Looking for a website about Spring Festival customs, origins, etc. and some pictures

Spring Festival is the most solemn and distinctive traditional festival in China. It marks the end of the old year and the beginning of the new year in the lunar calendar. The Spring Festival generally refers to New Year's Eve and the first day of the first lunar month. But among the people, the Spring Festival in the traditional sense refers to the period from the twelfth lunar month on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, or the twelfth lunar month on the 23rd or 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, with New Year's Eve and the first day of the first lunar month as the climax. During the Spring Festival, my country's Han and many ethnic minorities hold various activities to celebrate. These activities mainly focus on offering sacrifices to gods and Buddhas, paying homage to ancestors, eradicating the old and bringing in the new, welcoming the new year and receiving good fortune, and praying for a good harvest. The activities are rich and colorful with strong national characteristics.

The origin of the Spring Festival

The Spring Festival is also called the lunar year, commonly known as "New Year" and "New Year". The Spring Festival symbolizes unity, prosperity and new hope for the future. According to records, the Chinese people have celebrated the Spring Festival for more than 4,000 years. It was started by Yu and Shun. One day more than 2,000 BC, Shun ascended the throne as emperor and led his men to worship heaven and earth. From then on, people regarded this day as the beginning of the year and the first day of the first lunar month. It is said that this is the origin of the Lunar New Year, which was later called the Spring Festival. The Spring Festival used to be also called New Year's Day. The month in which the Spring Festival is located is called January.

The first day of the first lunar month was anciently called Yuanri, Yuanchen, Yuanzheng, Yuanshuo, New Year's Day, Sui's Day, New Year's Day, Sui Chao, Xinzheng, Shouzuo, Sanyuan or Nian, New Year, since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty At the beginning of the first year of Taichu, the first day of the first lunar month of the summer year (lunar calendar) was regarded as the "year" (i.e. "year"). The dates of the annual festivals were thus fixed and continue to this day. The New Year's Day was called "New Year's Day" in ancient times. After the Revolution of 1911, the Gregorian calendar (Gregorian calendar) began to be used to calculate the year, so January 1 of the Gregorian calendar was called "New Year's Day" and the first day of the first lunar month was called "Spring Festival". The state attaches great importance to the protection of intangible cultural heritage. On May 20, 2006, the "Spring Festival" folk customs were approved by the State Council and included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage lists.

Spring Festival Customs

The 23rd and 24th of the twelfth lunar month

The 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, also known as "Little Year", is the day when people worship stoves. In the folk song "Twenty-three, sugar melon sticky" refers to the sacrifice to the stove on the 23rd or 24th of the twelfth lunar month every year. There is a saying of "officials, three people, four boatmen and five", which means that on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the government, Generally, people hold sacrifices to the stove on the 24th, while people on the water hold sacrifices to the stove on the 25th.

Sacrificing stoves is a custom that has great influence among Chinese people and is widely spread. In the old days, almost every kitchen had a "Kitchen Lord" statue in the kitchen. People call this god "Si Ming Bodhisattva" or "Zao Lord Siming". Legend has it that he is the "Jiutian East Chef Siming Zao Wangfu Lord" conferred by the Jade Emperor. He is responsible for managing the kitchen fires of each family and is regarded as the protector of the family. worship. Most of the Kitchen King's niches are located on the north or east side of the kitchen room, with the statue of the Kitchen King in the middle. Some people who don't have a niche for the Kitchen King stick the statue of the god directly on the wall. Some statues only depict the Kitchen God alone, while others include two men and women. The goddess is called "Grandma Kitchen God". This is probably an imitation of the image of a human couple. Most of the statues of the Kitchen God also have a calendar for that year printed on them, with words such as "Master of the East Chef", "God of Human Supervision", "Head of the Family", etc., to indicate the status of the Kitchen God. The couplets "God says good things, and the lower realms keep you safe" are pasted on both sides to bless the whole family.

