New Year’s customs in Qufu

There are many things to pay attention to during the New Year in the hometown of Confucius - New Year customs in Qufu

Keeping the New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve is the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month, which is the night of the last day of the year, commonly known as "the end of the year" "On this night, people will "stay up all night" as usual (light candles and stay up all night). At this time, all the supplies for the New Year have been prepared, the indoor hygiene of the courtyard has also been renewed, and people begin to post the New Year couplets and door gods on the doors. There are two types of door gods in Qufu: Wu Men God and Wen Men God. Wu Men God is posted on the outer door. Traditional Chinese doors have two doors. Wu Men God also has two people, called "Shen Tu" and "Yu Lei". Legend has it that in ancient times, they were used to subjugate demons. The evil god of evil was later interpreted as the image of Qin Qiong and Yuchi Jingde, two generals of the Tang Dynasty. The door gods are posted on the doors of the main room and side rooms, usually with colorful paintings such as "Lucky and Treasures" and "Five Sons Enrolled in the Imperial College". In Qufu, the left is up and the right is down. Which of the two door gods is on the left and who is on the right? Their positions are fixed and cannot be changed at will. If they are posted wrongly, it is called anti-posting, which will cause everything to go wrong in the year. , in a dilemma, so there is a saying in Qufu, which is "It's difficult to stick to the goalkeeper."

Spring Festival Couplets with Confucian cultural characteristics

Qufu’s Spring Festival couplets are extremely particular. Many couplets are passed down from generation to generation, such as “The true character starts from the five ethics, and the great articles and the Six Classics are obtained”, “Heaven and Earth” "Poems and books are the most valuable in the world, and filial piety and brotherhood take precedence in the family." "There are many gentlemen living in the country of Lu, and the land is close to Mount Ni and close to the saints." The couplets are mostly written on yellow red paper or bright red paper with gold sprinkles. Most of these colored papers have white edges, commonly known as "white heads", which are not cut off but deliberately left at the lower end of the couplets, which means "growing old together".

In addition to the Spring Festival couplets and door gods on the door, "Go out to see happiness" should be posted on the wall or tree facing the door outside the door, and "福" should be posted on both sides of the screen wall, second door, and hall door. (The word "福" should be placed head down when pasted, which is homophonic to "福 has arrived"), and a symbol similar to the character "酉" should also be pasted on mills, jars, basins and other utensils, which symbolizes getting rid of the old and bringing in the new.

Sacrifice

Sacrifice is the core of the entire Spring Festival celebration. Therefore, the most important thing on New Year's Eve is to prepare for the sacrifice. Sacrifice to heaven and earth is on the incense stand on the east side outside the main room door. On the stand, new straw (the upper end of sorghum stalks) is used to surround a square shed called "Heaven and Earth Shed". There is a heaven and earth plaque inside, which reads: "Heaven and Earth". The throne of the Three-term True Prime Minister of All Spirits and Ten Directions." There are two candle holders and an incense burner in front of the tablet.

The ancestors are worshiped in the main room (the main room in the middle). In the middle of the main room, against the wall, there are the Eight Immortals table and a table. In the middle of the table is a tablet with the words "Wai Benyinmen's three generations of clan members." "The main tablet, with the names of deceased fathers and ancestors, internal and external relatives and elders, three to five generations of the deceased family and internal and external relatives written on the two sides and back of the tablet, are arranged on the left and right according to Zhaomu. There are two candle holders on the table of the Eight Immortals, and in the middle of the candle holders is an incense burner.

Some people still enshrine the tablet of "Baojia Shangxian" in the east room of the main room. Sacrifice to the Kitchen God is still done in the kitchen.

After placing these tablets, we began to prepare fire paper. Fire paper is a kind of paper that is relatively rough in workmanship, soft, flammable, and yellow in color. People believe that after the fire paper is burned, it will reach the hands of deceased relatives and become ghost coins that can be used in the other world. Therefore, people prepare fire paper with great care. The first step in preparing the fire paper is to fill the fire paper with rows of impressions of the square holes that were used in the past to make money. The second step is to fold the printed fire paper one by one into the shape of an ingot or gold brick, and put a few incense sticks inside. The fire paper is ready.

