Original memories of rural areas in central Shandong - Chinese New Year

Author: Wang Shujing

Unit: Jixia Research Institute of Zibo Vocational College

The Spring Festival is the first day of the first lunar month, also called the lunar year, commonly known as "New Year" . This is the most solemn and lively traditional festival in our country. The Spring Festival has a long history. It originated from the activities of worshiping gods and ancestors at the beginning and end of the year during the Yin and Shang Dynasties. According to the Chinese lunar calendar, the first day of the first lunar month was called Yuanri, Yuanchen, Yuanzheng, Yuanshuo, New Year's Day, etc. in ancient times. It was commonly known as the first day of the new year. During the Republic of China, the Gregorian calendar was switched to the Gregorian calendar. January 1st of the Gregorian calendar was called New Year's Day. The first day of the lunar calendar was called New Year's Day. The first day of the month is called the Spring Festival. In ancient times, New Year's Eve also had other names such as "New Year's Eve, Zhuchu, New Year's Eve, Great New Year, Great End, and Year-end". Although there are many names, they all mean nothing more than seeing off the old and welcoming the new, dispelling diseases and eliminating disasters.

The "year" in central Shandong includes not only the first day of the lunar month, but also "New Year's Eve" on the 29th and 30th of the twelfth lunar month, and even all the days before the second to the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month. There is a nursery rhyme like "Children, don't be greedy, it's the New Year after Laba"! There are also sayings such as "The corn is steamed and the dry food is steamed, and the children put on new clothes - it's the New Year!" There are also folk sayings such as "the first fifteen years are all the New Year", and there is also "the wheat has not bloomed, and the New Year has not been completed." of teasing. Generally speaking, the New Year in rural areas of central Shandong officially begins on New Year's Eve and ends on the afternoon of the second day of the Lunar New Year. Compared with other areas, there are more customs and details, which makes the New Year's flavor more intense.

Laiwu, Xintai and Yiyuan can be roughly regarded as the central areas of Shandong from a geographical perspective. The customs of celebrating the New Year are basically the same. They all start at noon on the 30th day of the new year (the 29th day of the small month). That is to say, "New Year's Eve" officially enters the rhythm of the New Year.

The first priority at the beginning is to "invite the family to the church": the old man uses a dustpan to carry paper and incense, solemnly walks to the street or village head, and respects the ancestral graves. They bowed and worshiped on the ground, then burned incense and paper, chanting, "We are all back to celebrate the New Year! We are all here to celebrate the New Year!" This is to call the souls of deceased relatives to go home for the New Year! After burning the paper, a firecracker is set off, and the "family" is considered to be "invited" back. At this time, you need to find a few wooden sticks to block the gate and the door of the house, and ask the old man what he means. They say they are stopping the "ancestors" from leaving, while others say they are not letting "outsiders" in. When my son was a child, he went back to his hometown for the New Year and was particularly curious about these wooden sticks. After listening to his grandfather's explanation, he named them in the composition, called "Magic Sticks" - blocking the door to prevent outsiders from entering, and not letting his own people leave. This way The stick is indeed "magical"!

When "ancestors" are invited to the home, they must of course be entertained well, and then they must be "supported" with wine and food. On the altar table, there are the tablets of the ancestors written on yellow paper, from great ancestor kao, ancestor kao, ancestor kao to xian kao. On the tablet, the name of the male ancestor is in the middle and the female ancestor is on the side. There is only a surname but no given name. Only "妣XX" is written. ” This shows the deep-rooted preference for boys over girls in traditional patriarchal society. When worshiping ancestors, tea is served first, then snacks, then steamed buns (dumplings), and finally chicken, duck, fish, and wine are served. Everything is done as if entertaining living people. Of course, it is impossible for the "ancestors" to actually eat. Women are busy all the time: steaming steamed buns, steaming steamed steamed buns, frying vegetables, and cooking meat, but men are offering incense and serving tea, but they just refuse to help women with housework. Sometimes women complain and complain: "You are not afraid of supporting your ancestors! Thanks to these ancestors for not eating, you must not be so diligent if you really want to eat!" If you don't eat, you won't eat. The type and quantity of offerings must not be careless. Five plates of snacks and five bowls of dishes are essential, and there must be whole chickens and whole fish. The snacks served are also exquisite, such as peanuts, which the common people call "immortality fruit", apples which represent "peace and safety", oranges which hope for "reunion", and two lettuces placed in front of the table legs, which means "promotion and wealth". I've never seen anyone arranging mahua - "constant trouble", and I've never seen someone arranging prawns - which has the same pronunciation as "blind".

The next New Year’s Eve dinner will be much earlier than usual. Those who work at home or work outside, the whole family should get together to have a good meal and talk about the New Year. It’s the Chinese New Year. Even the son who has separated and is living alone still has to bring wine and food to the elderly to celebrate the New Year. This traditional concept of "reunion" is quite powerful and has been passed down from generation to generation.

