Information on Han Chinese Spring Festival customs

New Year's Eve

The last day of the lunar year is called New Year's Eve, and this night is called New Year's Eve. Chaoshan custom calls it "New Year's Eve".

Before New Year's Eve, people are busy preparing all kinds of New Year's goods: buying chickens, geese, ducks, and fish; making new clothes; buying new furniture and utensils; buying New Year paintings, Spring Festival couplets, etc. In particular, you should buy citrus, green olives and other fruits as symbols of good luck and good fruits for welcoming relatives and friends. It is an old custom that before the Chinese New Year, men must get a new haircut, and women must have their faces shaved. Nowadays, most women get haircuts to beautify their hair.

The 24th day of the twelfth lunar month is the time when the "gods" go to heaven to "report their duties." Starting from this day, every household will do a general cleaning, and all utensils and bed sheets will be cleaned, which is called "collecting and hoarding".

One or two days before New Year’s Eve, every household makes various kinds of cakes in preparation for the New Year.

Family members who go out on New Year’s Eve have to rush home to reunite. On New Year's Eve, the whole family gathers around the fire for a reunion dinner. After the meal, the adults distribute "New Year's money" to the children, and the children to their parents and elders. At night, the water jars in farmhouses should be filled with water, the rice jars should be filled with rice, and the lights should not be extinguished to symbolize the good omen of "more than enough every year" and "constant cooking every year."

The custom of staying up late on New Year’s Eve is very common. Waiting for the arrival of the New Year, the New Year bell rings and every household sets off firecrackers.

Spring Festival

The first day of the first lunar month is called Yuan Day, which is the first day of the new year and the beginning of spring. The sound of cannons is heard at dawn in the sky. On the big tables in the halls of every household, red plates are filled with tangerines (tangerines are larger than tangerines, so they are called tangerines), green olives and all kinds of exquisite candies. Lanterns are decorated in front of the door, and the younger generations offer tea to their elders. bless. On this day, most people will be vegetarian, at least not eating meat for breakfast. After breakfast, adults and their children bring Daji to relatives and friends' homes to pay New Year greetings. The host and guest exchange greetings and congratulate each other with auspicious words such as wealth and blessings. The host treats guests with Daji and betel nut (the ancient custom was to honor betel nut, but today it is replaced by green olives),** When drinking Gongfu tea, the guest presents a good fortune to the host to wish him good luck, and the host should give a good fortune in return. It is commonly known as the exchange of good fortune in the form of paying respects, which is intended to repay good wishes.

On the early morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, many lion dance troupes and English singing troupes beat gongs and drums to visit households in each village to pay homage to the New Year. The hosts set off firecrackers to welcome them. There are also hand-cranked evergreen leaves (commonly known as money trees) or hand-held small red paper with auspicious phrases such as "luck in wealth" and affixed to people's doors; or they can play suona, knock on bamboo boards, sing ballads, and make four sentences , those who say auspicious words and greet the New Year from house to house, all take the opportunity to ask for some reward money. On the second and third day of the Lunar New Year, many rural towns organize cultural and entertainment activities to celebrate the New Year. In addition to setting up theaters to perform Teochew operas, mountain operas, and shadow puppet shows, there are also gong and drum troupes, tiger and lion troupes, English singing troupes, dragon dance troupes, etc. along the streets. Parades and performances in villages. Today there are also movie screenings, ball games, calligraphy and painting exhibitions, riddle guessing, etc. During the day and night, people gather in groups to enjoy the sightseeing, creating a lively and joyful atmosphere to welcome the Spring Festival.

