Spring Festival customs in various places

The Spring Festival customs around China are:

Sweep the dust "On the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, the dust sweeps the house". According to Lu Chunqiu, China had the custom of sweeping the dust during the Spring Festival in the Yao and Shun era. According to the folk saying, sweeping dust in the Spring Festival means "getting rid of the old but not the new", and its original intention is to sweep away all unlucky and bad luck. This custom has placed people's desire to break the old and create new ones and their prayers to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new.

Post Spring Festival couplets. Spring Festival couplets are also called door couplets, spring stickers, couplets, couplets and peach symbols. They depict the background of the times and express good wishes with neat, dual, concise and delicate words, which are unique literary forms in China. This custom originated in the Song Dynasty and was popular in the Ming Dynasty. By the Qing Dynasty, the ideological and artistic quality of Spring Festival couplets had been improved.

Stick grilles, put the word "Fu" upside down. In the folk, people also like to stick various paper-cuts on the windows-window grilles. Paper-cutting is a very popular folk art in China, which has been deeply loved by people for thousands of years. With its unique generalization and exaggeration, window grilles show auspicious things and good wishes to the fullest. Sticking the word "Fu" during the Spring Festival is a long-standing folk custom in China. The word "Fu" symbolizes good luck and wishes for a happy life and a bright future. Some people simply put the word "Fu" upside down, indicating that "Fu has arrived" and "Fu has arrived".

New Year pictures, like Spring Festival couplets, originated from the "door god". With the rise of block printing, the content of New Year pictures is not limited to monotonous themes such as door gods, but has become rich and colorful to meet people's good wishes of celebrating and praying for the New Year. There are three important producing areas of New Year pictures in China: Taohuawu in Suzhou, Yangliuqing in Tianjin and Weifang in Shandong. In the early years of the Republic of China, Zheng of Shanghai combined the monthly calendar with the New Year pictures. This is a new form of New Year pictures. This new year's picture, which was combined into one, later developed into a calendar and has been popular all over the country.

New Year's Eve. The night on the last day of the Lunar New Year is called "New Year's Eve" and that night is called "New Year's Eve". People often stay up all night on New Year's Eve, which is called keeping watch. Su Shi has "Shousui": "Children can't sleep, and they are happy at night." There is a legend about the origin of New Year's Eve. Its purpose is to drive away a fierce monster named Xi. That night, "Xi" broke into the village and ran back to the mountains in fear, never coming out again. So on New Year's Eve, every household puts up red couplets and sets off firecrackers to drive away the animals on New Year's Eve. For the safety of the new year, this custom has been passed down to this day.

Keeping the Lunar New Year's Eve is one of the most important activities, and the custom of keeping the Lunar New Year's Eve has a long history. The earliest record can be found in the Local Records of the Western Jin Dynasty: on New Year's Eve, all parties give gifts to each other, which is called "the year of giving back"; Wine and food are invited, which is called "not old"; Young and old get together to drink and wish a complete song called "age division"; Everyone stays up all night, waiting for dawn. This is the so-called "shou sui". On New Year's Eve, the whole family get together, eat New Year's Eve, light candles or oil lamps, sit around the stove and chat, wait for the time to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new year, and keep vigil all night, which symbolizes expelling all evil spirits and expecting good luck in the new year. In ancient times, observing the age has two meanings: the old man's observing the age means "resigning from the old", which means cherishing time; Young people keep their age in order to prolong the life of their parents. Since the Han Dynasty, the time for the alternation of the old and new years is generally at midnight.

Firecrackers. There is a folk saying in China that "open the door and set off firecrackers". That is, when the new year comes, the first thing for every household to open the door is to set off firecrackers to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. Setting off firecrackers can create a festive and lively atmosphere, which is a kind of entertainment in festivals and can bring happiness and good luck to people.

Eat rice cakes and wrap jiaozi. Steamed rice cake, because of its homophonic "high year" and diverse tastes, has almost become a must-have food for every household. The styles of rice cakes are square yellow and white rice cakes, which symbolize gold and silver and express the meaning of making a fortune in the New Year. The night before the real Chinese New Year is called Reunion Night. Wanderers who are away from home have to travel thousands of miles to go home, and the whole family has to sit around and wrap jiaozi for the New Year. Use jiaozi to symbolize the reunion of acacia; It is very auspicious to make friends with older people; In addition, jiaozi, which is shaped like an ingot, has the auspicious meaning of "making a fortune" when eating jiaozi in the New Year.

