Customs of Spring Festival and New Year's Eve

From Spring Festival to New Year's Eve: Traditional Festival Customs in China

Spring Festival: commonly known as Chinese New Year, it is the biggest traditional festival for Han people to enter the people. At the beginning of the twelfth lunar month, people rushed to buy new year's goods, rehearsed social fires in urban and rural areas, and prepared for the New Year. On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, you must eat "Laba porridge", that is, boiled rice, which is very fragrant and does not eat vegetables. Besides eating, people should also sprinkle some into the world to show their respect for God and pray for peace. The 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, commonly known as "the goddess of kitchen fire goes to heaven". Kitchen God is going to turn to her mother's family. Tell me about people's good and evil. Therefore, at night, he took down the statue of Kitchen God and incinerated it sincerely. He must offer "Kitchen God's dry food" for Kitchen God to take with him. After that, you must go to the grave to worship your ancestors and clean your house with a stick grille. On the thirtieth day of the twelfth lunar month, new couplets, door gods and Five Blessingg were posted, and they were cleaned up inside and out. In the evening, clean the house with the "vinegar altar god" (burn the round water hillock stone red, put it in a vinegar bowl and walk around the house and livestock circle), and then put a cannon to ask God. Generally, two memorial tablets of "Three Fortune Gods of Fu Lushou" and "Three Generations of Ancestors" are signed on yellow paper at home, and they are devoutly offered with incense, table, wine, horses and steamed bread. After that, the younger generation pays New Year greetings to the elders, and the elders send lucky money to the younger generation and eat pork elbow meat, commonly known as "biting ghosts". After playing cards and drinking, I stayed up until dawn, commonly known as "Shounian". On the first day of the first month, firecrackers were fired to "welcome the western gods" and people ate minced meat noodles. Then they went to various villages to pay New Year greetings to the elderly. On the fifth day of the first month, it is forbidden to sew, sweep the floor, cut knives and offend your tongue in order to pray for good luck in the year. On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, people usually eat noodles to stir up the dough, commonly known as "pestering the five poor", cleaning up the garbage inside and outside the hospital and washing dirty clothes, which is called "sweeping the five poor" The seventh day is commonly known as People's Day, eating longevity noodles, incense and shooting. According to legend, the first day of the first month is a chicken, the second day is a dog, the third day is a pig, the fourth day is a sheep, the fifth day is a cow, the sixth day is a horse, and the seventh day is a person. )

Lantern Festival (Shangyuan): 15th day of the first month. In some places, there is a saying that "the fifteenth day of the following year". Generally, after the ninth day, the community fire brigades in various towns and villages began to dispatch lions, dragon lanterns and dry boats. From one village to another. In larger villages, we rehearse the Shaanxi Opera, and every night, combined with the bonfire performance in the community, lights are decorated, firecrackers are ringing, gongs and drums are loud, and the scene is very lively. Fourteen, fifteen, sixteen men, women and children should go out to enjoy the tour, which is called "a tour of all diseases" to make people happy. In the old customs, lanterns are played during the Lantern Festival, so it is also called the Lantern Festival.

February 2 nd: commonly known as "the dragon looks up", every family fried beans to wake up the dragon god and pray for rain. People usually have their hair cut and shaved, which means that the farm work in the new year will start again, and it also contains the new meaning of old cloth.

Flower dynasty: February 12 is the flower dynasty, also called Baihua birthday.

Social Day: A day when farmers offer sacrifices to the society to pray for the New Year. The fifth day after beginning of spring (around the vernal equinox) is called the Spring Club. The fifth day after beginning of autumn is the autumnal equinox.

Cold food: two days before Qingming. The Chronicle of Jingchu's Age says that after winter 150 days, the solstice is called cold food for three days without fire. Therefore, some people regard "150" as a synonym for cold food. But according to the same method, the first two days in Tomb-Sweeping Day are not necessarily 150 days, but sometimes 160 days.

