Spring Festival customs in various places

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The Spring Festival customs in various parts of our country include:

Sweeping dust. "On the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, dust the dust and sweep the house." According to "Lu Spring and Autumn Annals", my country had the custom of sweeping dust during the Spring Festival in the era of Yao and Shun. According to folklore: sweeping dust during the New Year means "removing the old and making new arrangements", and its purpose is to sweep away all bad luck and bad luck. This custom entrusts people with their desire to destroy the old and establish the new and their prayers to say goodbye to the old and usher in the new.

Post Spring Festival couplets. Spring couplets are also called door couplets, spring posts, couplets, couplets, peach charms, etc. They describe the background of the times and express good wishes with neat, dualistic, concise and exquisite words. They are a unique literary form in my country. This custom originated in the Song Dynasty and became popular in the Ming Dynasty. In the Qing Dynasty, the ideological and artistic quality of Spring Festival couplets were improved.

Paste window grilles and paste the word "福" upside down. Among the people, people also like to paste various paper-cuts - window grilles - on their windows. Paper-cutting is a very popular folk art in my country and has been loved by people for thousands of years. With its unique summary and exaggeration techniques, window grilles vividly express auspicious events and good wishes. Posting the word "福" during the Spring Festival is a long-standing folk custom in my country. The word "福" refers to blessing and luck, expressing people's yearning for a happy life and their wishes for a better future. Some people simply paste the word "福" upside down to express "happiness has arrived" or "blessing has arrived".

New Year pictures. New Year pictures, like Spring Festival couplets, originated from the "door god". With the rise of woodblock printing, the content of New Year pictures is no longer limited to monotonous themes such as door gods, but has become rich and colorful to satisfy people's wishes of celebrating the good year. There are three important producing areas for New Year paintings in my country: Taohuawu in Suzhou, Yangliuqing in Tianjin and Weifang in Shandong. In the early years of the Republic of China, Shanghai Zheng Mantuo combined the calendar with New Year pictures. This is a new form of New Year pictures. This two-in-one New Year picture later developed into a wall calendar, which is now popular all over the country.

New Year’s Eve. The night of the last day of the lunar year is called "New Year's Eve", and that night is called "New Year's Eve". People often stay up all night on New Year's Eve, which is called staying up all night. Su Shi's "Shou Sui": "Children stay awake all night and keep each other happy." There is a legend about the origin of New Year's Eve, the purpose is to drive away a vicious monster called Xi. That night, "Xi" broke into the village and was so frightened that she ran back to the mountains and never dared to come out again. So on the following New Year's Eve nights, every household posted red Spring Festival couplets and set off firecrackers to drive away the New Year's Eve beasts. In order to seek peace in the new year, this custom has been passed down since then.

Stay up late on New Year's Eve. Keeping the year old on New Year's Eve is one of the most important annual customs. The custom of keeping the year old has been around for a long time. The earliest record can be found in the "Fengtu Zhi" of Zhouchu in the Western Jin Dynasty: On New Year's Eve, each person greets each other with gifts, which is called "giving the new year"; "Dividing the year old"; everyone stays up all night waiting for the dawn, which is called "keeping the year old". On New Year's Eve, the whole family gets together to have New Year's Eve dinner, light candles or oil lamps, sit around the fire and chat, waiting for the moment to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. The all-night vigil symbolizes driving away all evil plagues and diseases, and looking forward to it. May you have good luck in the new year. In ancient times, keeping up with the old age had two meanings: the elderly kept up with the old year to "say goodbye to the old year", which meant cherishing the time; the young ones kept up the old year to prolong the life of their parents. Since the Han Dynasty, the transition time between the new and the old year has generally been at midnight.

Firecrackers. Chinese folk have a saying of "opening the door with 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. Setting off firecrackers can create a festive and lively atmosphere. It is a festive entertainment activity that can bring people joy and good luck.

Eat rice cakes and make dumplings. Steamed rice cake. Rice cake has become a must-have seasonal food for almost every household because of its homophonic pronunciation of "year high" and its varied tastes. The styles of rice cakes include square yellow and white rice cakes, which symbolize gold and silver and convey the meaning of getting rich in the new year. The night before the actual Chinese New Year is called Reunion Night. People who are away from home have to rush home thousands of miles away, and the whole family sits together to make dumplings to celebrate the New Year. Dumplings are used to symbolize reunion and joy; they also take the meaning of New Year's Eve, which is very auspicious; in addition, because dumplings resemble ingots in shape, eating dumplings during the Chinese New Year also has the auspicious meaning of "bringing in wealth and treasure".

Open the firecrackers.

On the morning of the Spring Festival, when the door is opened, firecrackers are set off first, which is called "opening the door and firecrackers". After the sound of firecrackers, the ground was filled with red, as bright as clouds and brocade, which was called "Full of Red". At this time, the streets were full of auspiciousness and joy.

