Folk customs in Fangqian Street

In addition to posting peach charms, door patches, and Spring Festival couplets, the streets also hang clocks and kuisi elephants during the New Year to ward off sneaky spirits throughout the year. Legend has it that Zhong Kui is good at catching ghosts. This custom probably began in the Tang Dynasty. Many people in Wuxi still have the custom of hanging red couplets with auspicious phrases on their door lintels and hanging paper-cut door notes. In Wuxi area, it is popular to eat cakes and silk dumplings on the morning of New Year's Day, which means reunion and promotion. In addition, noodles are eaten, which means longevity and everlasting spring. When a child arrives in the New Year, the host must bring tea, snacks, and candies as gifts. Relatives and friends who have children who come to pay New Year greetings will be given lucky money. When a new son-in-law goes to his mother-in-law's house to pay New Year's greetings, he usually chooses the third day of the lunar new year. The third day of the Lunar New Year is called the Xiaonian Dynasty, and you cannot sweep the floor, beg for fire, or draw water, which is the same as the New Year's Day customs. There is another custom in Wuxi that is slightly different from other places, that is, any birthday celebrations for 60th, 70th, or 80th birthdays are held during the Spring Festival instead of birthday celebrations. Many places have the custom of not sweeping the floor on New Year's Day, and this is also the case in Wuxi. It is believed that sweeping the floor will sweep away the wealth. Even if the floor is swept on the second day of the first lunar month, the garbage cannot be taken out. Instead, it is piled in the corner of the house until the first half of the first lunar month, which is called "gathering wealth." It is a custom not to ask for fire or water from others, nor to use knives or scissors, nor to dump sewage or feces. Before going to bed on New Year's Day, we have to blast two or three blasts to close the door and firecrackers. People in Wuxi go to bed early on this day. If there are children who are too playful and refuse to go to bed, parents often coax the children and say: "Go to bed early and listen to the old bugs making love tonight." Wuxi's old custom attaches great importance to the weather on New Year's Day, and often uses the weather on this day to predict the harvest of the next year.