Who knows the New Year customs in various places?

In our country, the Spring Festival is also a custom festival for people of various ethnic minorities. People of all ethnic groups hold various celebration activities according to their own customs, with their own strong national unique style.

On New Year’s Eve of the Tibetan people, people put on colorful clothes and strange masks, play music with suonas, conch shells, and drums, and perform a solemn and grand "Tiao Shen Meeting." The young men dance and sing wildly, which means to get rid of the old and welcome the new, to drive away evil spirits and bring blessings. On New Year's morning, women carry "auspicious water" to wish them good luck in the new year.

Yi Nationality Compatriots of the Yi nationality choose their festivals according to the Yi calendar. Some celebrate the Spring Festival with the local Han people. In some areas, the Yi compatriots set up green pine trees in front of their doors and spread the ground with pine needles to avoid disasters. In other areas, pigs and sheep are killed during the festival and lumps of meat are eaten. People visit each other and give each other meat and steamed buns. On the morning of New Year's Day, the first thing I do when I get up is to carry water home. They compare the weight of a bowl of water with yesterday's water. If the New Year's water is heavier, it means there will be enough rain this year.

Zhuang compatriots distributed in Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan, Guangdong and other regions celebrate the Spring Festival at the same time as the Han people. On New Year's Eve, the rice eaten on the festival day is cooked, which is called "New Year's Rice". In some areas, people call it "Eating Lijie", which means "Celebrating the Old Year" in Zhuang language. It heralds a good agricultural harvest in the coming year. Some even make cakes that are more than a foot long and weigh five or six kilograms. A family with a small population will not be able to finish the whole meal! Early in the morning on the first day of the Lunar New Year, people get up before dawn, put on new clothes, and set off firecrackers to welcome the new year. Women are rushing to the river or well to "draw new water" to start the exciting life of the new year.

The entire Buyi family stays up all night by the pond on New Year’s Eve. As soon as day breaks, the girls rush to fetch water. Whoever carries back the first load of water first will be the most diligent and happiest girl.

Manchu Manchu people are divided into four banners: red, yellow, blue and white. During the Spring Festival, people with red flags put red flags on their doors, people with yellow flags put yellow flags on their doors, people with blue flags put blue flags on their doors, and people with white flags put white flags on their doors. These hanging flags have beautiful patterns and bright colors, symbolizing the auspicious beginning of the year.

Dong compatriots in Guizhou and Hunan have a popular mass activity called "Dong Year Fighting" (also called Lusheng Festival) during the Spring Festival. This kind of activity is similar to the "group worship" of the Han people, but it is more joyful and enthusiastic. This kind of activity is usually organized by consensus between the two village leaders. The two teams officially held a Lusheng singing and dancing competition in the square. At this time, the audience in the two villages danced to the music and had fun.

Bai ethnic group When the Bai ethnic group in Yunnan celebrates the New Year, there is a celebration called "Fang Gaosheng". The so-called "high-sheng" method is to use a whole big bamboo, load gunpowder into the bamboo joints, and after lighting it, the whole big bamboo can collapse hundreds of feet into the sky, becoming a veritable "high-sheng". In some areas, Bai compatriots, like the Miao and Zhuang people, engage in the "Hydrangea Throwing" activity from the Spring Festival to the Lantern Festival. Anyone who cannot catch the hydrangea should give the other party a souvenir. Anyone who has missed the ball many times but cannot redeem the souvenir is a sign of love.

Tujia people During the Spring Festival, the Tujia people hold a grand waving dance. The hand-waving dance is a popular ancient dance of the Tujia people. It includes more than 70 dance movements such as hunting, military, farming, and banquets. It has a distinctive rhythm, graceful movements, simple dance postures, and a healthy mood. It does not use props and has distinct ethnic characteristics and strong breath of life.

Dai Nationality The Water Splashing Festival is the New Year festival of the Dai nationality and the most grand traditional event of the year for the Dai nationality. The day when Guyu begins is designated as the "Water Splashing Festival". During the three- or four-day festival, people splash water on each other to wash away the old dirt on their bodies and wish them happiness and peace in the new year.

