Tracing back to the custom of celebrating the New Year in Tianshui
The word Spring Festival was first seen in the Biography of Yang Zhen in the Later Han Dynasty: "There is no snow in winter, and there is no rain in the Spring Festival, which is the abbreviation of the opposing Spring Festival spirit. As festivals, it is also called Shangri, Yuanri, Shuori, Yuanzheng, Zhengri, Zhengdan, Zhengchao, Sanyuan, Sanshuo and Sanchao.
Tianshui has a simple folk custom since ancient times, and the Chinese New Year custom has strong characteristics. From the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, it began to eat fascinating rice, kill pigs, slaughter sheep and grinding bean curd, cook wine (homemade sweet wine), do new year's goods, clean houses, and deliver stoves on the 23rd, and then steamed buns to cook and make new clothes. On the morning of the 3th, people rushed to grab the collection, and in the afternoon, every household posted Spring Festival couplets, stick grilles, New Year pictures, posted door gods and decorated the hall. Receiving paper, renewing incense, observing the New Year, welcoming XiShen, paying New Year greetings, sticking to Five Blessingg, observing the temple, turning down lights, worshiping people in temples, and visiting all kinds of diseases are all varied and unique in style. Cultural activities interspersed among them, such as high platform, stilts, horse yangko, black social fire, roller boating and lion dancing, are even more colorful and colorful. However, over the years, some of these customs are on the verge of extinction.
The eighth day of the twelfth lunar month
The Laba Festival originated from the "La Worship" founded by King Huiwen of Qin (326 BC), and Tianshui has a common saying: "The eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, it's full of ups and downs. Those who have rice eat rice, and those who have no rice pinch dolls. " It contains the unique customs of Tianshui. On that day, there are three customs in Tianshui:
1. Fanmi rice: Fanmi rice is rice or sprinkled rice. It is rumored that after eating it, you can be fascinated (paste) and stop thinking about anything, but concentrate on the New Year. Fanmi rice, that is, eating Laba porridge, which is popular all over the country. There are two theories about the origin of eating Laba porridge. One said that when Sakyamuni was penalizing, he was as thin as firewood, and a shepherd girl gave him a bowl of milk porridge to drink, so he regained his energy and became a Buddha. Because of this story, later Buddhists called Laba "Daoism Festival". Song and Wu Zimu's "Meng Liang Lu" said: "From the winter solstice to the third day, it is the twelfth day, which is called the king wax. On the 8th of this month, the temples called Laba, Dasha and other temples all set five-flavor porridge, named Laba porridge, and also set red distiller's grains, which were served by bran, milk and taro. Monks may feed or send Tan Shigui's home. " When Zhu Yuanzhang was poor in his childhood, when he was hungry, he pieced together some rice, millet and red dates to cook porridge with his partners. Later, when he became emperor, he ordered the chef to cook this porridge for him on Laba Day, and the people called it Laba porridge. Up to now, when eating Laba porridge in Tianshui country, we have to scoop out a bowl and put it under the altar in the main room. Until the first day of the first month of the first month, after welcoming XiShen, we will mix the grass for the livestock.
2. Pinch the doll:
In the past, people had a hard life and could not eat Laba porridge, so they "pinched the doll". This custom has disappeared today. However, is it the legacy of exorcising ghosts with great wax and Nuo in Qin and Han Dynasties? "Xuan Zhong Ji" says: "Zhuan Xu's three sons are all dead, and they are in the palace, which is good for shocking children." The Book of Etiquette in the Later Han Dynasty quotes from the Book of the Old Han Dynasty: "Zhuan Xu's family has three sons, who were born and died as epidemic ghosts, living in the river, and living in the corner of the palace, which is good at scaring children." Big Nuo is a grand festival exorcism activity, which should be a public activity. As a family, it may be "pinching dolls".
3. Waxing pimples: On the morning of the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month in Tianshui countryside, people get up early and rush to the mountain spring to dig ice cubes, commonly known as digging wax pimples. According to legend, the harvest in the coming year can be predicted on the dug wax bumps. If the frozen image on the ice is like wheat, it indicates the wheat harvest in the coming year; Like corn, it indicates a bumper harvest of corn, and like what kind of crop indicates a bumper harvest in the coming year, we should sow more such crops when arranging farming in the Spring Festival. Part of the wax pimple is placed under the altar in the main hall and part of it is buried in the dry ash of the toilet. The origin of this custom is extremely ancient, which is due to the ritual of offering sacrifices to water gods and taking a shower with fresh water in winter.
