What are the customs in Rudong?

Rudong New Year customs:

1. Busy New Year

From "Laba" to the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, preparations are made for the New Year. Farmers began to make wine, and stores began to purchase new year goods (especially incense, candles, paper horses and other sacrificial supplies) to prepare for the busy market. Handicraftsmen are targeting the market to process items needed for the Spring Festival, such as incense burners, candlesticks, bowls, dish racks, pot rings and children's toys.

Ordinary people who want to buy or customize new clothes and hats must also prepare early. The market is gradually becoming lively. In order to prevent fire and theft, people in the market town began to "watch the clock" at night, and the New Year atmosphere became stronger day by day.

The "dusting off" begins on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month. That is to say, thoroughly clean and wash the furniture and utensils inside and outside the courtyard. Dust off the cobwebs and dust from the corners of the roof. Incense burners and candlesticks made of copper and tin were also polished with incense ash. The indoor windows are bright and clean, and the home has a completely new look. In the cleaning work from the 24th to New Year's Eve, "the four four (everything) goes as planned", that is, dusting, changing clothes, getting a haircut, and taking a bath.

After the "dusting off", it will officially be a "busy year". Farmers began to slaughter pigs, sheep, chickens and ducks, dig ditches to catch fish, steam buns, pour rice cakes and make wine. People in towns and cities have also begun to prepare New Year dishes. Regardless of whether they are rich or poor in urban and rural areas, almost every family cooks "lucky vegetables". Some also cook fish and jelly beans, fry peanuts and broad beans for children, popcorn, fried rice, and make peanut fried rice candy, etc.

Old custom shops are closed from the first to the fifth day of the first lunar month. Before the end of the year, people have to purchase all kinds of items for the festival, which is commonly known as "making new year's goods." First there are incense, candles, paper horses and the like used to worship gods and ancestors, called "Please Dafa", then there are door gods, couplets, wedding notes, firecrackers, as well as rice, noodles, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, cigarettes, wine, sugar, etc. The Chinese New Year is the peak sales season for tea and snacks. Many people want to buy as many colorful refreshments as possible with less money. In order to meet the needs of the masses, tea and food shops package various types of tea and food in combinations. The high-quality combinations are called "Shangza" and the ordinary ones are called "Zhongza". They are cheap and good-quality, and are packaged in a bamboo basket shaped like an ingot. People love.

From the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, stores begin to check out and collect debts until midnight on New Year’s Eve. Relatives and friends also began to give each other gifts, which were nothing more than fish cakes, steamed buns, tobacco, and alcohol, which were called "New Year gifts." A son-in-law with hairy feet will definitely give gifts to his father-in-law and mother-in-law, and the gifts will be many and elegant. The main ones are wine, sugar, fish and meat, and the rest are added according to their auspiciousness, and the recipients will also receive gifts in return.

2. Inverted cake

Farmers call steamed rice cake inverted cake. The steamed cake has a cake mold, which is square and divided into a number of rectangular compartments. The bottom plate is engraved with concave characters, usually "Fu, Lu, Shou, Xi, Wealth" and "Number One Scholar" and "Five Sons". Admission" and so on. Rarely do farmers prepare their own cake molds in rural areas. Most of them are brought by cake steamers when they pour cakes for farmers. Town residents bring their own rice noodles to steamed cake shops for processing. The steamed cake master first takes a little edible "magenta" (a red additive), mixes it with rice flour crumbs, and sprinkles it into the grooves of the cake molds. Then he puts a frame of equal size on each character mold and pours in the rice crumbs until until the frame is filled. Then use a thin wooden strip to flatten it and cover it, then move it to the pot for steaming. Several cake molds are stacked on a steamer, and the hot water in the pot is boiling. When the steam rises to the top level, it is commonly known as round qi. Just wait for a while and you'll be ready. At this time, spread a large wet cloth on the chopping board and place the cake upside down on the wet cloth. This is where the name "inverted cake" comes from. The small rectangular pieces of sticky cake have red letters protruding on them and red frames on the four sides. When the heat is gone, dip your hands in cold water and put the wordless sides of the two cakes together to form a couplet cake. This cake is also called Kou Fenhua Cake and Kou Box Cake.

