What are the traditional customs in the New Year?

Offering sacrifices to stoves

In China, the Spring Festival usually begins with offering sacrifices to stoves. The folk song "Twenty-three, Sweet Melon Sticks" refers to the sacrificial stove on the 23rd or 24th of the twelfth lunar month every year. There is a saying that "officials, three people, four boatmen and five", that is, the government holds the sacrificial stove on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the ordinary people hold it on the 24th, and house boat holds it on the 25th.

offering sacrifices to a stove is a very popular custom with great influence among the people in our country. In the old days, almost every kitchen had a "kitchen god" shrine. People call this deity "Si Ming Bodhisattva" or "Si Ming of the Kitchen Master". It is said that he is the "Nine-day East Chef Si Ming Wang Fu Jun" sealed by the Jade Emperor, who is responsible for managing the kitchen fires of various families and is worshipped as the protector of a family. Kitchen God niches are mostly located in the north or east of the kitchen, with the gods of Kitchen God in the middle. Some people who don't have a niche for the kitchen king also paste the gods directly on the wall. Some gods only draw one kitchen god, while others have 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 are also printed with the calendar of this year, in which the words "the chef in the East is in charge of life", "the god of human supervision" and "the head of the family" are written to show the status of the Kitchen God. On both sides, there are couplets of "Heaven says good things, and the lower world keeps peace" to bless the safety of the whole family.

Kitchen God has been staying at home since last year's 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 good deeds or evil deeds of this family to the Jade Emperor in heaven. The ceremony of sending the Kitchen God is called "sending the kitchen" or "resigning the kitchen". According to the report of the Kitchen God, the Jade Emperor entrusted the family with the fate of good fortune and bad fortune in the new year. Therefore, for a family, the report of the kitchen god is really of great interest.

Sending stoves is usually held at dusk. The family first went to the kitchen, set the table, offered incense to the kitchen god in the shrine on the kitchen wall, and offered candied melons made of caramel and flour. Then the bamboo sticks are tied into paper horses and fodder for animals. Sacrificing the kitchen god with caramel is to make his old man's mouth sweet. In some places, sugar is also coated around the mouth of the kitchen god, saying, "Say more good things, but don't say bad things." This is to gag the kitchen god with sugar and tell him not to speak ill. In the Tang Dynasty's book "The Chronicle of the Old Age", there is an occasional record that "Si Ming (Kitchen God) was drunk by applying distiller's grains on the stove". After people painted the mouth of the kitchen god with sugar, they took off the idol and went to heaven with paper and smoke. In some places, sesame stalks and pine branches are piled up in the yard at night, and then the statue of the kitchen king, which has been offered for one year, is taken out of the shrine, together with paper horses and fodder, and set on fire. The courtyard was brightly lit by the fire, and at this time, the family kowtowed around the fire, burning and praying: It is the 23rd this year, and I would like to send the kitchen ruler to the Western Heaven. There are strong horses and forage, and you will arrive safely. The candied melons are sweet and sweet. Please speak kindly to the Jade Emperor.

In some places, there were beggars who disguised themselves, sang songs and danced to send Kitchen God from house to house, named "Send Kitchen God", in exchange for food.

the custom of sending stoves is very common in all parts of China. Mr. Lu Xun once wrote the poem "A Gengzi sends a stove as a matter of fact": only chicken gum is candy, and the clothes are for petals. If there is nothing at home, there are only a few antelope.

He said in the article "On the Day of Sending Kitchen Stove": "On the day that Kitchen Jun went to heaven, there was still a kind of sugar on the street, which was the size of a citrus. We also had it there, but it was flat, like a thick pancake. That's the so-called' gum tooth'. "The intention was to invite Kitchen Jun to eat it and stick his teeth so that he could not talk ill of the Jade Emperor." The allusion to "Antelope" in Lu Xun's poems comes from "The Biography of Yin Shi in the Later Han Dynasty": "When Emperor Xuandi was proclaimed, the Yin Zi Fang was the most filial and kind. Cooking in the morning on the twelfth day, and seeing the kitchen god, the child will worship and be celebrated again; There is an antelope in the family, so it is worshipped. Naturally, after the third, it became extremely rich. "I have known the third generation, and I have prospered. Therefore, I often recommend the antelope to worship the stove in the twelfth lunar month." Yin Zifang saw the Kitchen God and sacrificed the antelope. Later, she made good luck. Since then, the custom of killing antelope to sacrifice the stove has been handed down.

