The customs of Nanjing

The "Jinling Lantern Festival" held in Confucius Temple from the first day of the first month to the eighteenth day of the first month began in the Six Dynasties and flourished in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Every year from February 28th to March 28th,18th, when plum blossoms are in full bloom, Meihuashan, the eastern suburb of Nanjing International Plum Blossom Festival, is one of the four major plum blossom viewing resorts in China.

In addition, there are some unique folk activities in Nanjing, such as "Climbing the Head of the City" on January 16th, "Shangsi Festival" on March 3rd, and "Temple Fair in the Suburb" on April 8th, as well as Long Summer, beginning of autumn, Chongyang, Winter Solstice and New Year's Eve. It is also a good enjoyment to be lucky enough to spend a holiday here!

Jinling Lantern Festival

Lantern Festival is on the fifteenth day of the first month, also known as Lantern Festival or Shangyuan Festival. Nanjing Lantern Festival lasts 10 days, with lights on the eighth day and lights off at the eighteenth. Lantern Festival is the most prosperous festival in Ming Dynasty. From Shuiqiao to Shi Ping Street, there are many dragons. At that time, people of all ages would look at the lights, and people would go to the empty building. Later, the centralized hanging lamp area moved to Confucius Temple area, and it was still very lively every Lantern Festival. In the old days, it was the dietary custom of Nanjing people to pay attention to "putting lights on the Lantern Festival and putting lights on the surface".

Plum blossom festival

Among the folk festivals in Nanjing, the most noteworthy is the Plum Blossom Festival held in late February every year, which is one of the most lively festivals in Nanjing. At this time of year, when plum blossoms are in full bloom, it is the happiest day for Nanjing people. By then, thousands of plum blossoms will be in full bloom in Meihua Mountain in the eastern suburbs, and thousands of Nanjing people will flock to Meihua Mountain to enjoy the flowers and view the scenery. At the foot of Zhongshan Mountain, Wan Li is crowded with people and flowers, which is spectacular.

Pachengtou

Climbing the city head is the 16th day of the first month. On this day every year, Nanjing people will visit the city with their families or friends. As the saying goes, "stay away from all diseases" and "step on peace". In the past, tourists mainly visited Sanshan, Shicheng, Jubao (China) and Tongji. Now only Jubaomen (Zhonghua Gate) can climb up. In Nanjing in the first month, the weather returns to sunshine, so it is good for your health to go out for a walk, change the fresh air and refresh your mind.

shangsi festival

Shangsi Festival is the third day of the third month of the lunar calendar. There is a folk song in Nanjing: "On March 3, shepherd's purse flowers compete for peony, and women have no money to wear, and women wear Man Cang." On this day, people pick shepherd's purse flowers and boil eggs, which is said to cure headaches. Shangsi Festival began in the Six Dynasties and the Eastern Jin Dynasty. People hang shepherd's purse flowers on doors, stoves or beds, while women wear them on their heads to eliminate disasters.

Nanjing new year custom

Seek luck, win the first prize, and look forward to the coming year.

Wang Yongjian (Consultant of the National Folk Culture Protection Center): The Spring Festival in old Nanjing can be summarized in three words: Geely, first prize, and looking forward to the coming year. On New Year's Eve, old Nanjing people will worship their ancestors, keep the old age, eat New Year's Eve dinner and so on. Eat a sweet soup when you are old, also called Fushou soup. This soup is made of red dates, lotus seeds and water chestnuts. It is not a tradition of Nanjing people to eat jiaozi on the first day of the lunar new year, but to eat "Yuanbao eggs" (namely tea eggs). When the guests come, be sure to eat one. In addition, a bowl of sugar water should be served to the guests, and a "happy ball" (steamed glutinous rice flour, dried and kneaded into a ball) should be put inside to show sweetness and joy.

On the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, a busy year began.

Zhou Ailing (President of Jiang Xinzhou Tourism Chamber of Commerce): We have been very busy in Jiang Xinzhou since the 24th of the twelfth lunar month. Stir-fried radish balls and tofu balls, made rice cakes, steamed buns and prepared various dishes until the 30th anniversary. Fish is a necessity for every family in Jiang Xinzhou during the Spring Festival. In the evening, we will burn two crucian carp and two silver carp. Put the cooked fish in the box at home and wait until after the Lunar New Year (Lantern Festival). In addition, each family should buy at least 8 live crucian carp to raise, which means there are fish (surplus) every year. At noon on New Year's Eve, every household should clean the doors and windows, put up Spring Festival couplets and window grilles. Then there are ancestor worship, setting off firecrackers, having New Year's Eve dinner, making a package for jiaozi and celebrating birthdays.

Every town has a dragon lantern.

