What are the Spring Festival customs in Yunjin Town?

Shou Sui

The practice of keeping the year old on New Year's Eve has been recorded in the Wei and Jin Dynasties.

On New Year's Eve, the whole family reunites and has a New Year's Eve dinner. This is a common custom in our country of staying up late on New Year's Eve. According to historical records, this custom first started in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and gradually became popular later. In the early Tang Dynasty, Emperor Taizong Li Shimin wrote a poem about staying up late on the New Year's Eve: "The cold leaves the winter snow, and the warmth brings the spring breeze." To this day, our people are still used to staying up late on New Year's Eve, setting off firecrackers outside their houses, and sitting around watching TV indoors, laughing.

Eating Dumplings

Dumplings have become an indispensable delicacy during the Spring Festival. According to "Guang Ya" written by Zhang Yi, a native of the Wei Dynasty in the Three Kingdoms, at that time there was a food called "wonton" that was shaped like a crescent moon, which was basically similar in shape to today's dumplings. By the Northern and Southern Dynasties, wontons were "shaped like a crescent moon and were eaten all over the world." It is speculated that after the dumplings were cooked at that time, they were not taken out and eaten separately, but were mixed with soup in a bowl and eaten, so people at that time Call dumplings "wontons". This way of eating is still popular in some areas of my country. For example, when people in Henan, Shaanxi and other places eat dumplings, they put some coriander, chopped green onion, dried shrimps, leeks and other small ingredients in the soup. Around the Tang Dynasty, dumplings had become exactly the same as today's dumplings, and they were taken out and eaten separately on a plate.

The folk custom of eating dumplings during the Spring Festival was quite popular in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Dumplings are usually made before 12 o'clock in the evening on New Year's Eve and eaten at midnight. This is the beginning of the first day of the first lunar month. Eating dumplings means "Gengsui Jiaozi", and "子" means "子". "Shi" is homophonic with "dumpling", which means "happy reunion" and "good luck".

There are many legends about eating dumplings during the New Year. One is to commemorate the founding of the world by Pangu, and the other is to take the homophonic pronunciation of "hundun", which means "full of food." In addition, there is also a folk saying that eating dumplings is related to Nuwa's creation of human beings.

Dumplings have become an indispensable program food during the Spring Festival. The reasons are: first, dumplings are shaped like ingots, and eating dumplings during the Spring Festival means "bringing in wealth"; second, dumplings are stuffed, which makes it easier for people to eat various kinds of food. Plant auspicious things and wrap them in the stuffing to express people's wishes for the new year. In some areas, when eating dumplings, people also eat some non-staple food to show good luck. For example, eating tofu symbolizes the happiness of the whole family; eating persimmons symbolizes everything goes well; eating three fresh vegetables symbolizes the prosperity of the three Yangs. Taiwanese people eat fish balls, meat balls, and cabbage to symbolize reunion and prosperity.

Pasting the word "福" on the Spring Festival

It is a long-standing folk custom in my country. According to "Meng Liang Lu" records: "On the first day of the new year, I shop for department stores, paint door-god peach charms, and welcome the Spring Festival..."; "Every family of scholars and common people, big or small, sweeps the door, removes dust, cleans the courtyard, and The door god nails peach charms and puts up spring signs to worship ancestors. "The "spring sign" in the article is the word "福" written on red paper.

The current interpretation of the word "福" is "happiness", but in the past it meant "blessing" and "luck". Whether now or in the past, they all express people's yearning for a happy life and their wishes for a better future. In order to more fully reflect this yearning and wish, people simply paste the word "福" upside down, which means "happiness has fallen" and "blessing has arrived".

There is also a folk legend about the word "福" stuck upside down. Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, used the word "福" as a secret signal to prepare for murder. The kind-hearted Queen Ma decided to avoid the tragedy of killing, so she ordered everyone in the city to put a label with the character "福" on their doors before dawn. Naturally, no one dared to disobey Queen Ma's will, so everyone put a label with the character "福" on their doors. One of the families was illiterate and actually pasted the word "福" upside down. On the next day, the emperor sent someone to check the streets and found that every family had pasted the stickers with the character "福", and one family had the character "福" upside down. The emperor was furious after hearing the report, and immediately ordered the imperial guards to kill the entire family. Empress Ma realized what happened and told Zhu Yuanzhang, "that family knew you are coming today, so had purposely turned the label with the character "福" upside down. Doesn't that mean "luck arrives"?" As soon as the emperor heard that it made sense, he ordered Let him go, and a catastrophe is finally eliminated. From then on, people began to paste the character "福" upside down, firstly to bring good luck, and secondly to commemorate Queen Ma.

