How do Lishui people celebrate the New Year?

Lishui is located in the mountainous area of ??southwestern Zhejiang. Like all parts of the country, the Spring Festival is the most solemn festival of the year. Thousands of years of history have also shaped Lishui into a city that is roughly the same as other parts of the country but has its own unique style. Unique New Year customs.

Making yellow rice cake: Yellow rice cake is a unique food in the mountainous areas of southwestern Zhejiang. The method is to select several unique small shrubs on the mountain, burn them into ashes, and then brew them with boiling water. The alkali in the ash bubbles out. Then drain the soaked alkaline water and use it to soak the rice for making yellow cake (the rice is also specially selected, not ordinary rice can be used to make yellow cake). After the rice has soaked through the alkaline water, put the soaked rice in The rice cakes are steamed in a steamer or a wooden barrel, then finely ground in a stone mortar, and then made into various shapes by hand. This kind of rice cake not only has good toughness, but also has a special fragrance. It is a favorite food of people. On the 13th and 4th of the twelfth lunar month, every household will help each other to make a lot of rice cake. Due to the use of alkaline water, the rice cake can be stored for a long time without deterioration. I remember when I was a kid, during the Chinese New Year, every family would make a big rice cake called "King Kueh" and eat it until the second day of the second lunar month, which is called "eating King Kueh" on February 2. Nowadays, yellow rice cakes are mostly produced by machines and sold in big cities such as Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Ningbo.

Worshiping ancestors and worshiping gods: During every major festival, worshiping ancestors and worshiping gods is indispensable, just like all over the country. But worshiping ancestors and worshiping gods in my hometown starts on the afternoon of New Year’s Eve. Usually around three o’clock in the afternoon, each household stops lighting the incense table and begins to welcome ancestors and the gods they usually worship to their homes to celebrate the New Year. After the good ancestors and gods, the whole family gathered together to happily eat the New Year's Eve dinner. On the fifth day of the first lunar month, another activity of worshiping ancestors and gods is held, telling the ancestors and gods that the New Year is over, and sending the ancestors and gods back to their own world.

Don’t sleep during the day on the first day of the first lunar month: Although people are very tired after staying up all night on New Year’s Eve, people cannot sleep during the day on the first day of the lunar new year. It is said that who slept, Someone's fields will collapse (mountainous areas are full of terraced fields).

Go to bed early on the night of the first day of the first lunar month: On the night of the first day of the first lunar month, every household has an early dinner, sets off the door-closing cannon, and closes the door early to go to bed. There are two theories about this custom: one is that the night of the first day of the Lunar New Year is when rats marry their daughters. We humans cannot disturb them, otherwise the rats will retaliate. Whoever disturbs them will kill them when the crops are mature. Eat up all the fruits of your family. Another theory is that the ancestors of the descendants and the various gods were invited to celebrate the New Year on New Year's Eve, but those lonely ghosts and demons who could not enter the righteous path had no place to celebrate the New Year, so on the first day of the first lunar month They come out at night and wander around. If people don't go to bed early, they will encounter them. So every household fired off the cannons early to drive away ghosts and demons that could not enter the right path, and then closed the door to sleep.

Do not pour out the face-washing water on the morning of the first day of the first lunar month: There are two explanations for this custom. One is that pouring the face-washing water on the first day of the lunar month will drain away the wealth for the year. Therefore, After washing your face on the first day of the Lunar New Year, you should gently pour the water in the washbasin toward you, emptying the water in the basin, indicating that wealth will flow in for the year; another way of saying it is to pour the water in the washbasin, and then pour the water in the basin toward you. The origin of this saying that you are not afraid of wasps when you go up the mountain in the new year is unknown. This is just a saying that the older generation still has.

Not sweeping the floor on the first day of the first lunar month: Sweeping the floor on the first day of the lunar new year is absolutely not allowed. People believe that sweeping the floor on the first day of the lunar new year will not only sweep away wealth, but may also attract broom stars, which will bring troubles to the family. Therefore, every New Year's Eve night, every household must hide the broom. No matter how dirty the ground is on the first day of the new year, no one will say that you are unhygienic.

New Year's Eve title: In rural areas, ordinary families have a title for their own use. Every New Year's Eve, every household would put red paper on the head of their own scale and seal it up until after the fifth day of the Lunar New Year. According to legend, it is the incarnation of the snake demon, and the stars on the scale are the patterns on the snake demon's body. Using a scale from the first to the fifth day of the Lunar New Year will attract snakes. Farmers who usually go to work in the mountains are most afraid of encountering venomous snakes. Therefore, the scale must be sealed and not used during the New Year to avoid attracting venomous snakes.

Burning foreign pigs: In the old rural areas, every household had to prepare some firewood that was not easy to burn, such as tree roots. On New Year's Eve, a fire was burned in the small fire pit in front of the stove, which was called "burning foreign pigs." People in Lishui used to go to the mountains to make mushrooms. According to legend, there is a monster on the mountain called "Shan Xiao". The mushroom farmers worship it every year after going to Mushroom Mountain. It helps mushroom farmers keep the mushrooms from being destroyed by wild beasts. One year, a mushroom farmer went home to celebrate the New Year, and the "Mountain Xiao" from the mountains followed him back. Seeing that the mushroom farmer's daughter-in-law was very beautiful, he wanted to take her as his own. This daughter-in-law was very smart and tried to drive away the "Mountain Xiao". On New Year's Eve, it happened to rain heavily, so the daughter-in-law asked "Shan Xiao" to help her go up the mountain to find some food. Shan Xiao agreed. When he came back, he was soaked by the rain, so the daughter-in-law asked him to roast it in the fire pit in front of the stove. Suddenly, the daughter-in-law had already buried some firecrackers in the ashes next to the fire pond. "Mountain Xiao" went to warm up the fire because he thought the fire was not strong enough, so he took a stick to pound the fire, which triggered the firecrackers. "Mountain Xiao" was hit by the explosion of the firecrackers. He was so frightened that he fled back to the mountains. After the New Year, the Gu people returned to Gushan and met the "Mountain Xiao" and asked it why it left without saying goodbye. The "Mountain Xiao" said that there were mines in the Lishui fields and did not dare to go. From then on, people in the mountains lit a fire on New Year's Eve. The "mountain zodiac" and other ghosts in the mountains saw it and did not dare to come down the mountain again.

People call this fire "burning foreign pigs". Some old people said that in the past, the mountains were very closed, and some farmers didn't even have matches in their homes. When there was no fire during the Chinese New Year, they couldn't go to other people's homes to borrow fires, so they all Build a fire in your fire pit to keep the fire going. From a practical perspective, this statement is more reasonable.

Don’t shave your head in the first month: People in Lishui don’t shave their heads in the first month. It is said that shaving your head in the first month will kill your uncle. According to legend, there was a very naughty nephew who went to his uncle's house to pay New Year's greetings during the Chinese New Year. When his uncle saw that his hair was very long, he took his nephew to have his head shaved. The nephew was unwilling and tried to coax his uncle by saying, "Uncle, it's time to shave your head on the first lunar month." You can't get a haircut. A haircut will damage (or kill) your uncle." Uncle Yu never dared to drag his nephew to get a haircut again. I don’t know when this custom started, but until today, many people will get a haircut before the New Year, and it is generally not allowed to get a haircut in the first month of the year.

There are still many customs during the New Year in Lishui, but with the progress of society, some customs have gradually been forgotten by people and replaced by many new cultural life.