Comprehensive practical activities of Spring Festival

Spring Festival generally refers to the first day of the first lunar month, that is, the first day of the year. Traditionally, it is called New Year's Day (different from the current Gregorian New Year in China), the beginning of a year, Zheng Dan. Now it is generally called New Year's Day, the first day of the New Year's Day. It is also called China New Year, Lunar New Year and Lunar New Year. But among the people, the traditional Spring Festival refers to the sacrificial ceremony from the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month or the 23rd or 24th of the twelfth lunar month to the 15th of the first lunar month in La Worship, with New Year's Eve and the first day of the first lunar month as the climax. In some places, New Year celebrations even ended in the first month. Spring Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival are also called the four traditional festivals of the Han nationality in China.

The last day of the Lunar New Year (30th and 29th of each month) is called "New Year's Eve". On New Year's Eve, the whole family get together to have a New Year's Eve dinner (the last meal of the Lunar New Year). After New Year's Eve, there are customs of giving lucky money and staying up late, which means that the last day of the lunar new year will last until the first day of the following year.

During the Spring Festival, Han people and many ethnic minorities in China will hold various activities to celebrate. The main contents of these activities are offering sacrifices to gods and buddhas, paying homage to ancestors, saying goodbye to the old year and welcoming the new year, and praying for a bumper harvest. The activities are rich and colorful, with strong national characteristics. Dozens of ethnic minorities, such as Manchu, Mongolian, Yao, Zhuang, Bai, Gaoshan, Hezhe, Hani, Daur, Dong and Li, have also had the custom of Spring Festival, but the festival forms have their own national characteristics.

The Spring Festival is the main festival to celebrate the New Year in many countries and regions in East Asia. Vietnamese is called "t? t Nguyên？ N "(New Year's Day), called" the first month "in Japanese (renamed the old first month after Meiji Restoration) and"? " In Korean. This is an inherent word, which means New Year. Now, besides China, Korean Peninsula, Viet Nam and Japan, Spring Festival is one of the most important festivals in Mongolia, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and other places.

Spring Festival has different names in different times. In the pre-Qin period, it was called "going to Japan", "January Day", "changing the year" and "offering the year". In the Han Dynasty, it was also called "Three Dynasties", "Sui Dan", "Zheng Dan" and "Zhengri". Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties were called Chen Yuan, Yuan Ri, Fuehrer and Sui Dynasty. In the Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties, it was called New Year's Day, Yuan, New Year's Day and Singapore dollar. In the Qing Dynasty, it was always called "New Year's Day" or "Yuan Day".

It is difficult to know when the Spring Festival originated, but it is generally believed that it originated from the activities of offering sacrifices to gods and ancestors at the end of the Yin and Shang Dynasties (La Worship) in China. According to legend, there was a custom of Spring Festival as early as Yao and Shun times. The first month of the lunar calendar is the beginning of a year. In most cases, beginning of spring is in the first month or the middle of the first month (in a few cases, beginning of spring is in the late twelfth month). The time of the festival is considered to be related to the influence of agricultural labor; The word "nian" in Oracle Bone Inscriptions and bronze inscriptions has the image of mature ears of wheat.

The spelling of "Nian" in Oracle Bone Inscriptions is "He" at the top and "Ren" at the bottom. The word "year" in the bronze inscription is the same as the word "year" in Oracle Bone Inscriptions, and it is also related to food and people. Xiao Zhuan's Nian wrote "Going to Grain and Going to Thousand" and "Explaining He Zi's Supplement"; What about the word "people" under the word "year"? From Oracle Bone Inscriptions's point of view, the word "nian" seems to be a line on a person's head.

There is another legend:

In ancient China, there was a wild animal called Xi, which had long tentacles and was fierce. "Xi" lived on the bottom of the sea for many years, only climbed ashore on a certain day (New Year's Eve), devouring livestock and hurting people's lives. So every New Year's Eve, people in the village fled to the deep mountains to avoid the harm of the "evening" beast. One year on New Year's Eve, an old beggar came from outside the village. The villagers were in a hurry and panic. Only an old woman in the village east gave the old man some food and suggested that he go up the mountain quickly to avoid wild animals at night. The old man lifted his beard and smiled: "If my mother-in-law lets me stay at home for one night, I will definitely drive away the nocturnal animals." The old woman continued to persuade and begged the old man to laugh without saying a word.

