Folk customs during the Spring Festival

Generally speaking, Chinese people eat rice cakes, jiaozi, Ciba, glutinous rice balls, poached eggs, big balls, whole fish, wine, oranges, apples, peanuts, melon seeds, sweets, fragrant tea and dishes. Accompanied by many activities, such as dusting, washing bedding, preparing new year's goods, pasting Spring Festival couplets, pasting New Year's pictures, pasting paper-cuts, stick grilles, pasting blessings, lighting candles, setting off firecrackers, observing the New Year, giving lucky money, visiting relatives, visiting flower markets, and making community fires, it is extremely enjoyable. People in China still have the habit of hanging Chinese knots during the Spring Festival. On the eve of the Lunar New Year, Tianjin people have the custom of inviting Chinese knots to receive Xiang Qiao's blessing at the Qiaoxiang Pavilion, an ancient cultural street. Wenzhou people want to go to their religion, sincerely pray and hope to get happiness with their families in the new year. Mostly Buddhism.

For thousands of years, people have made the annual custom celebration extremely colorful. Every year from the 23rd to 30th of the twelfth lunar month, people call this period "Spring Festival" or "Dust Day", which is the traditional habit of our people.

Then, every household prepares new year's goods. About ten days before the festival, people were busy shopping. New year's goods include chicken, duck, fish, tea, wine, oil sauce, North and South roasted seeds and nuts, and fruit with sugar bait. They should also prepare some gifts when visiting relatives and friends in the New Year. Children should buy new clothes and hats to wear in the New Year.

Before the Chinese New Year, a New Year greeting in red paper and yellow characters should be posted on the door of the house, that is, Spring Festival couplets written in red paper. Bright-colored and auspicious New Year pictures are posted in the house. Beautiful window grilles are cut out by ingenious girls and pasted on the windows. Red lanterns are hung in front of the door, and lucky characters and door gods can be pasted upside down. Passers-by are blessed when they think of it. All these activities are aimed at adding enough festive atmosphere to the festival.

Another name for the Spring Festival is China New Year. In the past legend, "Nian" is a fictional animal, which will bring bad luck to people. New Year's Eve. When the tree is dead, the grass will not grow; After the New Year, everything grows and flowers are everywhere. How to spend a year? Firecrackers are needed, so there is the custom of setting off firecrackers, which is actually another way to set off a lively scene.

The Spring Festival is a happy and peaceful festival, and it is also a day for family reunion. Children who leave home should go home for reunion during the Spring Festival. The night before the Lunar New Year is the 30th night of the twelfth lunar month, also called New Year's Eve and Reunion Night. Celebrating the New Year is one of the most important activities at the turn of the new year. On New Year's Eve, the whole family stayed up all night, got together to drink and enjoy family happiness. In the north, people are used to eating jiaozi on New Year's Eve. Jiaozi's practice is to mix dough first, and the word harmony is harmony. Jiaozi's jiaozi homonym means to get together and to make friends at a young age. In the south, there is a habit of eating rice cakes. The sweet glutinous rice rice cakes symbolize the sweetness of life in the new year, step by step.

When the first cock crow rings, or the New Year bell rings, firecrackers are ringing in the street, and noise comes and goes. Everyone is beaming. The new year has begun. Men, women and children wear holiday clothes. First of all, pay New Year greetings to the elders at home. During the festival, children will get lucky money and have a reunion dinner. In the second and third years of the Lunar New Year, they began to visit relatives and friends, pay New Year greetings to each other and say some congratulations and new happiness.

The warm atmosphere of the festival permeates not only every household, but also the streets and alleys all over the country. In some places, there are customs such as lion dancing, playing dragon lanterns, performing social fires, visiting flower markets and temple fairs. During this period, lanterns are all over the city and tourists are all over the streets. It was very lively and unprecedented, and the Spring Festival didn't really end until after the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first month.

During the Spring Festival, setting off firecrackers, posting calligraphy and paintings on doors and windows to pray for blessings and decorating homes are the most common customs of this festival.