on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month
1. Killing chickens and offering stoves: On this day, Tianshui customs must kill chickens and offer stoves, just like all over the country. For example, the next volume of "The Records of Chinese National Customs" is two years: "The 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month in the lunar calendar is commonly called the Small Festival. In the evening, every household in every village worships the kitchen god, which is called offering sacrifices to the kitchen. The priest must be a parent. During the service, a young child kneels behind him and holds a rooster in his hands, which is called the kitchen horse. After the parents kowtowed, they prayed a few words to the kitchen god. After the toast, hold the cock's neck in one hand, push the chicken head into the forage for three times, and pour cold water on the chicken head in the other hand. If the chicken is frightened, it is said that the kitchen god will accept the horse. "
2. Cooking the stove: The kitchen god is also called the director of the family, and Tianshui is called the kitchen master, which belongs to one of the five sacrifices. After dinner on the day of the festival, the hostess will bake twelve oven cakes for December of the year. If it is a leap year, it will be thirteen. The stove cake is as thin as leek leaves and as big as a bowl. After branding, stack the stoves first, then light wax to burn incense and kowtow to sacrifice. Next, break out a little of each piece and throw it on the top of the kitchen, which means to offer it to the kitchen master and give the rest to the children.
3. Offering kitchen candy: The purpose of offering kitchen candy in Tianshui's custom of offering kitchen candy is very clear, that is, to sweeten the mouth of the kitchen god and stick it to the mouth of the kitchen god, so that the kitchen god can say good things in heaven and return to the palace for good luck.
Tianshui proverb: "On the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, send Master Zao to the sky; On the 24 th of the twelfth lunar month, I sent the stove to the willow tree. " In Tianshui custom, the time to worship the kitchen god is generally on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, but it can be on the 24th because this day is too hectic and neglected. In fact, the sacrificial stoves on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month have existed since ancient times. For example, in Song Fan Chengda's Ci of Sacrificing a Kitchen, it goes:
The ancient legend of the 24th twelfth lunar month,
The kitchen ruler speaks to the sky.
the clouds and the horses linger, and
there are cups and plates at home.
The pig's head is cooked thoroughly, and the
Gan Song powder bait with bean paste is round.
When a man offers his daughter as a refuge,
Drinking and burning money make the stove happy.
Tianshui called the day of offering sacrifices to the kitchen a small year. Since then, the year has officially started, and all taboos have been removed, such as sweeping houses and killing pigs.
New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve, also known as New Year's Eve, refers to the last night of the year. The big moon is the 3th night of the twelfth lunar month, and the small moon is the 29th night of the twelfth lunar month. Tianshui folks call that day New Year's Eve and that night is the 3th night. The main customs are as follows:
1. Gathering: New Year's Eve, whether it is a gathering day in towns or villages, must be the last gathering day in a year. Those who are not ready for the new year's goods will leave early and rush to the market town to buy the new year's goods. Because it is the last chance to buy new year's goods, people rush to buy them, so it is called grabbing. On this day, the price of goods fluctuates greatly. If it is expensive, it will become sky-high, and if it is cheap, it will become garbage. The collection will end after noon at the latest.
2. Offering to God: Before liberation, there was still a God Tree in urban and rural areas of Tianshui. From the 24th of the twelfth lunar month in Qinzhou, you can buy a pine tree in the moat or Beiguan, or you can dig a pine tree in the mountain and plant it in the courtyard, which is called God Tree. On New Year's Eve, a table was placed under God Tree, offering a pig's head and two large plates (the plates were big steamed buns and eight-inch plates). Now, I'm going to sign God's card and pay homage. The content of God's tablet is "Heaven and Earth's monarch and teacher"; Or detailed as "heaven and earth; This house is full of fire and water "; "Cows and horses, two kings and bodhisattvas". Five sacrifices refer to the sacrifices to doors, households, wells, stoves and Chinese restaurants.
3. Post Spring Festival couplets: Before dinner on New Year's Eve, every household in urban and rural areas should post Spring Festival couplets and write them on red paper, and those who have lost their lives for less than the third anniversary should use blue paper or yellow paper. According to records, the Spring Festival couplets first saw the sentence of "Qing Yu in the New Year, Changchun in the Jiajie Festival" written by Meng Chang, the master of the post-Shu Dynasty. "Yanjing's Spring Festival couplets" contains: "Spring Festival couplets, that is, Taofu also. Since entering the country, there have been literati writing Spring Festival couplets under the eaves of the market in order to polish their pens. After the sacrifice, it gradually sticks and hangs, and thousands of households are completely new. " Nowadays, in the late twelfth lunar month, writers of Spring Festival couplets are everywhere in Tianshui moat and Chenghuang Temple.