The Kitchen God has been staying at home since the last New Year’s Eve to protect and supervise the family; on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the Kitchen God will ascend to heaven to report the family’s good deeds to the Jade Emperor in heaven. Or evil deeds, the ritual of sending off the Kitchen God is called "Sending the Stove" or "Citing the Stove". Based on the report of the Kitchen God, the Jade Emperor handed over the good and bad fortunes that the family should receive in the new year to the hands of the Kitchen God. Therefore, for the family, the Stove Lord's report is indeed of great interest.

The stove delivery is usually held at dusk and night. The family goes to the kitchen first, sets the table, offers incense to the Kitchen God in the shrine on the kitchen wall, and offers sugar melons made with malt sugar and noodles. Then tie bamboo strips into paper horses and fodder for livestock. Offering caramel to the Stove Lord is to sweeten his mouth. In some places, sugar is spread around the Stove Lord's mouth, and while applying it, he says: "Say more good things, but don't say bad things." This is to stuff the Stove Lord's mouth with sugar to prevent him from saying bad things. In the Tang Dynasty book "The Chronicles of the Year under the Chariot", there is a record of "smearing wine dregs on the stove to make Siming (Kitchen Lord) drunk". After people coated Stove Lord's mouth with sugar, they took off the statue, and the paper and smoke went up to heaven together. In some places, sesame straw and pine branches are piled in the yard at night, and then the Kitchen God statue that has been kept for a year is taken out of the shrine, along with the paper horse and straw, and set on fire. The yard was brightly illuminated by the fire. At this time, the family kowtowed around the fire and prayed while burning: It is the 23rd again this year, and we send the Stove Lord to the west. There are strong horses, there is fodder, and the journey is smooth and safe. The sugar melon offered is sweet. Please say good things to the Jade Emperor.

When sending off the Kitchen God, in some places there are still several beggars who dress up and go from house to house singing songs and dancing to the Kitchen God, called "Sending the Kitchen God", in exchange for food.

The custom of giving away stoves is very common in the north and south of my country. Mr. Lu Xun once wrote the poem "The Gengzi Presents Stoves": Chickens are given glue and candies, and clothes are offered for petals and incense. If there is nothing growing in the house, there are only a few yellow sheep.

He said in the article "Songs for Zao Lord": "On the day when Lord Zao ascended to heaven, a kind of candy was sold on the street, the size of an orange. We also have this thing, but Bian It's like a thick little pancake. It's called "glue-tooth cake". It's intended to stick to Zao Lord's teeth so that he can't talk bad words to the Jade Emperor. The allusion of 'Yellow Sheep' mentioned in the poem comes from "The Book of the Later Han·Yin Shi Zhuan": "During the reign of Emperor Xuan, those in Yinzi Fang were extremely filial and benevolent. In the morning of the twelfth lunar month, when the kitchen god appeared, Zifang worshiped and received Qing: The family had a yellow sheep, so they worshiped it. Since then, they have become extremely rich, and have prospered since then. Therefore, they often worship the yellow sheep on the stove during the twelfth lunar month. "Yinzi Fang saw the kitchen god Yan. , killing the yellow sheep as a sacrifice, and later brought good luck. From then on, the custom of killing the yellow sheep as a sacrifice to the stove has been passed down.

In the Tang and Song Dynasties, the offerings to the stove were quite abundant. Fan Chengda, a poet of the Song Dynasty, wrote a very vivid description of the folk sacrifice to the stove at that time: On the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, the Kitchen Lord looked up to the sky and wanted to say something. The clouds, the carriages, the wind, the horses, the little ones linger, and there are cups and plates in the house for the feast. The pig's head is overcooked, the fish is fresh, and the rice bait is round with sweetened bean paste and sweet pineapple. The man offers his daughter a drink to escape, and the king is happy to drink wine and burn money. Don't listen to your servants' fights, don't get angry when cats and dogs touch you. I'll send you to heaven's gate drunk and full. Don't return to the clouds with a long spoon and a short spoon, begging for profit and return points.