Setting off firecrackers

There is a folk saying in China that "open the door and set off firecrackers". That is, when the new year comes, the first thing for every household to open the door is to set off firecrackers to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. Firecracker is a specialty of China, also known as "Firecracker", "Firecracker" and "Firecracker". Its origin is very early, and it has a history of more than two thousand years. Setting off firecrackers can create a festive and lively atmosphere, which is a kind of entertainment in festivals and can bring happiness and good luck to people.

Wang Anshi s Poem Yuan Ri;

The roar of firecrackers, the old year has passed; The warm spring breeze ushered in the New Year, and people happily drank the newly brewed Tu Su wine.

Every family has a primary school birthday. Always trade new peaches for old ones.

It depicts the grand festival scene of China people celebrating the Spring Festival. Firecrackers are a sign of saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new, and also an expression of festive atmosphere.

Tiehua chicken

In ancient times, during the Spring Festival, chickens were painted on doors and windows to drive away ghosts and evil spirits. The book Xuan Zhong Ji written by Jin people mentioned the pheasant on Dushuo Mountain mentioned above, saying that the pheasant crowed when the sun just rose and the first ray of sunshine shone on this big tree. When it crows, chickens all over the world crow with it. Chicken cut during the Spring Festival actually symbolizes pheasant. In ancient mythology, there is also a saying that chickens are deformed birds. It is said that during the reign of Emperor Yao, friends in the past paid tribute to a Chongming bird, which could ward off evil spirits. Everyone welcomes the arrival of Chongming birds every year, but envoys don't come every year. People carve wooden birds, or put them in bronze statues on portals, or draw them on doors and windows to scare off monsters and make them afraid to come again. Because the bird looks like a chicken, it gradually changed to draw a chicken or cut window flowers and stick them on doors and windows, which became the source of paper-cutting art in later generations.

China paid special attention to chickens in ancient times and called them "birds with five virtues". "Biography of Korean Poetry" says that a crown on the head is Wende; There is a distance behind the foot to play, which is martial arts; It is brave for the enemy to dare to fight before; It is benevolence to have food to welcome the same kind; Vigilance and dawn are beliefs. Therefore, people not only cut and paste chickens during the Chinese New Year, but also set the first day of the New Year as Chicken Day.

Zhuxian Town Woodblock New Year Picture "Whip the Gatekeeper at once"

There is a custom of putting up doors for the New Year in all parts of China. At first, the janitor carved mahogany into a human shape and hung it next to people. Later, it was painted as a janitor and posted on the door. The legendary brothers Shen Tu and Lei Yu specialize in ghosts. They guard the portal, and evil spirits dare not enter the portal to harm.

However, the real historical records are not shentu and Long Yu, but an ancient warrior named Cheng qin. According to the biography of Han Guang written by Ban Gu, the portrait of Cheng qin, an ancient warrior, was painted on the gate of King Guang Chuan (Quping), wearing shorts and holding a sword. In the Tang dynasty, the position of the door god was replaced by Qin's harmony.

The Journey to the West's narrative is more detailed. "Many dragon kings made a dogma in order to bet with a Mr. Bubu, so they should ask questions. The Jade Emperor appointed Wei Zhi as the supervisor. King Jinghe pleaded with Emperor Taizong for his life. Emperor Taizong agreed, and when it was time to kill the dragon, he summoned Wei Zhi to play chess with him. Unexpectedly, Wei Zhi took a nap in the rain, and his soul ascended to heaven and beheaded the Dragon King. The Dragon King complained that Taizong had broken his word and cried outside the palace day and night for his life. Emperor Taizong told his ministers that General Qin Baoshu said, "I would like to stand outside with Wei Chijingde and wear a uniform. ".Emperor Taizong agreed. There was really nothing that night. Emperor Taizong could not bear the hardships of the two generals, so he ordered the skillful Dan Qing to draw the true faces of the two generals and stick them on the door. "

There are also paintings of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei as door gods. Every household has a door god, and later generations often draw a pair of door gods as martial arts. Door gods are divided into three categories: the first category is "door gods", which are mostly attached to doors or the whole door, about four or five feet high and two or three feet wide. The second kind is the "door keeper", which is attached to the small street door, about two feet high and one foot wide. These two door gods are two gods with a black face and a white face. White left black right, white easy, black evil, each holding a slap in the face. The third category is the "gatekeeper", which is a little smaller and more limited than the street keeper. It is also a black and white Er Shen, but there are also two black and white statues sitting like statues. At most, there is a picture of "Kirin sending a child" posted on the door, and there are two plump pink dolls with comb crowns, each riding a unicorn. This kind of door god should have been stuck on the wedding door for good luck, and later it was also used as a New Year decoration for ordinary street doors.

