Old Beijingers in our fourth and ninth cities have the custom of "eating autumn" after autumn, and there is also a folk saying that "beginning of autumn stewed big meat". Why eat autumn? This is related to the ancestors who called summer a bad season and summer tigers. In the old Beijing, the environmental sanitation was poor and various diseases were numerous, and the physique was thin after illness. In addition, the climate is hot and humid in the summer season, and people often have symptoms such as chest tightness, limb weakness, excessive sweating, listlessness, poor appetite, etc., which makes the human body lose weight day by day. The so-called "one summer is disease-free and three points are deficient", and the ancients called these symptoms "bitter summer". There is also a saying in old Beijing that "make up in autumn, but stay away from illness in winter". It is for the above reasons that old Beijing inherits the custom of eating autumn tonic. People of different classes have different ways to eat autumn and old Beijing. Generally, people in the middle and lower classes pay attention to "eating autumn fresh children". They think that eating new grain and eating new fruits and vegetables is the most nutritious. As the saying goes, "Go to the summer to find millet, and the white dew cuts the valley". After autumn, housewives in various households should try early adopters, and often buy new corn (that is, corn flour), corn residue, sorghum rice and white flour ground by new wheat, and use these new grains to steam delicious jujube steamed buns, jujube steamed buns, lazy dragons, flower rolls, corn residue porridge, sorghum rice and other patterns for the young and old families. Protein-rich meat dishes such as braised pork, braised fish, stewed chicken and duck are often cooked by well-off quadrangles after autumn. And some celebrities, literati and entertainers in old Beijing are very particular about eating autumn, and often take their families or friends to restaurants. Have dinner, drink and taste famous dishes or eat Beijing-style roast duck, barbecue and rinse meat. Some people also have the custom of giving gifts to each other with Quanjude roast duck or fruit. These customs of eating autumn and giving gifts used to be autumn scenery's son in the old Beijing market and quadrangles. In addition, autumn is the harvest time of fruits and vegetables in mountain products. Walnuts, chestnuts, persimmons, apples, Pak Lei, hawthorn, jujube in Pinggu or Taolang's home and other mountain products, which are abundant in the suburbs of old Beijing, are sold in the old Jingmiao market, the fruit bureau of the market and the hutongs. People often try early and store them. Nowadays, the life of Beijingers is infinitely beautiful. People often eat big meat and big fish in their diet, and they don't lack nutrition to stick on the autumn fat. After entering autumn and winter, people need to eat more fruits, vegetables and grains in a balanced diet to make people healthier and live longer.

Funeral custom in old Beijing:

Setting of mourning hall and memorial service: The date of mourning after death varies from family to family. In addition to "burying every four days for three to five days" and the extremely poor family regardless of time, there are seven days, nine days, eleven days, thirteen days and three days, five seven days, seven seven days (forty-nine days), all of which are three days after three days, and the day before the funeral is accompanied, and how many tent sutras are read is arbitrary. In the early years, when people died, they rarely used temples to move spirits to do things, but they all set up tents in their own houses to do things. On the day of death, on the one hand, people prepare coffins, on the other hand, they call for sheds to be laid. The scaffolding is a flat pole, and it becomes a balcony in an instant. It is all unique technology in Beijing to fight with the porter. The materials of the shed are divided according to different seasons: "warm shed" and "cloth shed" in winter; In summer, a "gazebo" or a "mat shed" is called a "glass shed". In terms of form, The Rich House can build a "ridged shed", "three halls and two rolling sheds" and "one ridge and one flat shed", and a ridged shed can only be used for funerals. Medium-sized families build "flat sheds" and put on plain glass. If the inferior family is good, it can set up a "arbor", and the second one can only set up a "curtain". There should be a "platform" in front of the mourners, and there are two or three divisions. There is a patio on the number one platform, which can be stepped from front, left and right. The number two is a little smaller, and the number three has a patio, only one step ahead. Poor families don't have a platform, so they can install railings on the ground. No matter how poor they are, they don't even need railings. For families with status, a red brocade