There is also a steamer cake, which is often steamed by farmers in Caobu and Xindian areas of this county during the New Year. It is long and square, with two red stripes embedded at both ends. It is very similar to the original cloth hand towels woven by farmers in the past, so it is also called "hand towel cake". In addition, farmers in the Dongdong area often steam a steamer cake. The cake is very large, about 40 centimeters long, 15 centimeters square in cross-section, and weighs about 2 kilograms. Steam a cake and you can eat it for a long time.

3. Steamed buns

At the beginning of the twelfth lunar month, farmers start grinding wheat into flour. In the late twelfth lunar month, you can choose a day to ferment the steamed buns, that is, mix the prepared fermentation water into the flour.

Generally, people worship paper horses until the eighteenth day of the first lunar month (small falling lantern), which is when they thank the gods. At that time, the remains of the ancestors were first taken down and handed over to the eldest grandson of the eldest son for safekeeping. Then all the "paper horses" on the holy cabinet were placed in the brazier in the middle of the courtyard, and sent to heaven (incinerated) with cypress branches and yellow watches. Some families don't thank God until the second day of February, when the lanterns are turned down, and send them paper horses.

Spring Festival Couplets

5. Pasting Spring Festival Couplets

During the Spring Festival, every household must paste Spring Festival couplets on the door. In the old days, rural people often asked literate people to write Spring Festival couplets. In recent years, when the town is closed, there are often private school teachers setting up a small table in the street, with papers, pens and inkstones placed on the table, and general-purpose spring couplets and blessing characters hanging behind them on strings for people to choose from, and more are available for purchase. The family asked to write Spring Festival couplets on the spot.

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, bucket squares, etc. Posting Spring Festival couplets is commonly known as "posting couplets" and is usually posted on New Year's Eve (or the 29th). "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. The rice cabinets and grain hoards inside the farmhouse, as well as the pig pens and sheep sheds outside the house, are mostly pasted upside down with a square rhombus-shaped word "福", or the four characters "luck in wealth and treasure" (all in traditional Chinese) are replaced with the word "jin". Relying, combined into one word, there are also cases where the upper and lower hooks of "golden ten thousand taels" (both in traditional Chinese) are combined into one word to express the desire to pray for blessings and wealth.

6. Stick to the Door God

The door gods are said to be the gods Tu and Yu Lei who can catch ghosts. Later, people used two peach boards to draw portraits of Shen Tu and Yu Lei, and hung them on both sides of the door to drive away ghosts and ward off evil spirits. Because the ancients believed that peach wood is the essence of the five trees and can subdue hundreds of ghosts. Most of the door gods in the countryside are printed on stone or woodblocks. Qin Shubao has a white face and a happy face, holding an iron mace, and is posted on the left; Yuchi Jingde has a black face and an angry look, holding a steel whip and is posted on the right. In addition to Qin Shubao and Yuchi Jingde, the military generals and goalkeepers include Zhao Yun, Ma Chao, Xue Rengui, etc. In addition to the military door gods, there are also civil servant door gods and blessing door gods. Most civil servant door gods are related to promotion and wealth, while door gods for blessings are linked to having many children, good fortune, and longevity. The two are sometimes paired together, such as the Tianguan (or Number One Scholar) door god, who is often matched with the Queen who gives birth to children. In addition, there are also the God of Joy, the Two Immortals of Harmony, Liu Hai, the Lucky Boy, etc. The door gods are also painted in a variety of ways. Some wear tiger helmets, some wear robes, and some are New Year pictures. Some mascots are also added, such as Jue Deer, Bat Xi, BMW, Bottle Saddle and other festive patterns, which are homophonic. "Jueluo brings good luck, and horses bring peace" to pray for good luck. Door gods and Spring Festival couplets both evolved and developed from peach charms. From the earliest days, they drove away ghosts and warded off evil spirits and gradually became a special form for people to express their good wishes.