Have a New Year’s Eve dinner

After every household’s house is decorated with a new look, New Year’s Eve is approaching. Therefore, the housewives are busy preparing for the most sumptuous and meaningful reunion dinner of the year. Reunion dinner, as the name suggests, is when the family gathers together to have a meal during the Chinese New Year, and even the deceased ancestors do not forget it. Therefore, after every family has prepared a reunion dinner, they must first "worship their husbands" (sacrifice their ancestors). When worshiping ancestors, the incense burner representing the ancestors should be taken down from the shrine and placed on the altar table, then burn incense, pray, and invite the ancestors to have a meal. Then the elders and the younger ones kneel down and worship in sequence, which fully demonstrates the traditional virtues of the fashionable people who are prudent and pursue filial piety first. After the sacrifice, the meals used to worship the ancestors are reheated, a big table is set in the hall, and the whole family gathers around them. This is a beautiful moment for every family to reunite. No matter how far apart a family is or how much trouble they usually have, they should laugh and laugh at this time instead of saying sad things or making noise.

After dinner, the housewife was busy clearing the table, so a big cleaning activity began. There is no need to be particular about the cleaning this time, it is purely for cleanliness and hygiene. Unlike the one at the end of the year, it had to be swept with pine branches and grass. Then they lighted the stove and started preparing the vegetarian food for worshiping the gods tomorrow. There are many types of vegetarian dishes, some are made from taro, some are made from sweet potatoes, some are made from dates, and some are made from peanuts, taro and sweet potatoes. All ingredients for vegetarian dishes should be prepared in the afternoon and allowed to dry. When frying vegetarian vegetables, when the fire is lit, put an iron pot and pour a large amount of peanut oil.

When the oil boils, mix these ingredients into the slurry and put it into the pot. It will bubble in the oil pot. When ripe, the yellow color and fragrant aroma are particularly attractive. At this time, if there are guests at home, the hostess will offer you a plate of freshly fried vegetarian dishes, and then brew them with fragrant Gongfu tea, allowing you to taste the deliciousness of the famous Chaoshan snacks.

Sending New Year's money

Sending New Year's money is an important custom in Chaoshan Spring Festival. Elders should give money to their younger generations, and younger generations who can make money should also give money to their elders. The money should not be given away in a blank manner, but should be carefully packed in a profit bag or wrapped in a piece of red paper. This is commonly known as "pressing the belly and waist", which means that from beginning to end of the year, the pockets will be full and rich. What is particularly interesting is that before a child goes to bed, parents will put a large-denomination banknote in the child's belly pocket and take the banknote back after waking up.

New Year greetings, send big oranges

New Year greetings, also known as "Worship the Righteousness". On the early morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, after people get up and put on new clothes, the first thing they do is worship at home. It is often the younger generation who first bless their elders, and then the elders give their younger generations their wishes. After breakfast, everyone would like to send New Year greetings to their relatives and friends. A Chaoshan proverb says: "If you are interested in greeting the first or second day of the new year, you have no intention of greeting the third or fourth day of the new year." It means that the earlier the New Year greetings are, the more sincerity they show. Therefore, some people go to pay New Year greetings to relatives and friends immediately after getting up, and only eat after returning.

No matter how many gifts you bring for New Year greetings, big oranges (Teochew oranges) are indispensable. The homophony of big orange is "big luck". It doesn't matter if there are more or less characters, but it cannot be an odd number. When New Year greeters enter the door of relatives and friends, they should say different greetings to different people. If you say "good luck in the new year" and "longevity to the south" to the elderly, the old people will grin with toothless smiles; if you say "good luck in the work" and "progress in the new year" to those who have jobs, the listeners will find it very pleasant; For business people, nothing is more popular than "making big profits in the New Year" and "making a fortune and benefiting the market." If they are children who are studying, what they want most is to make progress in their studies and achieve outstanding results in the New Year. Send them this kind of message and they will be very kind to you. After sitting down, the host will serve the famous Chaoshan Gongfu tea to entertain the guests. Before leaving, the host will leave two large oranges from the visitor's gift, and then take out his own oranges to exchange, with the intention of giving each other good luck. Some people who are good at humor often only put two big oranges in their trouser pockets when they go out to pay New Year greetings. After paying New Year greetings one by one, they still have two big oranges in their trouser pockets. Therefore, knowledgeable people among the people call the custom of New Year greetings at the beginning of the year the "Orange Changing Movement."