The sacrifice of the stove on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month is closely related to the Chinese New Year. Because, on the eve of the New Year’s Eve a week later, the Kitchen God came to the world together with other gods with the good and bad luck that the family should receive. The Kitchen God is believed to lead the way for the gods in the sky. The other gods ascend to heaven again after the New Year, but only the Kitchen God will stay in people's kitchens for a long time. The ceremony to welcome the gods is called "receiving the gods", and for the Kitchen God, it is called "receiving the stove". The ceremony of taking over the stove is usually on New Year's Eve, and the ceremony is much simpler. At that time, you only need to put on a new stove lamp and burn incense in front of the stove niche.

There is a saying that "men do not worship the moon, and women do not worship the stove". In some places, women do not offer sacrifices to the stove. It is said that the Stove Lord looks like a pretty boy and is afraid of women offering sacrifices to the stove. As for the origin of Stove Lord, it has a long history. Among the Chinese folk gods, the Kitchen God is considered to be very old. As early as the Xia Dynasty, he was already a great god respected by the people. According to Kong Yingda Shu in the ancient book "Book of Rites·Etiquette": "The Zhuanxu family had a son, Rili, who was Zhurong and was worshiped as the Kitchen God." "Zhuangzi. Dasheng" records: "The stove has a bun." Sima Biao commented: "The bun, The Kitchen God is dressed in red and looks like a beautiful woman. "Baopuzi. Wei Zhi" also records: "On a dark night, the Kitchen God also goes to heaven to commit crimes." These records are probably the source of worshiping the Kitchen God. Also, it may be said that the Kitchen God is the "Suiren clan" who drills wood to make fire; or it is said to be the "Fire Officer" of the Shennong clan; or it is said to be "Sujili" who "the Yellow Emperor makes the stove"; or it is said that the Kitchen God's surname is Zhang, list, name Ziguo; opinions vary.

Due to different customs in different places, there are also folk activities of "Dancing the Stove King" and "beating the Stove King".

During the Stove Festival, people pay attention to eating dumplings, which means "sending off dumplings and facing the wind". People in mountainous areas eat more cakes and buckwheat noodles. In the southeastern part of Shanxi Province, the custom of eating fried corn is popular. There is a folk proverb that goes, "On the 23rd, if you don't eat fried corn, you will eat it in one pot at the beginning of the new year." People like to bind the fried corn with maltose and freeze it into large pieces, which tastes crispy and sweet.

There are two folk songs in the southeastern Shanxi region. One is "On the twenty-three, send the master to heaven; on the twenty-four, sweep the house; on the twenty-five, steam the dumplings; on the twenty-six, cut the Remove the meat; on the twenty-seventh, clean the tin utensils; on the twenty-eighth, make the food sloppy; on the twenty-nine, wash the feet and hands; on the thirtieth, the door gods and couplets are posted together." Reflecting time constraints and intense preparation. The second is a nursery rhyme: "Twenty-three, after the sacrifice to the stove, the children clapped their hands and laughed. In five or six days, the New Year will come. The evil-proof box, the walnuts, the dots, dots, and two cannons. The five children have passed the exam and played table tennis. "The sound is loud and the fire rises higher than the sky" reflects the children's joy in looking forward to the New Year. Among all preparations, cutting and pasting window decorations is the most popular folk activity. The content contains anecdotes of various animals and plants, such as magpies climbing plum blossoms, swallows piercing peach willows, peacocks playing with peonies, lions rolling hydrangea, three sheep (Yang) Kaitai, two dragons playing with pearls, deer, crane and tongchun (six years in spring) , five bats (blessings) holding longevity, rhinoceros looking at the moon, lotus (consecutive) fish (remaining), mandarin ducks playing in the water, bangs playing with golden cicadas, harmony of two immortals, etc. There are also various dramatic stories. Folklore includes the saying of "big ascension to the palace, second bloom of plum blossoms, Sanniang's teachings on the fourth to enter the earth, five daughters to pay their respects to birthdays in the snow of June, marriage to the Tianhe on July 7th, eight immortals to celebrate their birthdays with nine pieces of clothing", which reflects It reflects the folk's preference for dramatic stories. For families with a new daughter-in-law, the new daughter-in-law should bring various window decorations she has cut and go back to her husband's house to put up the windows, and neighbors will come to watch them. After the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, every household will steam steamed buns. Generally speaking, they are divided into two types: those used to worship gods and those used to visit relatives. The former is solemn and the latter is fancy. In particular, a large jujube mountain should be made to offer sacrifices to the Kitchen Lord. "A family steams steamed buns, and neighbors come to help." This is often a great opportunity for folk women to show off their dexterous skills. A steamed bun is a handicraft.