On the evening of New Year’s Eve, it is the time to welcome the ancestors and gods back home for the New Year. The men of each family, led by their heads, hold lanterns and carry trays (poor people who do not have trays use dustpans), in which they put "three generations of ancestors" The ancestors' spirits are called "welcoming the old" by carrying a "kissing" tablet, three incense sticks, and four paper ingots to welcome the ancestors' spirits home for the New Year. This ceremony is very important. It is often performed at the intersection of Tongqu Street. The tablet is placed on the road leading to the ancestral forest. A circle is drawn around it. Incense and ingots are burned together in front of the tablet. Parents should pray to the tablet. Kowtow four times. After the incense paper is burned, the tablet is placed back on the tray, chanting: "Grandpas and grandmas are going home to celebrate the New Year!" Then the eldest son or grandson solemnly carries the tablet in the tray, welcomes him home, and places the tablet again. Place it in the middle of the row of tablets on the big table, then insert lighted incense into the incense burner and burn the ingots. From then on, until the "old" ones are given away after the New Year, the cigarettes in the furnace must be continued day and night without interruption.

After welcoming the "old" spirit home, a wooden stick, called a "door stick", should be placed on the ground inside the gate. It is said to prevent homeless ghosts from breaking into the house. Dinner on New Year's Eve is not particularly particular. Dumplings are the staple food, and poor families can eat whatever they want. No matter what kind of food is eaten, it must be provided to heaven, earth and ancestors first, and then the family can eat it. Because this meal is the last meal of the year, it is also called the "farewell meal". The sacrificial activities are held at five o'clock in the night. After dinner, they start to "save the dishes" (prepare the dishes), which means to put the dishes in separate bowls and put them on the steamer or grate of the large pot in the kitchen. In order to prepare for the sacrifice after "distilling" (heating in a steamer) at midnight. The food is mainly offered in four places: one is the heaven and earth shed, the second is the ancestor spirit, the third is the Baojiaxian, and the fourth is the Kitchen Lord.

The number of dishes is different in each place, but they are always odd numbers. Generally, there are five kinds and five bowls before the gods of heaven and earth, three kinds and three bowls before the gods of ancestors and Baojiaxian, and only one bowl for Zao Lord. The three kinds of dishes are a large cube of cooked meat, a bowl of crispy meat, and a bowl of meatballs; the five kinds of dishes are based on the three kinds, plus the same steamed whole rooster, the same fried whole carp, and the New Year. The meaning of "lucky (chicken) celebrations and surplus (fish)" in the new year; a bowl of assorted vegetables is a complete offering of three kinds of vegetables. When preparing dishes, each bowl of dishes is accompanied by boiled cabbage sticks, called "vegetable bases". The more vegetable bases, the better, which means that the family has a solid foundation. The cubed meat, crispy meat, and meatballs on top should be placed sparingly and evenly, and the bottom of the dish should be tightly covered, meaning that the bottom cannot be exposed, so as to avoid disaster. People in poor families cannot afford to buy whole chickens or whole fish, so they only buy three kinds of dishes. When preparing food for offerings, all the people can use carp, except for people named Kong who cannot use it. The reason is that the second ancestral name of the Kong family is Kong Li. Not only can they not use carp to worship their ancestors, but the name of the carp has also been changed to "red fish" to avoid ancestral taboo. ", so people in Qufu also call carp "red fish".

After the "Sacrifice", the hostess sprinkled a circle of wheat bran around the cauldron. At the same time, bran was also sprinkled along the door sticks inside the gate, the base of the courtyard wall, and under the eaves, which symbolized The family is filled with the atmosphere of bran (blessing). Some farmers also scatter some sesame straw to symbolize the auspiciousness of sesame seeds blooming steadily.

