What does it mean to bring watermelons to your parents’ home on the second day of the Lunar New Year?

You may think that watermelons are rarer in winter, but they are more expensive than in summer. Small watermelons are fine, but no one will buy big watermelons in cold weather.

The second day of the Lunar New Year refers to the second day of the first month of the lunar calendar. It is a very unique Chinese custom to worship the God of Wealth and return to your natal family. On this day, a married daughter in China will return to her parents' home, and her husband will accompany her, so it is commonly known as the Son-in-law Welcoming Day. When you go home, you should bring a gift, called a hand-carrying gift or a accompanying hand.

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, married daughters will take their husbands and children back to their parents’ homes to pay New Year greetings. The daughter who returns to her natal family must bring some gifts and red envelopes to distribute to the children of her natal family, and have lunch at her natal family. Not only that, in the past, families would also choose this day to take a family photo. Children will carry carp lanterns to ask for good wishes. The custom of returning to one's parents' home on the second day of the Lunar New Year provides an opportunity for sisters to gather together and allow sisters who have not seen each other for a long time to reminisce about old times and talk about family matters.

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, according to the Chinese folk customs in Fu'an area, you basically don't go to the homes of relatives and friends. If you must go, you have to check in first on the first day of the new year, and then go back the next day. go. Many friends from other places don’t know this folk custom. If you take the liberty to go to a friend’s house in Fu’an on the second day of the Lunar New Year, although you won’t be rejected, the host’s face will lack the enthusiasm for the New Year and the hospitable nature of Fu’an people, which will always make you feel uncomfortable. Foreign friends find it strange (among the six counties, two cities and two districts in eastern Fujian, only Fu'an is like this, and it has never been heard of in other places across the country).

But this kind of Chinese folk custom has existed for four to five hundred years!