At midnight, the "Twilight" beast broke into the village. It found that the atmosphere in the village was different from previous years: the old woman's house at the east end of the village had red paper on the door and bright candles in the room. At dusk, the beast trembled and let out a long whistle. Near the door, there was a sudden sound of "bang, bang, bang" in the hospital, and "Xi" trembled and dared not go any further. It turns out that "Xi" is most afraid of red, fire and explosion. At this time, my mother-in-law's door was wide open, and I saw an old man in a red robe laughing in the hospital. "Evening" was frightened to disgrace and fled in confusion. The next day was the first day of the first month, and the people who came back from refuge were very surprised to see that the village was safe and sound. At this time, the old woman suddenly realized and quickly told the villagers the promise of begging for the elderly. The story soon spread in the surrounding villages, and people knew the way to drive away the "night" beasts. Since then, every year on New Year's Eve, every family has posted red couplets and set off firecrackers. Every household has a bright candlelight, so it is better to wait for the New Year. In the early morning of the first day, I want to say hello to my relatives and friends. This custom is widely circulated and has become the most solemn traditional festival among the people in China.

There is another saying:

In ancient times, there was a wild animal named Xi, which was several times bigger than the current elephant and dozens of times fiercer than the tiger. It eats people, eating dozens of people in one bite, and countless people are eaten by it. The people have suffered. One day, "Xi" came again. A young man hated it very much and said, "It's better to have a fight with it than to let it eat. They are all dead anyway. " He rushed up with an axe and many young people followed him. But they are no match for Xi. Young people are eaten by Xi. Since then, "Xi" has become more vicious, and all people are angry and hate.

The resentment in the sky shocked the white Venus in the sky, and the hatred in the earthquake shocked the king and bodhisattva in the underground. As soon as Venus Taibai and Bodhisattva Wang Di discussed it, they sent the ancestor Shennong to the earth to collect the "evening". Shennong holds the animal whip in his hand, aiming at "Xi"' s ass is a whip. The fierce "evening" actually obediently fell motionless. Shennong ran a few steps, stepped on Xi's head and roared, "beast, you have eaten countless people and done terrible things." Today is your end. " Say that finish, I took out two melon bowls from my waist and aimed them at "night". "Xi", which is bigger than an elephant, suddenly merged into a melon bowl. Shennong buried the "Xi" bowl underground. When he left, he repeatedly said, "This bowl will grow into a melon if it is buried in the ground. This melon can't be broken, so be sure to say it's not broken. " Later, a melon really grew in the place where the bowl was buried, and the people called it "North Melon" according to Shennong's "No" voice. The day when Shennong removed "Xi" happened to be December 30 of the lunar calendar, so people called this day "New Year's Eve", which means removing "Xi". On this day, the class consecrated the North Melon to show the suppression of evil, and beat gongs and drums and lanterns with bamboo poles to commemorate the merits of Shennong's ancestors. Probably it was added by later generations according to the old customs and traditions. It is unlikely to be the origin of "Year".

In ancient times, the Spring Festival especially referred to beginning of spring in the twenty-four solar terms, and was also regarded as the beginning of a year. Later, it was changed to the first day of the first month of the summer calendar (the first day of the first lunar month). Since the Ming Dynasty, the Chinese New Year generally didn't end until after the 15th day of the first month (Lantern Festival), and in some places the New Year celebrations didn't even end until the whole first month. World record association, China has chosen the Spring Festival as the biggest festival in China. It ranks first among the three traditional festivals in China: Spring Festival, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival.

After the founding of the Republic of China, the government of the Republic of China abolished the traditional lunar calendar and adopted the European Gregorian calendar. It tried to ban people from celebrating the Lunar New Year, but failed because of the people's insistence. During Yuan Shikai's reign, 65438+ 1 in the Gregorian calendar was designated as New Year's Day, and the first day of the first lunar month was designated as "Spring Festival", but people still celebrated the New Year and writers still called it "New Year's Day".