The offerings for offering sacrifices to stoves in the Tang and Song Dynasties were quite rich. Fan Chengda, a poet in the Song Dynasty, wrote a very vivid description of the folk sacrifice of stoves at that time: the ancient legend of the twelfth lunar month, the kitchen king spoke to the sky. Clouds, cars, and horses linger, and there are cups and plates at home. The pig's head is cooked, the fish is fresh, and the bean paste and Gan Song rice bait are round. When a man offers his daughter to avoid, he drinks and burns money. You don't smell the struggle of your servant, and you don't feel angry when your cat and dog touch you. Send you to the heavenly gate drunk and full, and don't repeat the clouds with a long spoon and a short spoon, begging for points from the market.

The sacrificial stove on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month is closely related to the Chinese New Year. Because, a week later, on New Year's Eve, the Kitchen God came to the world with the good and bad fortune that the family should get, together with other gods. The Kitchen God is considered to guide the gods in the sky. Other gods will go to heaven again after the New Year, and only the Kitchen God will stay in other people's kitchens for a long time. The ceremony to greet the gods is called "receiving the gods", and it is called "receiving the stove" for the kitchen god. It is usually on New Year's Eve to pick up the stove, and the ceremony is much simpler. At that time, just put on a new stove lamp and burn incense in front of the stove niche.

As the saying goes, "Men don't Yue Bai, and women don't sacrifice stoves". In some places, women don't sacrifice stoves. It is said that the kitchen god looks like a small white face and is afraid of women's sacrifice stoves, which is "suspected of men and women". For the origin of the kitchen god, it has a long history. Among the folk gods in China, the qualification of Kitchen God is very old. As early as the Xia Dynasty, he was already a great god revered by the people. According to the ancient book "The Book of Rites and Rites", Kong Yingda said: "Zhuan Xu's son Rili is a Zhu Rong, and he is worshipped as the kitchen god." "Zhuangzi Dasheng" records: "The stove has a bun." Sima Biao commented: "bun, kitchen god, dressed in red, looks like a beautiful woman." "Bao Puzi. Wei Zhi" also records: "On a dark night, the Kitchen God also accused the white man of sin." These records are probably the source of the kitchen god. Also, or the kitchen god is a "suiren" who digs wood for fire; Or Shennong's "fire officer"; Or "Su Jili" of "The Yellow Emperor cooks"; Or the kitchen god surnamed Zhang, the list, and the word Guo; Opinions vary. There is an interesting story among the people.

It is said that there was a family named Zhang in ancient times, two brothers, the elder brother was a plasterer and the younger brother was a painter. My brother's specialty is cooking pots and pans. He was invited by East Street and West Square, and they all praised him for his high cooking skills. He became famous for a long time, and Fiona Fang called him "Zhang Zao Wang" for thousands of miles. It's strange for Zhang Zao Wang to say that no matter who builds a stove, he likes to meddle in other people's homes if there is a dispute. When he meets a noisy daughter-in-law, he will persuade him, and when he meets a fierce mother-in-law, he will say that he seems to be an old elder. In the future, the neighbors will look for him when they have something, and everyone respects him. Zhang Zao Wang lived for seventy years, and when he died, it happened to be late at night on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month. After the death of Zhang Zao Wang, Zhang Jiake was in a mess. It turned out that Zhang Zao Wang was the head of the family, and everything in the family was under his command. Now that the eldest brother has left the world, the younger brother can only write poems and draw pictures. Although he has spent a lot of time, he has never taken care of housework. Daughters-in-law of several rooms are clamoring for separation, and the painter is stirred helplessly, frowning all day. 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 Zhang Zao Wang, late at night, the painter suddenly called 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, only to see the dark kitchen wall, flickering candlelight showing the appearance of Zhang Zao Wang and his late wife, and his family were 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-day East Chef who ordered the kitchen to be the king of the palace'. You are always lazy and lazy, and your sister-in-law is not harmonious, disrespectful and unfilial, which makes your family uneasy. "Big Brother is very angry when he knows that you are splitting up. He is going to tell the Jade Emperor that he will come down to punish you on the eve of New Year's Eve. Hearing these words, the children's nephews and daughters-in-law were terrified, and immediately they knelt down and kowtowed again and again, and rushed to bring Zhang Zao Wang's usual favorite sweets for the stove, pleading with Zao Wang for forgiveness. Since then, uncles, brothers and daughters-in-law who often make noise have never dared to make a splash again. The whole family lived in peace, and the young and old lived in peace. When the neighbors knew about it, word spread, and they all came to Zhang's house to find out the truth. In fact, the kitchen king on the kitchen wall on the 23rd night of the twelfth lunar month was drawn in advance by the painter. He came to town to scare his children's nephews and daughters-in-law, but this method really worked. So when the neighbors came to the painter to inquire about the situation, he had to pretend to do it and distribute the painted kitchen king to his neighbors. As a result, it spread along the countryside, and every household's kitchen was affixed with the image of the kitchen king. The passage of time has formed the custom of offering sacrifices to the kitchen god on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month and praying for the safety of the family. After the spread of the custom of offering sacrifices to stoves, since the Zhou Dynasty, the palace has also included it in the sacrifice ceremony, setting the rules of offering sacrifices to stoves throughout the country and becoming a fixed ceremony.