After the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, every household must write Spring Festival couplets. Folks pay attention to the fact that if there are gods, every door must be posted, and every object must be posted, so the Spring Festival couplets have the largest number and the most comprehensive content. The couplets in front of the gods are particularly particular, and they are mostly words of admiration and blessing.

Common ones include the divine couplet of heaven and earth: "Heaven's grace is as deep as the sea, and the earth's virtues are as heavy as mountains"; the divine couplet of land: "white jade grows from the soil, and gold comes from the earth"; the divine couplet of wealth: "the master of wealth in heaven, the god of fortune and fortune on earth"; the god of wells Couple: "A well can connect to the four seas, and a home can reach three rivers." The Spring Festival couplets on granaries, livestock pens, etc. all express warm celebrations and hopes. For example, "The grains are plentiful and the livestock are prosperous"; "The rice and flour are as thick as mountains, and the oil and salt are as deep as the sea"; "The cattle are like southern mountain tigers, and the horses are like northern sea dragons"; "The big sheep are prosperous every year, and the lambs are growing every month" and so on. In addition, there are some single couplets, such as "Look up to see happiness" on each indoor side, "Go out to see happiness" on the opposite side of the door, "Prosperity soaring to the sky" on the prosperous fire, "Full of gold in the courtyard" on the courtyard, and "Gold in the courtyard" on the tree. "The roots are deep and the leaves are luxuriant", the stone mill is pasted with "White Tiger and Good Luck" and so on. The couplets on the door are the facade of a family, which is particularly important. They are either lyrical or written, rich in content and witty words.

After the Stove Festival is held, preparations for the New Year begin formally. Every year from the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month to New Year's Eve, Chinese folk call this period "Spring Day", also called "Dust Sweeping Day". Sweeping dust is the year-end cleaning. It is called "house sweeping" in the north and "dust dusting" in the south. Sweeping dust before the Spring Festival is a traditional habit of our people. Every Spring Festival comes, every household has to clean the environment, wash all kinds of utensils, remove and wash bedding and curtains, sweep the Liulv courtyard, dust away dirt and cobwebs, and dredge open ditches and ditches. From north to south, everywhere is filled with the atmosphere of joyful hygiene and cleanliness to welcome the New Year.

The custom of "dusting and sweeping the house on the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month" has a long history. According to "Lu's 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: since "dust" and "chen" are homophones, sweeping dust in the New Year has the meaning of "removing the old and spreading the new", and its purpose is to sweep away all "poor 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.

The "Three Corpse Gods" are the "gods" worshiped in the human body in Taoism. According to the "Tai Shang Three Corpses Zhong Jing": "The upper corpse is named Peng Guo, and it is in the human head; the middle corpse is named Peng Zhi, and it is in the human belly; the lower corpse is named Peng Jiao, and it is in the human foot." It is also said that every time Geng Shen is born, On that day, they went to heaven to report human sins to the Emperor of Heaven; but as long as people stayed up all night on this night, they could avoid it, which was called "Shou Geng Shen".

