Talk about the ancient Chinese folk culture and the taste of the year today.

There are festivals in life and folk customs in programs; Customs make festivals pass down from generation to generation, and festivals make life colorful. In the old days, there were festivals in Taiyuan every month, and the most grand, lively and amorous feelings were the New Year.

On the first day of the first month in the old calendar year, people call it the Chinese New Year, which is different from New Year's Day in the Gregorian calendar, and is later called the Chinese New Year. In the old days, after the Laba Festival, Taiyuan people were busy preparing for the New Year, and the atmosphere became stronger day by day. King of people on 23rd, 24th is the day of cleaning, commonly known as "Hu Cleaning Day". Since then, the preparations for the year have reached a climax. There used to be a proverb in Taiyuan: "Twenty-five in grinding bean curd, twenty-six in work, twenty-seven in market, twenty-eight in paste, twenty-nine in wine, and thirty in jiaozi." (Sticking refers to all kinds of couplets, New Year pictures, window grilles, door gods, etc.) I have something to do every day, and I have plans every day. I have been busy until the afternoon of New Year's Eve, and then I will clean the outdoor again, that is, I will start to get new clothes and hats on the hour, pack jiaozi, and prepare incense, lights and other items to welcome the gods.

On New Year's Eve, families stay up all night, commonly known as "old age". When the rooster crows, it starts to burn incense, light lamps, set offerings, set off fireworks, receive gods and worship ancestors, and then the family pays New Year greetings to each other. Children kowtow to their elders to pay New Year greetings, and elders give them lucky money for good luck. According to the traditional custom, we should have breakfast before the sun comes out. After breakfast, I went out to pay a New Year call, and my relatives went to the church, and those who were reluctant to do so met on the way, bowing and exchanging auspicious words, which were nothing more than "Congratulations on the New Year", "Congratulations on making a fortune" and "Best wishes for the year".

merchants' families are the most pious in offering sacrifices to the God of Wealth during the Chinese New Year. Before the end of Qing Dynasty, March 15th and July 22nd were the days of offering sacrifices to the God of Wealth. After the Republic of China, only during the Chinese New Year, sacrifices were made in money stacks, cash chests or special shrines, and incense and guns were burned for chickens, ducks, pigs and sheep. Sacrifice the god of wealth before going to the homes of merchants who have business dealings to pay New Year greetings.

Chinese New Year's Day dragged on for a long time until after Tiancang Festival on 25th. On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, it is commonly known as "breaking the fifth". As the folk saying goes, "breaking the fifth doesn't go out". On the sixth lunar month, it is convenient to travel, and the residents will not visit relatives until the opening of the market in the sixth lunar month. The seventh day of the seventh lunar month is commonly known as "People's Day". As the saying goes, sunny days will benefit population reproduction. After the evening of the eighth day of the eighth lunar month, they offered sacrifices to the star gods, lit seven lamps in the courtyard, symbolizing the Big Dipper, and worshipped in the north, so as to get a good year. The tenth day is commonly known as "ten motionless days", and it is said that the day mouse marries. From 13th to 16th, the Lantern Festival is celebrated. Within a few days, the night lights are brilliant, the community fires yangko, and it is very lively, commonly known as "Lantern Festival". Twenty is commonly known as "small adding positions", and twenty-five is "old adding positions". The East-West Rice Market has set up a position of warehouse officials, and people go to sacrifice and set off sparks. After the Tiancang Festival, the excitement during the Spring Festival ended.

Compared with the city, suburban farmers have a different style in the Spring Festival. In Jinyang area, on New Year's Eve, there should be a strong fire, a bundle of grass and cypress leaves on the door. Wanghuo is built into a tower with charcoal blocks, and the midnight bell rings, igniting Wanghuo and illuminating the whole village, symbolizing the "Wanghuo" life. On the first day of the lunar new year, there is a custom of eating boiled pumpkins. It is called "eating a melon." At the end of the year, it is cooked with millet and put in a bowl to worship ancestors, commonly known as "fishing for rice every other year". Sweeping the courtyard and cleaning up the garbage on the fifth day of the fifth day is commonly known as "sweeping the poor".