Rui (member of the Dragon Lantern Festival in Zhenfang Village, Lishui County): In Lishui, every Chinese New Year, every township has the custom of running dragon lanterns. We have a dragon lantern, 40 meters long, with a knot of *** 18, and we need 60 people to jump together. These 60 people, all from the village, were handed down from the previous generation.

Wang Yongjian: Lishui is the hometown of Nanjing Dragon Lantern. There are dozens of dragon lanterns, the largest of which is several hundred meters. It is the largest dragon in the south of the Yangtze River. When Shijiu Lake dries up, the dragon lantern will dance on the lake bed. The scene is very spectacular. According to the custom, there is no (dragon) light on seven days, only on eight days, and the light is eighteen times.

Traditional frugality

Since ancient times, Nanjing has been the capital of ten generations. "The cultural relics in the clothes are rich in the characteristics of southeast and urban atmosphere, with profound cultural connotations, revealing a bit of elegance, heroic, feminine and harmonious.

the Spring Festival; Chinese New Year

It used to be called New Year's Day, commonly known as Chinese New Year. People in Nanjing will sweep the court, put lanterns, hang decorations, wear new clothes and hats, put up Spring Festival couplets and set off firecrackers.

People in Nanjing put up Spring Festival couplets or door gods on the door of the New Year, and scholars put up a picture of a chicken on the door, which means "a chicken is getting stronger every day". This is not available elsewhere. On the first morning, you must drink Tu Su wine. In the Song Dynasty, Wang Anshi knew jiangning house three times as a prime minister. In the poem, he recited: "The firecrackers are one year old, and the spring breeze sends warmth into Tu Su." This custom began in the Southern Dynasties, and Nanjing people drank it for thousands of years, forming a set of rules: when the sun rises, face the east and "drink from less to longer". Young people drink first, old people drink later, and advance in the morning sun. In the morning, relatives and friends will pay New Year greetings. When the guests arrived, they put their hands together and treated each other with tea. Also presented two gold ingot eggs, called "gold ingot". Now people meet in the New Year, wish each other "Congratulations on getting rich", offer tea and cigarettes, and treat each other with fashionable cakes.

the Lantern Festival

The fifteenth day of the first month is the night of the first full moon in the lunar year, which is called Yuanxiao. Night is synonymous with Xiao, so it is called Yuanxiao. The Lantern Festival started from offering sacrifices and gradually evolved into a grand, warm and colorful entertainment festival. In ancient times, it was one day, and in the Tang Dynasty, it was sixteen to eighteen and three days. The Song Dynasty lasted from 14 to 18 and 5 years; When Zhu Yuanzhang was emperor in Nanjing in the Ming Dynasty, he extended the Lantern Festival to ten days, that is, from the eighth day to the seventeenth day. Food has also changed from eating bean porridge to tasting Yuanxiao (glutinous rice balls). In Nanjing, there is a custom of "putting lights on Lantern Festival and leaving lights on noodles".

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Lantern Festival in Nanjing had the custom of playing with dragon lanterns and hanging gauze lanterns. Playing dragon lanterns is not only played by ordinary people, but also by soldiers. Playing dragon lanterns is not as long as in other places. It's more than ten feet short and more than a hundred knots long, and it takes hundreds of people to play. Yarn lanterns have yarn and silk, and celebrities paint on them. The more experts, the higher the value. Merchants will also hold solve riddles on the lanterns activities in front of the store to attract many tourists, and the winners will be rewarded for the goods they sell. There is a kind of "lantern" pioneered by Nanjing people, which is covered with lanterns and lit with candles inside. Based on the principle of air thermal expansion, the lamp surface is driven to rotate, and horses in various postures are drawn on the lamp surface, which is the gallop of Malik. Joseph Needham, a British scholar, called it an invention of ancient people in China. The dragon lanterns are magnificent, the gauze lanterns are exquisite and colorful, and all kinds of things compete with each other, attracting guests to stay in the city for a long time, singing and laughing. "In the bright moon under the shadow of silver candle, everyone is stepping on a lamp." In recent decades, the lantern festival in Confucius Temple has become more and more prosperous, with new technologies, new materials and acousto-optic electric control, which are varied, vivid and dazzling. Lantern Festival lasts for one month from the Spring Festival. During the period, it attracted 200,000 to 300,000 tourists from all directions every day.

Tomb-Sweeping Day went for a spring outing.

Since ancient times, Tomb-Sweeping Day has been paid attention to by the imperial court and the people because of the custom of sweeping graves to worship ancestors. At that time, people will go to the grave to sweep, sprinkle water, burn paper, dig grave hats and insert willows to express their feelings of self-cultivation and remembrance. He also brought refreshments to visit the door of the grave keeper's house, and the grave keeper also stayed for tea and rice, calling each other "grave relatives."