After returning to

sweeping the dust

and holding a stove festival, I officially began to prepare for the Chinese New Year. Every year from the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month to New Year's Eve, our folks call this period "Spring Festival" or "Dust-cleaning Day". Sweeping the dust is the year-end cleaning, which is called "sweeping the house" in the north and "dusting" in the south. It is a traditional habit of our people to sweep the dust before the Spring Festival. Whenever the Spring Festival comes, every household should clean the environment, clean all kinds of appliances, tear down and wash bedding curtains, sweep the six yards, dust cobwebs and dredge open channels and culverts. North and south of the great river, everywhere is filled with the atmosphere of being happy to engage in sanitation and welcoming the Spring Festival cleanly.

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 everyone's body. Like a shadow, he followed people's whereabouts and was inseparable. The Three Corpses God is a guy who likes flattery and gossiping. He often tells stories in front of the Jade Emperor and describes the world as ugly. Over time, in the impression of the Jade Emperor, the world is simply a dirty world full of evil. Once. The secret report of the Three Corpses God tells us that the world is cursing the Emperor of Heaven and trying to rebel against heaven. The Jade Emperor was furious, and made a decree to quickly find out what had happened in the world. Anyone who resented the gods and insulted them wrote their crimes under the eaves. Then let the spider cover it with a net to mark it. The Jade Emperor ordered Wang Lingguan to go down on New Year's Eve, and all the marked families were beheaded, leaving none. Seeing that this plan was about to succeed, the Three Corpse Gods took advantage of the gap and flew down to the mortal world. Indiscriminately, they made a mark on the eaves and corners of every household, so that Wang Ling Palace could be exterminated. Just as the three-corpse god was doing evil, the kitchen god found out his whereabouts and was frightened to disgrace, so he quickly found various kitchen gods to discuss countermeasures. So, I came up with a good idea. From the date of delivering the kitchen stove on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month to the time of receiving the kitchen stove on New Year's Eve, every household must clean up the house. If any household is not clean, the kitchen god will refuse to enter the house. Everyone followed the instructions of the kitchen god before he ascended to heaven, cleaning the dust, dusting the cobwebs, cleaning the doors and windows, and cleaning their own house completely. When Wang Lingguan visited the lower bound on New Year's Eve, he found that every household had bright windows and bright lights, and people were reunited and happy, and the world was wonderful. Wang Lingguan couldn't find a sign indicating bad behavior, and he was very surprised. He rushed back to the sky and told the Jade Emperor about the peace and happiness on earth and praying for a happy New Year. After hearing this, the Jade Emperor was greatly shocked. He made a decree to detain the Three Corpses God, and ordered to slap his mouth for 3 and put him in prison forever. Thanks to the help of Kitchen God, this human disaster was spared. In order to thank the Kitchen God for helping people eliminate difficulties and disasters and blessing Zhang Xiang, the folk dust sweeping always starts after the kitchen is delivered, and is busy until the New Year's Eve.

the custom of "sweeping the house with dust on the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month" has a long history. According to "Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals", China had the custom of sweeping dust during the Spring Festival in the Yao and Shun era. According to the folk saying, because "dust" and "Chen" are homophonic, sweeping dust in the Spring Festival has the meaning of "except Chen Buxin", and its intention is to sweep away all "poor luck" and "bad luck". This custom is entrusted with people's desire to break through the old and establish the new and their prayer to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new.