Go back to your natal home

On the second and third day of the first lunar month, married daughters take their husbands and children back to their natal home to pay New Year greetings. When a daughter returns to her parents' home, she must bring a big bag of biscuits and candies, and her mother distributes them to the neighbors and folks, just like during the Chinese New Year. If there are multiple daughters in the family, and these daughters do not come back on the same day, then they have to come one at a time, and the gift is quite thin, just four biscuits. However, the affection it reflects is very strong. The true meaning is "little etiquette but heavy affection". It expresses the girl's deep longing for her fellow villagers. When the girl returns home, if there is a nephew at home, the aunt has to dig into her pocket again. Although she has already given the new year's money on the first day of the Lunar New Year, the meaning this time is different. This custom is called "eating the sun and the day" by Chaoshan people. As the name suggests, it is just lunch,

Chinese Spring Festival customs

Sacrifice to the community (the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month), sweep the dust (from the 23rd to New Year's Eve), Spring couplets (thirtieth), and New Year pictures (thirtieth) ) New Year’s Eve dinner (New Year’s Eve)

Staying up late (New Year’s Eve) Firecrackers (New Year’s Eve) New Year greetings (first day of the first lunar month) New Year’s money (first day of the first lunar month) Returning to parents’ home (second and third day of the first lunar month)

Receive the God of Wealth (the fifth day of the first lunar month) and give away the poor (the sixth day of the first lunar month)

Sacrifice the stove

The Spring Festival in my country usually kicks off with the sacrifice of the stove. In the folk song "Twenty-three, Tanggua Guan" refers to the sacrifice to the stove on the 23rd or 24th of the twelfth lunar month every year. There is a saying of "officials, three people, four boatmen and five", which means that on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the government, Generally, people hold sacrifices to the stove on the 24th, while people on the water hold sacrifices to the stove on the 25th.

Sacrificing stoves is a custom that has great influence among Chinese people and is widely spread. In the old days, almost every kitchen had a "Kitchen Lord" statue in the kitchen.

People call this god "Si Ming Bodhisattva" or "Zao Lord Siming". Legend has it that he is the "Jiutian East Chef Si Ming Zao Wangfu Lord" conferred by the Jade Emperor. He is responsible for managing the kitchen fires of each family and is regarded as the protector of the family. worship. Most of the Kitchen King's niches are located on the north or east side of the kitchen room, with the statue of the Kitchen King in the middle. Some people who don't have a niche for the Kitchen King stick the statue of the god directly on the wall. Some statues only depict the Kitchen God alone, while others include two men and women. The goddess is called "Grandma Kitchen God". This is probably an imitation of the image of a human couple. Most of the statues of the Kitchen God also have a calendar for that year printed on them, with words such as "Master of the East Chef", "God of Human Supervision" and "Head of the Family" written on them to indicate the status of the Kitchen God. The couplets "God says good things, and the lower realms keep you safe" are pasted on both sides to bless the whole family.

The Kitchen God has been staying at home since the last New Year's Eve to protect and supervise the family; on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the Kitchen God will go to heaven to report the family's good deeds to the Jade Emperor in heaven. Or evil deeds, the ceremony of sending off the Kitchen God is called "Sending the Stove" or "Citing the Stove". Based on the report of the Kitchen God, the Jade Emperor handed over the good and bad fortunes that the family should receive in the new year to the hands of the Kitchen God. Therefore, for the family, the Stove Lord’s report is indeed of great interest.