Affixing window grilles

During the Spring Festival, people in many areas like to put various paper-cuts - window grilles - on their windows. Window grilles not only enhance the festive atmosphere, but also bring people beautiful enjoyment, integrating decoration, appreciation and practicality.

Paper-cutting is a very popular folk art and has been loved by people for thousands of years. Because it is mostly pasted on windows, people generally call it "window flower". Window grilles are rich in content and have a wide range of themes. Since most of the buyers of window grilles are farmers, window grilles contain considerable content that expresses farmers’ lives, such as farming, weaving, fishing, herding sheep, feeding pigs, raising chickens, etc. In addition, window grilles also have themes such as myths and legends, opera stories, etc. In addition, images of flowers, birds, insects, fish and the twelve zodiac signs are also very common.

Set off firecrackers

There is a Chinese folk saying of "opening firecrackers". The first thing in the New Year is to set off firecrackers to get rid of the old and welcome the new.

Firecrackers are a specialty of China. They originated very early and have a history of more than 2,000 years. Most of us now believe that setting off firecrackers can create a festive atmosphere and is a festive entertainment activity that can bring joy and good luck to people.

According to the "Shenyi Jing", in ancient times, people passed through the mountains and slept outdoors, and lit bonfires at night, firstly to cook and keep warm, and secondly to prevent wild beasts from invading. However, there is an animal in the mountains called "Shan Xi" that is neither afraid of people nor fire, and often steals food when people are not prepared. In order to deal with it, people thought of burning firecrackers in the fire and using the popping sound of bamboo to make it escape. In the early Tang Dynasty, plague was widespread. A man named Li Tian put saltpeter in a bamboo tube and lit it to make a louder sound and thicker smoke. As a result, the plague was dispersed. Xiao U mad 闶 kiss the sugar 竦涖钤 Feiwei R courtyard 蠡騳 ┏ squid Zheng Si wall 菏 ⒘蚧平turbulence jiu Kang Ren 畓湓襥袢 material 陈氌 blinkshu ammonia otter thin 5 stirs up Wei Dou Qiji felt 橩Mi fermentation port spit tenon ス pipit ┍ 喑 yarn 馀 umbrella ammonia um 凇 夼冢 K widow climb Ben Lai Naipu tired 竦 scratch τ chewing clusters burnt sea points only ㄉ step on the times 唷 H Si shallow shun rose pick up a little诖 Hang陈 squeeze malaria 瓓秠曛卮蠼谌谌彩 consider lan洌 Zhaoliao 凇 ⒍Song 缃凇 ⒅星technetium诩ANG覧蕖⒔ǚjun ⒖ stall 狋嘁 squeeze malaria Chu Yun stable 挌挍?

New Year's greetings

In ancient times, the original meaning of the word "bainian" was to congratulate the elderly on the New Year. On the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, the younger generation should first pay New Year greetings to their elders. After the elders are worshiped, the "New Year's money" prepared in advance is distributed to the younger generations. When people meet each other when they go out, they should also say auspicious words to each other such as "Gong Xi Fa Cai" and "Happy New Year". In ancient times, it was the custom for upper-class scholar-bureaucrats to congratulate each other with name cards. At that time, the scholar-bureaucrats had many contacts, and it would take both time and energy to visit people from all over the world to pay New Year greetings. Therefore, some friends who were not close to each other did not go there in person. Instead, they sent servants to bring a two-inch wide, three-inch paper cut from plum blossom paper. An inch-long card with the name, address and congratulatory words of the congratulatory person written on it is sent to express New Year greetings on your behalf. In the Ming Dynasty, people paid homage instead of paying New Year greetings. "Ming Ci" and "Ming Ye" are the origins of today's New Year's cards. Since about the Qing Dynasty, New Year greetings have added the form of "group worship".

With the development of the times, the custom of New Year greetings has constantly added new content and forms. Nowadays, in addition to following the previous methods of New Year greetings, people have also started to use ceremonial telegrams, phone calls, mobile phone text messages, and online QQ New Year greetings.