The word "Spring Festival" really became popular after the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. The Lunar New Year is now also called the Lunar New Year and the Old Calendar. In the sixth year of Meiji Restoration (1873), 1 stopped using the Japanese lunar calendar and used the solar calendar to measure the days. The original lunar calendar was called the old calendar, and people's celebrations began in the solar calendar only in the Three Kingdoms period. Even so, the Japanese still celebrate the New Year according to traditional customs, but in South Korea and Viet Nam, which are also influenced by China culture, even if the official calendar is changed to the western calendar, there are still official and folk activities to celebrate the Lunar New Year.

Han people's Spring Festival customs: Generally speaking, they mainly eat rice cakes, jiaozi, Ciba, glutinous rice balls, poached eggs, big meatballs, whole fish, wine, oranges, apples, peanuts, melon seeds, sweets, fragrant tea and dishes; With dust removal, bedding washing, new year's goods preparation, Spring Festival couplets, New Year's pictures, paper-cutting, blessings, candles, fires, firecrackers, watching the New Year, giving lucky money, visiting relatives, visiting ancestral graves, visiting flower markets, building social fires and many other activities, it is endless fun. For example, the New Year's Eve is particularly important: first, the whole family should get together, and those who have not returned for some reason should leave a seat and a set of tableware to show their reunion; Second, the food is rich, pay attention to "oral color", call the rice cake "step by step", jiaozi "Wanshun", the drink "running water", the egg "big ingot" and the fish "more than a year"; This kind of fish is not allowed to eat. It is called "Kanyu" and must be eaten until the first day of school. In areas where there are no fish in the north, carved wooden fish are mostly used instead; Third, the seats are orderly, mostly for ancestors. Grandchildren are in the middle, and their parents are in a lower position. Men, women and children should drink. Close the door when eating, and the excitement will be gone.

Tianjin also has the custom of hanging Chinese knots during the Spring Festival. Before the Lunar New Year's Eve, Tianjin people had the custom of inviting Chinese knots to Qiao Gexiang, an ancient cultural street in Tianjin, to receive Xiang Qiao's blessing.

The home-cooked dishes of New Year's Eve have their own characteristics in different places. In the past, in Beijing and Tianjin, people usually cooked rice, stewed pork, beef and mutton, stewed chicken and cooked several dishes. Shaanxi family banquets are generally four or eight bowls. Four bowls are stir-fried dishes and cold dishes, and eight bowls are mainly stewed dishes and cooked food. Only meat dishes in southern Anhui include braised pork, tiger skin, meatballs, moo Shu pork, steamed pork, braised pork, pork liver, pork heart and pork belly products, as well as all kinds of fried pork slices and shredded pork. Eastern Hubei is "three steamed", "three cakes" and "three pills". "Three steaming" means steaming whole fish, whole duck and whole chicken; The "three cakes" are fish cakes, meat pies and sheep cakes;

"Three pills" are fish pills, meatballs and lotus root pills. Generally, people in Harbin fry eight dishes, 10 or 12 or 16. The main ingredients are nothing more than chicken, duck, fish and vegetables. The New Year's Eve dinner in Gannan is usually 12 dish. Some places in Zhejiang are generally the "top ten bowls", seeking the color of "complete happiness", mainly chicken, duck, fish and various vegetables. Nanchang, Jiangxi generally has more than a dozen dishes, paying attention to four cold dishes, four hot dishes, eight big dishes and two soups.

All over the country, there are one or several indispensable dishes on New Year's Eve, and these dishes often have some auspicious meanings. For example, in Suzhou, there must be vegetables (then happy dishes), bean sprouts (Italian food) and celery (hard-working) on the table. There must be a carp weighing about 1 kg in central and southern Hunan, called "Tuannian Fish", and a pig elbow weighing about 3 kg, called "Tuannian Elbow". There are two fish on the dining table in central and southern Anhui. One is the whole carp, which can only be seen but not eaten. It shows respect for ancestors, and it also means more than one year. The other is silver carp, which is edible and symbolizes the prosperity of children and grandchildren. The first bowl of Lai in Qimen family banquet is "Zhonghe", which is made of tofu, mushrooms, winter bamboo shoots, shrimp skin and fresh meat, meaning "harmony is precious".