The Li people living on Hainan Island, every Spring Festival, every household will slaughter pigs and chickens, serve sumptuous food and wine, and the whole family will sit together to eat "New Year's dinner"; We also need to sing "New Year's greetings". On the first and second days of junior high school, a "Spring Festival Hunt" is held for all young and middle-aged men in the village. This day's prey is shared by the whole village.

What is interesting is that when dividing the prey, half of the total prey is first given to the shooter who hits the prey first; the other half is divided equally among everyone. Pregnant women can get two points, and passers-by who happen to meet can also get one.

The Susu people call the New Year's Day "Yushi". Most of them make indica rice cakes, glutinous rice cakes and brewed water wine. They put a little of the cakes pounded out in the first mortar on peaches, plums, etc. On the fruit trees, I wish you a fruitful year ahead. The Lisu people in the Nujiang area of ??Yunnan first feed their cattle salt to show respect for their work. Young men and women like to hold Spring Festival target shooting competitions. The girls hang the embroidered purse on the bamboo pole, shake the purse left and right, and ask the boys to shoot. Whoever shoots the purse first will be given wine as a prize by the girls.

Lahu On New Year’s Eve, the whole family of the Lahu people must take a bath and prepare food for the next day. In food, special attention is paid to glutinous rice cakes. In addition to eating, always give some to the cows and put some on farm tools such as plows, hoes, and machetes to reward them for cooperating with their masters throughout the year and wishing them great success in the new year. More wealth.

The Daur people live on both sides of the Nen River in the northeast. On the morning of the first day of the first lunar month, young men and women dress up. They first greet their elders, toast and salute, and then go from house to house to pay New Year greetings. Each house prepares steamed cakes. , New Year greeters rush to eat steamed cakes as soon as they enter the door. It is said that after eating, production and life will be "higher every year."

From the first to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month of the first lunar month of the Mulao ethnic group, men, women, old and young all wear festive costumes in every village of the Mulao ethnic group. Dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of people gather on the hillside. Or sing folk songs in the stadium, singing about labor, life and love.

The only festival of the Dulong people is the "Kaquewa" festival held in the twelfth lunar month of winter. The most solemn ceremony is the sacrifice of cattle to heaven. On this day, the patriarch tied the cow to a wooden stake in the center of the square. A young woman hangs the beads on the horns of the cow, and then a brave and strong young man stabs the armpit of the cow with a sharp bamboo spear until the cow is stabbed to death. At this moment, people dance the "Niu Guozhuang" dance and then share the beef.

The Oroqen compatriots in the Northeast, on the morning of the Spring Festival, first pour wine in the family according to their seniority, the younger ones kowtow to the elders, and the older generations greet each other, and horse racing is held on the second and third day of the lunar month. Delicious food on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. On the morning of the 16th day of the first lunar month, there is an activity of smearing each other's faces. Young people should kowtow first when slandering the elderly.

The Spring Festival of the Hezhe ethnic group is "Fo'e Shikes" in Hezhe language, which means New Year's Eve. People wear animal skins and other clothing embroidered with beautiful patterns, geometric patterns, flowers and birds on hat ears, collars, cuffs, trouser legs, aprons, and shoe uppers. During the New Year festival, most people will have a "fire-spitting feast", or make pancakes with a kind of wild fruit "thick plum", and fill them with fish, animal meat and other foods. To treat distinguished guests, kill the fish alive or grill the fish strips and serve them with this "talaha".

The Spring Festival is coming for the Jinuo people, who live in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. The old man chewing betel nuts raises his head and plays the cymbal, and the old woman wearing a big pointed hat lowers her head and plays the gong. Zhou Ba (the village father) takes the lead. Beat the drums and young men and women form a circle and dance with their bare hands. The following is the custom of sweeping dust in various places

"On the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, dust and sweep the house." According to the "Lu Spring and Autumn Annals" records, my country had the custom of sweeping dust during the Spring Festival in the era of Yao and Shun. According to folklore: because "dust" and "chen" are homophonic, sweeping dust in the New Year means "removing the old and spreading the new", 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. Every Spring Festival comes, every household has to clean the environment, wash all kinds of utensils, remove and wash bedding and curtains, sweep the Liulv courtyard, dust away dirt and cobwebs, and dredge open ditches and ditches. Everywhere is filled with the joyful atmosphere of doing hygiene and welcoming the new year cleanly.