Eat Zao Tang. Zao Tang is a kind of maltose with high viscosity. When it is drawn into a long candy stick, it is called "Guandong candy". When it is drawn into an oblate shape, it is called "Tanggua". ". Put it outside the house in winter. Because of the severe cold weather, the sugar melon solidifies and has some tiny bubbles inside. It tastes crispy, sweet and crispy, with a unique flavor. Real Kanto candy is extremely hard and cannot be broken when dropped. It must be split with a kitchen knife when eating. The material is very heavy and fine. The taste is slightly sour, there is absolutely no honeycomb in the middle, each piece weighs one tael, two taels, or four taels, and the price is also more expensive. There are two kinds of sugar melons, those without sesame seeds and those without sesame seeds. They are made of sugar into the shape of melon or pumpkin. The center is hollow and the skin is less than five minutes thick. Although the sizes are different, the transaction is still calculated based on the weight. Large sugar melons have It weighs only one or two kilograms, but it is used as a cover, and few people buy it.

The 25th day of the twelfth lunar month

According to old customs, after the Kitchen God ascended to heaven, the Heavenly Emperor and the Jade Emperor personally descended to the realm on the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month to inspect the good and evil in the world and determine the blessings and misfortune of the coming year. , so every family worships it to pray for blessings, which is called "receiving the Jade Emperor". On this day, you must be cautious in your daily life and words, and strive to perform well in order to win the favor of the Jade Emperor and bring blessings to you in the coming year.

After sending the Kitchen God to heaven, he did not welcome him back until New Year's Eve. During this period, there was no god's jurisdiction in the world, and there were no taboos. There were many marriages among the people, which was called "the chaotic year". Chaosui is a specific period of time designed for the people to adjust their social life. At the end of the year, people have leisure and savings. This is a good time for people who rarely have the energy to take care of big things. Therefore, people invented this special time folk custom according to the needs of real life. It can be seen that in traditional societies, the order of people's lives relies on folk customs for regulation.

Zhaotian silkworms are also called "burning field silkworms" and "burning field wealth". They are a folk custom of praying for good luck in the Jiangnan area. On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth lunar month, long poles tied with torches are erected in the fields to use the flames to divine the new year. If the flames are strong, they will herald a good harvest in the coming year. Some places hold this event on New Year's Eve.

The Thousand Lantern Festival is a religious festival of the Mongolian and Daur people. In Mongolian, it is called "Mingganzhuola", which means the Festival of Thousand Lanterns. On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth lunar month, people make "Minggandra" and light them in the temple. It is believed that the more lights they light, the more auspicious they will be. This festival custom is most popular among the Virat Mongolian people in Xinjiang. Local people eat roast beef and mutton and hold traditional sports and entertainment activities on this day.

Twenty-seventh day of the twelfth lunar month

According to traditional folk customs, people should bathe and wash clothes intensively during these two days to get rid of the bad luck of the year and prepare for the coming New Year. There is a "twenty-seventh day" in Beijing. There is a proverb that washes away guilt and illness, and washes away sloppiness at the age of twenty-eight. Taking a bath on the 26th of the twelfth lunar month is "washing fortune and fortune".

The twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month

The day before New Year's Eve is called "Little New Year's Eve". There is a banquet at home and people call it "Farewell". Burning incense outdoors is called "Heavenly Incense" and usually takes three days.

To celebrate the new year, the traditional festival of the Tujia people is also called the "New Year Meeting". The Tujia people celebrate the Spring Festival one or several days earlier than the Han people.

The 30th day of the twelfth lunar month - New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve refers to the night of the last day of the twelfth lunar month every year. It is connected with the Spring Festival (the first day of the first lunar month), also known as "New Year's Eve" ".

The word "Chu" in "New Year's Eve" means "to go; to change; to change". The meaning of New Year's Eve is "the end of the month and the end of the year." People have to get rid of the old and replace the old with the new. means, it is the last night of the whole year in the lunar calendar. Therefore, the activities during this period are centered around eliminating the old and bringing in the new, eliminating disasters and praying for blessings.