4. Door-keeper: At the same time as posting Spring Festival couplets, there is still the custom of door-keeper in Tianshui urban and rural areas. "The Chronicle of Jingchu's Age" contains: "Painting two gods is close to the household, left shentu and right Yu Lei, which is commonly called the door god". Today, the water gate gods are no longer shentu and Yulei, but Qin Qiong and Weichi Gong at the front door and Wei Zhi or Zhong Kui at the back door. Moreover, there are auspicious pictures such as Fu Lu Shou Xing, golden couple or the word "Fu" on the inner door of Shuicheng today.
5. Meet the ancestors: After dark, the owner of every household, together with his children and grandchildren, picks a lantern, carries a fragrant horse tray and mounts it with scented wax paper, and goes to the ancestral grave to meet the ancestors. If the ancestral grave is too far away, it is somewhere in the ancestral grave. Burn incense and wax, bow down, and set off firecrackers, and invite people first. After that, the lighted incense belt will be returned to two furnaces. When I got home, there were people in the house who fired guns to greet me. One furnace of incense is inserted into the main hall for the table, and the other furnace is inserted into the kitchen stove. Lanterns hang above the gate. "Ancestors", also known as "paper", are wrapped up by the ghost capital, signed with the surnames of the gods who were far away from home, three generations of clansmen and ancestors, and prepared by future generations. On this auspicious occasion of the Spring Festival, they will be honored to the throne of Kao, and from then on, they will be sacrificed to the grave garden for burning. Packaging is called wrapping paper, signing the signboard is called serving paper, and the pick-up and delivery is called receiving paper and feeding paper. After receiving the ancestors, they were re-provided with incense wax paper, and the ancestors were arranged in the order of first middle, then left and right, which lasted for three days and three nights, and were sent to cremation on the third day.
6. Keep fragrant incense and keep old age: The custom of keeping old age on New Year's Eve is extremely common in China. In the Jin and Zhou Dynasties, the "Records of Local Customs" contains: "On New Year's Eve, all parties give gifts, which are called" giving New Year's greetings ",and wine and food are invited, which is called" Don't be old "; The young and the old gather to drink, and wish a complete blessing, which is called the age of the year; Everyone stays up all night, waiting for the morning, and it is called shou sui. " Today, the custom of observing the age by water mainly includes the following contents: ① Eating New Year's Eve dinner, mostly for jiaozi or flat food. Bianshi, also known as a slot, and jiaozi both take the meaning of being younger. (2) New Year greetings, fathers kowtow to their ancestors, and then children kowtow to their predecessors. For example, if you pay a New Year call to your parents, you will say, "Dad (Mom), I kowtow to you!" After kowtowing and bowing, the parents said, "Get up quickly!" Then give the children lucky money. (3) drinking tea, renew the fragrance and talk about the old.
7. Look at the sky: Tianshui has a common saying: "There is no moon in thirty nights, and one moment is different from the other". At about New Year's Eve (9 o'clock tonight), farmers should watch the weather and predict the growth of crops in the coming year. According to the gloom of the sky, it is divided into four directions. When it gets dark, there will be a bumper harvest in the coming year: compared with the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there will be a poor harvest. 8. Humble your head: On New Year's Eve, some children are not tall, so they squat on the door. The child stood on the threshold, with one person holding it inside and one pushing it outside. The outside asked, "Have you grown taller?" The doorman is not in a hurry to answer, but laughs for fun until the doorman answers, "He has grown taller!" " It's over. This indicates that children can grow taller in the new year.
the first day of the first month
"The first day of the first month is the day of three yuan, which is also called the end of the month". The so-called ternary, that is, the yuan of the year, the yuan of the time and the yuan of the month, so the first day of the first month has a very special significance. At this moment, Tianshui has a very strong custom so far.
1. Burning incense: On New Year's Eve, men, women and children rush to burn incense in the temple of their village or ancestral temple. People think that the winner will have good luck in the coming year and the whole family will be healthy and safe.
2. Start a fire and break the ground: Tianshui proverb: "If you eat or drink, you will have a pot of fire every 3 nights." On New Year's Eve, every family lit a fire and set off firecrackers in the courtyard. Parents also dug a hoe from the east, west, north and south, and then put the hoe in the stove. Its moral is to drive away the ghost of the new year, to predict that the coming year will be prosperous, and to pay a sacrifice to the old age, so that you can break ground everywhere from now on. People think Nian is a fierce animal, and he has to come out to make trouble at this time of the year. For example, "The Chronicle of the Age of Jingchu" says: "Set off firecrackers in front of the court to ward off evil spirits." Firecracker is to barbecue bamboo in the fire, and the air stored in the bamboo joint will explode when heated and expand, making a deafening noise, thus scaring back the monster Nian. Or put a handful of coarse salt in the fire to explode when heated. Now it's all about setting off firecrackers.
