Guangzhou’s annual Spring Festival Flower Market Guangzhou is known as the Flower City and has been engaged in flower cultivation for more than a thousand years.

Nowadays, the annual Spring Festival Flower Market has attracted the attention of the world and has become a major folk custom in Guangzhou.

Every year on the eve of the Spring Festival, the streets and alleys of Guangzhou are filled with flowers and bonsais, and major parks hold Spring Festival flower exhibitions. Especially three days before New Year's Eve, colorful buildings and flower stands are erected on the main streets in various districts.

Flower farmers came one after another to set up flower markets, sell flowers and enjoy flowers, and the crowds of people surged. The ten-mile long street was filled with blooming flowers and a sea of ??people. It lasted until the early morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year and then dispersed. This is Guangzhou's unique Spring Festival flower market.

Guangzhou distributes "riches" during the New Year. It is a custom in Guangzhou to distribute "riches" during the New Year. In interpersonal communication, "riches" are a must.

Of course, the so-called "profit" refers to red envelopes. When relatives and friends meet, adults should give "profit" to their children.

Among the citizens of Guangzhou, the citizen class is very particular about giving double envelopes, and it doesn't matter how many banknotes are included, but it is rude to not have "lushi". Therefore, when visiting Guangzhou people's homes during the Spring Festival, it is better to bring more red envelopes.

Save yourself the trouble.

Even at the entrance of shopping malls, kumquat trees will be hung with "profits" for anyone to pick for good luck.

Heng Chong said that as early as the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, people in Fuzhou began to prepare for the New Year.

According to the tradition of Fuzhou people, they do not kill animals after the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, so the meat to be eaten in the first month must be prepared before then.

Women at home hang the slaughtered chickens and pigs from the ceiling, wait for them to dry and then stew them, then put them in an urn and marinate them with wine and various ingredients.

Hou Hengchong said that such a jar of food is not only a delicacy on the reunion dinner table, but can often be eaten until the end of the first year.

On New Year's Eve, before having the reunion dinner, Fuzhou people would worship their ancestors. Among the many sacrifices, Hou Hengchong was most impressed by the horseshoes and rice cakes.

Horseshoes grow in the fields and have strong vitality. Using horseshoes to worship ancestors has the hope that the ancestors will bless the family and have successors.

The rice cakes made by Fuzhou people are different from the rice cakes commonly seen in local markets. They are about the size of a tray and have different tastes. Therefore, Fuzhou Guild Hall will order rice cakes for members every year so that the folks can taste the unique Fuzhou-style rice cakes.

When worshiping ancestors, rice cakes must be sliced ??and fried, then placed on a plate and placed on the table.

Fuzhou people attach great importance to rice cakes. In addition to worshiping their ancestors, rice cakes are also a dessert on the reunion dinner table. Even if they don’t eat them, they are indispensable at the dinner table.

In addition, red fermented chicken, Fuzhou fish balls and meat swallows are also delicacies on the reunion dinner table of Fuzhou people.

Fuzhou people also have an interesting custom.

After the reunion dinner, parents have to use toilet paper to wipe their children's mouths, which means that children's words are unbridled. If the children say something wrong, they hope that the gods will not blame them.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, before Fuzhou people go out to pay New Year greetings, they must first offer sacrifices to heaven. Bamboo strips of rice are a must-have sacrifice.

The rice is served in a container made of bamboo strips, with a paper red flower inserted in the middle and chopsticks inserted around it, which means praying to heaven.

According to tradition, Fuzhou people also eat a bowl of Taiping on this day.

It is noodles soaked in red fermented chicken soup, and two eggs are added to the noodles. Now some people use quail eggs instead.

As the name suggests, Taiping eats peace.

Hou Hengchong remembered that Fuzhou people’s Lantern Festival was also very lively.

Wandering God is a major festival, with the sound of drums resounding in the sky, the crowds surrounding the place, and the sound of firecrackers rising and falling, pushing the festive atmosphere to the climax.

Hou Hengchong returned to Singapore in 1959 when he was 20 years old.

Over the past few decades, due to various factors, the traditional customs of Fuzhou people during the New Year cannot be fully preserved.

Hou Hengchong said that for example, many Fuzhou families have non-Fuzhou members. In order to adapt to the eating habits and preferences of members of different origins, these families have to add some non-Fuzhou foods, so that the food on the reunion dinner table is no longer just Fuzhou food.

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He said: "This is the result of the changing times. Older Fuzhou people should not be stubborn. Under the principle of peace as the most important, we should make appropriate adjustments in line with the times." The Spring Festival customs of old Shanghai have been continued in China for many years.

millennium.

But for a long time, the name "Spring Festival" refers to the "beginning of spring" among the twenty-four solar terms in a year.

It was not until the Revolution of 1911 that overthrew the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China was established. Sun Yat-sen ordered the country to switch to the Gregorian calendar. Subsequently, the New Year should also be changed to the Gregorian calendar New Year's Day.

However, the Lunar New Year has, after all, become a traditional festival celebrated by all the people. The solid and profound customs and national culture are difficult to change.

The celebration of the Lunar New Year is still going strong every year.

Due to the emergence of a new Gregorian New Year's Day, to show the difference, since the Republic of China, the Lunar New Year has been called the "Spring Festival" in solar terms.

In the old days, the "New Year" began on December 23 of the lunar calendar and lasted until the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month, and a fixed routine was formed.

Let’s take a look at how Shanghai used to “celebrate the New Year” in the old days.

The 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, that is, the 24th day of December, is the day when the "Kitchen God" goes to heaven to perform tasks. Therefore, on the night of the 23rd day, every household will "send stoves" and "sacrifice stoves", which kicks off the New Year celebrations.

On that night, every household would worship the Kitchen God in the hall, and more often than not they would offer wine, fruit, water chestnuts, wild rice, good fish, and good meat on the kitchen stove next to the statue of the Kitchen God. There is a poem on a bamboo branch that says: "Fame and fortune"

Prosperity has less disputes, and all depend on each other silently and with God's blessing in their mouths.