Traditional Culture Encyclopedia - Weather inquiry - What is the meaning of our Jincheng New Year celebrations?

What is the meaning of our Jincheng New Year celebrations?

Jincheng New Year Customs

1. The first day of the first lunar month of the New Year is the "Yuan of the Year, the Yuan of the Time, and the Yuan of the Month," so it is also called "Three Yuan" and "Yuan Day" ,"New Year".

New Year’s Day means the future and hope. As time goes by, people live longer. The children are one year older, and their hopes are getting bigger. The elderly are one year older, and they are getting closer and closer to the "life span of Nanshan Everlasting Pine". After all, it is something worth celebrating. What's more, the old year also brought a lot of happiness and joy!

According to "Zezhou Prefecture Chronicle": On New Year's Day, the old and young burn mulberry trees, which is called "normal fire". High sacrifices of glutinous rice and huge rice are offered to the goddess. First, worship the elders, bring blessings to each other, and have a meal and banquet for a few days.

"Sacrifice" is a whole cow used for sacrifice in ancient times. This is a general reference. It refers to domestic animals used for sacrifices, oaths and food, including cattle, sheep, hogs, horses, dogs, chickens, etc., and does not specifically refer to cattle. In Jincheng, many people are taboo about slaughtering cows, because cows are good assistants and good friends for working people.

"Li" is a kind of sweet wine, "Miju" is an ancient fried offering, and "Minu" is an ancient ring-shaped cake. They are all offerings to worship gods.

The ancients often planted mulberry trees. "Wei Sang and Zi must stop respectfully. They look at the bandit's father and rely on the bandit's mother." There are 300 poems, and there are 22 places where Sang is mentioned. In ancient China, besides the sea, there were mulberry fields. Jin Dynasty Ge Hong's "Biography of Immortals·Wang Yuan": "It has been seen that three areas of the East China Sea are mulberry fields." "Three areas are mulberry fields", which shows that China has been covered with mulberry forests for a long time. Yangcheng has the story of "Tang Wang Mulberry Forest" praying for rain, and Jincheng has the remains of Cheng Zi "looking back at the mulberry forest". It shows that Jincheng was covered with mulberry forests in ancient times.

This "mulberry" is the name for dry firewood. People use dry firewood to build a tower, stuff some soft firewood in the middle, and light it at one o'clock in the morning. There are some cypress leaves on the top, not only can sparks fly in, but the strong fragrance is also intoxicating.

Because Jincheng is rich in coal, charcoal blocks are used to normalize the fire. They use charcoal blocks on the outside and dry firewood and straw on the inside. When they burn, they will turn red. For days and nights, the yard will be as warm as spring. .

On the fifth day of the first lunar month, a man gets up and puts on his new clothes neatly, almost like Master Lu Si in "Blessing". Let's fire a door opener first. Then wash your hands, light candles, and make offerings.

The offerings made by the master of the family are a mountain of jujubes, three large miscellaneous offerings, a plate of five snacks, and eight bowls of offerings - four bowls of oil and four bowls of water. Water is provided and vegetables are provided.

Whether it's rich or poor depends on your family's circumstances.

The mountain god sacrifices a steamed pig or a steamed sheep, or even a chicken.

The door god presented a hedgehog. The Dragon King is the waterway, the White Tiger God is the mill, and the Green Dragon God is the mill. They all offer a date flower.

Ancestors are not allowed to enjoy the feast together with the gods. After worshiping the gods, the offerings to Heaven and Earth are brought back before being offered to the ancestors.

Arrange the offerings, light the fire and fire three cannons. Three cannon shots are a ritual. After three cannons are fired, God will come to the world happily, celebrate the New Year with people, and receive cigarettes.

Heaven and Earth are full of incense sticks, and sticks of single incense stick like stars in the sky. In addition to buckets of incense, there is also an incense burner for burning "incense". The so-called "burner incense" is to put about a hundred or so single incense sticks into a bunch, light them together, and insert them into the incense burner. When the incense curls up, the orange-red flame will beat like new life.

Family Tang Ye, Buddha, Immortal Family, Kitchen God, Wealth God, Grain God, Lao Jun Ye, Lu Ban, and Confucius are all three sticks of incense. Other gods use a stick of incense.

When burning incense, you must melt the "fragrance". Fold the tin foil into an ingot and roll it up diagonally with a yellow sheet. Each roll counts as one portion, hence the name "Xiangfen'er".