During the Zhou and Qin Dynasties, at the end of each year, the palace would hold a "Da Nuo" ceremony to beat the drums to drive away the ghosts of plague and disaster, which was called "Zhuchu", and later also called the day before New Year's Eve. It is the Little New Year's Eve, that is, the Little New Year's Eve; New Year's Eve is the Great New Year's Eve, that is, the New Year's Eve.

There is a custom of sticking to the door god during the Chinese New Year in various parts of our country. The original door god was carved into a human form of peach wood and hung next to the person. Later, the portrait of the door god was painted and posted on the door. The legendary brothers Shen Tu and Yu Lei specialize in controlling ghosts. With them guarding the door, evil spirits big and small dare not come in and cause harm. After the Tang Dynasty, there were paintings of the fierce generals Qin Qiong and Yuchi Jingde as door gods, and there were also paintings of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei as door gods. There is one door god statue on the left and right door respectively. Later generations often painted a pair of door gods as civil and military. There are three types of door gods: the first type is the "door god", which is usually posted on the car door or the entire door. It is about four or five feet high and two or three feet wide. The second type is the "street door god", which is usually posted on the small street door. It is about two feet high and one foot wide. These two door gods are two gods, one with a black face and one with a white face. White left and black right, white good and easy, black ferocious and evil, each holding a yue. The third category is the "house door god", which is slightly smaller and more limited than the street door god. It also has two gods, black and white, but there are also two gods, black and white, who are seated. The most common thing on the door of the house is a picture of "Qilin delivering his son", two dolls painted with powder and grease and combed with crowns of princes, each riding a Qilin. This kind of door god was supposed to be posted on the door of the newly married house to bring good luck, and later it became a New Year decoration on ordinary street doors.

Spring couplets, also known as "door pairs" and "spring posts", are a type of couplets. They are named because they are posted during the Spring Festival. One source of Spring Festival couplets is Taofu. At first, people carved human figures in peach wood and hung them by the door to ward off evil spirits. Later, they painted the image of the door god on the peach wood, and then simplified it to inscribing the name of the door god on the peach wood board. Another source of Spring Festival couplets is spring stickers. The ancients often posted the word "Yichun" on the Beginning of Spring, which later developed into Spring Festival couplets. The real popularity of Spring Festival couplets began in the Ming Dynasty, which is related to Zhu Yuanzhang's advocacy. According to the "Miscellaneous Theory of Hairpin Cloud Tower" written by Chen Shanggu of the Qing Dynasty, one year when Zhu Yuanzhang was preparing to celebrate the New Year, he ordered that a Spring Festival couplet be posted on the door of every house to celebrate. Originally the Spring Festival couplets were inscribed on peach boards, but later they were rewritten on paper. The color of peach wood is red, and red has the meaning of good luck and warding off evil spirits, so the Spring Festival couplets are mostly written on red paper. However, the temple uses yellow paper, and the mourning system (when mourning is not completed) uses white, green, and yellow colors. White paper is used in the first year, green paper in the second year, yellow paper in the third year, and red paper is used after the fourth year of mourning. Paper. Because the Manchu people were still white, the Qing court Spring Couplets used white paper, with blue edges wrapped on the outside and red stripes on the inside.

When midnight strikes, the New Year’s bell rings, and the sound of firecrackers rings across the entire land of China. In this "three yuan" moment of "the yuan of the year, the yuan of the month, and the yuan of the time", some places still build a "vigorous fire" in the courtyard to show that the energy is strong and prosperous. Around the blazing fire, the children set off firecrackers and jumped happily. At this time, there were bright lights inside the house, brilliant sparks in front of the court, and loud noises outside, pushing the lively atmosphere of New Year's Eve to its climax. . Poets and writers of all ages have always praised the coming of the New Year with their most beautiful verses. Wang Anshi's poem "Yuan Ri":

The sound of firecrackers marks the end of the year, and the spring breeze brings warmth to Tusu.

Thousands of households are as bright as the sun. Always replace old talismans with new ones.

