Investigation report on the unique holiday customs in Gaomi, grade one, 8? 1 words

Investigation Report on the Customs of the Spring Festival

The long historical years have made the contents of annual customs activities extremely colorful. Among them, the superstitious content of worshipping the heaven and offering sacrifices to the gods has been gradually eliminated, while those interesting contents, such as posting Spring Festival couplets, New Year pictures, pasting the word "Fu", cutting window flowers, steaming rice cakes, wrapping jiaozi, burning firecrackers, vigil on New Year's Eve, and New Year greetings, are still very popular today.

observing the new year's eve

observing the new year's eve is the most important annual custom, which was recorded in the Wei and Jin dynasties. On New Year's Eve, it is a custom that the descendants of the Chinese people still attach great importance to staying up late with their families, getting together and drinking, and enjoying family happiness. After the first cock crow, the new year begins. Men, women and children are dressed in festive costumes. First, they celebrate the New Year's birthday for the elders in the family, and then they visit relatives and friends to congratulate each other. At this time, the land of China is shining everywhere. From the first day to the fifteenth day, people are immersed in a festive atmosphere of joy, peace and civilization. "It is a common custom in China to celebrate the New Year's Eve by having a family reunion, having a family dinner, chatting around the stove and saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new.". According to historical records, this custom originated in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. "It's night, firecrackers are forbidden in the mountains, and the sound is heard outside. In the house of ordinary people, sitting around the stove, Da Dan can't sleep." Later, it gradually became popular. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Taizong Li Shimin wrote a poem "Keeping the Year": "Cold resigns from winter snow, and warmth brings spring breeze." To this day, Chinese people are used to keeping watch on New Year's Eve, setting off firecrackers outside, sitting around the stove or watching TV indoors, laughing and laughing.

Meeting the God of Wealth

According to folklore, the fifth day of the first month is the birthday of the God of Wealth, so after the first day of the first month, the next most important activity is to meet the God of Wealth 111. On the night before the arrival of the God of Wealth's birthday, families hold banquets to celebrate the God of Wealth. There are many legends about the God of Wealth among the people: Cai Jing was rich in the Song Dynasty. According to folklore, he was born as a rich god, and he happened to be born on the fifth day of the first month, so people regarded him as a God of Wealth. After Cai Jing was demoted, the people changed to the God of Wealth. At that time, the national surname of the Song Dynasty was Zhao, and the mysterious word was an integral part of the word "Lan", so they gave the God of Wealth a name of Zhao Xuantan to worship. On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, Zhao Xuantan was the most revered. Many shops and houses are dedicated to his woodcut statue: the Xuan altar looks like the bottom of a pot, holding Strafe in his hand and riding Hei Hu, which is extremely powerful. In addition to Zhao Xuantan being honored as the "God of Wealth", there are also folk sayings that "God of Wealth is partial", "God of Wealth" and "Wu Caishen" is the holy emperor. The belief in the five gods of wealth is popular in the area of Qiuyuan, Dexing, Jiangxi. The initials of the titles of the five brothers are all "Xian", so they are called "Five Xian God of Wealth". Rob the rich and help the poor before death, but punish the evil and promote the good after death, and bless the poor people. Outside Andingmen in Beijing, there is a five-god-of-wealth temple named "Wen God of Wealth", also known as "God of Wealth". His paintings are often listed with "Fu", "Lu" and "Shou" Samsung and XiShen, and together they are blessing, Lu, longevity, wealth and happiness. With long white hair and a treasure basin in his hand, the word "making money into treasure" comes from this. Most people will hang this picture in the main hall during the Spring Festival to pray for good fortune and good fortune. "Wu Caishen" Guan Sheng Di Jun is Guan Yu Guan Yunchang. Legend has it that Guan Yunchang managed the military and horses station, was good at counting, made his invention increasingly thin, and paid attention to credit and loyalty, so he was worshipped by merchants. Generally, merchants regarded Guan Gong as their patron saint, and Guan Gong was also regarded as the god of wealth. On the fifth day of the first month, the shops opened, and in the early morning, golden gongs, firecrackers and sacrifices were made to welcome the God of Wealth. Gu Tieqing, a Qing Dynasty poet, quoted a poem of Cai Yun's bamboo branches in Qing Jia Lu, describing the situation of Suzhou people welcoming the god of wealth on the fifth day of the fifth month: "Five days to seek financial resources, one year to wish for a reward; Beware of meeting God early elsewhere, and hold the road head in a hurry overnight. " "Holding the road head" means "welcoming the god of wealth". Merchants who believe in Guan Di Shengjun should offer sacrifices, set off firecrackers and burn gold paper for Guan Gong on the fifth day of the first month, and ask Guan Di Shengjun to bless a prosperous year.

sticking paper-cut window grilles

During the Spring Festival, people in many areas like to stick paper-cut window grilles on their windows. Window grilles not only set off the festive atmosphere, but also bring people beautiful enjoyment, integrating decoration, appreciation and practicality. Paper-cutting is a very popular folk art, which has been deeply loved by people for thousands of years. Because it is mostly pasted on windows, people generally call it "window grilles". Window grilles are rich in content and wide in subject matter. Because the buyers of window grilles are mostly farmers, window grilles have considerable content to show farmers' lives, such as farming, weaving, fishing, herding sheep, feeding pigs and raising chickens. In addition, there are myths and legends, drama stories and other themes. In addition, the images of flowers, birds, insects, fish and the zodiac are also very common. With its unique generalization and exaggeration, window grilles show auspicious things and good wishes to the fullest, and decorate the festival with prosperity and jubilation.