Burn incense and set off whips to let God lively and joyful New Year. Setting off firecrackers, like peach charms, is to ward off evil spirits. "Records of the Years of Jingchu" says that firecrackers "are used to ward off evil spirits from mountains." "Shenyi Jing" says that mountain poison "is found in the deep mountains of the West and grows more than a foot long. Prisoners will become sick and fear the sound of firecrackers." In fact, This saying no longer exists. People set off firecrackers just to worship gods. Of course, they also have the meaning of being lively, prosperous, and auspicious.

When it’s time to normalize the fire, ask the children to come and see the normal fire, worship the gods, kowtow to the gods, carry a small red lantern, and grab firecrackers everywhere. After the fire was lit, green smoke curled into the sky, sparks shot out, and the courtyard was filled with red light. The aroma of cypress branches was particularly refreshing. Children especially like fire. They will clap their hands around Zhenghuo, run, jump, shout and laugh, and their little faces will turn red one after another. Vitality and joy filled the entire yard.

Burning incense and whipping, adults, children, men and women, all dressed up, kowtowed to the gods.

The ancients believed in nature and respected it. They will tell their children that they will hug the chun tree early on the first day of the new year and shout: "Chun tree mother, chun tree mother, when you grow taller, you will be a beam, and when I grow taller, I will wear clothes." They hope that the chun tree will grow taller with their children. .

The paper scraps from firecrackers and the ashes from the normal fire should be kept for five days and can only be cleaned after the "breaking five" period.

In some places such as Gaoping, Qinshui, Lingchuan, and Gaodu in Jincheng, people eat "soft rice" and drink "brain" on the morning of the first day of the new year. Soft rice, commonly known as Laba porridge. But people in Jincheng don't call it porridge, and the consistency they make is indeed not porridge-like. It's much thicker than porridge. It's called soft rice. "Brain" is a "spicy soup" made with vermicelli, tofu, bean sprouts, sea vegetables, sesame seeds, pepper, dry powder or small powder.

Da Ji Fangyuan eats dumplings in the morning, and eats Fanao (a kind of fried steamed bun, thicker than fried steamed bun). The meaning of dumplings is that the whole family should make a ball and not live apart. Fancha is also like the fried buns in Gaodu, which means to turn over and turn the poor days into rich ones.

There are also people who eat ramen on the morning of New Year’s Day, which means that the whole family should hold tight to each other so as not to lose anyone.

People from well-off families drink Tusu wine. "Tu Su" is the name of the wine, just like the modern "Bamboo Leaf Green" and "Jian Nanchun". "Youxue Qionglin" said: "On the first day of the year, I offer you pepper flowers to wish you a happy life; on the first day of the year, I drink Tusu wine to get rid of plague." This is the purpose of drinking Tusu wine. Wang Anshi, a political innovator in the Northern Song Dynasty who was "ambitious to correct the world and change the customs", wrote in a poem: "The sound of firecrackers is heard, and the spring breeze brings warmth to Tusu. Thousands of households are always replacing old talismans with new peaches. ”

In feudal society, the order of seniority and inferiority is very strict, but when drinking Tusu wine on the first day of the Lunar New Year, the order is first for the young and then for the old. It means growth, which is worthy of celebration; losing age in old age means aging, so be careful with it. Gu Kuang, a poet of the Tang and Five Dynasties, said in his poem: "Unexpectedly, the spring of the old general is approaching, and he is even more sad that he has joined hands with several people. He is lonely and ashamed of the bright mirror, and he is slaughtering Su and leaving the youth with his hands." Su Shi also said: "But let go of the sorrow of poverty. "Bo Changjian, drink Su Su without hesitation." Young people should be like what the poet Pei Yizhi of the Tang Dynasty said in his poem: "Knowing how old you are, you should kill Su Su before letting spring." Old people should know: "Fang." The new leaves in the forest urge the old leaves, and the front wave in the running water gives way to the last wave."

After dinner, parents have to give out lucky money to their children and teach them how to greet the New Year. Let the children respectfully burn incense on their ancestors' tablets to pay New Year's greetings, and then burn incense on their cousin's table. They should kneel down in front of their cousin's table and tell their parents: "Dad, Mom, the children are paying New Year's greetings to their elders." The parents will be happy. hehe.

