Set off firecrackers
There is a Chinese folk saying of "opening firecrackers". That is to say, when the New Year arrives, the first thing every household does when they open the door is to set off firecrackers to ward off the old and welcome the new with the beeping sound of firecrackers.
Firecrackers are a specialty of China, also known as "firecrackers", "firecrackers" and "firecrackers". It originated very early and has a history of more than 2,000 years.
Nowadays, most of us believe that setting off firecrackers can create a festive atmosphere and is an entertainment activity during the festival. It can bring joy and good luck to people. However, if we trace the origin of firecrackers, we will understand the original intention of ancient people setting off firecrackers and the history of their evolution.
The "Records of the Years of Jingchu" records: "On the first day of the first lunar month, when the rooster crows, firecrackers are fired in front of the court to avoid the evil spirits from the mountain." This record shows that firecrackers were a kind of food in ancient times. Sound tools are used to drive away plague and evil spirits, which makes the custom of setting off firecrackers have a certain superstitious color from the beginning. In fact, this is entirely caused by the misunderstanding of the ancients.
According to the "Shenyi Jing", in ancient times, people passed through the mountains and slept outdoors, and lit bonfires at night, firstly to cook and keep warm, and secondly to prevent wild beasts from invading. However, there is an animal in the mountains that is neither afraid of people nor fire, and often steals food when people are not prepared.
In order to deal with this kind of animal, people think of burning firecrackers in the fire and using the popping sound of bamboo to make it escape. The animal mentioned here is called "Shanxi". The ancients said that it can make people suffer from cold and fever. It is a ghost that can make people suffer from cold and fever diseases. It scares away the bad smell of the mountain, that is, it drives away the plague evil, so that it can bring good luck and peace.
In the early Tang Dynasty, when the plague was widespread, a man named Li Tian put saltpeter in a bamboo tube and lit it to make a louder sound and thicker smoke. As a result, the mountain miasma was dispelled. Stopped the epidemic. This is the earliest prototype of firecrackers filled with gunpowder.
After the advent of gunpowder, people filled bamboo tubes with saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal and burned them, creating "firecrackers". By the Song Dynasty, people began to use paper tubes and hemp stems to wrap gunpowder and weave them into strings to make "weipao" (i.e. firecrackers).
As for the evolution of firecrackers, "Popular Choreography" records: "Firecrackers in ancient times were all made of real bamboo, so they were also called firecrackers in Tang Dynasty poetry. Later generations rolled paper for them. It was called "Firecrackers".
With the passage of time, the use of firecrackers has become more and more widespread, and the varieties and colors have become increasingly diverse. This place is my country's famous "Hometown of Firecrackers", and its firecrackers are not only sold throughout the country, but also exported to other countries and regions around the world.
Setting off firecrackers has become a popular entertainment activity with national characteristics. In addition to setting off firecrackers during the Spring Festival to welcome the new year, firecrackers are also set off during major festivals and happy events, such as the Lantern Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival, weddings, house construction, and openings, etc.
The Spring Festival is celebrated. Dragon Dance
Dragon lantern dancing, also known as "dragon dance" and "dragon lantern dance", is a unique folk entertainment activity in my country. From the Spring Festival to the Lantern Festival, the custom of dancing with dragon lanterns is practiced in vast areas of urban and rural areas in my country. After thousands of years of inheritance and development, dragon lantern dancing has become a lively, graceful and romantic folk dance. Dragon lantern dancing originated from people's superstition of dragons and has a history of more than 2,000 years. In ancient times, people used dragon dances to pray for the blessing of good weather and good harvests.
The main props of dragon lanterns are made of grass, bamboo, wood, paper, cloth, etc. Dragons with an odd number of segments are considered auspicious. Dragons with nine segments, 11 segments, and 13 segments are common, and dragons with more than 29 segments are more bulky and not suitable for dancing. It is for viewing. This kind of dragon pays special attention to decoration and has high craftsmanship value. There is also a "fire dragon", which is made of bamboo strips woven into a cylinder to form a cage, covered with a transparent and beautiful dragon robe, and burned with candles or candles. Oil lanterns, the night performance is very spectacular.
There are many ways to perform dragon lanterns. The ones within nine sections focus on tricks. The more common movements are: dragon roaming, dragon head drilling on the stall, head and tail drilling together, and dragon lantern dancing. Tail wagging and snake shedding, etc. The dragons in the eleventh and thirteenth sections focus on action performances. The golden dragon chases the pearl, leaps and flies, sometimes flies into the clouds, and sometimes breaks into the sea. The dragon dance is very beautiful. This custom has been carried forward and promoted by overseas Chinese. During Chinese traditional festivals and major celebrations, they will dance lions and play dragon lanterns, showing a strong oriental style.
New Year's money
When paying New Year's greetings during the Spring Festival, the elders should distribute the New Year's money prepared in advance to the younger ones. It is said that the New Year's money can suppress evil spirits, because "Sui" and "Evil" are homophonic, so the younger generation can live in peace and harmony with the New Year's money. There are two types of New Year's money. One is made of colored ropes threaded into a dragon shape and placed at the foot of the bed. This record is found in "Yanjing Years of the Year"; the other is the most common, which is made by parents using red strings. The money given to children in paper packages can be given to the younger generation in public after the New Year greetings, or parents can secretly put it under the child's pillow when the child is asleep.
It is a folk belief. New Year's money is given to children. When evil spirits, monsters or "nian" harm the children, the children can use the money to bribe them and turn the evil into good luck. Wu Manyun, a native of the Qing Dynasty, wrote in his poem "New Year's Money": "One hundred and ten pieces of money are threaded with long colorful threads. I divide them and put them on my pillow to keep. I discuss the price of firecrackers and flutes. It makes Jiaoer busy all night."