Sending stoves is usually held at dusk and into night. The family goes to the kitchen first, sets the table, offers incense to the Kitchen God in the shrine on the kitchen wall, and offers sugar melons made with malt sugar and noodles. Then tie bamboo strips into paper horses and fodder for livestock. Offering caramel to the Stove Lord is to sweeten his mouth. In some places, sugar is spread around the Stove Lord's mouth, and while applying it, he says: "Say more good things, but don't say bad things." This is to stuff the Stove Lord's mouth with sugar to prevent him from saying bad things. In the Tang Dynasty work "The Chronicles of the Year under the Chariot", there is a record of "smearing wine dregs on the stove to make the commander (Kitchen Lord) drunk". After people coated Stove Lord's mouth with sugar, they took off the statue and went up to heaven with the paper and cigarettes. In some places, sesame straw and pine branches are piled in the yard at night, and then the Kitchen God statue that has been kept for a year is taken out of the shrine, along with the paper horse and straw, and set on fire. The yard was brightly illuminated by the fire. At this time, the family kowtowed around the fire and prayed while burning: This year is the 23rd again, and I send the Stove King off to the west. There are strong horses, there is fodder, and the journey is smooth and safe. The sugar melon offered is sweet. Please say good things to the Jade Emperor.

When giving gifts to the Kitchen God, in some places there are still several beggars who dress up and go from house to house singing songs and dancing to the Kitchen God, called "giving the Kitchen God a gift", in exchange for food.

The custom of sending stoves is very common in the north and south of my country. Mr. Lu Xun once wrote the poem "The Gengzi Sending Stoves": Chickens are given glue and candies, and clothes are provided with petals and incense. If there is nothing growing in the house, there are only a few yellow sheep.

He said in the article "Sends to the Kitchen God": "On the day when the Lord Kitchen God ascended to heaven, a kind of candy was sold on the street, the size of an orange. We also have this kind of thing, but Bian It's like a thick little pancake. It's called "glue teeth". It's intended to stick to Zao Lord's teeth so that he can't talk bad things to the Jade Emperor. The allusion to "Yellow Sheep" in the poem comes from "The Book of the Later Han·Yin Shi Zhuan": "During the reign of Emperor Xuan, those in Yinzi Fang were extremely filial and benevolent. In the morning of the twelfth lunar month, when the kitchen god appeared, Zifang worshiped and received the food. Qing: The family had a yellow sheep, so they worshiped it. Since then, they have become extremely rich, and have prospered since then. Therefore, they often sacrifice the yellow sheep to the stove during the twelfth lunar month. "Yinzi Fang saw the kitchen god Yan. , killed the yellow sheep as a sacrifice, and later got good luck. From then on, the custom of killing yellow sheep to offer sacrifices to the stove has been passed down.

In the Tang and Song Dynasties, the offerings to the stove were quite abundant. Fan Chengda, a poet of the Song Dynasty, gave a very vivid description of folk sacrifices to the stove in his "Ci of Sacrifice to the Stove": According to ancient legend, on the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, the Stove Lord looked up to the sky and wanted to say something. The clouds, the carriages, the wind, the horses, the little ones linger, and there are cups and plates in the house for the feast. The pig's head is overcooked, the fish is fresh, and the rice bait is round with sweetened bean paste and sweet pineapple. The man offers his daughter a drink to escape, and the king is happy to drink wine and burn money. Don't listen to your servants' fights, don't get angry when cats and dogs touch you. I'll send you drunk and full to the gate of heaven. Don't return to the clouds with a long spoon and a short spoon, begging for profit and return points.

The sacrifice to the stove on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month is closely related to the Chinese New Year. Because, on the eve of the New Year’s Eve a week later, the Kitchen God came to the world together with other gods with the good and bad luck that the family should receive.

The Kitchen God is believed to lead the way for the gods in the sky. Other gods will go to heaven again after the New Year, but only the Kitchen God will stay in people's kitchens for a long time. The ceremony to welcome the gods is called "receiving the gods", and for the Kitchen God, it is called "receiving the stove". The ceremony of taking over the stove is usually on New Year's Eve, and the ceremony is much simpler. At that time, you only need to put on a new stove lamp and burn incense in front of the stove niche.