There is a bowl of "chicken catches beans" on the dining table in Hefei, which means "grab money and get rich". The housekeeper wants to eat a chicken leg, which is called "grasping the money claw", which means making a fortune in the coming year. Anqing's head should eat a bowl of noodles before meals, which is called "money standard" Nanchang area must eat rice cakes, braised fish, fried rice noodles, eight-treasure rice and boiled thick soup, which in turn means annual rise, fish every year, abundant crops, string rice, eight-treasure rice and prosperity every year.

Eat dumplings

Northern areas like to eat jiaozi during the Spring Festival, which means reunion, good luck and welcoming the New Year. In order to increase the atmosphere and fun of the festival, people in the past dynasties have made great efforts to package jiaozi. People keep their wallets in jiaozi. Whoever eats them will make a fortune next year. Wrap honey in jiaozi, and whoever eats it will represent the sweetness of life in the coming year and so on.

door-god

There is a custom of putting up doors for the New Year in all parts of China. At first, the janitor carved mahogany into a human shape and hung it next to people. Later, it was painted as a janitor and posted on the door. The legendary brothers Shen Tu and Lei Yu specialize in ghosts. They guard the portal, and evil spirits dare not enter the portal to harm.

However, the real guardian recorded in the history books is not the tea god and Long Yu, but an ancient warrior named Cheng qin. According to the biography of Han Guang written by Ban Gu, the portrait of Cheng qin, an ancient warrior, was painted on the gate of King Guang Chuan (Quping), wearing shorts and holding a sword. In the Tang dynasty, the position of the door god was replaced by Qin's harmony.

The Journey to the West's narrative is more detailed. "Many dragon kings made a dogma in order to bet with a Mr. Bubu, so they should ask questions. The Jade Emperor appointed Wei Zhi as the supervisor. King Jinghe pleaded with Emperor Taizong for his life. Emperor Taizong agreed, and when it was time to kill the dragon, he summoned Wei Zhi to play chess with him. Unexpectedly, Wei Zhi took a nap in the rain, and his soul ascended to heaven and beheaded the Dragon King. The Dragon King complained that Taizong had broken his word and cried outside the palace day and night for his life. Emperor Taizong told his ministers that General Qin Baoshu said, "I would like to stand outside with Wei Chijingde and wear a uniform. ".Emperor Taizong agreed. There was really nothing that night. Emperor Taizong could not bear the hardships of the two generals, so he ordered the skillful Dan Qing to draw the true faces of the two generals and stick them on the door. "

There are also paintings of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei as door gods. Every household has a door god, and later generations often draw a pair of door gods as martial arts. Door gods are divided into three categories: the first category is "door gods", which are mostly attached to doors or the whole door, about four or five feet high and two or three feet wide. The second kind is the "door keeper", which is attached to the small street door, about two feet high and one foot wide. These two door gods are two gods with a black face and a white face. White left black right, white easy, black evil, each holding a slap in the face. The third category is "gatekeeper", which is smaller and more limited than street people. It is also a black and white Er Shen, but there are also two black and white statues sitting like statues. At most, there is a picture of "Kirin sending a child" posted on the door, and there are two plump pink dolls with comb crowns, each riding a unicorn. This kind of door god should have been stuck on the wedding door for good luck, and later it was also used as a New Year decoration for ordinary street doors.

Spring Festival couplets

Spring Festival couplets originated from the word peach. "Fu Tao" is a rectangular red wooden board hanging on both sides of the door in the Zhou Dynasty. According to the Book of Rites, the peach symbol is six inches long and three inches wide, and the words "Shen Tu", "Lei Yu" and "Ershen" are written on the mahogany board. "On the first day of the first month, a peach symbol was made for this family, which was called immortal wood. All ghosts were afraid of it." Therefore, the Qing Dynasty's "Yanjing Shi Sui Ji" said: "Spring Festival couplets, that is, Fu Tao."

