Shipu Spring Festival custom

Spring Festival, also called China New Year, is the most traditional festival of the Chinese nation. In the traditional sense, the Spring Festival refers to the La Worship sacrificial ceremony from the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month or the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month to the 15th 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, the Han nationality and most ethnic minorities in China will hold various celebrations, and there are also many legends and customs about the Spring Festival.

Shipu is my second hometown. As the son-in-law of Shipu, I go there for the Spring Festival every year. The customs of Shipu have infinite attraction for me who grew up in Ningbo.

The customs of the Spring Festival in Shipu mainly include: going home, preparing new year's goods, offering sacrifices to stoves, dusting, inviting old ladies to bed, celebrating New Year's Eve, eating New Year's Eve, eating jiaozi, firing firecrackers, celebrating New Year's greetings, dancing dragons, walking on stilts, hanging lanterns and posting pictures of spring cows. I think there are four customs worth mentioning in Shipu Spring Festival custom. Let's take a look:

? One of the Spring Festival customs in Shipu: Xie Nian?

Xie Nian (praying for peace all year round, more than every year), also called "Sending the Year" or "Sending the Year", is the most solemn ceremony of offering sacrifices to the gods in the past year. Sacrifices such as rice cakes, fruits, tea and wine are placed on the table. There is an old saying in Ningbo: "Push the rice cakes on 25-26, and pick the ecliptic on 27-30." The so-called "picking the ecliptic" means choosing the ecliptic as an auspicious day, cleaning the lobby, cleaning tables, chairs and utensils with sugar water, mostly at midnight, in order to get quiet.

"Xie Nian" is a kind of sacrificial activity, which is intended to pray for New Year reunion, good weather, peace and longevity. According to legend, in Ningbo, from the Ming Dynasty to the early Qing Dynasty, Xie Nian was only owned by the official government and wealthy families, and ordinary people often only cooked in their own homes to worship their ancestors, indicating that they did not forget their roots. At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, more and more Shipu people went out to do business, their living conditions gradually improved, and the customs of Xie Nian gradually spread.

Xie Nian ceremony has a set of strict rules, and every detail is extremely particular. For example, the sacrificial plate for placing offerings is called "red plate", and the tin plate used by richer people is called "silver table top". The sacrifice was presided over by the male host. Xie Nian's offerings are displayed on the table, usually in six colors, because six represents auspiciousness and six major blessings: six cups of wine, six bowls of tea, six bowls of rice, six kinds of dishes and six kinds of desserts.

Xie Nian's procedure is generally to put away sacrifices, light incense, hold incense to worship heaven three times, and then light three fireworks. The sacrificial ceremony lasted for about an hour, during which three rounds of wine screening were carried out to pray for the family's safety, longevity, prosperity of six animals and abundant crops. After the sacrifice, they invited relatives and family members to get together for a New Year's Eve dinner.

? The second custom of Shipu Spring Festival: New Year's Eve?

New Year's Eve: A set of auspicious words, the end of December of the lunar calendar is New Year's Eve, also known as "New Year's Eve". The old Shipu saying "Dinner on Qixi Festival" shows that the custom complex of Shipu people on New Year's Eve has been deeply rooted. The dishes of Shipu people's New Year's Eve dinner are also exquisite, including traditional Yong-style dishes, and common meat dishes include sauced chicken, eel, roasted crab in red paste, smoked fish and so on. Vegetarian dishes are common mushrooms, spring rolls, fungus, baked bran, bean sprouts, day lily, lotus root knot, rice cake, golden cake and so on.

In addition to paying attention to enjoying "delicious food", it is particularly important to explore the "delicious food" in New Year's Eve dishes. In other words, Ningbo people like to pin their hopes for the coming year on dishes. Such as "chicken" and "auspicious" homophonic, indicating good luck; "Eel" means "full tank, full tank", which means adequate food and clothing; Businessmen in Ningbo seem to have a special liking for "roasted crab with red paste", which means "prosperous business and good luck in all directions"; Lotus node means "getting higher and higher, Passepartout". Earlier, in Ningbo people's New Year's Eve dinner, whole fish was an essential new year's dish, and later it gradually became smoked fish, meaning "more happiness and longer life"; "shepherd's purse spring rolls" used to line up, and the sound of "shepherd's purse" was close to "gathering money" "Eat spring rolls to welcome the spring" is to welcome the arrival of spring. Soybean sprouts are similar in appearance and are called "ruyi cuisine", which means "all the best in life" and "all the best in everything"; The golden cake acts as a "golden brick"; Leek takes the homonym of "leek" and "long"; Sausage, homophonic "fragrant and long", is a necessary cold dish for Ningbo people's New Year's Eve dinner. Bean sprouts and water chestnut symbolize wishful thinking.

Eating New Year's Eve is a family reunion day, and there will definitely be a steaming hot pot symbolizing reunion. People in Ningbo call it a "warm pot", which gives people a feeling of "rich life". In the old days, there was a riddle with local characteristics in Shipu: "Vegetarian dishes are mixed with meat dishes, Ningbo is separated by Dinghai, with Zhaobaoshan in it, and the whole group is the sea." The answer is "warm pot". Old families use copper pots, which will occupy a large part of the table and put egg dumplings, meatballs, fish balls, vermicelli, oil skin, rice cakes and so on. And fish balls, meatballs and shrimp balls take the meaning of "three yuan" and "family reunion" and add soup; The staple food is fruit juice and vegetable rice cake soup, which means that "rice cakes are getting higher every year" and there will be more oil and water in the coming year.