"floor cover" is added to the coffin, and curtains are set on the left and right, so that the mourning women can't be seen from the outside. In front of the coffin, there is a white cloth coffin, a red brocade chair, a spirit table, a "stuffy lamp" and five offerings. Qiji aristocratic family also set up a low table in front of the table, with a "tin drinking pool" on the top and a "holding pot" and a "drinking cup" on the left for guests to drink wine as a sacrifice. If the emperor gives a drink or an elder gives a drink, a high coffee table will be set up for the drink. Han people don't set up drinking pools, but decent people set up high coffee tables, put incense burners in advance to burn charcoal, and prepare sandalwood to burn incense for the guests. The second-class one is to put five sticks of high incense or white incense in the five-supply internal high incense burner, and stick the white paper properly. After the guests hold the incense, they are still inserted into the furnace. There is a blue cloth mat in the center of the platform and a red carpet on it, which means that the mourners dare not ask the guests to kneel on the mat, but the guests themselves remove the red carpet to show their humility.

Childbearing custom in Beijing:

Parenting in old Beijing contains a lot of Manchu customs. In old Beijing, we all know that "the descendants of the empress" and "sending the sons to the empress" are important among the "nuns". Many families (regardless of flag Han) worship this empress at home. Those who have no children give it to seek children. Those who have children provide it in order to bless the healthy growth of children. This "Niangniang" was originally from outside Shanhaiguan, and was brought to Beijing by Manchu when they entered Shanhaiguan. Its original name was forifodo omosi mama, and it was the "baby-keeping god" in Manchu Sama belief. Mama was originally called Manchu, meaning "grandma", that is, grandmother. After entering the customs, it was renamed "Niangniang" according to Chinese customs. Maybe the goddess was commonly called "Niangniang" in Chinese. According to the old custom in Beijing, you must "wash three" after giving birth for three days. Old Beijing joked that "people have two threes, first washing three, then connecting three". Since the day of washing three, parenting in old Beijing has been a mixed custom of Manchu and Han. Let's say "hang up" first. You can hang up the line on the day of washing three, and you can also hang up the line on the day of the next month (full moon). Since the grandmother's family (Manchu called her grandmother the grandmother. There is You Laoniang in A Dream of Red Mansions, that is. When grandma is called the Han nationality in North China, relatives can hang up. Of course, our elders can also hang up their children. Hanging the thread is to hang it around the child's neck with blue and white cotton thread. Old Beijing has this move regardless of the flag. "Line" actually comes from Manchu custom. Manchu Sama believes in offering sacrifices, such as "carrying a lamp in exchange for a rope" and "willow branches seeking happiness". "Line" is evolved from "cable". According to the old customs of Manchu, for the sake of children's health, they are twisted into "rope" with blue and white threads and rags and hung around the children's necks. Sacrifice to "Mother Frodo" (that is, the aforementioned forifodo omosi mama) and connect it with the sacred board with willow branches. After the sacrifice, remove the rope from the child's neck, put it in the "mother's pocket" and hang it under the Western Wall. This is a pure Manchu custom, which comes from its ancient ancestors. Manchu customs brought this custom to Beijing, which became the custom of old Beijing. Moreover, on the day of washing three, use mugwort to boil water to bathe children. At this time, there is a custom of "adding pots". Adding a basin means that when relatives and friends come to congratulate, they put copper coins into the basin for children to bathe in. This is an ancient custom of the Han nationality, but later, on the day when the children of the Beijing Banner washed for three days, there was no need to add pots. Hanging the thread and adding pots show that Beijing parenting is a combination of Manchu and Chinese. Manchu people did not believe in Buddhism, but kept their Sama belief since ancient times. Manchu entered the customs for a long time, and in the middle and late Qing Dynasty, Manchu learned some actions related to believing in Buddhism from Han people. According to the ancient customs of the Han nationality, it is best to send children who are hard to feed to temples and worship monks as teachers. Although the child is still raised at home, he thinks that he has become a monk and is called a "registered monk". Parents give some money to the temple every year as a thank-you gift. It is believed that in this way, the child is no longer in the family, but has become a monk, and the "three disasters and eight difficulties" do not infringe on the monk, and the children who are difficult to feed escape the disaster. People jokingly call such children "little monks". There are also registered monks who are given dharma names by their Buddhist masters, which is even more Buddhist. Such children grow up, and as for the year of marriage, they must be "secularized" before they can discuss marriage. How to return to vulgarity? There was a ceremony. When the child becomes an adult, the parents discuss with the old monk to become a monk and set a date. On this day, parents take their children to the temple, first to worship Buddha, and then to worship the monk master. A bench has been placed at the entrance of the temple in advance. After the service, the old monk held a wooden stick in his hand and hit the child. The child hurried to escape and ran out, and the old monk chased him. The child ran to the entrance of the temple and saw a bench blocking the road. The child jumped over the bench and ran out of the temple, and the ceremony was completed. This ceremony is called "jumping over the wall" and this child is called "jumping over the wall monk". As soon as you jump over the wall, you will return to vulgarity from a monk. After secularization, you are a layman, so you can discuss marriage. This is a custom of pure Han nationality. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, the children of Manchu families were spoiled, so many of them went to the temple to register, and later jumped over the wall to return to the vulgar. This is true not only for the general flag bearer, but also for the royal family. "Grasping the Zhou Dynasty" is an ancient tradition of the Chazu nationality, and the Manchu nationality did not have this custom. The original custom of Manchu is to give birth to boys hanging bows and arrows at the door, and there is no move to catch things at the age of one. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Manchu people also followed the customs of the Han people and paid attention to the Zhou Dynasty, but it was slightly different from the Han people. When Manchu boys catch Zhou, they have small bows and arrows, as well as knives and the like. In short, they do not lose their hunting tradition in their ancestors. The harem bowed down to male prostitute, and the rabbit was regarded as a symbol of reproduction because of its strong reproductive ability. On the fifteenth day of the first month, the whole family bowed down to male prostitute to help people prosper. But male prostitute became a children's toy after being worshipped. Male prostitute in Beijing looks funny, dressed as a military commander and riding a tiger. Tianjin has Mr. Rabbit, and the shape is much simpler, more like a rabbit. Male prostitute is unique in Beijing culture.