Pasting blessing characters, pasting window grilles, pasting New Year pictures, and pasting thousand hangings all have the folk functions of praying for blessings and decorating the residence. New Year pictures are an ancient folk art in my country. They reflect the customs and beliefs of the people and express people's hopes for the future. New Year pictures, like Spring Festival couplets, originated from the "door god". Spring couplets developed from the names of Shen Tu and Yu Lei to text, while New Year pictures still developed along the direction of painting. With the rise of woodblock printing, the content of New Year pictures is no longer limited to door gods, but gradually invites the God of Wealth into the home, and then in some New Year picture workshops, "Three Stars of Fortune, Luxury and Longevity", "Blessings from Heavenly Officials", " Colorful New Year pictures such as "A bumper harvest", "Prosperous livestock", "Welcome the Spring and receive blessings" can satisfy people's good wishes of celebrating the good year. Because Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty advocated posting Spring Festival couplets during the Spring Festival, New Year paintings became popular due to his influence. There are three important production areas of New Year paintings in the country: Taohuawu in Suzhou, Yangliuqing in Tianjin and Weifang in Shandong, forming the three major schools of New Year paintings in my country. In the early years of the Republic of China, Shanghai Zheng Mantuo combined the calendar with New Year pictures. This is a new form of New Year pictures. This two-in-one New Year picture later developed into a wall calendar. Hanging Qian is to use auspicious words engraved on red paper, with a long ruler, and stick it in front of the door to complement the peach charms. Those with figures of the Eight Immortals on them were hung in front of the Buddha. It is mostly used by thousands of households, but less used by aristocratic families. The yellow paper is three inches long and the red paper is more than an inch long. It is a "small hanging thousand" and is used by shops. The earliest hanging Qiandang was made of coins (copper coins). Like New Year's money, it has the effect of suppressing victory.

Set up a heaven and earth table, which is a temporary offering table specially designed for New Year's Eve. Generally, homes that do not have a large Buddhist hall attach great importance to the Heaven and Earth Table, because they usually make less offerings to the Buddha, and at the end of the year a large reward is given to the gods and Buddhas. In addition, this table is mainly used to receive the gods.

The content of the Heaven and Earth Table is different from that of the permanent Buddhist hall. In addition to the usual hanging money, incense candles, five offerings, and large offerings, most of the idols enshrined there are also temporary, such as: "hundred percent", It is a woodcut album of god statues; "Eighteen Buddhas and Gods in the Three Realms of Heaven and Earth" is a full deity code printed with watercolor woodcut on a large yellow edge paper; portraits of the three stars of fortune, longevity and longevity, etc. Some of the above statues were burned immediately after receiving the gods, such as "100%". Some have to wait until Powu or even the Festival of Lanterns to burn them. The location of the heaven and earth table is not uniform. If the main room is spacious, it can be placed in the house. If there is no space in the house, it can be placed in the courtyard. Legend has it that this night is when the gods from the sky descend to the realm, so there is a custom among the people to receive the gods.

Chinese people have the habit of staying up late on New Year’s Eve, which is commonly known as “staying up late”. The New Year's Eve dinner starts with the New Year's Eve dinner. This New Year's Eve dinner should be eaten slowly, starting from the time when the lanterns are turned on. Some people have to eat until late at night. According to Zong Mao's "Jingchu Years' Records", the custom of eating New Year's Eve dinner has existed at least in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. The custom of keeping the year old includes not only a feeling of nostalgia for the passing years, but also a good hope for the coming New Year.

Setting off firecrackers depicts the festive scene of our people celebrating the Spring Festival. The sound of firecrackers is a symbol of saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new, and an expression of festive mood. Business family. Setting off firecrackers has another meaning: they set off firecrackers on New Year's Eve in order to make a lot of money in the new year. However, according to old customs, you should be the first to honor the God of Wealth, and the last to set off firecrackers. Legend has it that if you want to make a fortune, the firecrackers should be fired until the end to be considered sincere.