Back to

Spring Festival couplets

As a unique literary form, Spring Festival couplets have a long history in China. It began in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, especially in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and has developed for more than a thousand years today.

as early as before the Qin and Han dynasties, there was a custom of hanging peach symbols on the left and right of the gate during the Chinese New Year. Taofu is two big boards made of peach wood, on which are written the names of the legendary deities "shentu (tu)" and "Yu Lei" to exorcise ghosts and suppress evil spirits. This custom lasted for more than 1 years. It was not until the Five Dynasties that people began to put the couplet on the mahogany board instead of the name of the deity. According to historical records, Meng chang, the master of the post-Shu Dynasty, inscribed the couplets on the bedroom door on New Year's Eve in 964 AD, namely "New Year's Eve in Qing Yu, Jia JieNo. Changchun", which is the earliest Spring Festival couplets in China.

After the Song Dynasty, it was quite common for people to hang Spring Festival couplets in the New Year. Therefore, Wang Anshi's poem "January Day" wrote that "thousands of families always change new peaches for old ones" is a true portrayal of the grand occasion of Spring Festival couplets at that time. Because of the close relationship between the appearance of Spring Festival couplets and Taofu, the ancients also called Spring Festival couplets "Taofu".

in the Ming dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming emperor, strongly advocated couplets. After he made his capital in Jinling (now Nanjing), he ordered ministers, officials and ordinary people to write a pair of couplets and stick them on their doors before New Year's Eve. He personally wore casual clothes and went out to watch and have fun from door to door. At that time, scholars also regarded couplets as elegant pleasure, and writing Spring Festival couplets became a temporary social fashion.

since the Qing dynasty, couplets in Qianlong, Jiaqing and Daoguang dynasties have flourished like the rhymes in the prosperous Tang dynasty, and many famous couplets have appeared.

With the development of cultural exchanges among countries, couplets were introduced to Vietnam, Korea, Japan, Singapore and other countries. These countries still have the custom of pasting couplets.

Back to

New Year pictures

In the Spring Festival, people like to hang New Year pictures in the living room and bedroom besides posting Spring Festival couplets and cutting window grilles. A new year's picture adds a festive atmosphere to every household.

New Year pictures are an ancient folk art in China. They reflect the customs and beliefs of the people and place their hopes on the future. New Year pictures, like Spring Festival couplets, originated from "door gods". Spring Festival couplets developed from the names of shentu and Yu Lei to characters, while New Year pictures still developed along the direction of painting.

With the rise of woodblock printing, the content of New Year pictures is not limited to the door gods and so on, but the god of wealth is gradually invited to the home, and then colorful New Year pictures such as Three Stars of Fu Lushou, heavenly god blesses the people, Harvest of Five Grains, Prosperity of Six Livestock and Greeting the Spring are produced in some New Year pictures workshops to meet people's good wishes of celebrating and praying for the New Year.

Because Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor of Ming Dynasty, advocated posting Spring Festival couplets during the Spring Festival, New Year pictures became popular because of its influence. Three important producing areas of New Year pictures appeared in China: Taohuawu in Suzhou, Yangliuqing in Tianjin and Weifang in Shandong. Formed three schools of Chinese New Year pictures.

The earliest collection of New Year pictures in China is the woodcut New Year pictures of the Southern Song Dynasty, which show four ancient beauties: Wang Zhaojun, Zhao Feiyan, Ban Ji and Lvzhu. However, the most popular picture among the people in China is a New Year picture of Marrying a Mouse. This painting depicts an interesting scene in which a mouse marries 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 "Marry a Mouse" not only arouses the interest of adults, but also has a stronger artistic influence on children.

It is said that New Year's Eve is an auspicious day for mice to get married. People should put some food under the bed and in the kitchen as a gift for the groom of mice, so as to pray for a bumper harvest in the coming year. Some grandmothers often tease their children before going to bed.