What are the customs in Xuzhou?

It's New Year, so lively. Put up Spring Festival couplets and set off firecrackers. Daughter wants flowers, son wants guns. The old mammy bought a wooden pimple, and the old man bought a new felt hat. The ballads sung in Xuzhou urban and rural areas express the joy and hope that the Spring Festival has precipitated in the hearts of young and old. Xuzhou is the hometown of China culture, and the year of Xuzhou is different from other places, with the longest annual sacrifice time, the strongest annual flavor, the largest number of years and the longest days. How many days before the Spring Festival! How much do you know about the customs during the Spring Festival in Xuzhou?

The so-called "Year" in Xuzhou means not only New Year's Eve and the first day of junior high school. The old man said that from the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month to the Lantern Festival is the "year" of Xuzhou.

On the third and fourth day, I received my daughter and waited for my son-in-law. On the fifth day, I was busy welcoming the god of wealth, preparing business and sending the poor. On the sixth day, I was lucky enough to open a business and receive friends. On the seventh day, it is People's Day, respecting the ancestors and the elderly, and students drink hot porridge. ("One chicken, three pigs, four sheep, five cows, six horses, seven people and eight valleys in two dog"? ), the eighth day, choose the valley and have a good year; Prepare to go out on the ninth day and prepare lanterns on the tenth day. Eleven noisy, twelve covered light sheds, thirteen hanging high lights, fourteen bright, fifteen steamed noodles.

Sacrifice to the kitchen god

The activities of offering sacrifices to stoves in the twelfth lunar month are commonly known as "officials, three people and four people". First of all, please code the kitchen ruler (that is, buy a portrait of a kitchen ruler, and the code is printed in red, green and Huang San) and stick it on the kitchen stove at night. Add couplets on both sides: "God speaks well, and the lower world is safe", which reads "Head of the family". At the same time, I read: "Chef, please eat sugar. God speaks well and goes back to the palace for good luck." When the whole family worships the kitchen god in turn. After the second shift, the whole family will share cereal.

Chinese New Year's folk song: I seem to be too busy for New Year's Eve.

December 23rd: Every family has a small year.

After the 23 rd of the twelfth lunar month, I always feel that many new year's goods are not ready.

A folk proverb says: Twenty-three send the kitchen god to heaven, twenty-four cook peanuts and stir-fry candy, twenty-five buy a new broom to sweep the house dust, twenty-six go to the market to cut meat, twenty-seven kill chickens, twenty-eight steam steamed bread to make hair, twenty-nine garbage and dirt go out, and burn incense and watch vigil on New Year's Eve. If there is no New Year's Eve dinner and everything needs to be prepared in advance, it will be doubly busy. There is a folk proverb: Busy as if there is no New Year's Eve.

I took out all the things I had saved for a year, and I was very happy to watch my children grow up in a busy way. This has been a habit for thousands of years.

Spring Festival couplets window grilles: welcome joy and happiness.

Xuzhou people are used to posting Spring Festival couplets on New Year's Eve, which is mostly a man's business. The simplest thing is to put a pair on the courtyard door. Many people have to put a pair on their own stoves, cabinets, tables and chairs, water tanks and stone mills. Before the liberation of Xuzhou people, most Spring Festival couplets were "good weather, long life", "contentment and enjoyment" and "another year".

Spring Festival couplets are calligraphy art, paper-cutting art is paper-cutting art, and window grilles are excellent folk festival art integrating decoration, appreciation and practicality, which are particularly popular in rural areas. Door numbers, called "Spring Flag" and "Spring Victory", are attached to lintels and window lintels and fluttered with the wind, so they are also called "wind curtains", which are the functions of welcoming the spring, exorcising evil spirits and avoiding disasters, that is, the evolution of ancient "hanging peach wood symbols"

Now Xuzhou urban and rural street markets, once Laba is over, the market is full of Spring Festival couplets and window grilles, dazzling, scarlet and golden, crowded and lively.

New Year's Eve: ancestor worship and firecrackers.

"In the sound of firecrackers, the faint sunshine capers in the drawing room. I wanted to teach Zhou, but I was asked for extra money. Surprisingly, time is not boring. Huatang is offering wax cigarettes, and the clothes are sincere. Have a good night. "

This poem by Bu, a Xuzhou poet in the Republic of China, describes the custom and mood of Xuzhou people on New Year's Eve at that time. The vigil on New Year's Eve is not about families sitting around, but there are many things to do, which need to be done carefully.

After dinner, the ancestor worship began, and a few pieces of chicken, fish, meat and fruit were cleaned, and incense was burned to worship. Although the sacrifice of ordinary people is simple, it is to put four plates of offerings, light incense, sprinkle a glass of wine and say a few words of prayer. We should also burn "New Year's paper" at the intersection to show our hearts to our old friends.

