This is the correct posture for traditional New Year greetings.

Spring Festival greetings originated from year-end sacrifices. At the beginning of the new year, on the one hand, the ancients prayed for a bumper harvest in agriculture, on the other hand, they prayed to the gods to protect their loved ones for a safe New Year, so they bowed down to the gods and prayed for help. The worship and prayer of this New Year's sacrificial ceremony is the original form of New Year greetings, which only evolved from the sacrificial ceremony to the custom of New Year greetings between people.

Paying New Year greetings is a custom that China people attach great importance to. Relatives, teachers and students, colleagues, friends and other people with close ties should pay New Year greetings. In some particularly close kinship relationships, it is essential for the younger generation to pay a New Year call to the elders once a year. If this kind of etiquette is missing in a certain year, something special must have happened that makes it impossible to perform it or the relationship between the two sides has serious problems. If the relationship between the two sides is normal and there is no New Year greeting, it is a serious faux pas of the younger generation, and the elders will pay great attention to "choosing gifts".

As an important etiquette between close relatives, colleagues, friends and other people. The custom of paying New Year greetings has become a human burden while bringing interpersonal relationships closer. In the Song Dynasty, it became popular to send congratulatory letters instead of paying homage. A greeting card is equivalent to today's greeting card. It says congratulations, signs your name, and sends some gifts to the other party's door by yourself or a servant. This method is suitable for colleagues and people who are not very close but need to contact feelings. As for relatives and friends, we still have to pay New Year's greetings in person.

In modern society, although people still attach importance to New Year's greetings, it has been greatly simplified on the whole, especially in cities. In general, New Year greetings in cities are not met. In the past, telephones were mostly used. Since the mobile phone has become a common communication tool, it has become a convenient and fashionable way to send New Year messages and WeChat. However, in particularly close relationships, you can't send text messages and WeChat New Year greetings, such as particularly close kinship, teacher-student relationship and so on. Younger or inferior people still have to pay New Year greetings in person, and good colleagues, classmates and friends also pay New Year greetings to each other in the form of parties. There is a big gap between the original meaning of New Year greetings and New Year greetings in modern cities. Without the activities of "asking God" and bowing down, it has evolved into a New Year greeting between relatives and friends. Most New Year greetings are "Happy New Year" without the word "bye". As for New Year SMS and WeChat, they are colorful and diverse in style.

In Hebei, Shandong, Henan and other places, there is still the original custom of bowing your head to pay New Year greetings. This new year greeting is often considered as a new year greeting with local characteristics. In fact, it is a relic of the common New Year greetings in ancient China today. In Jingxian County, Hebei Province, New Year greetings are the most important and longest-lasting custom of villagers. The New Year greetings here are face-to-face greetings, without the help of modern communication means. Although everyone has a mobile phone, it is not necessary to use a mobile phone for the New Year greetings between relatives and villagers.

Compared with the New Year greetings in general cities, Jingxian County has the following characteristics:

First, there is a specific time.

Jingxian New Year's greetings begin in the early morning of the first month of the first month and end on the tenth day of the first month. The part that can't travel before the tenth day of the first month is extended to fifteen. New Year greetings at home and in the village on the first day, and visiting relatives in other villages after the second day. New Year's greetings must begin in the early morning of the first day of the first month, and no one will pay New Year's greetings before the 30th. "Farewell to the early years" and "Happy New Year to you in advance", which city people often say, are unacceptable here. Although we should get together for "good luck" on New Year's Eve and go to bed very late, we must get up early the first morning. Getting up early on this day means that you are "full of heart", which indicates that you will be diligent and have a good harvest in a year. On this day, whoever rings firecrackers early will be envied by others, and whoever rings late will be laughed at. After cooking jiaozi and setting off firecrackers, the younger generation began to pay New Year greetings in turn in front of the ancestral paintings in the hall.

Second, there are specific places.

