Write an essay of more than 600 words on the theme of Northeastern Spring Festival

New Year’s customs in Northeast China People in Northeast China pay attention to lively and festive New Year celebrations, and there are many New Year customs.

Eating dumplings with coins brings good luck

Eating dumplings during the Chinese New Year is a custom among northerners. Folks in Northeast China have the habit of staying up late on New Year's Eve. On New Year's Eve, you must eat dumplings to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. Among the many dumplings, only a few have coins on them (nowadays, people pay attention to hygiene and use peanuts or other nuts instead.), who has eaten like this? The dumplings indicate good luck and good fortune in the new year.

In addition, Northeastern people must eat dumplings on the "Fifth Day", also known as "Po Wu", which means biting the dumplings, which means destroying all unlucky things, and has the meaning of driving away disasters and avoiding evil. .

Eat frozen pears after New Year’s Eve dinner

Due to the cold weather in the Northeast, some fruits have a different taste after being frozen. The most common ones are ice pears and frozen persimmons. It is understood that the purest one is frozen autumn pear. There is a kind of pear called autumn pear in the north. This kind of pear is sour and astringent when it is just picked. So people pick this kind of pear and put it directly under the tree and cover it. A layer of leaves, the frozen autumn pear is sweet and sour, with plenty of juice. Frozen pears should be thawed in water before eating. Eating these pears after the New Year's Eve dinner can relieve hangover and greasiness.

Do not cut your hair in the first month of the lunar month

Northeastern people generally cannot cut their hair from the first day of the Lunar New Year to the first day of the second lunar month. If you cut your hair, your uncle will be killed (death), so Northeastern people This is very taboo, no one will cut their hair during the first month. "February 2, the dragon raises its head" means that it will be auspicious for people to cut their hair on the second day of February, so on this day many people will rush to get their hair cut to seek good luck.

Don’t sweep the floor on the first and second days of the Lunar New Year

In the Northeast, elderly people have this saying: If you don’t sweep the floor on the first and second days of the Lunar New Year, you don’t sweep the floor. May good luck and wealth be swept away. So you can only sweep the floor when you reach the third grade of junior high school.

Northeastern folk song: "Tanggua is used to worship the stove, and the New Year is coming." The first food to enter the festival is Tanggua, Guandong sugar and other snacks used to "sacrifice the stove". They are made of colloidal maltose and are slightly sweet. Sour taste, in an era when life was not so rich, this was an excellent delicacy. Moreover, the presence of Tanggua and Guandong sugar at home indicates that the Spring Festival is not far away. Of course, the "Kitchen Lord" does not eat the fireworks of the world. This kind of "bribery" in the hope that the "Kitchen Lord" will "say good things to God and ensure peace in the lower world" has naturally become a favorite among children.

Old Northeastern people are particularly particular about "Celebrating the New Year", so they have this saying: "Honey, don't be greedy, it's the New Year after Laba Festival, Laba porridge, drink it for a few days, blah blah blah twenty-three, two Thirteen, sticky melons, twenty-four, clean the house, twenty-five, fried tofu, twenty-six, stew mutton, twenty-seven, kill the rooster, twenty-eight, make the dough, twenty-nine, steam the steamed buns, Stay up all night on the 30th, twist and turn on the New Year's Day..." ballad. Laba porridge, fried tofu, stewed mutton, etc. listed in the folk song are all delicacies of the old Northeast during the Spring Festival. Today, these are commonplace meals, but in the 1950s and 1960s, they could only be enjoyed during the Chinese New Year.

During the Spring Festival, there are only the above kinds of foods, which are certainly not rich. For example, pastries used to worship gods and ancestors in ancient times - Mi Gong, Saqima, etc. are not only the foods of Manchu and Mongolian ethnic minorities in the Northeast. , is also a must-have food in Northeastern homes. Some well-off Northeastern people still had the custom of eating fish on New Year's Eve. The fish must be carp. It was originally offered as a sacrifice to the gods, but later it was associated with the auspicious saying of "good luck and good fortune". Fish is both a delicacy and an offering.