At night, all the sacrifices are ready, and people take the time to sleep for a while. There are also people who stay up all night, which is called "staying up all night". The local people in Qufu call the beginning of the sacrifice "Faxi". Before midnight on New Year's Eve, people in every household get up and wash their hands and faces. The men were busy scattering the "Yuanbao", starting from the gate and spreading out into the courtyard. A pair was placed on each side of the double door, a pair was placed against the rotating fan of the single door, four pairs were placed in the heaven and earth shed, and three pairs were placed in front of the ancestors to protect the family. Two pairs are placed in the immortal place, one pair is placed in front of the kitchen god, and one pair is placed in each of the other cattle pens, toilets, well platforms, grinding paths, chicken coops, and warehouses. At the same time, scatter candles, one pair each at the main door, the second door, the hall door, the heaven and earth shed, in front of the ancestor's memorial tablet, in front of the Baojia Immortal's throne, and one in front of the Kitchen Lord. When diffusing incense, put one on each cypress branch at each door. There are whole incense sticks in front of the heaven and earth shed and in front of the ancestral spirit. There are three incense sticks in front of Baojiaxian, one in Zaojun, and one stick in other places where ingots are placed. At the same time, two wine cups should be placed in front of each table and one in front of the Kitchen God. In addition, the firecrackers must be hung up and ready to be set off. After the women get up and wash themselves, they immediately go to the kitchen to cook large pots of "distilled dishes", steamed buns, flower cakes, etc. After cooking, the men in the family will deliver the dishes to the heaven and earth shed in order, and the male head of the family will take them and place them on the confession table. Put the chicken first, with the chicken's head facing inward, which is called "Chicken Presenting the Head"; then put the fish, with the spine facing inward, which is called "Fish Presenting the Back"; then add the meat, crispy pork, and jiuzi. Every dish is sprinkled with spinach, which is called "vegetable hat". Finally, serve two plates each of steamed buns and flower cakes, placed symmetrically on the left and right. Each plate contains five steamed buns, three on the bottom and two on top, stacked on top of each other with five red dots on top. Hua Gao is a yeasted jujube cake with three to five layers each. After serving the dishes in the heaven and earth tent, the three kinds of dishes are served in front of the ancestors’ souls in the main room. The dishes offered to worship ancestors are generally less than those offered to worship heaven and earth. Most of them do not include chickens and fish. The chickens and fish in the heaven and earth sheds are often moved to the "old" after the offerings are finished. , indicating that the heaven and earth are the most respected, and the "old" is the second. Finally, the dishes are served in front of the Baojia fairy. A bowl of food is served in front of the Kitchen God. Just take it out of the pot and put it on the table.

After placing the offerings, the wine cups on each altar must be filled with wine. All the dishes were served and it was almost midnight. So, I started to light candles and incense, starting from the outside of the gate and going inward. The incense in the heaven and earth, ancestors, Baojiaxian, Zao Lord and other places must be lit by the male head of the family and placed respectfully in the incense burner. At the same time, in front of the Heaven and Earth Shed, the gods (a kind of printed pictures of the gods) were burned, gold ingots everywhere were lit, and firecrackers were lit. For a time, incense filled the air, the courtyard was filled with brilliance, and firecrackers shook the sky. This moment is the solemn ceremony of bidding farewell to the old year and welcoming the new year - Faxun. In urban areas, people started to "fire" after hearing the sound of firecrackers from the Confucius Mansion, because all common people's families cannot celebrate the New Year earlier than the "sage's family". In rural areas, people make their own arrangements by looking at the stars or burning incense to calculate the time. In short, thrifty people call it Chinese New Year, and the earlier the better.

In the bright atmosphere of the sound of firecrackers and cigarettes, people from every household began to kowtow in memory. First, the senior male master of the family, served by his children and grandchildren, worships the gods of heaven and earth in front of the heaven and earth shed. Before kowtowing, one should first pour the wine offered in front of the altar, which is called "pouring a libation", then make a bow, kneel down and kowtow four times, stand up, make a bow again, and then drink a libation. Then go to the main room to kowtow to worship the ancestors, the ceremony is the same as worshiping heaven and earth; then go to the east room to worship Baojiaxian, and finally go to the kitchen to worship Lord Zao. After the parents have paid their respects, they should hold the candles in the heaven and earth shed and shine them all over the yard. During the shining period, all the men in the family, including boys, in order of age, kowtow and drink libations in front of heaven and earth, ancestors, Baojiaxian, and Zao Lord. During this period, the women had finished cooking dumplings with vegetarian fillings in the kitchen, and the young men took them to each memorial place in order to offer them. Except for Zao Lord, who offered one bowl, the others all had two bowls. After offering dumplings, the women kowtow in order of age, worshiping heaven and earth, ancestors, family immortals, and Kitchen God.

After worshiping heaven and earth, ancestors, and gods, we begin to kowtow to the family elders in front of the ancestors in the main room. Let the senior men and women in the family sit on the chairs on both sides of the Eight Immortals Table to receive the ceremony.