When the children are playing and setting off firecrackers, it is also the busiest time for the housewives in the kitchen. The New Year dishes have been prepared a few days ago, and the New Year’s Eve dinner must be cooked on New Year’s Eve. Make it. In the north, dumplings for the New Year's Day are also made on the 30th night. At this time, every chopping board was busy chopping meat and chopping vegetables. At this time, the sound of chopping boards came from every house, the sound of firecrackers came from the streets and alleys, the "crackling" sound of abacus and the mellow sound of accounting reports came from the small shops, mixed with the laughter everywhere, one after another. , filled with ears, intertwined into a cheerful New Year's Eve movement.

Eating New Year’s Eve dinner is the most lively and happy time for every household during the Spring Festival. New Year's Eve. The table is filled with sumptuous New Year dishes, and the whole family is reunited. Sitting around the table and having the reunion dinner together, the sense of fulfillment in my heart is really indescribable. People not only enjoy the table full of delicacies, but also enjoy the happy atmosphere. There are big dishes, cold basins, hot stir-fries, and snacks on the table. Generally, two things are indispensable, one is hot pot. One is fish. The hot pot is boiling, steaming, warm and sultry, indicating that it is prosperous; "fish" and "yu" are homophonic, symbolizing "abundance in auspicious celebrations" and "abundance every year". There are also radish, commonly known as cabbage, which is used to wish good luck; lobster, fried fish and other fried foods are used to wish prosperity for the family, just like "fire cooking oil". The last part is usually a sweet dish, wishing you a sweet life in the future. On this day, even if you don’t know how to drink, you can drink a little.

There are many famous New Year’s Eve dinners, which vary from north to south, including dumplings, wontons, long noodles, yuanxiao, etc., and each has its own specialties. Northerners are accustomed to eating dumplings during the Chinese New Year, which means "Gengsui Jiaozi" (Gengsui Jiaozi), the transition between the old and the new. And because the white flour dumplings are shaped like silver ingots, serving them on the table symbolizes "making a fortune in the new year, and the ingots rolling in". When making dumplings, some people also wrap a few coins that have been sterilized in boiling water, saying whoever eats them first will make more money. The custom of eating dumplings was passed down from the Han Dynasty. According to legend, the medical sage Zhang Zhongjing saw that the ears of the poor were rotten by the frost during the twelfth lunar month of winter, so he made a "Quhan Jiao Er Decoction" to treat frostbite for the poor. He used mutton, chili peppers and some cold-repelling and warming medicinal materials, wrapped them in dough to make ear-shaped "Jiao Er", cooked them in a pot, and distributed them to the poor. After eating, people felt their whole bodies warm and their ears warm. Later, people followed suit and it has been passed down to this day. Eating wontons during the New Year means taking the beginning of the new year. Legend has it that the world was in a state of chaos before it was created. Pangu created the world, and then there were four directions in the universe and long noodles, also called longevity noodles. Eating noodles in the New Year is a wish for a hundred years of longevity.

New Year's money is given by the elders to the younger ones. In some families, after the New Year's Eve dinner, everyone sits at the table and is not allowed to leave. When everyone has finished eating, the elders give it to the younger ones and encourage their children and grandchildren. In the new year, learn to make progress and be a good person. In some homes, parents wait for their children to fall asleep and put them under their pillows at night. In other homes, children gather in the main hall, shout Happy New Year to grandparents, parents, and mom, kneel down in line, and then reach out for red envelopes. They even went to the grandparents' bedroom and ran to the edge of the bed together, shouting: "New Year's money, New Year's money!" The old man didn't think it was lively enough, so he pretended to be stingy, went from bargaining to besieging and groping, and finally dug out the ancestor's red envelope. After everyone looted everything, they dispersed. The old man was overjoyed when he saw this scene, thinking it was a good sign that everything would go well in the new year. Giving lucky money during the New Year reflects the care of the elders for the younger generation and the respect of the younger generation for the elders. It is a folk activity that integrates family ethical relationships.