Year of the Tiger information

The Spring Festival generally refers to New Year's Eve and the first day of the first lunar month. But among the people, the Spring Festival in the traditional sense refers to the period from the twelfth lunar month on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, or the twelfth lunar month on the 23rd or 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, with New Year's Eve and the first day of the first lunar month as the climax. During the Spring Festival, my country's Han and many ethnic minorities hold various activities to celebrate. These activities mainly focus on offering sacrifices to gods and Buddhas, paying homage to ancestors, eradicating the old and bringing in the new, welcoming the new year and blessings, and praying for a good harvest. The activities are rich and colorful with strong national characteristics.

Spring Festival customs

Sacrifice to the stove

The Spring Festival in my country usually kicks off with the sacrifice of the stove. In the folk song "Twenty-three, sugar melon sticky" refers to the sacrifice to the stove on the 23rd or 24th of the twelfth lunar month every year. There is a saying of "officials, three people, four boatmen and five", which means that on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the government, Generally, people hold sacrifices to the stove on the 24th, while people on the water hold sacrifices to the stove on the 25th.

Sacrificing stoves is a custom that has great influence among Chinese people and is widely spread. In the old days, almost every kitchen had a "Kitchen Lord" statue in the kitchen. People call this god "Si Ming Bodhisattva" or "Zao Lord Siming". Legend has it that he is the "Jiutian East Chef Si Ming Zao Wangfu Lord" conferred by the Jade Emperor. He is responsible for managing the kitchen fires of each family and is regarded as the protector of the family. worship. Most of the Kitchen King's niches are located on the north or east side of the kitchen room, with the statue of the Kitchen King in the middle. Some people who don't have a niche for the Kitchen King stick the statue of the god directly on the wall. Some statues only depict the Kitchen God alone, while others include two men and women. The goddess is called "Grandma Kitchen God". This is probably an imitation of the image of a human couple. Most of the statues of the Kitchen God also have a calendar for that year printed on them, with words such as "Master of the East Chef", "God of Human Supervision", "Head of the Family", etc., to indicate the status of the Kitchen God. The couplets "God says good things, and the lower realms keep you safe" are pasted on both sides to bless the whole family.

The Kitchen God has been staying at home since the last New Year’s Eve to protect and supervise the family; on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the Kitchen God will ascend to heaven to report the family’s good deeds to the Jade Emperor in heaven. Or evil deeds, the ritual of sending off the Kitchen God is called "Sending the Stove" or "Citing the Stove". Based on the report of the Kitchen God, the Jade Emperor handed over the good and bad fortunes that the family should receive in the new year to the hands of the Kitchen God. Therefore, for the family, the Stove Lord's report is indeed of great interest.

Sending stoves is usually held at dusk and into night. The family goes to the kitchen first, sets the table, offers incense to the Kitchen God in the shrine on the kitchen wall, and offers sugar melons made with malt sugar and noodles. Then tie bamboo strips into paper horses and fodder for livestock. Offering caramel to the Stove Lord is to sweeten his mouth. In some places, sugar is spread around the Stove Lord's mouth, and while applying it, he says: "Say more good things, but don't say bad things." This is to stuff the Stove Lord's mouth with sugar to prevent him from saying bad things. In the Tang Dynasty book "The Chronicles of the Year under the Chariot", there is a record of "smearing wine dregs on the stove to make the commander (Kitchen Lord) drunk". After people coated Stove Lord's mouth with sugar, they took off the statue, and the paper and smoke went up to heaven together. In some places, sesame straw and pine branches are piled in the yard at night, and then the Kitchen God statue that has been kept for a year is taken out of the shrine, along with the paper horse and straw, and set on fire. The yard was brightly illuminated by the fire. At this time, the family kowtowed around the fire and prayed while burning: It is the 23rd again this year, and we send the Stove Lord to the west. There are strong horses, there is fodder, and the journey is smooth and safe. The sugar melon offered is sweet. Please say good things to the Jade Emperor.

When sending off the Kitchen God, in some places there are still several beggars who dress up in disguise and go from house to house singing songs and dancing to the Kitchen God, called "Sending the Kitchen God", in exchange for food.

The custom of giving away stoves is very common in the north and south of my country. Mr. Lu Xun once wrote the poem "The Gengzi Sends Stoves to Him": Chickens are given glue and candies, and clothes are offered for petals and incense. If there is nothing growing in the house, there are only a few yellow sheep.

He said in the article "Sends to Zao Lord": "On the day when Lord Zao ascended to heaven, a kind of candy was sold on the street, the size of an orange. We also have this kind of thing, but Bian It's like a thick little pancake. It's called glue-toothed cake. The original intention is to invite Zao Lord to eat it, so that it can stick to his teeth so that he can't talk bad words to the Jade Emperor.