As for the dumplings on New Year's Eve, the dumplings with vegetarian fillings are used to worship the gods, while everyone eats the dumplings filled with meat. People who are not well-off use a mixture of meat and vegetables as fillings. Even the poorest families have many "procedures" to eat dumplings during the Chinese New Year. In addition to the well-known delicacies such as dumplings and rice cakes, people in the "old Northeast" also make "douerjiang" - a cold dish made of pork skin, dried tofu, soybeans, green beans, water mustard, etc., with a color like Amber, similar to "aspic". There is also "mustard dumpling", which is a cold dish used to accompany wine and appetizers.

People eat a lot of greasy food during festivals, which tends to cause fire and phlegm. These cold dishes can make up for this shortcoming.

When all kinds of meat and vegetable dishes are ready, the Northeastern people also prepare candies, dried fruits, melon seeds and "mixed fruits". The so-called "mixed fruits" are today's assorted preserved fruits. In those days, these snacks were delicacies for people to sit around the fire and bid farewell to the New Year.

Today, almost all the offerings and traditional foods in the name of worshiping ancestors and gods have been preserved, but they are not so eye-catching. As for today's Spring Festival, the dining table can only be summed up by the word "abundant". Sichuan and Shandong cuisine and fresh seafood will appear on ordinary people's New Year's Eve dining tables. People who believe in "new style" will also go to big restaurants to "have a meal" to welcome the New Year!

Set off firecrackers

There is a Chinese folk saying of "opening firecrackers". That is to say, when the New Year arrives, the first thing every household does when they open the door is to set off firecrackers to ward off the old and welcome the new with the beeping sound of firecrackers.

Firecrackers are a specialty of China, also known as "firecrackers", "firecrackers" and "firecrackers". It originated very early and has a history of more than 2,000 years.

Nowadays, most of us believe that setting off firecrackers can create a festive atmosphere and is an entertainment activity during the festival. It can bring joy and good luck to people. However, if we trace the origin of firecrackers, we will understand the original intention of ancient people setting off firecrackers and the history of their evolution.

The "Records of the Years of Jingchu" records: "On the first day of the first lunar month, when the rooster crows, firecrackers are fired in front of the court to avoid the evil spirits from the mountain." This record shows that firecrackers were a kind of food in ancient times. Sound tools are used to drive away plague and evil spirits, which makes the custom of setting off firecrackers have a certain superstitious color from the beginning. In fact, this is entirely caused by the misunderstanding of the ancients.

According to the "Shenyi Jing", in ancient times, people passed through the mountains and slept outdoors, and lit bonfires at night, firstly to cook and keep warm, and secondly to prevent wild beasts from invading. However, there is an animal in the mountains that is neither afraid of people nor fire, and often steals food when people are not prepared.

In order to deal with this kind of animal, people think of burning firecrackers in the fire and using the popping sound of bamboo to make it escape. The animal mentioned here is called "Shanxi". The ancients said that it can make people suffer from cold and fever. It is a ghost that can make people suffer from cold and fever diseases. It scares away the bad smell of mountains and repels the evil spirits of the mountains, so that they can gain good fortune and peace.

In the early Tang Dynasty, when the plague was widespread, a man named Li Tian put saltpeter in a bamboo tube and lit it to make a louder sound and thicker smoke. As a result, the mountain miasma was dispelled. Stopped the epidemic. This is the earliest prototype of firecrackers filled with gunpowder.

After the advent of gunpowder, people filled bamboo tubes with saltpeter, sulfur, charcoal, etc. and burned them, creating "firecrackers." By the Song Dynasty, people began to use paper tubes and hemp stems to wrap gunpowder and weave them into strings to make "weipao" (i.e. firecrackers).

As for the evolution of firecrackers, "Popular Choreography" records: "Firecrackers in ancient times were all made of real bamboo, so they were also called firecrackers in Tang Dynasty poetry. Later generations rolled paper for them. It was called "Firecrackers".

With the passage of time, the use of firecrackers has become more and more widespread, and the varieties and colors have become increasingly diverse. This place is my country's famous "Hometown of Firecrackers", and its firecrackers are not only sold throughout the country, but also exported to other countries and regions around the world.

Setting off firecrackers has become a popular entertainment activity with national characteristics. In addition to setting off firecrackers during the Spring Festival to welcome the new year, firecrackers are also set off during major festivals and happy events, such as the Lantern Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, weddings, house construction, and openings, etc.