Pay New Year greetings to your parents, go out to pay New Year greetings to the elders in the clan, walk on the street, and bow when you meet the neighbors and say: "Uncle, my nephew is here to send you New Year greetings." The elders will say Praise the child and say: "Whose child is there? There are materials." The mother-in-law or sister-in-law takes the new daughter-in-law to pay New Year's greetings to the elders next door. When people of the same generation meet, they hug each other and say "Happy New Year!" and "Congratulations on getting rich!".

During the Spring Festival, people appear gentle, respectful and polite. Li, "Book of Rites: Ritual Vessels" says: "Increase beauty, take measures to be correct, and apply to others. It is like a bamboo arrow with a Jun, like a pines and cypresses with a heart, both of which are at the top of the world." Therefore, the four seasons are not changed. Therefore, if a gentleman is polite, he will be harmonious on the outside but not resentful on the inside. Yun Le Yun, bells and drums?" Mr. Nan Huaijin explained: It contains a "cultural spirit and cultural philosophy." They all make people "know how to stand upright, how to stand firm, and know how to behave themselves."

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, the daughter and son-in-law go back to her parents’ home to pay New Year greetings; on the third day of the Lunar New Year, they go to their aunt’s house to pay New Year greetings; and on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, they go to their uncle’s or aunt’s house to pay New Year greetings. My aunt and uncle usually don’t pay New Year greetings on a single day. On the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, the whole family celebrated "Powu" at home.

Most people pick up their ancestors on the night of the 30th day of the lunar new year. Some send their ancestors off on the fifth day of the lunar month. Some send off their ancestors on the morning of the 15th day of the first lunar month. Some of them send off their ancestors on the night of the first lunar month. There are also people who pick up their ancestors on the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year and send them away on the evening of the first day of the Lunar New Year. They pick them up on the 16th day of the Lunar New Year and send them away on the same day. To send ancestors, bring half a bowl of noodle soup, commonly known as "grandma and grandpa soup", take some gold and silver foil, burn it at the intersection, and pour the grandma and grandpa soup on the ashes of the foil.

In the old days, the New Year was not easy to pass, so there was a saying of "New Year's Eve". There is such a couplet:

Every year is sad, every year is sad, every year is sad, every year is sad

Things don’t work out, things don’t work out, things don’t work out, things work out

There is a folk saying. : "Adults are looking forward to farming, and children are looking forward to celebrating the New Year." Children don't know how much suffering the adults have suffered because of the New Year celebrations. It takes a whole winter, or a whole year, to survive for a few days of good food during the New Year. After the New Year, we still eat chaffy vegetables. Therefore, the folk song goes: "After the fourth and fifth day of the lunar month, you are still suffering."

2. The seventh day of the first lunar month is "Human Day". In fact, from the first to the tenth day of the lunar month, every day is a special day. There is a saying among the people in Jincheng that "one chicken, two dogs, three pigs, four sheep, five cows, six horses, seven people, eight grains, nine fruits, and ten vegetables". This means that which day belongs to which species, and the weather on that day determines the rise and fall of that species in that year. The sign that determines its rise and fall is to look at the weather, not the whole day, but only the weather around "Chen hour" in the morning. If there is no wind at this time and the weather is clear, then this species will be able to "rest in peace" this year and is suitable for raising and planting.

The ancients "painted a rooster on the door on the first day of the lunar month, and posted a person on the tent on the seventh day." This shows that the ancients attached great importance to "rooster day" and "human day".

The rooster is "as a symbolic representational symbol, associated with phenomena such as the sunrise in the east, light replacing darkness, yang energy defeating yin evil, and the New Year emerging from the cold winter." This is the basis for attaching importance to the Rooster Day. .

Elevating "Human Day" to the status of a festival shows that "humanistic" thinking originated from ancient China. The most obvious sign is to paste the image of a person on the bed tent, which is called "people win". Some are cut from five-color silk into human shapes, or metal sheets are carved into human shapes, which are pasted on the screen or worn on the temples. Such a "human form" is called "human victory". Li Shangyin's poem "Ren Ri Ji Shi": "The work of carving gold conveys the wind of Jing, and the cutting of ribbons brings the wind of Jin to people."

On the seventh day of the first lunar month, my mother will take the steamed steamed buns as a gift for people on the 30th of the twelfth lunar month. Come out and put it in a small bamboo sieve, and let the whole family come and catch it. See who grabs the one with "making money" in it. The person holding the bag with the word "making money" is the luckiest person in the family this year, and is also the spiritual support and spiritual support of the whole family. Therefore, the mother can always find a way to let the father give the gift bun with the word "making money" in it. Catch.