Tomb-Sweeping Day: Five days before Tomb-Sweeping Day, he chose to worship his ancestors and repair his tomb. The day before Tomb-Sweeping Day, most people didn't go to the grave, saying that the paper money burned on this day would be pushed away by mesons.

Shangsi: It was originally scheduled for the first day of March (hence the name Shangsi). In the old customs, this day is used to remove ominous water, which is called repairing. But since Cao Wei, this festival has been designated as March 3. Later, it became a festival of drinking by the water and having a spring outing in the suburbs.

Bath Buddha Festival: According to legend, the eighth day of April is Sakyamuni's birthday. The Chronicle of Jingchu said that Jingchu bathed the Buddha with fragrant soup from various temples on April 8, and * * * was the Longhua Club.

Dragon Boat Festival: the fifth day of May. The Chronicle of Jingchu said that Qu Yuan threw himself into the river on May 5th, and people raced on this day to save Qu Yuan. (Later, the boat was made into the shape of Jackie Chan, which was called the Dragon Boat Race. There are many legends about the Dragon Boat Festival. After the Tang Dynasty, the Dragon Boat Festival was designated as a big festival, and there were often rewards. Willow branches are inserted on the doors of every household, and zongzi and fermented grains of sweet wine are eaten. Children carry purses and tie five-color lines on their hands and feet, which is called "wrapping flowers". Applying realgar to the nose and mouth or drinking realgar wine can prevent snake and scorpion bites.

Fu Ri: The third Geng day from summer to the future is called initial Fu, the fourth Geng day is called intermediate Fu, and the first Geng day after beginning of autumn is called final Fu, which is called dog days. It is said that crouching means avoiding the summer heat. It is also a big festival, because it is a sacrifice of Furi. Generally speaking, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon refers to the original Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Tanabata: July 7th. "Chronicle of Jingchu's Age" said that on the night of July 7th, it was the night of the gathering of Petunia and Weaver Maid, and the daughters tied ribbons and put on seven-hole needles to preserve the fruits in court, begging for ingenuity.

Zhongyuan: June 15th. Buddhist legend: Mulian's mother fell into the hungry ghost road, and the food mouth turned into fire. Manglietia asked the Buddha for advice. The Buddha told him to make a basin on July 15th to save his mother. Later generations regarded the Central Plains as Ghost Festival, and there were superstitious activities such as giving to hungry ghosts.

Mid-Autumn Festival: August 15th. People think that the moon is brightest at this time, so it is a festival to enjoy the moon. When the bright moon rises, every household presents fruits and moon cakes to the moon, which means celebrating the harvest. The whole family was reunited, and the neighbors gave each other mooncakes to congratulate them on their peace and happiness.

Double Ninth Festival (9th day): 9th day of September. The ancients thought that nine was a positive number and met nine every month, so it was called Chongyang. The ancients had the habit of climbing high and drinking on this day. According to "Continued Harmony", when Fei Changfang was in his room, Heng Jing said that there was a great disaster in Runan on September 9, and he took Cornus officinalis to drink chrysanthemum wine on the mountain to avoid the disaster.

October 1: commonly known as "sending a cold night", clothes and quilts are cut and pasted with paper and burned at ancestral graves or intersections outside the village for ancestors to spend the winter. Where conditions permit, there is also the habit of eating rotten buns.

Winter solstice: this is the winter solstice festival. The day before winter, solstice is called solstice. The ancients regarded the winter solstice as the starting point of solar terms. Since the winter solstice, the days have become longer day by day, which is called "winter solstice is sunny" The ancients also believed that when winter came, spring would follow.

Lari: Lari is the name of sacrifice. In Shuowen, "300 gods are wintering", we can see that the twelfth day of the Han Dynasty is the third day of wintering. However, the Chronicle of Jingchu's Age takes the eighth day of December as the twelfth month, and says that villagers beat drums and waist drums and turned them into King Kong Lux to drive away fatigue. The eighth day of December is a general explanation, and today there is still the custom of "Laba porridge".

New Year's Eve: The evening of the last day of the year. Except for old cloth, it means new. The last day of the year is called "New Year's Eve", so that night is called "New Year's Eve".