The eldest son takes the lead and kowtows to his ancestors four times again. When he gets up to kowtow, he says: "Kowtow to my father!" Then he kneels down and kowtows once more. Then he stands up to kowtow to his ancestors and says, "Kowtow to my mother!" In this way, the eldest son has finished kowtowing. The second, third, fourth, and so on, then bow to their ancestors, then to their parents, and to their brothers and sisters-in-law. After the sons have kowtowed, the grandchildren will kowtow; after the men kowtow, the female family members will kowtow to the elders in order of generation, regardless of gender. When kowtowing, you must first kowtow four times to the ancestral tablets. When you stand up to bow, you must say the title of the elder you kowtow to, and then kneel down and kowtow one by one. The youngest child kowtows the most, and must kowtow to the master, grandma, father, mother, uncle, aunt, second uncle, second aunt...or uncle, aunt, aunt, brother, sister, etc., and no one can be left out. This is the most warm and peaceful moment in the family. After kowtowing to the elders, the elders and other elders will reward the underage boys and girls with kowtow money, which is called "sui money". The younger generation congratulates the elders on longevity, and the elders also congratulate the children on turning one year older. For a newly married daughter-in-law in the first year, her parents-in-law will also give her "New Year's money" as a reward.

New Year's Eve Dinner

After the ceremony of paying homage and kowtowing is completed, the whole family begins to eat New Year's Eve dinner, eat New Year's Eve steamed buns and drink New Year's Eve wine. Most of the dishes that go with wine are ready-made rapeseed and cold vegetables. The cold vegetables must contain lettuce or spinach, which have the auspicious meaning of "making money" and "more wealth". The main meal is steamed buns with vegetarian fillings. Everyone must eat this meal and have some left over. If you are away from home to celebrate the New Year due to business, someone else will have to eat for you.

Eating dumplings for New Year’s Eve dinner is particularly interesting because everyone can eat dumplings that represent special meanings. Most of the dumplings are served by the housewife herself, and they are placed in bowls according to the characteristics of each type of dumplings. The person serving the dumplings is asked to know who the bowl is for. For example, buns filled with bran, peanuts, and long fruits are generally given to the elderly, buns filled with money are given to men who are in charge of the household, and buns filled with dates and chestnuts are given to newlyweds. Children don't have any particular requirements. They just want to have fun and can give anything. However, children are often very serious. If they eat steamed buns with special meaning, they will often be happy for a year. If they don't eat them, they will be unhappy for a year. They don't know that this is specially arranged by adults and they only want good luck.

For the horses, cows, sheep, chickens, dogs, pigs and other livestock raised by farmers, the parents also go to their pens and pens to call them, and reward them with steamed buns to eat. In this year, the six animals will be prosperous, auspicious and safe.

New Year's greetings

After worshiping the ancestors of heaven and earth and eating the New Year's Eve dinner, people begin to pay New Year's greetings to each other. Starting from the nearest and most respected member of the family, kowtow to their homes one by one, and then go to the homes of neighbors, neighbors, and townships to kowtow to pay New Year greetings.

The way neighbors pay New Year's greetings is different from the way in which elders of the same clan receive kowtows from younger generations with peace of mind. Instead, they are extra polite. Whenever someone kowtows outside another door, the eldest son (or other son) of that family must bend half of his knees to support the right arm of the person kowtowing to block the way. Guests are not allowed to kneel down to show that they "don't dare to do it." If the guest insists on worshiping, the sons of the family will accompany the guest and kowtow four times to the ancestor's tablet. After standing up and bowing, if the guest kowtows to the elder of the family again, the eldest son will block the guest again; if the kowtow should be kowtowed but cannot block it, the guest will be allowed to kowtow, and the son of the family must stand respectfully on the east side. Bend down and hold your hands in front of the guests, returning a half salute to show your gratitude. If the New Year's greeter is of a lower generation, he or she must gradually kowtow to each elder of the family one by one, and the family's attendants will politely decline the request time and time again. When people of the same generation kowtow to each other to pay New Year greetings, the host must absolutely kneel down to block the ceremony. In the end, the host and guest bow to each other and say goodbye. In the same family, the men should finish the New Year greetings before dawn, and then go to their neighbors to visit each other. Usually the prayers must be finished before noon. Neighbors visit each other, greet each other, say a few words and then leave, usually without sitting down.