In the Five Dynasties, in the court of West Shu, someone wrote couplets on peach symbols. According to Song Shi Shu Jia, Meng Chang, a master of the post-Shu Dynasty, asked Zhang Xun, a bachelor, to write a poem on the mahogany board. "Because he was not doing business properly, he wrote a poem under the pretence:' Qing Yu celebrates the New Year, and the first festival is Changchun'", which is China's first Spring Festival couplets. Until the Song Dynasty, Spring Festival couplets were still called "Fu Tao". In Wang Anshi's poems, there is a saying that "every family has the narrowest day, and new peaches always change for old ones". In the Song Dynasty, the peach symbol was changed from red board to paper, which was called "Spring Sticker".

In the Ming Dynasty, Fu Tao changed its name to "Spring Festival couplets". In the Ming Dynasty, Chen wrote in Miscellaneous Paintings of Mao Yunlou: "The establishment of Spring Festival couplets began" before New Year's Eve, the imperial capital Jinling suddenly issued a decree to add a pair of Spring Festival couplets at the entrance of the official school, and the emperor would appear when he walked. Zhu Yuanzhang not only went out of town incognito to see the laughter in person, but also wrote Spring Festival couplets himself. He passed a house and saw that the Spring Festival couplets had not been posted on the door. He went to ask, knowing that it was a castrated pig, and had not asked anyone to write it for him. Zhu Yuanzhang specially wrote Spring Festival couplets for the castrated pig man, which read "Split the road of life and death with both hands and cut off the root of right and wrong with one knife". Relevance and humor. After Ming Taizu's advocacy, Spring Festival couplets have since become a custom, which has been passed down to this day.

"Every year is more than enough" to paste the blessing New Year pictures, stick grilles, paste the New Year pictures, and paste thousands of them.

These all have folk functions of praying and decorating the residence. New Year pictures are an ancient folk art in China. They reflect people's customs and beliefs and place their hopes on the future. New Year pictures, like Spring Festival couplets, originated from "door gods". Spring Festival couplets developed from the names of Shen Tu and Lei Yu to figures, while New Year pictures still developed along the direction of painting. With the rise of block printing, the content of New Year pictures is no longer limited to the door gods, but gradually invites the god of wealth to their homes, and then in some New Year pictures workshops, colorful New Year pictures such as three stars of Fu Lushou, God bless the people, abundant crops, prosperity of six animals, greeting the spring and praying for blessings are produced to meet people's good wishes of celebrating and praying for the New Year. As Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of Ming Dynasty, advocated posting Spring Festival couplets, New Year pictures became popular, and three important producing areas of New Year pictures appeared in China: Taohuawu in Suzhou, Yangliuqing in Tianjin and Weifang in Shandong. Formed three schools of Chinese New Year pictures. In the early years of the Republic of China, Zheng of Shanghai combined the monthly calendar with the New Year pictures. This is a new form of New Year pictures. This two-in-one New Year picture was later developed into a calendar. Hanging a thousand is carved with auspicious words on red paper, accompanied by a long ruler and A Zhi, which is posted in front of the door, reflecting the symbol of peach. There are eight immortals hanging in front of the Buddha statue. Hanging thousands of households use more, and aristocratic families use less. Its yellow paper is three inches long and red paper is more than one inch long, which is a "small hanging thousand" and is used by shops. The earliest thousands of hanging coins were linked by making money (copper coins), which, like lucky money, had an overwhelming victory effect.

Invert the word "fu"

While putting up Spring Festival couplets, some people have to put large and small "Fu" characters on doors, walls and lintels. Sticking the word "Fu" during the Spring Festival is a long-standing folk custom in China. The word "Fu" symbolizes good luck and wishes for a happy life and a bright future. In order to fully reflect this yearning and wish, some people simply put the word "Fu" upside down, indicating that "Fu has arrived" and "Fu has arrived". Others elaborate the word "Fu" into various patterns, such as longevity, longevity peach, carp yue longmen, abundant grains, dragons and phoenixes, and so on.