The New Year's greetings in Jingxian County, Hebei Province must be held at nave's home. There are portraits of ancestors hanging on the north wall of the hall, and couplets such as "Ancestors' merits and virtues will be passed down forever, and future generations will live a long life" are written on the cloth strips hanging on both sides. Incense was lit on the table, and offerings such as fish, meat and jiaozi were placed. The altar was cleaned very clean, and some of them were covered with mats or cloth mats, so that the younger generation could kowtow here to pay New Year greetings and prevent the knees of New Year greetings from getting dirty. There are also some people who feel that this seems to be intended to kowtow to others. If you don't know manners, you won't pave the way. When others kowtow, they will be polite: "Don't worship, just have this word." You can only pay New Year's greetings in front of your ancestors in the hall, which is in line with the original meaning of New Year's greetings: kowtow to your ancestors and pray for them to bless you for a healthy and safe year and all the best. So people here don't say New Year greetings when they meet on the road, because they can't kowtow on the road. There is no ancestral spirit worshipped by others, and it is very false to say that it is a New Year's greeting. If you want to say New Year's greetings, you can only say "Come to your home to pay New Year's greetings in the future".

Third, there is a bow movement.

New Year greeting etiquette includes New Year greeting and kowtowing. New Year greetings are not as flashy as those in the city. They are all composed of salutations and "Happy New Year to you". After shouting "Happy New Year", you should kowtow. For example, in the early morning of the first day, jiaozi put on the table, and his parents sat at the table in the back room. His son shouted in the hall, "Happy New Year, Dad!" " "Happy New Year, Mom!" My parents shouted in the back room, "Stop it!" New Year greeting people kowtow to their ancestors: the man bows with his hands, kneels with his legs, supports the ground with his hands, and lowers his head to touch the ground; After shouting, the woman puts her head in her hands, vibrates in front of her abdomen, kneels on her legs, leans forward, and lowers her head a little, even if she kowtows.

Fourth, for those who should pay New Year greetings, there is no shortage of annual gifts.

All families attach great importance to giving New Year greetings and being paid New Year greetings. "Breaking the annual ceremony" is a very serious matter. Daughter-in-law and in-laws are in conflict and don't talk at ordinary times, but they should pay a proper New Year call. If there is less ceremony this year, it will be a particularly big event, which is basically equivalent to announcing the complete severance of kinship. Even if the daughter-in-law usually has all kinds of disrespect, her in-laws will be much more comfortable after the New Year. If there is no special reason and special explanation, there is no New Year greeting between relatives, which means that relatives have broken diplomatic relations since then. On the first day of worship, young people are careful not to miss any one. The elders are secretly paying attention to which young people came to worship and which ones didn't. If there is no, my heart is very awkward. When their children come back, parents should check the "achievements" of young people to see if there are any families who missed the worship; If you miss it, make it up quickly. There are also those who do not intend to worship. If people come to worship, they will return.

Fifth, pay attention to warmly receiving New Year greetings.

This is manifested in the New Year greetings between relatives in different villages, and the most abundant local banquet should be used to entertain relatives who come to visit the New Year. From the second day of junior high school, I will go to my relatives' home to pay New Year greetings and entertain relatives from other villages who come to my home to pay New Year greetings. Since there are many relatives in each family, there must be a difference between worshipping first and worshipping later. Generally, close relatives are worshipped first, and then distant relatives are worshipped. Among close relatives, in-laws are the most important. For married men whose parents-in-law are still alive, the second day is the day when they take their wives to their in-laws to pay New Year greetings. At the same time, my parents-in-law also sent someone, usually my brother-in-law, here to pay a New Year call. Other close relatives are aunts, aunts and uncles. Another factor that must be considered is which relative's house to eat at. Because we often visit several relatives a day and can only have lunch at one place, we should consider which one to go to first, which one to go to later and which one to eat according to the convenience of the journey and the distance of the relationship. Generally, I eat at my close relatives' home, and I am not afraid of causing trouble to each other. If you don't eat at a close relative's house, the other person will have a problem. On the one hand, we should eat in this house, on the other hand, we should bring gifts, such as wine, meat, chicken, fish, fruit, eggs and so on. Or you can make your own rice cakes or buy snacks from local shops and put them in baskets or handbags. Relatives generally don't accept all the gifts, but set aside a small part or put some of their own things in. This is the custom of carrying a basket. After dinner and tea, the guests left one after another.

In modern villages, this New Year greeting ceremony is not only driven by the long and heavy ancient customs, but also the inherent needs of local life and the natural expression of villagers' feelings. Village New Year greeting activities have the functions of filial piety and family harmony, and are also an effective way to maintain and strengthen villagers' mutual assistance and an important channel for communication between villages. In recent years, the life style and internal structure of the village have changed significantly as a whole, while the traditional way of greeting the New Year in Jingxian County is still stubbornly inherited.