Spring couplets

Spring couplets are also called door pairs, spring posts, couplets, couplets, peach charms, etc. They describe the background of the times and express good wishes with neat, dual, concise and exquisite words. , is a unique literary form in my country. Every Spring Festival, every household, whether in urban or rural areas, selects a red Spring Festival couplet and pastes it on the door to add a festive atmosphere to the festival.

This custom originated in the Song Dynasty and became popular in the Ming Dynasty. By the Qing Dynasty, the ideological and artistic quality of Spring Festival couplets had been greatly improved. Liang Zhangju’s Spring Festival Couplets monograph "Three Couples on the Threshold" has a detailed introduction to the origin of the couplets and the characteristics of various works. All discussed.

There are many types of Spring Festival couplets. According to the place of use, they can be divided into door centers, frame pairs, horizontal drapes, spring strips, bucket squares, etc. The "door center" is affixed to the upper center of the door panel; the "frame pair" is affixed to the left and right door frames; the "horizontal stripe" is affixed to the crossbar of the door; the "spring strips" are affixed to the corresponding places according to different contents; "Dojin" is also called "door leaf", which is square and diamond-shaped, and is often attached to furniture and screen walls.

Pasting window grilles and pasting the word "福" upside down

In the folk, people also like to put various paper-cuts - window grilles - on their windows. Window grilles not only enhance the festive atmosphere, but also integrate decoration, appreciation and practicality. Paper-cutting is a very popular folk art in my country and has been loved by people for thousands of years. Because it is mostly pasted on windows, it is also called "window flower". With its unique summary and exaggeration techniques, window grilles vividly express auspicious symbols and good wishes, decorating the festival with prosperity and splendor.

At the same time as pasting Spring Festival couplets, some families have to paste large and small "福" characters on their doors, walls, and lintels. 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. In order to more fully reflect this yearning and wish, some people simply paste the word "福" upside down to express "happiness has arrived" and "blessing has arrived". Folks also use the word "福" to make various patterns with detailed drawings, such as longevity star, birthday peach, carp jumping over the dragon gate, good harvest, dragon and phoenix showing auspiciousness, etc.

New Year Pictures

Posting New Year pictures during the Spring Festival is also very common in urban and rural areas. The thick black and colorful New Year pictures add a lot of prosperity and joy to thousands of households. New Year pictures are an ancient folk art in my country, reflecting the people's simple customs and beliefs, and reposing their hopes for the future. New Year pictures, like Spring Festival couplets, originated from the "door god". With the rise of woodblock printing, the content of New Year paintings is no longer limited to monotonous themes such as door gods, but has become rich and colorful. In some New Year painting workshops, "Three Stars of Fortune, Luxury and Longevity", "Blessings from Heavenly Officials", "Five Grain" Classic color New Year pictures such as "Prosperous Harvest", "Prosperity of Six Livestocks", "Welcoming Spring and Receiving Good Luck" can satisfy people's good wishes of celebrating the good year. There are three important producing areas of New Year paintings in our country: Taohuawu in Suzhou, Yangliuqing in Tianjin and Weifang in Shandong. They have formed three major schools of Chinese New Year paintings, each with its own characteristics.

The earliest New Year paintings collected in our country today are the woodcut New Year paintings of the Southern Song Dynasty, "Slender and Slender with the Beauty of the Country", which depict four ancient beauties: Wang Zhaojun, Zhao Feiyan, Ban Ji and Luzhu. The most widely circulated among the people is a New Year painting of "Mouse Marriage". It depicts an interesting scene of a mouse marrying a bride according to human customs. 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.

Keeping the year old

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".

“One night is two years old, and the fifth watch is divided into two days.” On New Year’s Eve, the whole family gets together, has New Year’s Eve dinner, lights candles or oil lamps, sits around the fire and chats, waiting to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new year. At this time, the all-night vigil symbolizes driving away all evil plagues and looking forward to auspiciousness in the new year. This custom gradually became popular. In the early Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, wrote a poem about "keeping the year old": "The cold leaves the winter snow, and the warmth brings the spring breeze." To this day, people are still used to staying up late on New Year's Eve to welcome the new year.