Open the door, firecrackers. When the door is opened in the morning of the Spring Festival, firecrackers are set off first, which is called "opening the door to set off firecrackers". After the firecrackers, the ground is broken red, which is the so-called "full house". At this time, the streets are full of anger and joy.

Happy new year. An important activity of the Spring Festival is to congratulate the New Year at new friends and friends' homes and neighbors, which used to be called New Year greetings. The wind of the Han people's New Year greetings began in the Han Dynasty. It was very popular after the Tang and Song Dynasties, and some people who don't have to go in person can use famous cards to congratulate them. It was called "thorn" in the Eastern Han Dynasty, so the business card was also called "famous thorn". After the Ming Dynasty, many people put up a red paper bag at the door to collect famous posts, which was called "Menben". When paying New Year greetings during the Spring Festival, the younger generation should first pay New Year greetings to their elders and wish them health and longevity. The elders can distribute the lucky money prepared in advance to the younger generation. It is said that lucky money can kill evil spirits, because "old" and "special" are homophonic, and the younger generation can spend a year safely with lucky money.

According to their social relations, the forms of folk New Year greetings can be roughly divided into four categories: First, visiting relatives. The second is a courtesy visit. The third is a thank-you visit. The fourth is a series of visits. Now, some organizations, groups, enterprises and schools get together to congratulate each other, which is called "group worship". With the development of the times, the custom of New Year greetings is constantly adding new contents and forms. Nowadays, in addition to following the previous way of greeting the New Year, etiquette telegrams and telephone greetings have mushroomed. If for some reason you don't follow the routine ceremony and make up for it in the future, it's called "worshiping the old".

The occupation era. In the old society, due to the sunny weather in the first few days of Xinzheng, people put this year. Its theory began in Dong Fangshuo's "Year", that is, eight days after the Year, one day is rooster day, two days is dog, three days is pig, four days is sheep, five days is cow, six days is horse, seven days is great man and eight days is valley. If it is sunny, things that belong to it will breed, if it is cloudy, the days that belong to it will not last long. Later generations follow their habits and think that the weather is sunny from the first day to the tenth day, and there is no wind or snow for good luck. Later generations developed from the occupation era to a series of sacrifices and celebrations. There is a custom of not killing chickens on the first day, dogs on the second day, pigs on the third day ... and not executing the death penalty on the seventh day.

Collect money. It is said that the first day of the first month is the birthday of a broom, so you can't use a broom on this day, otherwise it will ruin your fortune, attract a "broom star" and cause bad luck. If you must sweep the floor, you must sweep it from the outside to the inside. Don't throw water on the garbage on this day, for fear of breaking the money. This custom still exists in many places today.

Sacrifice the god of wealth. Southerners sacrifice to the god of wealth on the fifth day of the first month. According to folklore, the God of Wealth is the Five Gods. The so-called five roads refer to the east, west, north and south, which means that you can get money when you go out of five doors. Lu Gu's Jia Qinglu in Qing Dynasty said: "The fifth day of the first month is Shen's birthday. Sacrificing the past golden gongs and firecrackers, eager to make a profit, must get up early to meet, called the end of the road. " He also said: "The road ahead today is the God who walks in the Five Sacrifices. The so-called five channels are the east, west, north and south middle ears. " The fifth day of the fifth lunar month is the birthday of the God of Wealth. In order to compete for the market, it is called "grabbing the road" or "grabbing the god of wealth" before April of the lunar calendar.

Send it to the poor. On the fifth day of the first month, "sending the poor" was a very distinctive custom in ancient China. On this day, every household uses paper as a woman, which is called "sweeping woman", "five poor women" and "five poor mothers". They carried paper bags on their backs, cleaned up the dirty soil in the bags and sent them to the door to burn them. This custom is also called "sending poor soil" and "sending poor daughter-in-law out". In hancheng city, Shaanxi Province, people should avoid going out on the fifth day, and roast fresh meat in a pot, and stir-fry beans to make them crack and make a sound. They think that they can break the poor and get rich. In addition, in the old New Year's Eve or the fifth day of the first month, you should eat very full, commonly known as "filling the poor pit". The folk custom of sending the poor reflects the traditional psychology that Chinese people generally hope to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, send away the old poverty and hardships and welcome a better life in the new year.

Open the market. During the old custom Spring Festival, large and small shops closed together from the beginning of the New Year, but opened on the fifth day of the first month. People are used to taking the fifth day of the first month as the holy day of the god of wealth, thinking that choosing this day to open the market will definitely make a fortune.

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