Just wait for the answer! Xunyang customs survey report!

Xunyang is located in the Han River basin and is the source of a large river. History goes back to ancient times. Xunyang in the Heyuan area once created a splendid Heyuan civilization. Entering the new century, the Xunyang County Party Committee and County Government stand at a new starting point, proposing to build a green, ecological, and harmonious Heyuan civilization, and are exploring a way to achieve economic development, political clarity, social harmony, good ecology, and people's happiness. New approach... I took advantage of the Spring Festival to collect and sort out some of the highlights of Xunyang's historical customs, customs and culture for the benefit of readers.

New Year

The Spring Festival is an ancient traditional festival in my country and the most important festival of the year. How to celebrate this festival has formed some relatively fixed customs and habits over thousands of years of historical changes and development. There are many ways to celebrate Xunyang that have been passed down to this day.

The Spring Festival is the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar, also called the lunar year, commonly known as the "New Year". This is the most solemn and lively traditional festival in our country. The Spring Festival has a long history. It originated from the activities of worshiping gods and ancestors at the beginning and end of the year during the Yin and Shang Dynasties. According to the Chinese lunar calendar, the first day of the first lunar month was called Yuanri, Yuanchen, Yuanzheng, Yuanshuo, New Year's Day, etc. in ancient times. It was commonly known as the first day of the new year. During the Republic of China, the Gregorian calendar was switched to the Gregorian calendar. January 1st of the Gregorian calendar was called New Year's Day. The first day of the lunar calendar was called New Year's Day. The first day of the month is called the Spring Festival.

The Spring Festival is here, which means that spring is coming, everything is revived, vegetation is renewed, and a new round of sowing and harvesting seasons is about to begin. People have just passed through the long winter of ice and snow, and the vegetation has withered, and they have long been looking forward to the days of warm spring and blooming flowers. When the New Year arrives, they will naturally welcome this festival with joy, singing and dancing.

Another name for the Spring Festival is the New Year. In past legends, Nian is an imaginary animal that brings bad luck to people. When the year comes, the trees wither and no grass grows; when the year passes, everything grows and flowers are everywhere. How can the year pass? Firecrackers are needed to blast, so there is a custom of burning firecrackers.

The Spring Festival is a happy and peaceful festival, and it is also a day for family reunions. Children who are away from home have to go home to celebrate the Spring Festival. The night before the New Year is the 30th night of the twelfth lunar month of the old year, also called New Year's Eve, also called Reunion Eve. At this time of transition between the old and the new, staying up late is one of the most important annual activities. On New Year's Eve, the whole family stays up together. Stay up all year long, gather together, drink, and enjoy family happiness.

Sweeping dust

"On the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, dust and sweep the house." According to "Lu Spring and Autumn Annals", 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.

Whenever the Spring Festival comes, every household must clean the environment, wash various 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.

Post Spring Festival couplets and hang red lanterns high

Spring couplets are also called door couplets, spring posts, couplets, couplets, peach charms, etc. They depict the background of the times with neat, dualistic, concise and exquisite words. , expressing good wishes, is a unique literary form in our 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. 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, and squares, etc. "Door center" is affixed to the upper center of the door panel; "frame pair" is affixed to the left and right door frames; "Hengpi" is affixed to the crossbar of the lintel; "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.

Hang up red lanterns is another folk custom passed down from generation to generation by the people of Xunyang. On New Year's Eve, every household, no matter in the city or in the countryside, hangs red lanterns on both sides of the main entrance until the Lantern Festival, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. The lanterns are written with auspicious words such as "good luck", "attracting wealth", "happy family", etc. to express the meaning of "warding off evil spirits and eliminating disasters, and having a bright future".

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

In Xunyang, 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 "Fu" to make various patterns in detail, such as longevity stars, longevity peaches, carps jumping over dragon gates, good harvests, dragons and phoenixes, etc.

New Year pictures

Hanging New Year pictures during the Spring Festival is also very common in urban and rural areas of Xunyang. The thick black and colorful New Year pictures add a prosperous and joyful festive atmosphere 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, Luxu and Shou" and "Heaven" were produced. Classic color New Year pictures such as "Official Blessing", "Fruit Grain", "Six Animals Prosperous", "Welcoming Spring and Receiving Blessings" can satisfy people's good wishes of celebrating the good year. A large collection of exams

Firecrackers

There is a saying among the people in Xunyang that "firecrackers open the door". 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 also called "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.

Shou Sui

On New Year’s Eve, staying up late is one of the most important annual activities of the people in Xunyang. On New Year’s Eve, the whole family gets together to have New Year’s Eve dinner, light candles or oil lamps, and gather around Sitting by the fire and chatting, waiting for the moment to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, keeping vigil all night symbolizes driving away all evil plagues and looking forward to good luck in the new year. To this day, people are still used to staying up late on New Year's Eve to welcome the new year. In ancient times, keeping up with the old age had two meanings: the elderly kept up with the old year to "say goodbye to the old year", which meant cherishing the time; the young ones kept up the old year to prolong the life of their parents.

New Year greetings

The first day of the New Year is the most popular day for people in Xunyang. People get up early, put on their most beautiful clothes, dress up neatly, and go out to visit relatives and friends. Happy New Year to each other and wish you 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 pay New Year greetings at home, some upper-class figures and scholar-bureaucrats later used various stickers to congratulate each other, and the later "New Year's greeting cards" developed from this.

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.

Eating dumplings

The folk custom of eating dumplings during the Spring Festival in Xunyang 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 "Gengsuijiaozi", 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 Chinese New Year. One is to commemorate the founding of the world by Pangu and the end of chaos; the other is that it is homophonic with "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.

When Nuwa kneaded earth to create a human being, the loess people's ears were easily frozen due to the cold weather. In order to keep the ears in place, Nuwa pierced a small eye in the human ear and tied the ear with a thin thread. , put the other end of the thread in the mouth of the loess and bite it to complete the ears. In order to commemorate Nuwa's achievements, the common people made dumplings, shaped into the shape of human ears with dough, filled with stuffing (thread), and eaten with their mouths.

Dumplings have become an indispensable program food during the Spring Festival for the following reasons: First, dumplings are shaped like ingots. People eat dumplings during the Spring Festival to "bring in wealth". Secondly, the dumplings are stuffed, which makes it easy for people to wrap various auspicious things in the stuffing to express people's wishes for the new year.

When making dumplings, people often put Jin Ruyi, sugar, peanuts, dates and chestnuts into the fillings. Those who eat as they wish and eat sweets will have sweeter days in the coming year; those who eat peanuts will be healthy and live longer; those who eat dates and chestnuts will have children early.

In some places, when eating dumplings, they 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 going well; and eating three fresh vegetables. It symbolizes the prosperity of the three Yangs. Eating fish dumplings, meat dumplings and vegetables symbolizes reunion and prosperity, and prosperity every year.

Ancestor Worship

Ancestor Worship is another traditional virtue passed down from generation to generation by the simple and kind-hearted Xunyang people. That is to say, every New Year's Eve, the elders of the family will take the descendants with them, bring "incense tables and paper money" to the tombs of the deceased elders, kowtow three times and five times, burn the sacrifices and pray. This method is also called "grave visit" . Or on New Year's Eve, you can put "incense offerings" on the home table and hold a memorial ceremony, and let the descendants kowtow and pray, praying for the blessings of their ancestors on the descendants, "prosperity in people and wealth" and "peace in all seasons." In addition, a commemorative event must be held every year during the Qingming Festival, National Day and other festivals to express the memory and grief for ancestors and relatives.