In ancient times, staying up late had two meanings: older people staying up late meant "saying goodbye to the old year", which meant cherishing time; young people staying up late meant 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

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. Setting off firecrackers can create a festive and lively atmosphere. It is a festive entertainment activity that can bring people joy and good luck. With the passage of time, the application of firecrackers has become more and more widespread, and the varieties and colors have become more and more numerous. During major festivals and happy events, as well as weddings, house construction, openings, etc., firecrackers must be set off to celebrate and for good luck. Now, Liuyang in Hunan, Foshan and Dongyao in Guangdong, Yichun and Pingxiang in Jiangxi, and Wenzhou in Zhejiang are famous hometowns of fireworks in my country. The firecrackers they produce are of various colors and high quality, and are not only sold well across the country, but also exported to the world.

New Year greetings

On the first day of the New Year, people get up early, put on their most beautiful clothes, dress up neatly, and go out to visit relatives and friends, pay New Year greetings to each other, and wish each other New Year’s greetings. Good luck in the coming year. There are many ways to pay New Year's greetings. Some are led by the head of the same clan and several people go from house to house to pay New Year's greetings. Some are colleagues inviting a few people to pay New Year's greetings. There are also people who gather together to congratulate each other, which is called "group worship". Since it was time-consuming and laborious to visit people’s homes for New Year’s greetings, some upper-class figures and scholar-bureaucrats later used various stickers to congratulate each other, thus developing the later “New Year’s greeting cards.”

When paying New Year greetings during the Spring Festival, the younger generation should first pay New Year greetings to the elders and wish them longevity and health. The elders can distribute the New Year's money prepared in advance to the younger generation. It is said that the New Year's money can suppress evil spirits, because "year" and "evil spirits" "Homophonous", the younger generation can spend one year peacefully after receiving the lucky money. 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. Nowadays, the custom of elders distributing lucky money to younger generations is still popular.

Spring Festival Food Customs

In ancient agricultural societies, from about the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, housewives would be busy preparing food for the New Year. Because pickling cured meat takes a long time, it must be prepared as early as possible. Many provinces in my country have the custom of pickling cured meat, among which Guangdong Province’s cured meat is the most famous.

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 taste of rice cakes varies from place to place. Beijingers like to eat red date rice cake, mince rice cake and white rice cake made from glutinous rice or yellow rice. People in Hebei like to add jujube, red beans, mung beans, etc. to rice cakes and steam them together. In northern Shanxi and Inner Mongolia and other places, it is customary to eat fried rice cakes with yellow rice flour during the Chinese New Year. Some are also filled with bean paste, date paste and other fillings. Shandong people steam rice cakes with yellow rice and red dates. Northern rice cakes are mainly sweet and can be steamed or fried. Some people even eat them dipped in sugar. The rice cakes in the south are both sweet and salty. For example, the rice cakes in Suzhou and Ningbo are made from japonica rice and have a light taste. In addition to steaming and frying, it can also be sliced ??and fried or cooked in soup. The sweet rice cake is made of glutinous rice flour with ingredients such as sugar, lard, rose, osmanthus, mint, and sujiang. It is carefully made and can be steamed directly or dipped in egg white and fried.

The night before the actual Chinese New Year is called Reunion Night. People who are away from home have to travel thousands of miles to get home. The whole family will sit together to make dumplings for the New Year. The dumplings are made by mixing the dough first. Make dumpling skins, and then use the skins to wrap the fillings. The content of the fillings is varied, including various meats, eggs, seafood, seasonal vegetables, etc. Eat with soy sauce of vinegar, minced garlic, and sesame oil as condiments. There are also ways to eat fried dumplings and baked dumplings (pot stickers).

Because the word "和" in noodles means "合"; the characters "dumpling" and "Jiao" in dumplings are homophones, and "合" and "Jiao" also mean getting together, so dumplings are used to symbolize reunion and joy; and they are also used to symbolize reunion. The meaning of Jiaozi 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".