Spring Festival. Dragon Dance

Dragon lantern dancing, also known as "dragon dance" and "dragon lantern dance", is a unique folk entertainment activity in my country. From the Spring Festival to the Lantern Festival, the custom of dancing with dragon lanterns is practiced in vast areas of urban and rural areas in my country. After thousands of years of inheritance and development, dragon lantern dancing has become a lively, graceful and romantic folk dance. Dragon lantern dancing originated from people's superstition of dragons and has a history of more than 2,000 years. In ancient times, people used dragon dances to pray for the blessing of the dragon, hoping for good weather and a good harvest.

The main prop for playing dragon lanterns is the "dragon".

Dragons are made of grass, bamboo, wood, paper, cloth, etc. The number of dragon sections is an odd number, which is auspicious. Nine-section dragons, eleven-section dragons, thirteen-section dragons are common, and the most common ones can reach twenty-nine sections. Dragons with more than fifteen knots are relatively bulky and not suitable for dancing. They are mainly used for viewing. This kind of dragon is particularly particular about decoration and has high craftsmanship value. There is also a kind of "fire dragon", which is made of bamboo strips woven into a cylinder to form a cage, covered with a transparent and beautiful dragon robe, and burning candles or oil lamps. The night performance is very spectacular.

There are many ways to play dragon lanterns. Those within nine knots focus on tricks. The more common movements include: dragon roaming, dragon head drilling into stalls, head and tail drilling together, dragon wagging its tail, snake shedding, etc. The dragons in the eleventh and thirteenth sections focus on action performances. The golden dragon chases the orb, soars and jumps, sometimes flying into the clouds, sometimes entering the sea and breaking the waves. Very nice to look at.

The custom of dragon dancing has been carried forward and promoted by overseas Chinese. During Chinese traditional festivals and major celebrations, they will dance lions and play dragon lanterns, showing a strong oriental style.

New Year's money

When paying New Year's greetings during the Spring Festival, the elders should distribute the New Year's money prepared in advance to the younger ones. It is said that the New Year's money can suppress evil spirits. With the New Year's money, you can spend the first year of life peacefully. There are two types of New Year's money. One is made of colorful ropes threaded into a dragon shape and placed at the foot of the bed. This record is found in "Yanjing Years' Notes"; the other is the most common, which is given by parents wrapped in red paper. Children's money. New Year's money can be given to the younger generation in public after paying New Year's greetings, or parents can secretly put it under the child's pillow when the child is asleep on New Year's Eve.

Folks believe that New Year's money is given to children. When evil spirits, monsters or "Nian" harm the children, the children can use the money to bribe them and turn evil into good luck. Wu Manyun, a native of the Qing Dynasty, wrote in his poem "New Year's Money": "One hundred and ten pieces of money are threaded with long colorful threads. I divide them and put them on my pillow to keep. I discuss the price of firecrackers and flutes. It makes Jiaoer busy all night." From this point of view, New Year's money is tied to the innocence of children, and children's New Year's money is mainly used to buy firecrackers, toys, candies and other festival items.

Nowadays, the custom of elders distributing lucky money to younger generations is still popular. The amount of lucky gifts ranges from tens to hundreds. These lucky money are mostly used by children to buy books and school supplies. It is a new fashion. New content has been given to the lucky money.

Pasting the word "福" upside down

Every Spring Festival, every household has to paste the word "福" (福), large and small, on their doors, walls and lintels. Posting the word "福" during the Spring Festival is a long-standing folk custom in my country. According to "Meng Liang Lu" records: "On the first day of the new year, I shop for department stores, paint door-god peach charms, and welcome the Spring Festival..."; "Every family of scholars and common people, big or small, sweeps the door, removes dust, cleans the courtyard, and The door god hangs a bell, nails peach charms, puts up spring cards, and offers sacrifices to the ancestors." The "spring card" in the article is the word "福" written on red paper.

