How do old Beijingers celebrate the New Year?

Today, in the eyes of Beijingers, the Spring Festival (formerly known as China New Year) is still the most important day of the year. From the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month to the Lantern Festival on the 15th of the first month of the following year, Beijingers call it Chinese New Year.

By the 30 th of the year, everything is ready, and after the red-linked door gods are posted, thousands more will be posted. Hanging thousands of people every day is one of the customs in old Beijing. On New Year's Day, thousands of people of different sizes and colors should be hung at street gates, houses and shrines. This is a paper-cut paper product, thin and soft, swaying with the wind, with various patterns, which means good luck. In addition to hanging in shrines and other places, Manchu families will also put white hanging thousands on ancestral altars, which are engraved with Manchu and flowers. In addition, the temple is yellow and hangs thousands; If there is a funeral, people will put up blue posters.

Since then, people have paid the most attention to offering sacrifices to ancestors on the 30th night of the twelfth lunar month, eating New Year's Eve dinner on the first day of the first lunar month and paying New Year's greetings.

On New Year's Day, at sunrise, children and grandchildren should first kowtow to their elders (mainly grandparents, parents, etc.) when wearing new clothes. ) to show filial piety; At this time, the elders are sitting in the middle of the hall to receive gifts and give red envelopes to the underage younger generation-lucky money. After the younger generation pays New Year greetings, other members of the family pay New Year greetings to each other according to their seniority-kowtowing, bowing or squatting.

Chinese New Year is the happiest thing for children, because at this time they will get some lucky money more or less, and they can also go to temple fairs, watch big plays and buy all the things they want to eat and play.

On the first day of New Year's Day, children are busy playing, adults pay New Year's greetings to their elders at home, and they have to pack gifts and go out to pay New Year's greetings. In the first day of junior high school, I mainly visit relatives who are within five clothes and walk very close on weekdays, and I also call on relatives who don't walk often on weekdays but have higher qualifications.

In-laws, such as uncles and fathers-in-law, worship on the second and third days; Others can visit again on the fourth and fifth days.

In addition to relatives, good colleagues, colleagues and neighbors should also pay a courtesy visit. Paying New Year greetings in old Beijing has become a complicated etiquette activity, but it is indispensable.

Be grateful for New Year's greetings, and make contact with them. It is also an important part of the New Year for old Beijingers. Most people who come to pay a special visit to New Year should bring gifts, such as pastry boxes, baskets of dried and fresh fruits, and fine tea. If they have children, they can also buy some firecrackers, silk flower or snacks for their children. There are also gift certificates issued directly by shops and businesses.

Most ordinary neighbors don't have to make a special trip to visit When they meet, they can exchange fists and greet each other. You don't have to come in. If the other party sincerely invites you, you can also stop for a while and wait until the meaning arrives.

According to the custom of old Beijing, women can't go out from the first day of the first month to the fifth day of the first month, and they can't use knives at home. Until the sixth day of the first month, women can go back to their parents' homes, but they can't stay overnight and must return on the same day.