"The allusion of "Yellow Sheep" in Lu Xun's poem comes from "Book of the Later Han·Yin Shi Zhuan": "During the reign of Emperor Xuan, those from Yinzi Fang were extremely filial and benevolent. On the twelfth day of the twelfth lunar month, when cooking was done in the morning and the Kitchen God appeared, Zi Fang worshiped and celebrated again. There was a yellow sheep in the family, so he sacrificed it. Since then, he has become extremely rich. After three generations of knowledge, he prospered and prospered, so he often worshiped the stove during the twelfth lunar month and recommended the yellow sheep. "Yin Zifang saw the Kitchen God and killed a goat as a sacrifice. Later, he got good luck. From then on, the custom of killing a goat to sacrifice to the stove was passed down.

In the Tang and Song Dynasties, the offerings to the stove were quite abundant. In the Song Dynasty, Poet Fan Chengda's "Poetry for Sacrifice to the Stove" gives a very vivid description of the folk sacrifice to the stove at that time: According to ancient legend, on the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, the Stove Lord looked up to the sky and wanted to say something. Well-cooked fish, rice balls with sweetened bean paste and sweet pineapple. The man offers his daughter a cup of wine. Don't let your maidservants fight. Don't be angry when you are drunk and full. Don't repeat the cloud, beg for profits and return points.

The sacrifice of the stove on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month is closely related to the Chinese New Year, because on the eve of the New Year's Eve a week later, the Stove Lord will bring you. The family should receive good and bad fortunes and come to the world together with other gods. The other gods ascend to heaven again after the New Year, but only the Kitchen God will stay in the world for a long time. In the kitchen. The ceremony to welcome the gods is called "receiving the gods", and for the Stove Lord, it is called "receiving the stove". The ceremony is usually much simpler on New Year's Eve. You only need to put on a new stove lamp and put it on the stove. Burning incense in front of the niche is enough.

There is a saying that "men do not worship the moon, and women do not worship the stove." In some places, women do not worship the stove. It is said that the stove prince looks like a pretty boy. There is a "male-female suspicion" in worshiping women. The origin of the Stove God has a long history. Among the Chinese folk gods, the Stove God has been revered by the people as early as the Xia Dynasty. A great god. According to Kong Yingdashu in the ancient book "Book of Rites: Ritual Utensils": "Zhuanxu had a son, Rili, who was Zhurong and was worshiped as the Kitchen God. "Zhuangzi. Dasheng" records: "The stove has a bun." "Sima Biao commented: "Kun, the Kitchen God, wears red clothes and looks like a beautiful woman. "Baopuzi. Wei Zhi" also records: "On a dark moon night, the Kitchen God also goes to heaven to whiten his sins." "These records are probably the source of worshiping the Kitchen God. Also, it is said that the Kitchen God is the "Suiren clan" who drills wood to make fire; or it is said to be the "Fire Officer" of the Shennong clan; or it is said that the "Huangdi makes the stove" is the "Su" "Auspicious"; or it is said that the kitchen god's surname is Zhang, whose name is Ziguo; there are different opinions. There is an interesting story among the people.

It is said that in ancient times, there was a family named Zhang, two brothers, My elder brother is a plasterer, and my younger brother is a painter. My elder brother is good at making pots and pans. People from East Street and West Street praise him for his skill in making stoves. Over time, he has become famous, and people from all over the world call him "Zhang Zaowang". ". It's strange that Zhang Stove King, no matter whose house he goes to build a stove, if there is a dispute in other people's homes, he likes to meddle. When he encounters a noisy daughter-in-law, he will persuade him, and when he encounters a fierce mother-in-law, he will also say something. It seems that he is an old man. Elder. From now on, the neighbors will come to him when they have trouble, and everyone respects him. King Zhang Zao lived for seventy years, and it happened to be late at night on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month that King Zhang Zao died. The family is in chaos. It turns out that King Zhang Zao is the head of the family and he does everything in the house. Now that the eldest brother has passed away, the younger brother only knows poetry, calligraphy and painting. Although he is in his sixties, he has never taken care of the housework. The painter was so upset that he wanted to separate the family. One day, he finally came up with a good idea. On the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, the first anniversary of the death of King Zhang Zao, the painter suddenly called out to him in the middle of the night. The whole family woke up, saying that the eldest brother had appeared. He led his son, daughter-in-law, and the whole family to the kitchen, where they saw the faces of Stove King Zhang and his late wife looming on the dark stove wall. , the family was shocked. The painter said: "When I was sleeping, I dreamed that my eldest brother and sister-in-law had become immortals, and the Jade Emperor named him the Master of the Kitchen Palace of the East Chef of the Nine Heavens." You usually eat well and are lazy in cooking, so your sisters-in-law are at odds with each other, you are disrespectful and unfilial, and you make the family gods uneasy. The eldest brother is very angry when he knows that you are splitting up your family. He plans to go to heaven to report to the Jade Emperor, and to punish you from the lower world on the night of New Year's Eve. "After hearing these words, the children, nieces and nephews were horrified. They immediately knelt down and kowtowed repeatedly. They hurriedly brought the sweets that the Stove King loved to eat and offered them on the stove, begging the Stove Lord for his forgiveness.

