Folk customs during the Spring Festival in Xiajiang Village, Linshan Countryside, Kaihua County, Quzhou City, Zhejiang Province

The folk customs of the Spring Festival in Xiajiang Village, Linshan Countryside, Kaihua County, Quzhou City, Zhejiang Province are as follows:

The 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month is said to be the day when the Kitchen God and the Kitchen God go to heaven. When he reported his work in Xiaodian, people sent him off and hoped that he would be sweeter and say more good things in front of the Jade Emperor. Generally, the god tablet should read "The God of Jiutian Dongchu Zao Lord", "The boy who carries firewood" should be written on the right side, and "The boy who delivers water" should be written on the left side. On the top of the outside of the temple is written "Zao Lord's Mansion", and on the left and right side of the couplet is "Heaven performs good deeds, and the earth ensures peace."

Sacrifice to the stove is closely related to the Chinese New Year, and the Kitchen Lord is considered to be the guide of the gods in the sky. On the 30th of the new year, the Stove King returns to his throne, and the ceremony becomes much simpler. Then all you need to do is put on a new stove lamp and burn incense in front of the stove niche.

General cleaning begins on the twenty-fourth day, which is called "dusting off", so there is a saying that "the dust is dusted off on the twenty-fourth day, and the long-term work is sent off on the twenty-fifth day". At this time, every family has to scrub the furniture and unpack the quilts. After that, pigs, chickens, and ducks are slaughtered, and New Year's goods such as rice cakes, rice dumplings, fried tofu, and frozen rice candy are prepared. In the old days, because of the taboo of "killing", it was changed to "prosperous". The hair cakes made by the Longyou people are homophonic to "Fu Gao", which means "good luck and good fortune every year."

During this time, the son-in-law had to prepare hair cakes, rice cakes, rice dumplings, pork, steamed buns, candles, artillery, etc. Sending them to Yue's family is called "Dividing Years". Gifts are more generous in the first year of marriage.

When writing Spring Festival couplets, people generally like to use auspicious words to express people's wishes for prosperity in the coming year. For example: "Green mountains and clear water, beautiful scenery, good life, many happy events", "Green cypresses and green pines send away the cold, red plums and white snow welcome the spring", etc. The horizontal batch is "Welcome the spring and receive blessings".