The current meaning of the word "福" is "happiness", but in the past it meant "blessing" and "luck". Posting the word "福" during the Spring Festival, whether now or in the past, expresses people's yearning for a happy life and wishes for a better future. In order to more fully reflect this yearning and wish, people simply paste the word "福" upside down, which means "happiness has fallen" and "blessing has arrived". There is also a folk legend about the word "福" being pasted upside down. Zhu Zhang, Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, used the word "福" as a secret sign to prepare for murder. The kind-hearted Empress Ma decided to avoid the tragedy of killing, so she ordered everyone in the city to put a label with the character "福" on their doors before dawn. Naturally, no one dared to disobey Queen Ma's will, so every door with the word "福" was posted. One of the families was illiterate and actually pasted the word "福" upside down. On the next day, the emperor sent someone to go to the street and found that every family had pasted the stickers with the character "福", and one family had the character "福" upside down. The emperor was furious after hearing the report, and immediately ordered the imperial guards to kill the entire family. Empress Ma realized what happened and told Zhu Yuanzhang, "that family knew you are coming today, so had purposely turned the label with the label "福" upside down. Doesn't that mean "luck arrives"?" The emperor heard that it made sense, and gave the order Let him go, and a catastrophe is finally eliminated. From then on, people began to paste the character "福" upside down, firstly to bring good luck, and secondly to commemorate Queen Ma.

There are also folk people who carefully draw the word "Fu" into various patterns, such as longevity stars, longevity peaches, carps jumping over dragon gates, good harvests, dragons and phoenixes, etc. In the past, there was a folk saying that "on the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, every family writes big characters". The word "福" used to be mostly handwritten, but now it is sold in markets and shops.

Eating rice cakes

During the Spring Festival, many areas in our country pay attention to eating rice cakes. Nian Gao, also known as "Nian Nian Gao", is homophonic with "Nian Nian Gao", which means that people's work and life are improving year by year.

As a kind of food, rice cake has a long history in our country. In 1974, archaeologists discovered rice seeds in the matrilineal clan social ruins of Hemudu, Yuyao, Zhejiang. This shows that our ancestors had begun planting rice as early as 7,000 years ago. People in the Han Dynasty called rice cakes "rice cake", "bait", "獍" and so on. The ancients also had a development process in the production of rice cakes from rice cakes to powder cakes. The cookbook "Shici" from the sixth century AD contains the method of making rice cake "white cocoon sugar", "Cook the cooked rice and heat it in a pestle and mortar, then pound it into rice cakes. It must be very cooked. Do not let it cook." There are rice grains..." After the glutinous rice is steamed, it is pounded into rice while it is hot, then cut into peach pit sizes, dried and fried, rolled in sugar and ready to eat.

The method of grinding rice to make cakes is also very early. This can be proved from the "Essential Art of Qi Min" written by Jia Sixie of the Northern Wei Dynasty. The production method is to sift the glutinous rice flour with silk silk, add water and honey to make a harder dough, stick dates and chestnuts on the dough, wrap it with silkworm leaves and steam it. This kind of glutinous rice pastry is quite characteristic of the Central Plains.

New year cakes are mostly made from glutinous rice flour, which is a specialty of the south of the Yangtze River. In the north, there are sticky grains like glutinous rice. In ancient times, sticky millet (commonly known as small yellow rice) was the first choice. This kind of millet is shelled and ground into powder. After being steamed with water, it becomes yellow, sticky, and sweet. It is a delicacy for people in the Yellow River Basin to celebrate the harvest. The article "Scenery of the Imperial Capital" published during the Chongzhen period of the Ming Dynasty records that Beijingers at that time "ate millet cakes on New Year's Day, called New Year cakes." It is not difficult to see that "Nian Nian Gao" is a homophony of the "sticky cake" in the north.

There are many types of rice cakes. Representative ones include white cakes from the north, yellow rice cakes from farmers in Saibei, water-milled rice cakes from Jiangnan water towns, and red turtle cakes from Taiwan. Rice cakes have different flavors from the north to the south.

Northern rice cakes can be steamed or fried, both of which are sweet. In addition to steaming and deep-frying, southern rice cakes can also be fried in slices and boiled in soup, with both sweet and salty flavors.

It is said that the earliest rice cakes were used to worship gods and ancestors on New Year's Eve, and later became a Spring Festival food.

New year cake is not only a holiday delicacy, but also brings new hope to people every year. As a poem from the late Qing Dynasty said: "People's hearts are so high that they make food with harmonious sounds, meaning that the year is better than the year, and they are used to pray for good years." It's the same in other places!