As the saying goes, "men do not worship the moon, and women do not worship the stove." In some places, women do not offer sacrifices to the stove. It is said that the Stove Lord looks like a pretty boy and is afraid of women offering sacrifices to the stove. As for the origin of Stove Lord, it has a long history. Among the Chinese folk gods, the Kitchen God is considered to be very old. As early as the Xia Dynasty, he was already a great god respected by the people. According to Kong Yingda Shu in the ancient book "Book of Rites·Etiquette": "Zhuanxu's family had a son, Rili, who was Zhurong and was worshiped as the Kitchen God." "Zhuangzi. Dasheng" records: "The stove has a bun." Sima Biao commented: "The bun, The Kitchen God is dressed in red and looks like a beautiful woman. "Baopuzi. Wei Zhi" also records: "On dark moon nights, the Kitchen God also goes to heaven for sins." These records are probably the source of worshiping the Kitchen God. Also, it may be said that the Kitchen God is the "Suiren clan" who drills wood to make fire; or it is said to be the "Fire Officer" of the Shennong clan; or it is said to be "Sujili" who "the Yellow Emperor makes the stove"; or it is said that the Kitchen God's surname is Zhang, list, name Ziguo; opinions vary. There is a rather interesting story circulating among the people.

It is said that in ancient times there was a family named Zhang, two brothers, the elder brother was a plasterer and the younger brother was a painter. My brother's specialty is cooking pots. He invites guests from East Street and West Street, and they all praise him for his skill in setting up the stove. He became famous for a long time, and people from thousands of miles around called him "King Zhang Zao". It's strange that the Kitchen King Zhang always likes to meddle in other people's affairs no matter whose house he goes to build a stove. When he meets a noisy wife, he tries to persuade her. When he meets a fierce mother-in-law, he also tries to persuade her. He seems to be an elder. From now on, the neighbors would come to him if anything happened, and everyone respected him. King Zhang Zao lived for seventy years and died late at night on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month. When King Zhang Zao passed away, the Zhang family was in chaos. It turned out that King Zhang Zao was the head of the family, and everything in the house was obeyed by his orders. Now that the eldest brother has passed away, the younger brother only knows poetry, calligraphy and painting. Although he is already sixty years old, he has never been in charge. housework. The daughters-in-law of several houses were clamoring for separation, and the painter was helpless and looked sad all day long. One day, he finally came up with a good idea. On the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, the first anniversary of the death of King Zhang Zao, late at night, the painter suddenly called out to wake up the whole family, saying that the eldest brother had appeared. He led his son, daughter-in-law, and the whole family to the kitchen, where they saw the faces of Stove King Zhang and his late wife looming on the dark stove wall, and the flickering candlelight. The whole family was shocked. The painter said: "When I was sleeping, I dreamed that my eldest brother and sister-in-law had become immortals, and the Jade Emperor named him the 'Nine Heavens East Chef, Mingzao Wangfu Lord'. You guys are always good at eating and lazy in cooking, and your sisters-in-law are at odds, disrespectful and unfilial, which makes the family gods uneasy." The eldest brother is very angry when he knows that you are splitting up the family. He is planning to go to heaven and report to the Jade Emperor that he will punish you from the lower realms on New Year's Eve. "After hearing this, the children, nieces and nephews were horrified, and immediately knelt down and kowtowed, and hurriedly got Zhang. The sweets that the Stove King loved to eat were offered on the stove, and he begged the Stove Lord to forgive him. From then on, the often noisy uncles, brothers and wives no longer dared to act out, the whole family lived in peace, and young and old lived peacefully. After this incident was known to the neighbors, they spread the news to tens of thousands, and they all came to Zhang's house to find out the truth. In fact, the Stove King on the kitchen wall on the night of the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month was drawn in advance by the painter. He pretended that his eldest brother appeared as a ghost to scare his children, niece and daughter-in-law. Unexpectedly, this method was really effective. So when the villagers came to the painter to inquire about the situation, he had no choice but to fake it and give the painted Stove King portraits to his neighbors. As a result, it spread along the countryside, and every household's kitchen was pasted with a statue of the Kitchen King. As time went by, the custom of making offerings to the Stove Lord on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month to pray for the safety of the family was formed. After the custom of worshiping stoves spread, starting from the Zhou Dynasty, the imperial palace also included it in sacrifice ceremonies, and the rules for worshiping stoves were established across the country, and it became a fixed ritual.