Then the family got together. The family is far away from home at ordinary times. During the Chinese New Year, they get together at home, sit indoors around the stove, hold a vigil to worship their ancestors, eat fruit and drink fragrant tea. Adults look back on a year's hard work and watch their children fall into adulthood; Children listen to the teachings of their elders, look forward to the gifts and joy of the Spring Festival, and wait for the arrival of the New Year. When the bell rings, everyone will set off firecrackers in jiaozi. This is called "jiaozi", which means that at the beginning of the new year, everything is renewed.

Now on New Year's Eve, with CCTV Spring Festival Evening, the topic of vigil is becoming more and more abundant. Often it starts at eight o'clock, and before eight o'clock, there is enough time to sacrifice, and things can be done well.

Customs from the first day of the first month to the fifteenth day of the first month

Day 1: Eat vegetarian jiaozi for one year in the New Year.

On New Year's Day, firecrackers are set off and gold foil is burned, which is called connecting heaven and earth. Children should get up early and get up to pay New Year greetings.

Wear new clothes for the Spring Festival, or you won't have a new look for a year. Speak politely during the Spring Festival, or you will learn to be blind and be a tramp for a year. Therefore, the first-grade children are the most obedient, kowtowing when they are told, shouting whatever they want, and lucky money.

Xuzhou New Year, the first breakfast, can not eat leftovers, can not drink noodles and water soup, indicating a year of confusion and delay. The first meal can only be vegetarian in jiaozi, not jiaozi meat. Su Jiaozi, strive for a clean year. Xuzhou housewives will prepare Su jiaozi in the early morning of the first day. When it's cooked, the first bowl is for Tiandi, and the second bowl is for seniors, and then she can eat it at home. Nowadays, it is a fashion to eat New Year's Eve in restaurants. When serving the staple food, you should first serve a plate of vegetarian jiaozi filled with mushrooms, spring leeks, beans and tofu. This is what businessmen must pay attention to. This may be the custom of Xuzhou people for hundreds of years.

The next day: see my mother-in-law.

The next day, I began to visit my relatives. In the past, the rule was "grandma in the second day, aunt in the third day, aunt in the fourth day and aunt in the fifth day", but now it has become "aunt in the second day and third day, aunt in the fourth day and fifth day". The same is true of Xuzhou. The next day is the day when the mother's family picks up her daughter and takes care of her son-in-law, which is the busiest day for her mother. In Xuzhou area, the son-in-law is called a "high guest", so he should give everything and treat each other warmly.

Day 3: Red Dog Day

New Year's Day, also known as Red Dog Day, is homophonic with "red mouth" and usually does not go out to pay New Year's greetings. It is said that it is easy to quarrel with people on this day. However, this custom has long been out of date, because few people get together in the Spring Festival now, and it has faded a lot.

Day 4: Sacrifice the God of Wealth and don't go far.

In the past, the boss wanted to "fire" a person. On this day, he came to worship God uninvited. The other party knew it well and packed up and left. There is also a legend that Kitchen God will come to check the household registration this day, so it is not advisable to travel far.

Day 5: Seek money for God, take out the garbage and do work.

On the fifth day of the first month, Xuzhou people call it "five busyness". Get up in the morning, burn incense to God first, and then collect it at night. On this busy day, sewing is forbidden, and people in the suburbs and dozens of miles around often go to the Chenghuang Temple to offer incense until the fifteenth day of the first month.

Southern businessmen who do business in Xuzhou worship the god of wealth, mostly on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. They say they "rob the god of wealth". The so-called robbery is to go to the temple of the god of wealth in the early morning of the fifth day.

On the fifth day of May, some places are called "Broken Five" and shops can open their doors. Therefore, many merchants in Xuzhou choose this day to worship the God of Wealth in the Temple of God of Wealth, and then set off firecrackers to greet the first customer. On the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, it is still a day to "send the poor". From this day on, you can take out the garbage, move things, do some work and go out of town.

Day 6: June 6, Dashun, opened for business and received friends.

On the sixth day of Lunar New Year's Eve, the old shop officially opened its doors and set off firecrackers, no less than on New Year's Eve. Legend has it that the most popular boy on this day is the boy who is over 12. Because 12 is twice as much as 6, it is called 666 Dashun. On this day, every household should throw out the garbage accumulated in the festival, which is called sending it to the poor.

Day 7: "Men's Day"

The seventh day of the first month is the "People's Day" in our traditional customs, which is also called "People's Victory Day" and "People's Celebration Day". Legend has it that at the beginning of creation, Nu Wa created chickens, dogs, pigs, cows, horses and other animals, and then on the seventh day, that is, "people's birthday", she created people. This day's activities should show people's strength. When Su Shi was an official in Xuzhou, he led people to hunt in the suburbs on the seventh day of the first month. After winning, "go back to remove millet and cook celery with salt and black beans" will be together.

Day 8: Choosing Valley is a good year.

