What are the customs and meanings of the Spring Festival?

"Wear new clothes, paste Spring Festival couplets and buy firecrackers with lucky money." Spring Festival is the most distinctive traditional festival in China. The taste of the year is the most nostalgic taste. Do you know when the Spring Festival began? What do you do during the Spring Festival? Let's walk into the Spring Festival and have a look!

1, dust removal

The busyness before the year was mainly to take off the old cloth for a new one, and sweeping dust was one of the new customs of taking off the old cloth before the year. A folk proverb says, "On the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, dust and sweep the house". At the end of 23/24, we officially began to prepare for the Spring Festival.

Dust removal means year-end cleaning, which is called "house cleaning" in the north and "house cleaning" in the south. Whenever the Spring Festival comes, every household should clean the environment, clean all kinds of utensils, remove and wash bedding curtains, sweep six yards, dust cobwebs and dredge culverts in open channels. Everywhere is filled with the joyful atmosphere of cleaning and welcoming the Spring Festival cleanly.

Because "dust" and "Chen" are homophonic, according to folk sayings, the meaning of sweeping dust in the Spring Festival is "getting rid of the old and replacing it with the new". The purpose of sweeping dust is to sweep away all "poor luck" and "bad luck" in order to pray for the next year; This custom places people's prayers and wishes to ward off evil spirits and eliminate disasters, bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, and welcome the good fortune.

Step 2: keep your age

Shounian, also known as Shounian Fire and Zhaonian, has a long history and is one of the folk activities in China. The folk activities before New Year's Eve are mainly manifested in lighting and keeping fire, that is, every household lights a candle and gets together to welcome the New Year. On New Year's Eve, lights and candles burn all night, which is called "waste". It is said that after this, the wealth of the family will become rich in the coming year.

In some areas, all-night vigil (staying up until New Year's Eve) is also called keeping watch, that is, on New Year's Eve, the whole family get together, eat New Year's Eve, light candles or oil lamps, sit around the stove and chat, and keep vigil all night, which symbolizes driving away all evil diseases and epidemics.

3, lucky money

Lucky money is one of the customs of the Spring Festival. The lucky money is distributed by the elders to the younger generation. After dinner, the elders should distribute the lucky money prepared in advance to the younger generation. It is said that lucky money can suppress evil spirits, and the younger generation can spend a year safely with lucky money. In some families, parents will put their children under pillows after they fall asleep at night.

Giving lucky money in the New Year reflects the care and sincere blessing of the elders to the younger generation. Lucky money in folk culture means to drive away evil spirits and keep peace. The original intention of lucky money is to suppress evil spirits, because people think that children are easy to sneak around, so they use lucky money to suppress evil spirits.

4. New Year's Eve dinner

It is one of the customs of Chinese New Year holidays, also known as New Year's Eve, reunion dinner, reunion dinner and so on. Especially the family dinner on New Year's Eve. The New Year's Eve dinner originated from the ancient year-end sacrificial ceremony, which is a reunion dinner after worshipping the gods and ancestors. The reunion dinner is the highlight of New Year's Eve, which is not only colorful, but also very meaningful. Worship the gods and ancestors before the reunion dinner, and eat after the worship ceremony.

Generally speaking, there are chicken (which means there is a plan), fish (which is more than enough every year), oyster sauce (which is good for the market), Nostoc flagelliforme (rich), yuba (rich), lotus root (smart), lettuce (rich) and raw garlic (calculated) for good luck. China people's New Year's Eve is a family reunion dinner, which is the most abundant and important dinner in a year.

5. Happy New Year

Visiting relatives and friends is a way to celebrate the New Year. Paying New Year greetings is an important activity in the Spring Festival, and it is also a way for people to express their blessings. They visited relatives and friends, exchanged New Year greetings and congratulated each other on their new happiness, wealth and happiness.

The meaning of New Year's greetings is to visit relatives and friends, congratulate each other on the New Year, and express feelings for relatives and friends and good wishes for life in the new year.