New Year's Day is the first day of the year. The name "New Year's Day" is said to come from Zhuan Xu, one of the legendary Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. He takes the first month of the lunar calendar as the Yuan and the first day as the Dan. "Yuan" means first and beginning, and "Dan" means a red sun rising from the ground. The combination of "Yuan" and "Dan" means that people will welcome the new year with vigor. . On this day, cities and rural areas across our country are decorated with lights and colorful decorations and put on festive attire. Many units hang up huge slogans saying "Celebrate New Year's Day" to celebrate the New Year. On September 27, 1949, the First Plenary Session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference resolved: "The Chinese People's Liberation Army and the People's Republic of China adopt the AD calendar system", which is what we call the Gregorian calendar. , and because the "Beginning of Spring" in the 24 solar terms of the lunar calendar happens to be around the Lunar New Year, the first day of the first lunar month was renamed the "Spring Festival", and the first day of the first lunar month was designated as the "New Year's Day". Only then did New Year's Day become a national Happy holiday for people. The 24th day of the twelfth lunar month in Shanghai is the day when the "Kitchen God" goes to heaven to perform tasks. Therefore, on the night of the 23rd day, every household will "send stoves" and "sacrifice stoves", which kicks off the New Year celebrations. The twenty-fifth day of the twelfth lunar month is the day when the gods descend to the realm. According to tradition, every household is dusted and swept inside and outside. From the 26th to the 29th, every household begins to grind flour, make glutinous rice balls, make rice cakes, prepare new clothes, shoes, and buy Spring Festival couplets, New Year paintings, and "door gods." On New Year's Eve, parents and children gather indoors and sit together under the lights to eat New Year's Eve dinner, hence the name "Family Reunion". After the New Year's Eve dinner, we sit around the fire to stay up late. At dusk, men, women, old and young all put on new clothes, hats and shoes and worshiped heaven and ancestors in the hall. Then the young and old come together to pay New Year greetings to their parents, and the parents give their children the New Year's money they had prepared years ago.

In Taiwan, New Year’s Eve is called “Twenty-nine Dark” and “Thirty Dark”, depending on the size of the twelfth month of the lunar calendar. "杝" means the end of the year. Before it gets too late, every family prepares offerings, such as sweet oranges, sweet rice crackers (rice cakes), "spring rice (pointy rice bowls with paper-cut spring characters inserted on them)", "lucky money", etc. There are also two sugar canes with leaves and whiskers placed vertically behind the gate, which are called "permanent sugar cane". When having New Year's Eve dinner "around the stove", a new charcoal stove and a new sunflower fan are placed under the Eight Immortals table. The words "Spring" and "Fu" written on red paper are affixed to the fan and stove. After the New Year’s Eve dinner, it’s time to watch the New Year’s Eve. On the first day of the Lunar New Year, people gather together, young and old, to worship the gods with red and white rice cakes, worship their parents-in-law (grandfathers and grandmothers), and then set off firecrackers to welcome the spring and bring good fortune.

On New Year’s Eve in Hong Kong, every family eats a reunion dinner together. Most of the dish names for the reunion dinner have auspicious meanings. After the reunion dinner, people usually go to the New Year's Eve market to browse the flower market. On the first day of the Lunar New Year, people begin to officially celebrate the New Year, posting Spring Festival couplets (waving spring), New Year pictures, dragon and lion dances, etc., and visiting relatives and friends to pay New Year greetings.

Macao has its own unique customs. "Xie Zao" is one of the most traditional Chinese customs preserved in Macao. On the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, people in Macao call it "Thanks to the Kitchen God". Macau people celebrate the Chinese New Year on the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month. On New Year's Eve, staying up late and visiting the flower market are two major events for Macau people to bid farewell to the old year and usher in the new year. Staying up late means playing mahjong, watching TV, reminiscing and chatting; Macau holds a flower market during the New Year's Eve, mostly peach blossoms, daffodils, pots of bamboo, and pots of oranges. The flowers are blooming, which indicates a bright future for the new year. On the Spring Festival (the first day of the Lunar New Year), Macau people pay attention to "profiting the market" to show good luck. "Benefit" means red envelopes. On this day, the boss will get "profit" when he meets his employees, the elders meet juniors, and even married people see unmarried people. Macau people call the second day of the Lunar New Year the "New Year's Day". To eat the "New Year's Day" meal, you must have nozzle, lettuce, and carp, in order to make money. The following are reference materials, I hope they will be helpful to you