The eighth day of the eighth lunar month is Xiaomi's birthday, also called Shunxing Festival. It is said that the stars are in the lower bound and the stars in the sky are the most complete. If the weather is fine this day, it indicates a bumper rice harvest this year and the sky is overcast.

Day 9: Sacrifice to Heaven

On the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, the folk custom is the birthday of the Jade Emperor, and a grand ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven will be held.

Day 10: Sacrificing stones

The tenth day is Stone's birthday. On this day, no stone tools such as grinding and grinding can be moved, and even stones must be sacrificed.

Eleven: son-in-law day

The eleventh day of the first month is the "son-in-law's day", which is the day when the father-in-law fetes his son-in-law. On the ninth day, there was a lot of leftover food to celebrate "God's Birthday", except for one day on the tenth day, so the bride's family didn't have to spend any more money, so they used the leftover food to entertain their son-in-law and daughter. The folk song is called "Please ask your son-in-law".

Twelve o'clock to fifteen o'clock: Lantern Festival lights

After the eleventh day of the first month, people began to prepare for the Lantern Festival. The nursery rhyme goes like this: "Eleven chirps, twelve light sheds, thirteen people turn on the lights, fourteen lights are on, fifteen lines and a half months, and sixteen people put out the lights." The fifteenth day of the first month is the Lantern Festival, the first full moon night in a year, and the night when spring returns to the earth, also known as Shangyuan Festival. The custom of burning lanterns on Lantern Festival can be traced back to the Han Dynasty. It is essential to eat Lantern Festival and glutinous rice balls on this day. The first month of 16th night is Children's Day. All the children took out lanterns and beat others hard. This is called "touching the lamp". What is important is that this year's lanterns can't be left until next year, and they must be destroyed by "touching the lanterns".

Inventory Xuzhou tradition

Spring Festival entertainment activities

Visits, temple fairs, town meetings

In order to celebrate the Spring Festival, in rural areas in previous years, enthusiastic people would organize Spring Festival entertainment activities every twelfth lunar month. The suburb is called a meeting, Tongshan is called a temple fair, and Pizhou is called a township meeting. All of them are spontaneously organized by farmers, and they are connected in series in the form of lion dance, boating, big-head monk dance dance, bench meeting, bamboo horse, flower drum and so on, and perform in various villages.

Pizhou's "Hometown Records of Shanghai Beach" said: For hundreds of years, many villagers have raised their own funds to hold meetings, and started rehearsing as soon as they entered the twelfth lunar month, and performed in villages from the first day to the eighth day of the first month. Participants, ranging from children of several years old to old people of eighteen or nineteen, are very happy. But in the sixties and seventies, it was banned as a feudal superstition.

1978 villagers' meeting resumed during the Spring Festival. The villagers will play until the Lantern Festival, and on the fifteenth day of the first month, the activities of the Spring Festival will be pushed to a climax. Only new forms and new contents have been added than before.

Making New Year: Gong, Drum, Song and Dance Parade

Li Shiming, vice president of Xuzhou Historical Records Association, recalled that Mr. Miao, who was nearly ninety years old in Kuishan, was very excited about what happened in those years-what should I do? Meet. Greetings here don't refer to private courtesy communication between neighbors, but refer to mutual worship, entertainment and competition among village communities in the form of gongs, drums, acrobatics, roller boating and lion dancing, which shows the majesty, unity and etiquette of the village.

Walking in the front of the procession is a group of people such as suona, sheng and cymbals escorting, followed by a big man, each with a big cymbal with a diameter of more than one foot, and the cymbal is loud, followed by a big drum with red paint on all sides or six sides, with at most eight sides, or leaning on his chest and boasting, or someone carrying it. There is a long line in the back. Someone is holding a grain barrel scale in front, someone is wearing a mask and pretending to be a ghost, followed by villagers, men, women and children. Strangely, everyone is holding a bench with two ends tilted up. With the rhythm of the drums, while shouting, I bent down and knocked on the ground with a bench, left and right, the suona was long, the bench knocked on the ground violently, and there were cries that pressed the clouds.

Old people say that this kind of activity is not once or twice. During the Spring Festival, it can last from the third day to the Lantern Festival, and the seventh day (People's Day) sets off a climax. Lantern Festival also competes with gongs and drums teams in other villages.

This folk custom of the Spring Festival has a strong local color and is rare in other areas. Local chronicles before Xuzhou and folk writings in recent years are not recorded. In ancient Xuzhou, there was a "Nuo dance", and there were images of Nuo dance on Han stone reliefs, singing and dancing, with simple and rude movements. This kind of meeting in Kuishan obviously has the significance of primitive and simple countryside and sacrifice.

Similar social sacrifice activities, which Tongshan called "God Meeting", are popular in Liu Xin. Pizhou is called "Village Association". They were all prepared years ago. On the second day of the Lunar New Year, they went to the neighboring village to perform, and the neighboring village did not return to perform until the Shangyuan Festival.