After early morning, the women all freshen up, dress neatly, and start visiting to pay New Year greetings. The order is also the same as for men, first the family, then the neighbors. When they go to each house to pay New Year's greetings and kowtow, the wife of the owner of the house has to step in and say goodbye. Regardless of whether men or women meet for the first time on the street or at home, they must say "Happy New Year" or "Congratulations on getting rich" and other auspicious words of congratulation to each other. Men hold up their hands and bow, while women do not bow and just say hello. In recent years, it is more common to not bow hands, but to say hello to each other.

The custom of New Year greetings has been enduring for a long time because this etiquette can regulate interpersonal relationships and deepen our feelings. Through New Year greetings, the younger generation respects the elders more, and the elders love and care for the younger generation more and more. If there have been quarrels or conflicts and grudges between neighbors, once they step into the door and kowtow to the elders, it means that they have put aside their past grudges and eliminated the barriers. For thousands of years, this custom has helped people resolve countless conflicts among the people, allowing people to get back together and live in harmony in the new year.

Visiting relatives

Since the second day of the first lunar month, people have begun to visit each other's relatives to pay New Year's greetings. In the past, they would kowtow to their elders and also to the close relatives of relatives to pay New Year's greetings. This kind of etiquette for visiting relatives to pay New Year's greetings is to get close to relatives first and then visit old relatives. If there are many relatives, they have to travel with each other for many days, and in addition to waiting for the gifts (meat) to come, they often go until the seventh or eighth day of the lunar month, or even until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. In the past, most people's living conditions were not very wealthy, so they did not prepare too many New Year's dishes. If you can serve guests up to the standard of "white flour steamed buns, thin noodle soup, crispy meatballs and cabbage gang", then it will be at the level of a middle-class restaurant. Therefore, the folk proverb says: "When relatives reach the seventh or eighth day of the lunar month, they have neither tofu nor dregs.

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In the custom of Qufu, from the first day to the tenth day of the lunar month, these "ten days" are representative days of ten people, things, and things, commonly known as "rooster one, dog two, cat three, dog (wild dog) ) four, pigs five, sheep six, people seven, grains eight, fruits nine, vegetables ten." That is, the first day of the first lunar month is Rooster Day, the second day of the first lunar month is Dog Day, the third lunar month is Cat Day, and the fourth lunar month is Wild Dog Day. The fifth day is the pig day, the sixth day is the sheep day, the seventh day is the human day, the eighth day is the grain day, the ninth day is the fruit day, and the tenth day is the vegetable day. It is believed that during these ten days, the weather will be cloudy, sunny, windy and rainy. Each corresponds to the good, bad, and disasters of the "day". If the first day of the lunar month is sunny, the chickens will not suffer from plagues this year; if it is cloudy and rainy, there will be many disasters for the chickens this year. If the weather is sunny on this day, the harvest will be plentiful. If it rains or there is strong wind, the harvest of the grains sown this year may fail. Therefore, there is a Qufu farmer's proverb: "There are ten good days in the New Year, no need to ask the gods", which means. This year must be a good year with no disasters from heaven and no disasters from man. During these "ten days", Qufu people attach the most importance to the seventh day and the eighth day of the lunar month. It is a custom to make small tofu. It is said that eating vegetable tofu on this day can avoid disasters. On the eighth day of the lunar month, people in Qufu do not cook or grind rice noodles, so there are no special taboos on the other eight days. It can be seen that in Qufu, the birthplace of Confucian culture, the Spring Festival has always been celebrated in a very traditional and authentic way. The local government attaches great importance to the development of Spring Festival tourism products, and has two special projects: "New Year's Eve Tour to the Hometown of Confucius" and "Going Home to Celebrate the New Year". The product is the representative of success. From the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, foreign guests and overseas compatriots can go to local people's homes to celebrate the Spring Festival with the people of Confucius' hometown in full accordance with local customs. Experience the joy of the festival with the host. Learn various traditional rituals and procedures for Chinese people to celebrate the New Year, make dumplings, post Spring Festival couplets, set off firecrackers, dance dragons and lions, watch lanterns, and "keep the New Year's Eve" together with the host. Happy New Year and experience the deep family affection, friendship and warm family atmosphere.