In Gujiao mountain area, activities during the Spring Festival are the most abundant. On New Year's Eve, the ancestral gods are hung up, and every household in the clan should send an offering. At that time, a chicken was given to the endogenous boy's home, and a pot of wine was given to the girl's home. On the morning of the third day, the whole family get together to pay homage to their ancestors, and the younger generation kowtows to their elders, commonly known as "the number of generations", and then get together and eat offerings. In the afternoon, send the gods to the entrance of the village, face the ancestors, burn incense and kowtow, and set off firecrackers, which is commonly called "sending the gods". The custom of "fishing every other year" is different from Jinyang's. At the end of the year, half a bowl of millet is cooked for daily use, and a walnut is placed in the bowl for the throne of Zaojun. It is not until the second day of February that it is poured out to dry and stirred in dung. As the saying goes, it can be a pest. The fifth day of the first month is "Send the Poor Day". Clean the indoor courtyard in the afternoon of the fourth day, and send the dirty people outside the village at dawn on the fifth day, burn incense and set off firecrackers to show off the poor. The meal on this day is steamed oat flour or steamed bread, which is commonly called "distillation of poor gas" On the early morning of the 1th day of the first month, in the courtyard, grain-like food made of naked oats flour was offered, incense and paper were burned, firecrackers were set off, and heaven and earth were prayed for a bumper harvest. In some places, it is necessary to weigh a portion of each grain, wrap it in paper and provide it to the hospital at the same time. After the supply, it is said that if the amount of a certain grain increases, it is said that the annual harvest is the best. This custom is commonly known as "receiving seeds" or "grabbing seeds". On the fifteenth day of the first month, besides the Lantern Festival, there is also the custom of sending athel loren. Villages in Wudao Temple or Crossroads offer memorial tablets for athel Loren, set fire to towers, and provide oil noodles and steamed bread. At the beginning of the activity, beating gongs and drums, carrying a basket of baskets to collect a handful of grain from house to house, tearing a piece of cloth or cotton wool from the clothes and cutting paper figures according to the number of households, and placing them in front of the tablet of athel loren. In the afternoon, send the memorial tablets and collected items outside the village, burn incense and set off firecrackers, and burn them with fire, which means that plague is sent away, people and animals are safe and all diseases are not born. On the 25th day of the first lunar month, it is customary to knead rice flour or soft rice flour into a number of lamps in the shape of granaries, granaries and various livestock and poultry, with cooked red dates and beans wrapped in them, and the wick made of fine rice stalks wrapped in cotton. At night, fill the lamp with oil, put the barn lamp at the grain storage place, put the cow lamp on the cowshed windowsill, put the chicken lamp on the kang, put the dog lamp on the door, put the cat lamp in the corner, etc., and light them one by one. Uncle Cang Guan's lamp is five inches high, wearing a red tassel hat, holding a dustpan in his left hand and a bucket in his right hand, riding a horse with several pockets on his body. Put the lamp in the bowl and float in the water jar. When you release it, you should read: "Grandpa Cang Guan drinks horses, and carries money and grain (or pockmarked seeds and black beans). Pockmarked seeds fry oil and black beans feed cows." In order to beg for good weather and good harvests.

It is the custom in Qingxu County to prepare a sacrifice "jujube hill" (steamed with noodles and dates) before the New Year Festival. The offerings made by Kitchen God for glutinous rice flour are rectangular and divided into twelve grids (one grid is added for leap months), and one jujube is planted in each grid, which is commonly called "grain root". Another offering is a pot of small rice with a persimmon and jujube on it, commonly known as "fishing for rice every other year" The well-fed house also provides sheep, pig heads, fruits, walnuts, persimmons, oil noodles (fried with noodles) and sticky food. It is different from other places to welcome God on January Day. According to the orientation of XiShen recorded in the Constitution, use cypress leaves and carboniferous to pick up a long pole and stand on the house. At the same time, use red paper to stick it on a new broom and put it on the house. In front of the house where the gods are offered, a red note is put on the carboniferous, and a hundred bundles of incense are sandwiched between the two carboniferous, which is commonly known as "tender incense" to show respect for all auspicious gods. The Lantern Festival's cultural activities began on the 14th day of the first month. Villages walked on stilts, ran dry boats, pushed floats, danced dragon lanterns, built tower fires, played swings, and toured Jiuqu. Some big villages and towns also had back sticks, iron bars, table sticks, and lifted pavilions, and played stories of various opera characters in the streets, with exquisite production, gorgeous decoration and beautiful dancing skills.

Not only the cities and villages, but also the temples are very lively during the Spring Festival. The temples in Jinci are opened at the gate of Wugeng, decorated with lanterns, burned with salaries, welcomed the gods, and set cakes and pears as sacrifices.