Tian di Ji Biao

This is a temporary table, specially designed for New Year's Eve. Generally, there is no big Buddhist temple house, and special attention is paid to the heaven and earth, because there are few sacrifices to the Buddha at ordinary times, and the Buddha is rewarded once at the end of the year. In addition, this table is mainly used to pick up the gods. The content of Heaven and Earth Table is different from that of perennial Buddhist temples. Except for some hanging money, incense sticks, five sacrifices and big sacrifices, most of the idols it worships are temporary, such as Percentage, which is a woodcut idol album. Eighteen Buddha Gods in the Three Realms of Heaven and Earth is a complete classic printed in color, with large yellow fringed paper woodcut. Fu Lushou Samsung photo, etc. Some of the above images are burned out after receiving god, such as "percentage" Others will not be burned until the fifth day or even the Lantern Festival. The position of the table is not uniform. If the room is spacious, you can put it inside. If there is no land at home, you can put it in the yard. Legend has it that this night is the time when the gods in heaven are in the lower world, so the people have this custom of receiving gods.

Watch the Spring Festival Gala

Although this is not a custom, since 1980s, the Spring Festival Gala has become an indispensable cultural feast for China people due to the popularity of television! Every year, more than 654.38 billion people watch the Spring Festival Gala on TV or the Internet!

stay up late or all night on New Year's Eve

China people had the habit of New Year's Eve, commonly known as "endure the New Year". Watching the new year begins with eating New Year's Eve dinner. This New Year's Eve dinner should be eaten slowly, starting with lighting lanterns, and some families have to eat it until late at night. According to Zonggu's record of Jingchu's age, there was a custom of New Year's Eve dinner at least in the Northern and Southern Dynasties. The custom of observing the old age not only includes the feeling of farewell and nostalgia for the fleeting time, but also expresses the good hope for the coming New Year.

Set off firecrackers on the first day of the New Year.

There is a folk saying in China that "open the door and set off firecrackers". That is, when the new year comes, the first thing for every household to open the door is to set off firecrackers to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. Firecracker is a specialty of China, also known as "Firecracker", "Firecracker" and "Firecracker".

At midnight, the New Year bell rang and firecrackers shook the whole sky of China. In this "three yuan" moment of "year yuan, month yuan, time yuan", some places still set up "Wang Huo" in the courtyard to show that the spirit is soaring and prosperous. Around the blazing fire, the children set off firecrackers and danced happily. At this time, the bright lights in the house, the sparks in front of the court and the deafening noise outside the house pushed the lively atmosphere of New Year's Eve to a climax. Poets of all ages always praise the arrival of the New Year with the most beautiful poems. Wang Anshi s Poem Yuan Ri;

The roar of firecrackers, the old year has passed; The warm spring breeze ushered in the New Year, and people happily drank the newly brewed Tu Su wine.

Every family has a primary school birthday. Always trade new peaches for old ones.

It depicts the grand festival scene of China people celebrating the Spring Festival. Firecrackers are a sign of saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new, and also an expression of festive atmosphere. In business, setting off firecrackers has another meaning: they set off firecrackers on New Year's Eve to make a fortune in the new year. But according to the old custom, respecting the god of wealth should be the first, and setting off firecrackers should be the last. Legend has it that if you want to get rich, firecrackers will ring at the end.

Eat new year's eve dinner

When children are playing with firecrackers, it is also the busiest time for housewives in the kitchen. Chinese New Year's food is cooked a few days ago, and the New Year's Eve dinner is always cooked on New Year's Eve. In the north, jiaozi on the first day of New Year's Day will also be wrapped up on the evening of 30th. At this time, everyone's chopping boards are busy chopping meat and vegetables. At this time, the sound of chopping boards in every household, firecrackers in streets and alleys, abacus and accounting sounds in small shops are full of laughter and laughter, one after another, echoing, interwoven into a cheerful movement on New Year's Eve.