From this point of view, New Year's money is tied to the innocence of children, and children's New Year's money is mainly used to buy firecrackers, toys, candies and other holiday items.
Nowadays, the custom of elders distributing lucky money to younger generations is still popular. The amount of lucky gifts ranges from tens to hundreds. These lucky money are mostly used by children to buy books and school supplies. It is a new fashion. New content has been given to the lucky money.
Pasting the word "福" upside down
Every Spring Festival, every household has to paste the word "福" (福), large and small, on their doors, walls and lintels. Posting the word "福" during the Spring Festival is a long-standing folk custom in my country. According to "Meng Liang Lu" records: "On New Year's Eve, we shop for department stores, paint door-god peach charms, and welcome the Spring Festival..."; "Every family of scholars and common people, big or small, sweeps the door, removes dust, cleans the courtyard, and The door god hangs a bell, nails peach charms, puts up spring signs, and offers sacrifices to the ancestors." The "spring card" in the article is the word "福" written on red paper.
The current interpretation of the word "福" is "happiness", but in the past it meant "blessing" and "luck". Posting the word "福" during the Spring Festival, whether now or in the past, expresses people's yearning for a happy life and their wishes for a better future. In order to more fully reflect this yearning and wish, people simply paste the word "福" upside down, which means "happiness has fallen" and "blessing has arrived". There is also a folk legend about the word "福" being pasted upside down. Zhu Zhang, Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, used the word "福" as a secret sign to prepare for murder. The kind-hearted Empress Ma decided to avoid the tragedy of killing, so she ordered everyone in the city to put a label with the character "福" on their doors before dawn. Naturally, no one dared to disobey Queen Ma's will, so every door with the word "福" was posted. One of the families was illiterate and actually pasted the word "福" upside down. On the next day, the emperor sent someone to go to the street and found that every family had pasted the stickers with the character "福", and one family had the character "福" upside down. The emperor was furious after hearing the report, and immediately ordered the imperial guards to kill the entire family. Empress Ma realized what happened and said to Zhu Yuanzhang, "that family knew you are coming today, so had purposely turned the label with the character "福" upside down. Doesn't that mean "luck arrives"?" The emperor heard that it made sense, and gave the order Let him go, and a catastrophe is finally eliminated. From then on, people began to paste the character "福" upside down, firstly to bring good luck, and secondly to commemorate Queen Ma.
There are also folk people who carefully draw the word "Fu" into various patterns, such as longevity stars, longevity peaches, carps jumping over dragon gates, good harvests, dragons and phoenixes, etc. In the past, there was a folk saying that "on the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, every family writes big characters". The word "福" used to be mostly handwritten, but now it is sold in markets and shops.
Eating rice cakes
During the Spring Festival, many areas in our country pay attention to eating rice cakes. Nian Gao, also known as "Nian Nian Gao", is homophonic with "Nian Nian Gao", which means that people's work and life are improving year by year.
As a kind of food, rice cake has a long history in our country. In 1974, archaeologists discovered rice seeds in the matrilineal clan social ruins of Hemudu, Yuyao, Zhejiang. This shows that our ancestors had begun planting rice as early as 7,000 years ago. People in the Han Dynasty called rice cakes "rice cake", "bait", "獍" and so on. The ancients also had a development process in the production of rice cakes from rice cakes to powder cakes. The cookbook "Shici" from the sixth century AD contains the method of making rice cake "white cocoon sugar", "Cook the cooked rice and heat it in a pestle and mortar, then pound it into rice cakes. It must be cooked very well. Do not let it cook." There are rice grains..." After the glutinous rice is steamed, it is pounded into rice while it is hot, then cut into peach pit sizes, dried and fried, rolled in sugar and ready to eat.
The method of grinding rice to make cakes is also very early. This can be proved from the "Essential Art of Qi Min" written by Jia Sixie of the Northern Wei Dynasty. The production method is to sift the glutinous rice flour with silk silk, add water and honey to make a harder dough, stick dates and chestnuts on the dough, wrap it with silkworm leaves and steam it. This kind of glutinous rice pastry is quite characteristic of the Central Plains.
New year cakes are mostly made from glutinous rice flour, which is a specialty of the south of the Yangtze River. In the north, there are sticky grains like glutinous rice. In ancient times, sticky millet (commonly known as small yellow rice) was the first choice. This kind of millet is shelled and ground into powder. After being steamed with water, it becomes yellow, sticky, and sweet. It is a delicacy for people in the Yellow River Basin to celebrate the harvest. The article "Scenery of the Imperial Capital" published during the Chongzhen period of the Ming Dynasty records that Beijingers at that time "ate millet cakes on New Year's Day, called New Year cakes." It is not difficult to see that "Nian Nian Gao" is a homophony of the "sticky cake" in the north.
There are many types of rice cakes. Representative ones include white cakes from the north, yellow rice cakes from farmers in Saibei, water-milled rice cakes from Jiangnan water towns, and red turtle cakes from Taiwan. Rice cakes have different flavors from the north to the south.
Northern rice cakes can be steamed or fried, both of which are sweet. In addition to steaming and deep-frying, southern rice cakes can also be fried in slices and boiled in soup, with both sweet and salty flavors.
It is said that the earliest rice cakes were used to worship gods and ancestors on New Year’s Eve, and later became a Spring Festival food.
New year cake is not only a holiday delicacy, but also brings new hope to people every year. As a poem from the late Qing Dynasty puts it: "People's hearts are so high that they make food with harmonious sounds, meaning that the year is better than the year, and they are used to pray for a good year."
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