At this time, it is beautiful spring, and men and women can go to Niushou Mountain, Yuhuatai Mountain and Meihua Mountain in the suburbs to "drown their sorrows by drinking, which is called an outing". There is a saying called "Spring Bull Head".

In recent years, Niushou Mountain has been renovated, adding scenic spots and connecting with the newly developed Jiangjun Mountain nearby, making it an excellent place for tourists to enjoy the natural scenery in the countryside. In addition, Yuhuatai in the south of the city and Meihua Mountain in the eastern suburbs are also places frequented by tourists. Over the past decade, Meihua Mountain has built a 10,000-mu plum garden and held an international plum blossom festival. Every spring, the flowers are in full bloom, the clouds are steaming and the fragrance is floating, and men and women are side by side, intoxicated in the fragrant snow and lingering.

Tour Qinhuai on Dragon Boat Festival

The fifth day of May in the summer calendar is called Dragon Boat Festival, also known as Duanyang. On this day, Nanjing people like to eat zongzi and mung bean cakes, as well as "fried five poisons" (fried with whitebait, shrimp, leek and black dry goods), amaranth and male soybeans, and drink realgar and calamus wine to avoid disaster. Washing your eyes with sun-exposed water is called "broken eyes", which means you can avoid eye diseases for a year. Acorus calamus and Folium Artemisiae Argyi are also used to sprinkle water on the ground and then insert it on the lintel to "eliminate disasters". Hanging the statues of Zhong Kui and Five Poisons (toad, poisonous snake, scorpion, centipede and gecko) engraved by the alchemist, "exorcise ghosts and avoid evil spirits". Children hang five-color silk winding around their necks, and salted duck eggs are filled in the winding; The arm is tied with a silk sash made of five-color silk, named "longevity rope", wearing tiger-headed shoes and a tiger-headed hat, and the word "king" is painted with realgar wine on his forehead. Women also put colorful tiger flowers on their temples.

After lunch, the whole family went to Confucius Temple to watch the Qinhuai River Dragon Boat Race. Jinling has dragon boat "three gangs", river gang, river gang and wooden gang. There are so many dragon boats on such a large scale that they are rare elsewhere. Each boat is decorated with colorful kites; There are children in costumes playing all kinds of games online. When the boat passed by, people on the river bank threw silver horns, copper coins or let geese and ducks fly, taking the dragon boat race as fun. It was called "winning the bid" and the male and female ants gathered on the shore. Luo Qi was like a cloud, gongs and drums were loud, and cheers thundered. Wealthy families also booked cruise ships in advance and enjoyed the victory by boating. Qinhuai cruise ship rose in the Tang Dynasty and flourished from the Ming and Qing Dynasties to the early Republic of China. Painting boats, flutes, drums and paddles is a beautiful scenery on the Qinhuai River. This is vividly described in Gu Jieyuan's Hakka Words, Kong's Peach Blossom Fan and Banqiao Miscellanies. In the past 20 years, the Qinhuai River has been rectified vigorously, and the water has been changed regularly, with more boats and pleasant scenery. At night, there are thousands of lights on both sides of Qinhuai River. Tourists in cruise ships, boats in scenery, people walking in paintings, each with its own flavor.

The full moon in Mid-Autumn Festival is touching autumn.

Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15th, Jiangnan is also called August Festival. This night, there is a full moon in the sky and a full moon on earth. Even if you are in a foreign country, you should go home for reunion. People in Nanjing like to enjoy the moon with their families, which is called "celebrating reunion", and it is called "full moon" when groups sit together and drink, and it is called "walking on the moon" when visiting the market. There were Moon Tower and Moon Bridge in the early Ming Dynasty. In the Qing Dynasty, there was a Moon Tower under Lion Mountain, which was a place for tourists to enjoy the moon, and the Moon Bridge was the most prosperous. Yueyue Bridge is located in Qinhuai River, where the old courtyard of Confucius Temple is located. Next to the bridge is the mansion of Ma Xianglan, a famous prostitute. It is the nocturnal literati who gather at the bridge to play the flute and sing and write poems to the moon, so this bridge is called the Moon Bridge. After the death of the Ming Dynasty, it gradually declined, and later generations wrote a poem: "The romantic Southern Song Dynasty has ended, leaving the west wind as a long slab bridge, but remember to take the Jade Man Bridge and teach me to play the flute relatively in the moon." Longbanqiao, the original Moon Bridge.

After the Qing Dynasty, the wind of enjoying the moon still prevailed. People in Yue Bai display fresh fruits and moon cakes, burn incense (tie incense like a tower, add paper barrels on it, and call it a bucket of incense), tell the story of the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon, and then share moon cakes. Mooncakes are made in Guabu, and "Jinling set of cakes" was the best in the Republic of China.