Beijing New Year's Festival custom:

Beijing New Year's Festival custom is also different in north and south cities. Generally speaking, the culture in the north city is extravagant and pays more attention to face, while the culture in the south city has a heavy mentality, such as flowers, birds, fish and insects, which mostly come from the south city. There is a lotus market in the north city, which is dominated by literati, while there is an overpass in the south city. People who scold the street like soldier Huang have become artists, ranking among the eight eccentrics. In the past, when artists from Nancheng performed in Beicheng, they had to make changes in the repertoire to make the content more elegant. From the present point of view, the traditional New Year's Eve dinner in Beijing is unscientific, with a lot of meat, mainly fat meat. Such overeating can easily lead to cholecystitis, which is harmful to health. But in the evening, the old Beijingers eat jiaozi with vegetarian stuffing, because they have to worship God and make it complicated, such as dicing carrots and frying them with sesame oil. Beijing New Year's Eve doesn't have to have fish. Old Beijing is not a fish-producing area, so there are no special rules for eating fish. It is not popular for large families to eat carp and eat the whole body. At the temple fair, most people don't eat braised pork, because it is not "serious meat", but bean juice is eaten by both the court and the people. The court drinks bean juice to relieve boredom before meals, which is different from that of the poor when they eat

, and the two practices are not the same. Wearing an old cotton-padded jacket to wash and dye it for the New Year will give children new clothes, but in the past, most Beijingers were not well off, so they often took down the old cotton-padded jacket, washed it again, dyed it and sewed it again, which was considered as new clothes. It's very cold in winter, and once the washed clothes freeze, it's not easy to dry, so it often takes one day to hang the washed clothes and dry them with the stove at home. In addition, the average family will buy indigo and cook it with clothes. After 3 minutes, they will soak it in hot rice, so that the clothes will be dyed blue again, making the old cloth look the same as the new one, but the dyed cloth will fade easily without washing. Old Beijing people live in bungalows, and the heating conditions are not very good. In addition, the tiles on the roof will be crushed after snowing, and most houses have water leakage, so they must be repaired before spring, otherwise once it rains, the houses will be in danger of collapse. It is not allowed to repair houses during the Spring Festival in Beijing, and construction can only be started after the fifth day of the first month. Especially in areas such as Chongwen, where houses are relatively simple, every family is repairing houses once five houses are broken, and the custom of "repairing houses after five houses are broken" has gradually formed. Playing lion dance instead of dragon dance In the past, dragon dance was not allowed in Beijing, because the dragon represented imperial power, and only eunuchs in the court could dance for the emperor, and Amnesty was required in advance. Dancing in the palace is a "fire dragon", with a transparent body and a built-in lighted oil lamp, which is spectacular at dusk or at night. Lion dance is more common in Beijing, but unlike the Southern Lion, Beijing lion dance does not have too many acrobatic skills, and mainly pays attention to majesty. At the beginning, it was very simple. It was a piece of cloth. The lion's head was made of mud or paper pulp. It was very ugly and almost bald. The southern lion is relatively fine, but its shape is more like a cat, not as powerful as a lion.