Eating New Year's Eve requires the whole family to serve together, and not leaving one person behind means reunion. If your family can't come or don't go home for the New Year's Eve, you should also prepare bowls, chopsticks and wine glasses on the table, filled with wine and rice, which can be regarded as a complete family reunion. On this day, children from other places will be reunited at home no matter how far away they are. In the past, after the New Year's Eve dinner, children would go to the ancestral temple with lanterns to watch operas. After 1983, people usually watch CCTV Spring Festival Gala at home.

? The third custom of Shipu Spring Festival: pressing the age?

Chinese New Year is a warm memory for generations of children. There is an old saying in Shipu that "the old people miss the old year and their children look forward to the new year". In the past, ordinary people were not well-off at home. On normal days, children basically have no snacks to eat and no pocket money in their pockets. Only on holidays can children eat some delicious food, especially on Chinese New Year, and children can get Chinese New Year lanterns from adults. Therefore, in poor times, children look forward to the Chinese New Year every day.

There is an evolution of the cymbals in Shipu's New Year's Eve. In ancient times, it actually meant "pressing money", and "special" meant unlucky, unlucky and unlucky. "pressing the special" means exorcising ghosts and avoiding evil spirits. At that time, science was underdeveloped, people's living standards were low, and disasters and diseases would come at any time. Therefore, elders give their children "lucky money" every Spring Festival, hoping to "suppress evil and keep peace". In ancient Ningbo, lucky money was also called "New Year's money" and "bell ringing money". The New Year bell popular in Shipu in Ming and Qing Dynasties is a kind of copper coin with a round round hole or a round square hole. There are auspicious words written on the front, which read "Long life and all the best", "Long live the future" and "World Peace". This kind of copper coin with auspicious words and patterns is called "spending money" During the Spring Festival, people "string money with colored ropes, weave it into the shape of a dragon, and put it at the foot of the bed. This is the so-called lucky money. Elders give their children lucky money, also called lucky money. " Adults string eight copper coins together with red lines and wrap them in red paper to let the children live. At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, a silver dollar was also used as a lucky money, meaning "one book is profitable".

During the Republic of China, Fang Kongyuan's "spending money" was basically abolished. During the Chinese New Year, the elders wrapped some copper coins in red paper as lucky money for the younger generation. Later, the currency was changed to paper money, and the new paper money with serial number became the first choice for the elderly, which contained the good hope of the elderly for the younger generation of "good luck and happy events", and this custom has continued to this day.

? The fourth custom of Shipu Spring Festival: sending spring cattle?

In ancient Shipu, Mang God was sacrificed at the beginning of spring during the Spring Festival every year. It was the spring god in charge of agriculture. Shipu government began to fast three days before beginning of spring. On that day in beginning of spring, Shipu government officials greeted the Spring Festival in Xiannong Hall of the university yard, hoping that God of heaven and earth would bless farming for one year and harvest crops. Later, the Spring Festival ceremony gradually evolved into an important folk activity for the whole people to participate in the Spring Festival. According to the February 1892 "Shen Bao Yu Xin in Shang Yong", "On the morning of the fifth day, Hu Taishou, Yang Yizun of Yinxian County and the Grains Hall marched to the eastern suburbs to welcome the Spring Festival, where there was a Grains Pavilion, and the youngest son pretended to be a' fisherman farmer' and' God bless the people'. The next day, the satrap still led his colleagues to the Xiannong Hall to greet the traditional spring cattle, enter Lingqiao Gate to the traditional hall, and whip the spring cattle for a ceremony. The spectators got together, smashed the spring cattle into ashes, and each of them took a piece home and put it in a rice jar in order to wish the warehouse a thousand boxes. "

According to historical records, the "Spring Festival" ceremony in Shipu in the Qing Dynasty was held as scheduled every year. The painted mangshen was straight, about two feet long, with a double bun on his head, standing without sitting, holding a bullwhip in his hand, like a shepherd boy. When welcoming guests, there are paper cows and live cows in front of the pavilion, or they are carried or pulled, which is called spring cows. There are also a number of colored pavilions for porcelain vases in the middle, with rich flowers and the words "Peace in the world" and "Plenty of grains". Accompanied by big class advocacy, Taige, local operas and yangko, singing and dancing along the street are intended to convince farmers. After entering the city, we get together to compete for food, which is called "watching the Spring Festival". Finally, in front of Shipu yamen, mangshen and spring cattle were presented, covered with lanterns and colored. On the day of the Spring Festival, if it snows, it is commonly known as "stepping on the snow to welcome the spring, and it is ripe every year."

During the Republic of China, the government's custom of welcoming the Spring was abolished. Since then, the folk have the ancient custom of "reporting spring" as a continuation before and after the Spring Festival every year. Others wear red robes and black hats, pretend to be spring officials, and hold "Spring Cattle Map" with red, yellow, green and white cows painted on it, and write down the seasonal climate. A farmer in the coming year will send "Spring Cattle Map" door to door. There is also a sack covering his head, making Niu Jiao, led by Chun Guan, singing to the shop: "The scalper has arrived, and the business is good"; Sing to the farmers: "When the cows arrive, the food is good" and ask for money and goods. People send photos of "Spring Cattle" to every household in the same way as "Sending the God of Wealth". An old man was carrying a bag, which contained a large stack of woodcut printed red paper with a paper-cut buffalo painted on it. The lines were simple and lively. The old man knocked on a small gong and drum, sang a hymn of welcoming the Spring, and sent out "Spring Cattle Map" from house to house. Whoever sends the spring cattle to his home will happily put red paper on the board. Then give a few mouthfuls of feed or measure a liter of rice to the old man who sent the spring cattle to show his gratitude.

There are 24 solar terms and images of people holding Niu Gengdi on the Spring Cattle Map, which is called "Spring Post". The purpose of making a picture of cattle in spring is to urge people to "plow in spring for one year", not to miss the great spring, to seize the farming season and pull cattle to plow the fields. As soon as beginning of spring is over, a year of busy farming will begin.