Eating New Year's Eve is the most lively and enjoyable time for every household in the Spring Festival. On New Year's Eve, a table of rich Chinese New Year's dishes, family reunion, sitting around the table and having a reunion dinner, I really can't tell you the sense of fulfillment in my heart. People not only enjoy the delicious food on the table, but also enjoy the happy atmosphere. There are big dishes, cold dishes, stir-fried dishes and snacks on the table. Generally, two things are indispensable, one is hot pot and the other is fish. The hot pot is boiling, steaming, warm and sultry, which indicates that it is thriving; "Fish" and "fish" are homophonic, symbolizing "more happiness and more celebration" and also meaning "more than one year". There are also radishes, commonly known as vegetable heads. Good luck. Lobster, fried fish and other fried foods, wish your family prosperity, such as "cooking oil with fire." Finally, I want a dessert. I wish you a sweet life in the future. On this day, even if I can't drink, I will drink a little.

There are many kinds of New Year's Eve dinners, including jiaozi, wonton, long noodles and Yuanxiao. , and each has its own emphasis. Northerners are used to eating jiaozi during the Spring Festival, which means "making friends when you are young". Because the white flour jiaozi is shaped like a silver ingot, the pots on the table symbolize the meaning of "getting rich in the New Year, and the ingots are rolling in". Some wrapped jiaozi and some coins sterilized with boiling water, saying that whoever ate first would make more money. The custom of eating jiaozi was handed down from the Han Dynasty. According to legend, Zhang Zhongjing, a medical saint, saw that the poor people's ears were frozen and rotten in the cold winter, so he made a kind of "cold-dispelling Joule soup" to treat frostbite for the poor people. He used mutton, peppers and some herbs to dispel the cold and warm, made ear-shaped "dumplings" with flour bags, cooked them in a pot and distributed them to the poor. After eating it, people feel hot all over and their ears are hot. Since then, people have followed suit and spread it to this day. Eating wonton in the New Year is based on its original meaning. Legend has it that the world was in a chaotic state before it was created, and Pangu created a universe with four long faces, also called longevity noodles. Eating noodles in the New Year is to wish you a long life.

Communicate with god

Receiving God means dividing the old year into the new year, but the time of receiving God is not uniform. Some people begin to hold ceremonies as soon as their children arrive, some people begin to receive gods at midnight when their children are "right", and some people do so after their children are "right". After the sacrifice, the immortals from all walks of life returned to the Heavenly Palace, ignoring worldly affairs, and after New Year's Eve, that is, when the New Year came, they came to the world for deliberation. The ceremony of receiving gods was held at the table of heaven and earth, presided over by the oldest person in the family. Because immortals live in different directions in heaven, the lower bound naturally comes in different directions. As for who to meet and where to come from, we should check the "constitution book" in advance, then lead the whole family to hold incense in the yard and follow their instructions to meet the gods. For example, Xin Weinian's "Constitution Book" states that "God of Wealth is due east, God of Wealth is due south, you God is northeast, West God is southwest, and Tai Sui God is southwest". After kowtowing in the direction, stand still until the incense is exhausted, and then kowtow. Finally, take down the fragrant roots, idols and ingots, and put them into the money and grain basins already prepared in the yard for burning. When burning, pine branches and sesame stalks burn together. When the gods were closed, firecrackers exploded and the atmosphere was extremely strong.

tread on

After receiving the gods, sesame stalks spread from the street gate to the door of the house, and people walked on it, making a noise, which was called "stepping on the old" or "stepping on the special". Because "broken" and "treasure" are homophonic, it means that the new year begins to exorcise evil spirits.