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.

The "Three Corpse Gods" in Taoism are the "gods" worshiped in the human body. According to the "Tai Shang Three Corpses Zhong Jing": "The upper corpse is named Peng Guo, and it is in the human head; the middle corpse is named Peng Zhi, and it is in the human belly; the lower corpse is named Peng Jiao, and it is in the human foot." It is also said that every time Geng Shen is born, On that day, they went to heaven to report human sins to the Emperor of Heaven; but as long as people stayed up all night on this night, they could avoid it, which was called "Shou Geng Shen".

Eat Zao Candy

Zao Candy is a kind of maltose with high viscosity. It is drawn into a long candy stick called "Guandong Candy" and is drawn into an oblate shape. The shape is called "Tanggua". Put it outside the house in winter. Because of the severe cold weather, the sugar melon solidifies and has some tiny bubbles inside. It tastes crispy, sweet and crispy, with a unique flavor. Real Kanto candy is extremely hard and cannot be broken when dropped. It must be split with a kitchen knife when eating. The material is very heavy and fine. The taste is slightly sour, and there is absolutely no honeycomb in the middle. Each piece weighs one tael, two taels, or four taels, and the price is also more expensive. There are two kinds of sugar melons, those without sesame seeds and those without sesame seeds. They are made of sugar into the shape of melon or pumpkin. The center is hollow and the skin is less than five minutes thick. Although the sizes are different, the transaction is still calculated based on the weight. Large sugar melons have It weighs only one or two kilograms, but it is used as a cover, and few people buy it.

Meeting the Jade Emperor

Old custom believed that after the Kitchen God ascended to heaven, the Heavenly Emperor and the Jade Emperor personally descended to the realm on the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month to inspect the good and evil in the world and determine the fortune and misfortune of the coming year. Therefore, every family sacrifices it to pray for blessings, which is called "receiving the Jade Emperor". On this day, you must be cautious in your daily life and words, and strive to perform well in order to win the favor of the Jade Emperor and bring blessings to you in the coming year.

Huan Luan Sui

After sending the Kitchen God to heaven, he did not welcome him back until New Year's Eve. During this period, there was no god in the world and there were no taboos. Many people got married, which was called "Huan Luan Sui". Luan Sui is a specific period of time designed by the people to adjust social life. At the end of the year, people have leisure and savings. This is a good time for people who rarely have the energy to take care of big things. Therefore, people invented this special time folk custom according to the needs of real life. It can be seen that in traditional societies, the order of people's lives relies on folk customs for regulation.

Zhaotian silkworms

Also known as "Shaotian silkworms", "Zhaotian silkworms" and "Shaotian wealth", it is a folk custom of praying for good luck in the Jiangnan area. On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth lunar month, long poles tied with torches are erected in the fields to use the flames to divine the new year. If the flames are strong, they will herald a good harvest in the coming year. Some places hold this event on New Year's Eve.

Thousand Lantern Festival

It is a religious festival of Mongolian and Daur people. In Mongolian, it is called "Mingganzhuola", which means Thousand Lanterns Festival. On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth lunar month, people make "mingganzhuola" and light them in the temple. It is believed that the more lights they light, the more auspicious they will be. This festival custom is most popular among the Virat Mongolian people in Xinjiang. Local people eat roast beef and mutton and hold traditional sports and entertainment activities on this day.

Bathing

In traditional folk customs, people should take baths and wash clothes intensively during these two days to get rid of the bad luck of the year and prepare for the coming New Year. There is a "Twenty-Seven Days to Wash Guilt Diseases" in Beijing. , the proverb "Twenty-eight washes away the filth". Taking a bath on the 26th of the twelfth lunar month is "washing fortune and fortune".

Little New Year's Eve

The day before New Year's Eve is called "Little New Year's Eve". There is a banquet at home and people call it "Farewell". Burning incense outdoors is called "tianxiang" and usually takes three days.

Celebrating the New Year

The traditional festival of the Tujia people is also called the "New Year Meeting". The Tujia people celebrate the Spring Festival one or several days earlier than the Han people.

The legend about the Tujia people “celebrating the New Year”:

1. In the Ming Dynasty, Tujia soldiers were dispatched to the southeast coast to fight against the Japanese. When the military order was urgent, they celebrated the New Year in advance and rushed to the front line. The soldiers fought bravely and achieved "the first military exploit in the southeast." To commemorate this expedition, later generations moved the New Year's Day forward as a custom.

2． The ancestors of the Tujia Nationality were poor, so they had to work for the rich on the 30th day of the new year and celebrate the new year in advance so that they could reunite with their families.

3. In the old days, every New Year's Eve, officers and soldiers would come to drive away the people. Tujia people would celebrate the New Year in advance and have a reunion dinner in order to escape.