Sweeping the dust

After the Stove Ceremony is held, preparations for the New Year begin formally. Every year from the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month to New Year's Eve, Chinese folk call this period "Spring Day", also called "Dust Sweeping Day". Sweeping dust is the year-end cleaning. It is called "sweeping the house" in the north and "dusting" in the south. Sweeping dust before the Spring Festival is a traditional habit of our people.

Every Spring Festival comes, every household has to clean the environment, wash all kinds of utensils, remove and wash bedding and curtains, sweep the Liulv courtyard, dust away dirt and cobwebs, and dredge open ditches and ditches. From north to south, everywhere is filled with the atmosphere of joyful hygiene and cleanliness to welcome the New Year.

Interestingly, there is a rather strange story about the origin of sweeping dust in ancient times. Legend has it that the ancients believed that there was a three-corpse god attached to each person's body. Like a shadow, he followed the person's whereabouts and was inseparable. The Three Corpses God is a guy who likes to flatter and gossip. He often spreads rumors and causes trouble in front of the Jade Emperor, describing the human world as ugly. Over time, in the Jade Emperor's impression, the human world was simply a dirty world full of sin. once. The three corpse gods secretly reported that the world was cursing the Emperor of Heaven and wanted to rebel against the Heavenly Court. The Jade Emperor was furious and issued an edict to quickly find out the chaos in the world. Anyone who resented the gods or disrespected the gods would have their crimes written under the eaves. Then let the spider build a web to cover it as a mark. The Jade Emperor also ordered Wang Lingguan to go down to the realm on New Year's Eve. Anyone who met a marked family would be killed and no one would be spared. Seeing that this plan was about to succeed, the three corpse gods took the opportunity to fly down to the mortal world. Regardless of the crime, they viciously marked the eaves and corners of each house so that Wang Ling Palace would kill them all. While the Three Corpse Gods were doing evil, the Kitchen Lord discovered his whereabouts and was shocked. He hurriedly found the Kitchen Lords of various families to discuss countermeasures. So, they came up with a good idea. From the day when the stove is delivered on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month to the New Year's Eve, every household must clean the house. If the household is not clean, the Stove Lord will refuse to enter. Home. Everyone followed the Stove Lord's instructions before he ascended to heaven, sweeping away the dust, dusting away the cobwebs, cleaning the doors and windows, and making their homes look brand new. When Wang Lingguan went down to inspect the world on New Year's Eve, he found that the windows of every house were bright and clean, the lights were bright, people were reunited and happy, and the world was extremely beautiful. Wang Lingguan couldn't find any sign of bad deeds, and felt very strange. He rushed back to heaven and reported to the Jade Emperor about the peace and happiness in the world and praying for a happy new year. The Jade Emperor was greatly shocked after hearing this, and issued an edict to imprison the three corpse gods. He ordered that they should be slapped three hundred times and imprisoned forever in the heavenly prison. This human disaster was saved thanks to the Kitchen God's rescue. In order to express gratitude to the Stove Lord for helping people eliminate disasters and blessing Zhang Xiang, the people always start sweeping the dust after delivering the stove, and they are busy until New Year's Eve.