3. Hurry up: On the morning of the first day of junior high school, the gastrodia elata is bright, and the children of every household get together. When the owner enters, the west goes out, and they rush to the shop front, shouting "Hurry up!" "Quick!" , the host will bring out walnuts, dates, candy, coins and other gifts, which is called grabbing fast. Being quick is a kind of wishing activity, and being quick means getting rich quickly.
4. Touch the horns: Gastrodia elata is bright in the morning of the first day of junior high school, and the old people at home touch the horns and the crop seeds left over from the past year. Because in the past year, some crops, such as wheat and peas, will stick to it in agricultural activities such as grinding mills. Find out which crop indicates that the residual crops will have a bumper harvest in the coming year, and sow more crops when arranging farming.
5. Shoulder-throwing: As soon as the gate is opened in the morning of the first day of junior high school, parents will start to throw the doorknob. Throw the gate pole on the ground, and think about it while falling, such as "the first fall pole, the surplus grain is mangoku;" The second fall, golden wealth; The third fall, Niu Niu full circle; The fourth fall, the family is safe, etc. Actually, it's a prayer and blessing activity. After that, post it at the gate to see you; The head of the trough is attached to the prosperity of six animals; The cabinets are affixed with gold and two thousand; Bookcase stickers to learn Confucius and Mencius; Toilet door posted respectfully; On the mule saddle, greetings such as traveling thousands of miles a day and traveling 8 times at night are posted.
6. Eat garlic: At breakfast on the first day of the first month of the first month, everyone should eat some garlic, and sprinkle garlic paste all over the front yard and back yard, which means that they can get angry and avoid epidemic. The origin of this custom is quite early, and it seems to have existed in Wei and Jin Dynasties. "Local customs" contains: "New Year's Day to create five new dishes." Note: "Five pungent, so send' five Tibetan qi'. That is, "garlic, garlic, leeks, canola and coriander are also", which should be regarded as a lair.
7, accounting for half of the consumption: "On the first day of the first month, it is a chicken, on the second day, a dog, on the third day, a sheep, on the fourth day, a pig, on the fifth day, a cow, on the sixth day, a horse and on the seventh day." Therefore, from the first day of the first month to the seventh day of the first month, rain and shine are used for abundant consumption. Specifically, if the first day is sunny, then the chickens will grow well and lay more eggs this year; If the fourth day is cloudy and the fourth day is pig day, then pigs are particularly prone to die this year.
8. Don't wash and dress: Nowadays, in some rural villages, it is forbidden to wash and clean the house on the first morning of the first day. Wash and clean the house should be carried out after welcoming XiShen. According to legend, washing and cleaning the house on the first morning of the first day will destroy the pea flowers, and the peas will not bear seeds in the next year.
9. Welcome to XiShen: After breakfast on the first day of the first month of the first month, women hold their children, grandchildren hold their grandfathers, men hold mules and horses, dolls carry fireworks, and the whole family goes out, full of excitement and jubilation, and begins to welcome XiShen. This is one of the most lively and festive activities in the New Year. According to old people's memories, before liberation, when XiShen was greeted in Qinzhou City, all households dressed donkeys in red, and people rode on them and ran in the direction of XiShen. Nowadays, when the countryside welcomes XiShen, it is necessary to set the orientation of XiShen through the orientation of the magpie's nest. If the nest door faces east, XiShen is in the east and XiShen is in the west. Second, we must carry the earth. When welcoming XiShen back, mules and horses will carry some soil, which means that gold soil and silver soil are bound to be rich in the coming year. Third, those whose families have lost their lives for less than three years have surrendered to their dead relatives, Dai Xiao. Fourth, we should carry out recreational activities such as horse racing.
1. Paper delivery and New Year greetings: After the arrival of XiShen, people will give the village "New Spirit Paper" (paper delivery for people whose families have been in mourning for less than the third anniversary). The "paper" is an intangible asset, which is the same as the ancestors' paper. You can sign a magic card or not, and pay a New Year greeting while delivering paper. Give New Year greetings to people who don't have new spirit paper. For example, as stated in Qing Jia Lu, "the host leads a humble family, pays homage to his neighbors and friends, or stops sending his children to congratulate him, which is called New Year's greetings". 11. Swing: While paying New Year greetings to neighbors and relatives, children will start to play swing games when people with conditions want to swing. Swing according to the "ancient and modern art map" contains: "The northern mountain Rong's play, to learn lightly. What women in China learned later was to use colored ropes to hang a wooden stand, and the ladies and gentlemen showed off their clothes, sitting on it and pushing it, which was called a swing ".
12. Paper-burning Yangko: Send paper to ancestors in the afternoon of the third day of the first month, burn the paper at the ancestral grave, and start playing Yangko as soon as you come back, which is called paper-burning Yangko.
the fifth day of the first month