Celebrating the New Year

Celebrating the New Year is a traditional folk custom in China, and it is a way for people to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, and express their best wishes to each other. In ancient times, the original meaning of the word "Happy New Year" was to celebrate the New Year for the elderly, including kowtowing to the elderly, congratulating them on the happy New Year, and greeting them about their lives. In case of friends and relatives of the same generation, we should also salute and congratulate them. New Year greetings usually begin at home. On the morning of the first day, after getting up, the younger generation should first pay a New Year call to their elders, wishing them a long and healthy life and all the best. After the elders are worshipped, they should distribute the "lucky money" prepared in advance to the younger generation. After paying homage to the elders at home, people should also greet the New Year with smiles when they meet out, exchange auspicious words such as "Congratulations on getting rich", "Best wishes for the four seasons" and "Happy New Year", and neighbors or relatives and friends also visit each other to pay New Year greetings or invite them to drink and entertain.

set off firecrackers

There is a folk saying in China that "open the door to set off firecrackers". That is, at the arrival of the new year, the first thing for every household to open the door is to set off firecrackers to eliminate the old and welcome the new with the sound of firecrackers. Firecrackers are a specialty of China, also known as "firecrackers", "firecrackers" and "firecrackers". Its origin is very early, and it has a history of more than two thousand years. Nowadays, most of us think that setting off firecrackers can create a festive atmosphere, and it is a kind of entertainment in festivals, which can bring happiness and good luck to people. However, if we trace the origin of firecrackers, we will understand the original intention of ancient people to set off firecrackers and its evolution history. "The Chronicle of Jingchu's Age" says: "On the first day of the first month, the cock crows and firecrackers are set off in front of the court to avoid the evil spirits." This record shows that firecrackers were an acoustic tool to drive away plague and evil spirits in ancient times, which made the custom of setting off firecrackers have a certain superstitious color from the beginning. In fact, this is entirely caused by the misunderstanding of the ancients. According to the Divine Classic, in ancient times, people camped through deep mountains and lit bonfires at night, one for cooking and keeping warm, and the other for preventing wild animals from invading. However, there is an animal in the mountain that is neither afraid of people nor fire, and often steals food while people are unprepared. In order to deal with this kind of animal, people think of the method of burning firecrackers in the fire and using the crackling sound of bamboo to keep it away. The animal mentioned here is called "Shan Sao". The ancients said that it can make people cold and hot, and it is a ghost that makes people get cold and hot diseases, scaring away the mountain, that is, expelling the evil spirits, so that they can get good luck and peace. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, there were plagues everywhere. A man named Li Tian put saltpeter in a bamboo tube and lit it to make it make a louder sound and a stronger smoke. As a result, the miasma in Shan Lan was dispersed and the epidemic was stopped. This is the earliest prototype of firecracker. Later, when gunpowder appeared, people filled the bamboo tube with saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal and burned it, resulting in "explosive warfare". In the Song Dynasty, people began to use paper tubes and hemp stems wrapped in gunpowder to make "guns" (that is, firecrackers). Regarding the evolution of firecrackers, Excellent Popular Arrangement records: "Ancient firecrackers. All of them are popular with real bamboo, so Tang poetry is also called explosive pole. Later generations rolled paper for it. Called "firecrackers". With the passage of time, the application of firecrackers has become more and more extensive, and the varieties and colors have become more and more numerous. Liuyang in Hunan, Foshan and Dongyao in Guangdong, Yichun and Pingxiang in Jiangxi and Wenzhou in Zhejiang are famous "hometown of fireworks" in China. The firecrackers produced by them are not only sold well all over the country, but also exported to other countries and regions in the world. Setting off firecrackers has become an entertainment activity with national characteristics. People not only set off firecrackers in the Spring Festival to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new year, but also set off firecrackers to celebrate major festivals and happy events, such as Lantern Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, marriage, building and opening.