The custom of "dusting and sweeping the house on the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month" has a long history. According to "Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals", my country had the custom of sweeping dust during the Spring Festival in the era of Yao and Shun. According to folklore: since "dust" and "chen" are homophones, sweeping dust in the New Year has the meaning of "removing the old and spreading the new", and its purpose is to sweep away all "poor luck" and "bad luck". This custom entrusts people with their desire to destroy the old and establish the new and their prayers to say goodbye to the old and usher in the new.

Spring Festival Couplets

As a unique literary form, Spring Festival Couplets have a long history in our country. It began during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, was particularly prosperous during the Ming and Qing dynasties, and has developed for more than a thousand years.

Early before the Qin and Han dynasties, Chinese folk had the custom of hanging peach charms on the left and right sides of the door during the Chinese New Year. Taofu are two large boards made of peach wood, on which the names of the legendary ghost-conquering gods "Tu" and "Yu Lei" are written respectively, which are used to drive away ghosts and suppress evil spirits. This custom has lasted for more than a thousand years. It was not until the Five Dynasties that people began to inscribe couplets on peach boards to replace the names of the ghost-conquering gods. According to historical records, the couplet "New Year Na Yuqing, Jiajie Changchun" written by Meng Chang (Chang), the Lord of Later Shu, on his bedroom door on New Year's Eve in 964 AD is the earliest Spring Festival couplet in my country.

After the Song Dynasty, it has become quite common for folk to hang Spring Festival couplets during the New Year. Therefore, in Wang Anshi's poem "Yuan Ri", "Thousands of households are as bright as the sun, and new peaches are always replaced by old charms." It is the Spring Festival couplets at that time. A true portrayal of the grand occasion. Since the appearance of Spring Festival couplets is closely related to Taofu, the ancients also called Spring Festival couplets "Taofu".

In the Ming Dynasty, Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang vigorously advocated couplets. After he established his capital in Jinling (now Nanjing), he ordered ministers, officials and ordinary people to write a couplet on their door before New Year's Eve. He personally wore casual clothes and went on tour, going door to door to watch and entertain himself. The literati at that time also regarded composing couplets as an elegant pleasure, and writing Spring Festival couplets became a temporary social fashion.

After entering the Qing Dynasty, during the Qianlong, Jiaqing, and Daoguang dynasties, couplets flourished just like the rhythmic poetry of the Tang Dynasty, and many well-known famous couplets appeared.

With the development of cultural exchanges between countries, couplets were introduced to Vietnam, North Korea, Japan, Singapore and other countries. These countries still retain the custom of posting couplets.

New Year Pictures

During the New Year, in addition to pasting Spring Festival couplets and cutting window grilles, people also like to hang New Year pictures in the living room and bedroom. The New Year paintings add a joyful festive atmosphere to every household.

New Year pictures are an ancient folk art in my country. They reflect the customs and beliefs of the people and express people's hopes for the future. New Year pictures, like Spring Festival couplets, originated from the "door god". Spring couplets developed from the names of Shen Tu and Yu Lei to text, while New Year pictures still developed along the direction of painting.

With the rise of woodblock printing, the content of New Year pictures is no longer limited to door gods and the like, but gradually invites the God of Wealth to homes, and then in some New Year painting workshops, "Three Stars of Fortune, Luxury and Shou" and "Pictures of Three Stars" were produced. Colorful New Year pictures such as "Blessings from Heavenly Officials", "Abundance of Grains", "Prosperity of Animals", "Welcoming Spring and Receiving Blessings" can satisfy people's good wishes of celebrating the good year.

Because Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, advocated posting Spring Festival couplets during the Spring Festival, New Year pictures were also influenced by it and became popular. Three important production areas of New Year pictures appeared in the country: Taohuawu in Suzhou, Yangliuqing in Tianjin and Weifang in Shandong; forming the formation of our country There are three major schools of New Year paintings.