On this night, Nanjing women have the custom of touching autumn, which is suitable for men to "touch" (touch "steal" melons and fruits for fun) in Jasmine Garden. This game has been rumored for a long time. Over the past 20 years, people have attached importance to the Mid-Autumn Festival, staged the city to enjoy the moon, or boated on Xuanwu Lake and Confucius Temple Qinhuai River to enjoy the moon. It is very popular to buy moon cakes by yourself or give them away by the company. The full moon night is full of affection.

Chongyang gaodeng club

On the ninth day of September in the summer calendar, it is called Chongyang, because every day of this month is positive. Historically, Jiankang (now Nanjing) people went out to climb mountains on this day, forming a "mountaineering meeting". This custom originated from a strange legend of avoiding evil spirits, which was recorded in detail by Wu Jun, a native of A Liang in the Southern Dynasties. From Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties to Ming and Qing Dynasties, the custom of Chongyang in Jiankang still flourished. At that time, he lived in the south of the city to climb the Yuhuatai, in the city to climb the Arctic Pavilion, and in the north of the city to climb the Shogun Mountain, especially the Shogun Mountain. During the Han Dynasty, there was a pavilion on this mountain. The legend of the Jin and Yuan emperors crossing the river said that "horses turned into dragons", so this pavilion was named "Long Ting". There is an ancient cave in Gu Mo, Liang Da, on the side of the mountain, with many tourists, forming the custom of "the shogunate ascends the mountain". The Jiaqing Decade of Qing Dynasty (1805) was initiated by government officials and celebrities such as Hu Lanchuan magistrate (Jiangning magistrate). Some people in charge of the army have built the "Wangjiang Tower" on the mountain. It is a lighthouse for navigation and a spectacular scenery, which is praised as a good thing by people near and far.

On the Double Ninth Festival, Nanjing people like to eat double ninth cake, which is called "camel's hoof", drink chrysanthemum wine, enjoy chrysanthemums and make a double ninth flag for their children. On this day, married women will send flags in a timely and fresh box, which is called "Double Ninth Festival Box".

Nowadays, people are happy to climb mountains on the Double Ninth Festival, but not to avoid evil spirits, but to appreciate the magnificent rivers and mountains of the motherland and the new look of construction, and a sense of comfort arises spontaneously.

Today's Four Seasons Tourism Festival

Plum blossom in Nanjing International Plum Blossom Festival in spring is the city flower of Nanjing. Mei appreciation is a folk custom in Nanjing, which has been enduring since the Six Dynasties. Now Pearl Spring, Fujiabian and Gulin Park in Nanjing all have beautiful scenery, especially Meihua Mountain. Every year from the end of February to mid-March, Nanjing holds the International Plum Blossom Festival, with as many as 400,000 people attending the main venue of Meihua Mountain.

Jiang Xinzhou Grape Festival Jiang Xinzhou, a small island in the Yangtze River southwest of Nanjing, has beautiful scenery. From July to August, thousands of acres of vineyards on the island were fruitful. Tourists visit the European continent to see the scenery of rivers, enjoy the natural oxygen bar and enjoy the wild interest of picking grapes.

Autumn Rain Flower Stone Art Festival in Nanjing Rain Flower Stone is one of the landmarks in Nanjing. In the autumn of September, we will hold a series of activities such as "Rain Flower Stone" performance, fine rain flower stone exhibition, seminar and quarrying tour in Yuhuatai Scenic Area. Liuhe County, the birthplace of Shi Yuhua, also held sub-venue activities.

Listening to the bells in winter and welcoming the New Year are usually held in qixia temple Bell Tower. The temple mage chanted prayers and wished the people peace, and then the representative presided over by the guest * * * rang the bronze bell 108 times. The audience was filled with a peaceful and festive atmosphere.

Guling osmanthus festival

Guling Guiyuan, located in the scenic spot of Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, is the largest Gui Huayuan in China, covering an area of 1.700 mu and planting nearly 20,000 osmanthus trees. Every September, sweet-scented osmanthus is fragrant and full of flowers, which attracts many tourists to Linggu Temple to enjoy autumn sweet-scented osmanthus.

Gaochun Crab Festival runs from September 30th to June 6th every year, 10, and it has become the custom of Nanjing people to "go to Gaochun, taste crabs, see the giant Buddha and visit the old streets". In gaochun old street, Youzi Mountain and Yinghu Taoyuan, there will be operas, lanterns, martial arts, dragon boat performances, crabs and bonfire parties, which will make Chinese and foreign tourists linger.

Pukou eco-tourism festival

Pukou Eco-tourism Festival, commonly known as Shili Hot Spring, Baili Laoshan Mountain and Li Qian Ginkgo, is a tourism festival integrating viewing, participation and play. People fully feel the natural ecological beauty of "mountain, water, green and empty" through a series of activities such as water splashing festival, folk culture festival and mountaineering barbecue festival.