paste up Spring Festival couplets

Spring Festival couplets are also called door couplets, spring stickers, couplets, couplets and peach symbols. They depict the background of the times and express good wishes with neat, dual, concise and delicate words, which are unique literary forms in China. Every Spring Festival, no matter in urban or rural areas, every household should choose a pair of red Spring Festival couplets and stick them on the door to add festive atmosphere to the festival. This custom began in the Song Dynasty and was popular in the Ming Dynasty. By the Qing Dynasty, the ideological and artistic quality of Spring Festival couplets had been greatly improved. Liang Zhangju's monograph Poetry of Spring Festival couplets discusses the origin of couplets and the characteristics of various works.

There are many kinds of Spring Festival couplets, which can be divided into door heart, frame pair, cross string, spring strip and bucket square according to the place of use. The "door core" is attached to the center of the upper end of the door panel; The "door frame pair" is attached to the left and right door frames; "Cross-dressing" is posted on the crossbar of the door; "Spring strips" are posted in corresponding places according to different contents; "Dou Jin", also known as "door leaf", is a square diamond, often attached to furniture and screen walls.

Stick the word "fu"

While putting up Spring Festival couplets, some people have to put large and small "Fu" characters on doors, walls and lintels. Sticking the word "Fu" during the Spring Festival is a long-standing folk custom in China. The word "Fu" symbolizes good luck and wishes for a happy life and a bright future. In order to fully reflect this yearning and wish, some people simply put the word "Fu" upside down, indicating that "Fu has arrived" and "Fu has arrived". Others elaborate the word "Fu" into various patterns, such as longevity, longevity peach, carp yue longmen, abundant grains, dragons and phoenixes, etc.

Stick paper-cuts on the windows.

In the folk, people also like to stick various paper-cuts on the windows-window grilles. Window grilles not only set off the festive atmosphere, but also integrate decoration, appreciation and practicality. Paper-cutting is a very popular folk art in China, which has been loved by people for thousands of years. Because it is often pasted on the window, it is also called "window grilles". With its unique generalization and exaggeration, window grilles show auspicious things and good wishes in New Year pictures year after year, richly decorating festivals.

New Year picture

Hanging New Year pictures during the Spring Festival is also very common in urban and rural areas. Thick black and colorful New Year pictures add a lot of prosperity and festive atmosphere to thousands of families. New Year pictures are an ancient folk art in China, which reflects people's simple customs and beliefs and places their hopes on the future. New Year pictures, like Spring Festival couplets, originated from "door gods". With the rise of block printing, the content of New Year pictures is not limited to monotonous themes such as door gods, but has become rich and colorful. Some New Year pictures workshops have produced classic color New Year pictures, such as Fu Lushou's Samsung, God bless the people, the bumper harvest of grains, the prosperity of six animals, and the blessing of welcoming the spring, in order to meet people's good wishes of celebrating and praying for the New Year.

Tieguaqian

Hanging a thousand is carved with auspicious words on red paper, accompanied by a long ruler and A Zhi, which is posted in front of the door, reflecting the symbol of peach. There are eight immortals hanging in front of the Buddha; Multi-purpose hanging thousands of households; Noble families use less; Its yellow paper is three inches long and red paper is more than one inch long, which is a "small hanging thousand" and is used by shops. The earliest thousands of hanging coins were linked by making money (copper coins), which, like lucky money, had an overwhelming victory effect.

Next year's meal

In the north, some families will provide a pot of rice, which was cooked years ago and provided for China New Year. It's called "annual meal", which means that there are leftovers every year, which can't be eaten all year round, and this year we still eat the grain of the previous year. This bowl of New Year's Eve dinner is usually cooked with rice and millet. As the saying goes in Beijing, it is called "two rice" because it is yellow and white. This is called "golden rice with gold and silver, gold and silver everywhere".