoid it. Not to mention Xianglinsao, the widow of the hundred-body Mausoleum, even the wives and ladies of Lufu were deprived of the qualification of blessing. In the old days, in Yoichi Higashi, Zhejiang Province, when the twelfth lunar month came, there was a folk custom of "ghost-calling". "Ghost of the Year" begins on the first day of the twelfth lunar month and ends on the fifteenth. Because, at this time, the old year is about to resign, and the New Year is coming. For the sake of thousands of families, we should spend the New Year safely and happily, so we should wipe out all the ghosts on earth so as not to breed disasters.

4. Guangdong

In Chaoshan, Guangdong, December 24th of the lunar calendar is the time for the "gods" to go to heaven to report their work. Since that day, every household has been cleaning up, cleaning things and bills, which is called "picking up". One or two days before New Year's Eve, every household makes all kinds of products for the Chinese New Year. On New Year's Eve, you will visit the flower market and flower street, and lilies, citrus reticulata, chrysanthemums and peach blossoms are all essential, because flowers are the most lucky flower street, so you can have good luck and have a good New Year. The first day of the first lunar month is called Yuanri, which is the head of the new year and the beginning of spring. At the dawn of heaven, the sound of guns is heard. On the big table in every household hall, red plates are filled with good luck (that is, oranges are bigger than oranges, so they are called good luck), green olives and all kinds of exquisite sweets. Lights are decorated in front of the door, and the younger generation wishes the older generation tea. On this day, most families should be vegetarian, at least they don't eat meat for breakfast. After breakfast, adults and children take Daji to their relatives and friends' homes to pay New Year greetings, and the host and guest exchange good wishes for each other, and congratulate them on making a fortune and adding blessings. The host treats you with Daji, betel nut (the ancient custom respects betel nut, but now it is replaced by green olive), and * * * congou tea. The guests present Daji to congratulate the host on his good luck, and the host wants to return it with Daji, which is said to be a good wish in return.

On the first day of the first lunar month, many lion dance classes and English song teams beat gongs and drums to pay homage to the New Year in every village, and the host set off firecrackers to welcome them. On the second and third day of the second and third day, many cultural activities were organized in rural towns to celebrate the Spring Festival. In addition to setting up a theater shed to perform Chaozhou opera, mountain opera and shadow play, there were also big gongs and drums teams, tiger and lion teams, English song teams and dragon dance teams marching and performing in villages along the street. Sending lucky money is an important part of Chaoshan Spring Festival custom. Elders should give money to their younger generations, and those who can earn money should also send money to their elders. The money can't be sent directly to wait for a while, but should be packed in a profit-making package or read in a red paper package. This is commonly known as "pressing the belly and waist", which means that the pockets will be full from beginning to end all year round.