offer sacrifices to ancestors

In ancient times, this custom was very popular. Due to different local customs and habits, the forms of ancestor worship are also different. Some go to the wild to sweep graves, and some go to the ancestral temple to worship their ancestors. Most of them put their ancestral tablets in the main hall in turn at home to show their worship, and then worshippers worship them in order of age. Han people worship their ancestors and make more fish tanks filled with high bowls, which means ringing bells. Southerners live in Beijing, and ancestor worship is particularly grand. Most of them are eight bowls of big dishes with hot pot in the middle, and cups and chopsticks are placed according to their positions. New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, Lantern Festival, hot pot fans, change dishes at any time. Manchu and Mongolian people sacrificed their ancestors. Mongolian flag bearer offered butter to stir-fry yellow wheat, fried it with sesame oil and dipped it in sugar when withdrawing the offering, which had a unique flavor. Manchu banner people offered walnut cakes, hibiscus cakes, apples and plain wax sandalwood to worship their ancestors, which was very quiet. On New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, vegetarian cakes will be made, and on the last night, Lantern Festival will be held. Burn incense and kowtow every morning and evening and offer new tea. Although the forms of ancestor worship are different, most of them are hanging shadows on New Year's Eve, and the confession was withdrawn on the last night of the Yuan Dynasty. They are close to their relatives and friends. When they visit the New Year, they should also knock on the ancestral temple. They should not only pursue the future cautiously, but also preserve their virtue of respecting their ancestors.

Send the god of wealth

In the past, since the opening of the financial door at midnight during the Spring Festival, people have sent the God of Wealth. The God of Wealth shouted outside the door with a piece of paper in his hand: "The God of Wealth is coming!" " At this time, in order to meet the God of Wealth, the owner of the house gave a reward to the bearer and sent it to the mouth of the God of Wealth. Of course, it is inevitable to say something auspicious. For example, "the treasure is rolling"! On the left is a pair of golden lions, and on the right is a pair of golden phoenix! And so on. There is also a man dressed as a god of wealth, wearing a red robe, a gauze hat, a fake beard on his mouth and a yellow cloth bag to collect money, followed by several drummers, who distributed the god of wealth from door to door in order to ask for a reward. Every time I go to someone's door, I will sing a lot of auspicious words, such as "the left compartment is full of gold and silver, and the right compartment is full of treasure", until the owner happily takes over the red paper statue of the god of wealth and gives them some money. After thanking them, they play for a while and go to another one amid the sound of gongs and drums.

Drink Tu Su wine.

Tu Su wine is a kind of medicinal liquor. In the ancient custom, the whole family drank Tu Su wine on January Day to eliminate unhealthy tendencies. Tu Su wine is made by hanging rhubarb, platycodon grandiflorum, Zanthoxylum bungeanum, Cinnamomum cassia, Cornus officinalis and Saposhnikovia divaricata in a well, picking them at the end of Yuan Dynasty and cooking them with the wine for four or five times. In ancient times, Tu Su wine was drunk in a unique way. Most people drink alcohol, always starting from the elderly; But drinking Tu Su wine is just the opposite, starting with the smallest. Perhaps young people grow up day by day, drinking first to congratulate them, and old people drinking late to retain them. Su Zhe, a writer in the Song Dynasty, wrote in his poem "In addition to Japan" that "it has been more than 70 years since Tu Su drank the last drink every year", which is a custom. In ancient times, this unique drinking order often caused people to have various emotions, so it left a deep impression on people.

Next year's meal

In the north, some families will provide a pot of rice, which was cooked years ago and provided for China New Year. It's called "annual meal", which means that there are leftovers every year, which can't be eaten all year round, and this year we still eat the grain of the previous year. This bowl of New Year's Eve dinner is usually cooked with rice and millet. As the saying goes in Beijing, it is called "two rice" because it is yellow and white. This is called "golden rice with gold and silver, gold and silver everywhere". In many places, cakes, melons and fruits are prepared to win a lucky one: eating dates (spring comes early), persimmons (all the best), almonds (gratifying), longevity fruit (immortal) and rice cakes (getting higher every year). On New Year's Eve, the family ate happily, talking and laughing.

Forms of New Year greetings

With the development of science and technology, the forms of New Year greetings have surpassed the traditional way of sending blessings, and new forms of New Year greetings have emerged, such as telephone greetings, greeting cards, text messages and online greetings. These forms of New Year greetings not only enrich the tradition of New Year greetings, but also are loved by more and more people because of their advantages of simplicity, convenience, quickness, vividness and low cost. According to statistics, during the Spring Festival every year, there are billions of short messages to pay New Year greetings through mobile phones, and countless participants send greeting cards and pay New Year greetings through the Internet.