The earliest New Year pictures collected in our country are the woodcut New Year pictures of the Southern Song Dynasty, "Slender and Slender with the Beauty of the Country", which depict four ancient beauties: Wang Zhaojun, Zhao Feiyan, Ban Ji and Luzhu. However, the most widely spread folk painting in my country is a New Year painting of "The Mouse Marriage". This painting depicts an interesting scene of a mouse marrying a bride according to human customs. The composition of his paintings is lively and lively. This painting left an indelible impression on Mr. Lu Xun. As he said, this entertaining and educational "Mouse Marriage" not only arouses the interest of adults, but also has a stronger artistic impact on children.

It is said that New Year's Eve is an auspicious day for rats to get married. People should put some food under the bed or in the stove as a gift to the rat groom to pray for a good harvest in the coming year. Some old ladies often tease their children before going to bed: "Hide your shoes quickly, don't let the mice steal them and use them as a sedan chair." This is where the saying comes from. Therefore, the New Year painting "Mouse Marriage" can particularly arouse the excitement of children.

New Year’s Eve Dinner

New Year’s Eve is an extremely important day for the Chinese. On this day, people prepare to get rid of the old and welcome the new, and have a reunion dinner. In ancient China, some prison officials even let prisoners go home to reunite with their families for the New Year. This shows how important the "New Year's Eve dinner" was to the ancient Chinese.

The annual reunion dinner fully demonstrates the mutual respect and love among Chinese family members. This mutual respect and love makes the relationship between the family closer. The reunion of the family often brings spiritual comfort and satisfaction to the head of the family. The old man sees his children and grandchildren in the house, and the whole family talks about their family life. The past care and efforts in raising the children are finally not in vain. What a happiness it is. The younger generation can also take this opportunity to express their gratitude to their parents for their upbringing.

When the children are playing and setting off firecrackers, it is also the busiest time for the housewives in the kitchen. The New Year dishes have been prepared a few days ago, and the New Year’s Eve dinner must be cooked on New Year’s Eve. Make it. In the north, dumplings for the New Year's Day are also made on the 30th night. At this time, every chopping board was busy chopping meat and chopping vegetables. At this time, the sound of chopping boards came from every house, the sound of firecrackers came from the streets and alleys, the sound of "crackling" abacus and the mellow sound of accounts coming from the small shops, mixed with the chatter and laughter everywhere, one after another. , filled with ears, intertwined into a cheerful New Year's Eve movement.

Speaking of the sound of knives and anvils on New Year's Eve, "Yanjing Local Records" written by Deng Yunxiang records a very desolate story on New Year's Eve: The poor in the old society lived in difficulty, and thirty nights was a barrier. There was a family whose husband had not come back with money until late in the evening of his thirties. "The family's bottles of millet had already been exhausted, and there was nothing for the New Year."

The woman has put her child to sleep at home and is helpless. She hears the sound of chopping boards next door and is in extreme pain. She wonders if her husband will come back with some money or something. She doesn’t know how she will spend the new year tomorrow. She is also afraid that there is no sound of chopping boards in her home to make people laugh. Then he took a knife and chopped the empty chopping board, and while chopping, tears fell down... This story made people listen. Sad indeed.

Eating New Year’s Eve dinner is the most lively and happy time for every household during the Spring Festival. New Year's Eve. The table is filled with sumptuous New Year dishes, and the whole family is reunited. Sitting around the table and enjoying the reunion dinner, the sense of fulfillment in my heart is really indescribable. People not only enjoy the table full of delicacies, but also enjoy the happy atmosphere. There are big dishes, cold basins, hot stir-fries, and snacks on the table. Generally, two things are indispensable, one is hot pot. One is fish. The hot pot is boiling, steaming, warm and sultry, indicating that it is booming; "fish" and "yu" are homophonic, which symbolizes "abundance in auspicious celebrations" and also means "abundance every year". There are also radish, commonly known as cabbage, which is used to wish good luck; lobster, fried fish and other fried foods are used to wish prosperity for the family, just like "fire cooking oil". The last one is usually a sweet dish