customs and taboos of the New Year Festival in old Beijing

On the first day of the first month: married daughters are not allowed to go back to their parents' homes, and they are forbidden to eat porridge (otherwise, they will encounter heavy rain when they go out), meat and medicines, and they are forbidden to break furniture (including plates, bowls, wine sets and other fragile items), otherwise they will say "Peace through the years". Besides, you can't take a nap during the day. You can't say unlucky things on the first day. If a child says it, you should wipe your mouth with toilet paper to show that the child's mouth is the same as his ass, and it has no effect.

on the second day of the first month: those who send the god of wealth should not say "don't", but "have".

the third day of the first month: no siesta.

on the fourth day of the first month: it is forbidden to go out. It is said that the kitchen god came to check the household registration and cannot go out.

the fifth day of the first month: avoid visiting relatives and friends, eating lotus roots and combing your hair.

the seventh day of the first month: it is called "people's day", and it is forbidden to move the needle and thread and not to hit the children.

the eighth day of the first month: it's called "Valley Day". On the day of harvest, when the annual leave is over, everyone comes to work to give each other good luck and congratulations on getting rich.

avoid killing: Dong Fangshuo's "Zhan Shu" says, "Eight days after the age of one, a chicken, a dog, a pig, a sheep, a cow, a horse, a man and a valley. It means that Mr. Heaven and Earth is a chicken, a dog, a pig, a sheep, a cow, a horse and a stranger. Therefore, there is a folk saying that "no chickens, no dogs, no pigs, no sheep, no cattle, no horses, no punishment".

The exquisite dining table in old Beijing:

The culture on the dining table is the popular name of "drinking culture". In old Beijing, under the influence of society, economy, habits and environment, different families have formed their own dining table culture. Many families have "family banquet", "guest banquet" and "informal banquet" in the way of dining-family banquet refers to the banquet set by the family for their own festivals and various festive activities; Guest banquet is a banquet for relatives and friends; A potluck is a common occurrence. All kinds of etiquette at the dinner table in old Beijing are very particular, which gradually reflects the values of old Beijing in the long years, and consciously or unconsciously constructs a dinner table culture with "courtesy", "filial piety", "virtue" and "teaching" as its contents. "Li" refers to the etiquette and etiquette of drinking. It reflects the etiquette, ceremony and personal courtesy requirements formed by the family's moral concepts and customs. Family banquets and informal banquets should be based on "long" (parents and elders), while guest banquets should be based on "guests". Therefore, many rules have been formed to bind family members, especially children. There are formal ceremony and waiting ceremony. Formal ceremony refers to the ceremony embodied in the form and atmosphere of etiquette, such as the choice of banquet place, the grade of etiquette, the creation of environment and the preparation of utensils, all of which should reflect a kind of respect for guests. Courtesy refers to the etiquette of entertaining and serving guests. For example, the seating arrangement of banquets is based on the principle of long-term, teacher-oriented and far-oriented, that is, seats are arranged according to seniority, tutors should be given priority, relatives and friends from afar should be given priority, and relatives and friends from poor families should be treated with extra care. The host should spend more time communicating with them during the dinner, make more toasts, and consciously introduce their "unique skills" to the guests. At the same time, the housekeeper and servants are strictly required not to treat these people slowly. Although each banquet depends on the identity of the guests and the characteristics of etiquette and customs, there are differences in the choice of food types, quality grades and restaurants, but guests must never be allowed to pick out "no". Zaiyan