suppress the money for the New Year

When visiting the New Year in the Spring Festival, the elders should distribute the lucky money prepared in advance to the younger generation. It is said that the lucky money can suppress evil spirits, because "old" and "precious" are homophonic, and the younger generation can spend one year safely with the lucky money. There are two kinds of lucky money, one is to thread colored rope into a dragon shape and put it at the foot of the bed, which is recorded in Yanjing Year; The other is the most common, that is, parents wrap the money distributed to their children in red paper. The lucky money can be given in public after the younger generation pays New Year's greetings, or it can be put under the child's pillow by parents when the child is asleep on New Year's Eve. Folk believe that giving lucky money to children, when evil spirits or "Nian" hurt children, children can use the money to bribe them and turn evil into good luck. In the poem "Lucky Money" by Wu Manyun, a Qing dynasty, it is said: "A hundred dollars are long in colored thread, and then they are collected from the pillow, and the price of firecrackers is discussed, which makes Jiao Er busy all night." From this point of view, the lucky money is tied to children's hearts, and children's lucky money is mainly used to buy firecrackers, toys and candy and other things needed for festivals. At present, the custom of the elders distributing lucky money to the younger generation is still prevalent, with the amount ranging from tens to hundreds. These lucky money are mostly used by children to buy books and school supplies, and the new fashion has given new content to the lucky money.

Eating dumplings

jiaozi is a kind of folk food with a long history, which is very popular among the people. There is a folk saying that "it's delicious but not as good as jiaozi". During the Spring Festival, jiaozi has become an indispensable delicacy. Jiaozi has become an indispensable program food for the Spring Festival. The reasons are as follows: First, jiaozi is shaped like an ingot. In the Spring Festival, people eat jiaozi, which sounds like "making a fortune". Secondly, jiaozi has stuffing, which is convenient for people to put all kinds of auspicious things into stuffing, so as to pin people's hopes for the new year. When wrapping jiaozi, people often wrap Jin Ruyi, sugar, peanuts, dates and chestnuts into stuffing. Those who eat the best and sugar will have a sweeter life in the coming year, those who eat peanuts will live a long and healthy life, and those who eat dates and chestnuts will have a baby early. In some areas, when people eat jiaozi, they have to match some non-staple food to show their good luck. If you eat tofu, it symbolizes the happiness of the whole family; Eating persimmon symbolizes all the best; Eat three fresh vegetables. It symbolizes that Sanyang opens Thailand. People in Taiwan Province eat fish balls, meat balls and seaweed, symbolizing reunion and getting rich. Jiaozi has a wide variety of stuffing and making methods. Even if they are the same kind of dumplings, there are different ways to eat them: Daur people in Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang want to cook jiaozi in vermicelli broth. Then even the soup with jiaozi to eat; In some areas of Henan, jiaozi and noodles are cooked together, which is called "Gold thread wears gold ingots". Jiaozi's delicacies, while bringing joy to people, have become an important part of China's food culture.

pasting the word "fu"

pasting the word "fu" is a long-standing folk custom in China. According to "Dream of Liang Lu", "When you are in your hometown, you shop in a department store, draw a peach symbol of the door god, and welcome the Spring Festival, every household should paste the word" Fu "on the door, wall and lintel of the house. Spring Festival ... ";" "Scholars, big or small, sweep the doors, remove dust and filth, clean up the families, change the door gods, hang Zhong Xu, nail peach charms and put up spring cards as a sacrifice to their ancestors. The word "Tie Chun Pai" in this article is the word "Fu" written on red paper. " The word "fu" is now interpreted as "happiness", but in the past it meant "good fortune" and "good fortune". Sticking the word "Fu" in the Spring Festival, whether now or in the past, has pinned people's longing for a happy life and wishes for a better future. In order to fully reflect this yearning and wish, the people simply put the word "fu" upside down, indicating that "happiness has fallen" and "blessing has arrived." There is another legend that the word "Fu" is posted upside down among the people. Ming Taizu Zhu Zhang used the word "Fu" as a secret word to prepare for murder. In order to eliminate this disaster, Ma Huanghou, a kind-hearted person, made all the families in the city have to put a "blessing" on their doors before dawn. Naturally, no one dared to disobey Ma Huanghou's will, so the word "Fu" was put on every door. One family can't read, so they put the word "Fu" upside down. The next day, the emperor sent people to the streets to check and found that every family had posted the word "Fu", and another family had posted the word "Fu" upside down. The emperor was furious when he heard the report, and immediately ordered the body-guard to chop down that house. When Ma Huanghou saw that things were not good, he quickly said to Zhu Yuanzhang, "The family knew that you were visiting today and deliberately put the word" Fu "upside down. Doesn't this mean" Fu "? "When the emperor heard the truth, he ordered the release, and a catastrophe was finally eliminated. Since then, people have put the word "Fu" upside down, seeking good luck and commemorating Ma Huanghou. There are also people who elaborate the word "fu" into various patterns, such as longevity, longevity peach, carp jumping over the dragon gate, abundant grains, dragons and phoenixes, and so on. In the past, there was a folk saying that "on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, every family wrote big characters". The word "Fu" used to be handwritten, but now it is sold in markets and shops.