If someone's son gets into trouble with his parents and doesn't even come to the old man's home during the Chinese New Year, the news will spread throughout the village the next day and become a typical example of unfilial piety and ignorance. There is a song that goes, "If you have money or no money, go home to celebrate the New Year", it has touched the hearts of the villagers.

Next is Zhaoting.

After the New Year’s Eve dinner, many people gathered on the street and were preparing to “take care of the court”. When a corn stalk or a bunch of straw is erected on the street, it is lit from below, and everyone gathers around to warm themselves up. It is probably because the firelight illuminates the surrounding courtyard, so it is called "Zhao Ting". The standing straws burned smaller and smaller, and finally fell down in one direction. This direction heralded a bumper harvest in the coming year: "It's harvested on the north slope" and "It's harvested on the south ridge" the old people said seriously, half-jokingly. The naughty children secretly threw firecrackers into the fire, which made the old man so angry that he kept scolding him. In the past, when there was no television, people would stay up late after taking care of the family. Later, with the popularity of television, every household stayed up late to watch the Spring Festival Gala. As the midnight clock chimes on the TV, the new year has arrived.

Distributing Paper Horses in the Early Morning

At three or four o'clock in the morning on the first day of the Lunar New Year (the earlier, the more blessed), the whole family will be busy "distributing Paper Horses". The three words "hair paper horse" are not coined, but are well-founded. "Fa" means "sending", and "paper horses" are paper people and paper horses. The original meaning of "fa paper horses" is to burn paper, money, paper horses and other items for the dead. The procedures and content of the Lunar New Year in the rural areas of central Shandong are obviously simplified. Although it is also called "paper horse distribution", only paper money and paper ingots are burned. Generally, the sacrifices on the offering table should be brought to the small table in the courtyard, and the heaven and earth, the gods, and the ancestors should be worshiped with great piety, so as to bless the family with peace and prosperity in the coming year. After the paper money ingot is lit, the hot air rises to form a cyclone, and the paper ash floats up to the sky. The old man will say: Come and make money! They all made (received) the money! The next step is to kowtow and make a wish. As for whether it works or not, it is probably similar to how modern people blow out candles and make a wish! Finally, a firecracker is set off, and a year of bad luck ends.

New Year greetings on the first day of the Lunar New Year

Regardless of whether you are rich or poor, you must eat dumplings on the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year. As the saying goes, "Who doesn't eat dumplings during the Chinese New Year?" Even "Baimao" Yang Bailao in "Girl" can still weigh two pounds of noodles and celebrate the New Year happily with his daughter. However, dumplings are generally called "baozi" in rural areas of central Shandong. According to custom, vegetarian buns are eaten on the evening of the 30th and on the morning of the first day of the lunar new year, which means that the coming year will be "pure" and free from worries. Young people don't care about this. Vegetarian buns are not as delicious as meat buns. The old people are not happy and argue with the old people, "This is a new way to live. Eating meat buns will lead to a 'meat head' in the next year." In the past, people would put a coin in a bun, and whoever ate it would be lucky and make a lot of money in the coming year. After eating the steamed buns, it’s time to pay New Year greetings. Generally speaking, New Year greetings are only limited to the family members with the same surname. Neighbors with different surnames and "villagers" who have particularly good relations with each other also pay New Year greetings to each other. After entering the door, you must first kowtow to the ancestral tablets, and then kowtow to the elders. There is something special about kowtowing to elders. You cannot kowtow directly to a living person, otherwise it will be a curse that the person will die early. You have to kowtow to the memorial tablet and say, "Kowtow to my aunt and uncle." Then eat melon seeds, crack peanuts, drink water, have sex, and then go to the next house.

"Send off to the Family Hall" on the second day of the Lunar New Year

It is roughly bounded along the Taiyi Mountains and the Qi Great Wall, and the customs of celebrating the New Year are quite different between the north and the south. In the north, the New Year is over on the first day of the Lunar New Year. On the second day of the Lunar New Year, you go to your mother-in-law’s house early in the morning to visit your father-in-law and mother-in-law; in the south, it lasts until the afternoon of the second day of the Lunar New Year. Son-in-laws and married daughters cannot return to their parents’ homes before the “send-off ceremony”. You can't see the "family table" of your mother's family. "Send the family to the hall" and "invite the family to the hall" are basically the same routine, except that the ancestors' memorial tablets and the thick paper money (probably counted as red envelopes) are burned, a bowl of steamed bun soup is scooped out, and an opening is spilled on the ground. In the shape of a trumpet facing the cemetery, after the firecrackers are hung, the "ancestors" are sent back, and the year is truly over.