Happy New Year. An important activity during the Spring Festival is to go to new friends’ homes and neighbors to wish them a happy New Year, formerly known as New Year greetings. The custom of paying New Year greetings among the Han people has been around since the Han Dynasty. It became very popular after the Tang and Song Dynasties. Some people who did not need to go there in person could send congratulations with name cards. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, it was called "thorn", so the business card was also called "famous thorn". After the Ming Dynasty, many families put a red paper bag on their door to collect name cards, called a "door book." When paying New Year's greetings during the Spring Festival, the younger generation should first pay New Year greetings to their elders and wish them longevity and health. The elders can give the younger generation the New Year's money prepared in advance. It is said that the New Year's money can suppress evil spirits, because "Sui" and "祟" are homophonic, so the younger generation will receive the New Year's money. You can spend one year in peace.

The forms of mutual visits between people to pay New Year greetings can be roughly divided into four categories based on their social relationships: First, visiting relatives. The second is a courtesy visit. The third is a thank you visit. The fourth is door-to-door visits. Now, in some agencies, organizations, companies, and schools, everyone gathers together to congratulate each other, which is called "group worship." With the development of the times, the custom of New Year greetings has constantly added new content and forms. Nowadays, in addition to following the previous methods of New Year greetings, people have also developed ceremonial New Year greetings via telegrams and telephone calls. If for some reason you fail to follow the rituals and make up for it in the future, it is called "paying homage to your old age."

Accounting for age. In the old days, the weather was cloudy and sunny in the first few days of the New Year to account for the success of the year. The theory begins with "Sui Zhan" written by Dongfang Shuo of the Han Dynasty, which states that eight days after the end of the year, one day is the chicken day, the second day is the dog day, the third day is the pig day, the fourth day is the sheep day, the fifth day is the cow day, the sixth day is the horse day, and the seventh day is the horse day. One day is a great man, eight days is a valley. If the day is sunny, the object will flourish; if the day is cloudy, the object will not prosper. Later generations followed this custom and believed that the weather from the first to the tenth day of the lunar month was auspicious with clear weather, no wind and no snow. Later generations developed from accounting for age into a series of sacrifices and celebrations. There is a custom that no chickens are killed on the first day of the lunar month, dogs are not killed on the second day of the lunar month, pigs are not killed on the third day of the lunar month... no executions are carried out on the seventh day of the lunar month.

Gather wealth. It is said that the first day of the first lunar month is the broom's birthday. You cannot use a broom on this day, otherwise it will sweep away luck, lose money, and attract the "broom star", which will bring bad luck. If you must sweep the floor, you must sweep from the outside to the inside. It is also not allowed to pour water or take out garbage outside on this day, for fear of losing money. This custom is still preserved in many places today.

Sacrifice to the God of Wealth. Southerners worship the God of Wealth on the fifth day of the first lunar month. According to folklore, the God of Wealth is the God of Five Ways. The so-called five roads refer to east, west, south, north, and middle, which means that you can get wealth in any of the five ways. "Qing Jia Lu" written by Gu Lu in the Qing Dynasty said: "The fifth day of the first lunar month is the birthday of the Lutou God. Gold gongs and firecrackers are used, and the sacrifices are finished. In order to be the first to benefit the market, one must get up early to welcome it, which is called connecting the Lutou." He also said: "The head of today's road is the walking god among the five sacrifices. The so-called five roads should be the east, west, south, north, and middle ears." The fifth day of the Lunar New Year is the birthday of the God of Wealth. In order to compete for profits, it is connected first on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year. , known as "grabbing the road head", also known as "receiving the God of Wealth".

Send the poor. "Giving away the poor" on the fifth day of the first lunar month is a very unique folk custom in ancient my country. On this day, women in each household are made of paper, called "Sweeping Qing Niang", "Five Poor Women", and "Five Poor Women". They carry paper bags, sweep the dirt from the house into the bags, and send them outside to blast them with cannons. This custom is also known as "sending the poor to the poor" and "sending the poor daughter-in-law out". In the Hancheng area of ??Shaanxi Province, people are not allowed to go out on the fifth day. Fresh meat must be roasted in a pot, and madou must be stir-fried to make it crackle and make a sound. It is believed that this can eliminate poverty and bring wealth. In addition, in the old days, people had to eat particularly well on New Year's Eve or the fifth day of the first lunar month, which was commonly known as "filling the poor hole." The widely popular folk custom of sending the poor away reflects the traditional psychology of the Chinese people who generally hope to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, bid farewell to the old poverty and hardship, and welcome a better life in the new year.

The market is open. It is an old custom that during the Spring Festival, large and small shops will be closed from the beginning of the new year and open on the fifth day of the first lunar month. It is customary to regard the fifth day of the first lunar month as the holy day of wealth. It is believed that choosing this day to open the market will definitely attract wealth.

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