New Year's money

When paying New Year's greetings during the Spring Festival, the elders will distribute the New Year's money prepared in advance to the younger ones. It is said that the New Year's money can suppress evil spirits. With the New Year's money, you can spend the first year of life peacefully. 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.

Folks believe that New Year's money is given to children. When evil spirits, monsters or "Nian" harm the children, the children can use the money to bribe them and turn evil into good luck. Wu Manyun, a native of the Qing Dynasty, wrote in his poem "New Year's Money": "A hundred and ten pieces of money are threaded with long colorful threads. I divide them and put them on my pillow to keep. I discuss the price of firecrackers and flutes. It makes Jiaoer busy all night."

"Nowadays, the custom of elders giving lucky money to younger generations is still popular. These lucky money are mostly used by children to buy books, school supplies and daily necessities. The new fashion has given new content to the lucky money.

Accepting the God of Wealth

Folk legend has it that the fifth day of the first lunar month is the birthday of the God of Wealth, and every family holds a banquet to celebrate the God of Wealth.

There are many folk legends about the God of Wealth: Cai Jing in the Song Dynasty was rich, and folklore said that he was the God of Wealth. The God of Wealth was born. He happened to be born on the fifth day of the first lunar month, so the people worshiped him as the God of Wealth. Later, Cai Jing was demoted, and the people replaced him with another God of Wealth. At that time, the national surname of the Song Dynasty was Zhao, and the character Xuan was a version of "Lan". Therefore, the God of Wealth was given the name Zhao Xuantan to worship. On the fifth day of the lunar month, Zhao Xuantan was the most respected. There are also folk sayings about the "Partial God of Wealth", the "Chinese God of Wealth" Caibo Xingjun and the "Martial God of Wealth" Guan Shengdijun. The belief in the Five-Hand God of Wealth is popular in the Luyuan area of ??Dexing, Jiangxi. Temple of Wealth. The "Chinese God of Wealth", Cai Bo Xingjun, is also known as the "God of Fortune and Wealth". His portraits are often listed with the three stars of "Fu", "Lu" and "Shou" and the God of Joy, which together are called Fu and Lu. , longevity, wealth, and happiness. The Lord of Fortune and Silk has a white face and long hair, and holds a treasure basin in his hand. This is where the four words "recruiting wealth and treasures" come from.

The God of Wealth, Guan Shengdijun, is Guan Yu Guan Yunchang. Legend has it that Guan Yun had been in charge of military stations, was good at calculations, invented the daily necessities, and was trustworthy and loyal, so he was worshiped by merchants. Most merchants regard Guan Gong as their patron saint, and Guan Gong is also regarded as a person who attracts wealth. The God of Wealth. On the fifth day of the first lunar month, shops open for business, and gongs and firecrackers are fired early in the morning to welcome the God of Wealth. Gu Tieqing of the Qing Dynasty quoted a poem about bamboo branches by Cai Yun in his "Qing Jia Lu". The situation of people welcoming the God of Wealth on the fifth day of the lunar month: "May you seek wealth in five days, and your wishes will be rewarded in one time; beware of welcoming the God early in other places, and rush to the road to welcome the God of Wealth overnight."

Eating rice cakes

It is said that rice cakes were first used to worship gods and ancestors on New Year's Eve, and later became a Spring Festival food.

"Essential Art of Qi Min" written by Jia Sixie of the Northern Wei Dynasty. The method of making cakes from ground rice flour: sift the glutinous rice flour with silk silk, add water and honey and knead it into a harder dough, stick dates and chestnuts on the dough, wrap it with Ruo leaves and steam it. This kind of glutinous rice pastry is very characteristic of the Central Plains. Rice cakes are mostly made from glutinous rice flour, which is a specialty of the south of the Yangtze River. In the north, there are sticky grains like glutinous rice. In ancient times, sticky millet (commonly known as small yellow rice) was the most popular. Rice cakes, steamed with water, are yellow, sticky, and sweet. They are a delicacy for people in the Yellow River Basin to celebrate the harvest. There are many types of rice cakes, with different flavors from the north to the south. The representative ones are the white cakes from the north and the yellow rice cakes from Saibei farmers. Rice cakes, water-milled rice cakes from Jiangnan water towns, red turtle cakes from Taiwan, etc.