The Spring Festival has a long history, which originated from the activities of offering sacrifices to gods and ancestors in the beginning and end of the Shang Dynasty. According to the China lunar calendar, the first day of the first month is called Yuanri, Chen Yuan, Jacky, Yuanshuo and New Year's Day. , commonly known as the first day of the Spring Festival. The traditional folk customs of the Spring Festival include: paying New Year's greetings, posting Spring Festival couplets, hanging New Year pictures, stick grilles, preparing new year's goods, offering sacrifices to stoves, dusting, keeping New Year's Eve, eating New Year's Eve, getting lucky money, eating jiaozi, setting off firecrackers, paying New Year's greetings and watching the society.
Among the numerous customs of the Spring Festival, four are worth mentioning. Let's take a look:
? One of the folk customs of the Spring Festival: posting Spring Festival couplets and door gods?
It is said that the custom of pasting Spring Festival couplets began in the post-Shu period about 1000 years ago, which is proved by history. In addition, according to the Jade Candle Collection and the Chronicle of Yanjing, the original form of Spring Festival couplets is what people call "Fu Tao".
In the ancient mythology of China, it is said that there is a ghost world, in which there is a mountain, a big peach tree covering three thousand miles, and a golden rooster at the top of the tree. Whenever the golden rooster crows in the morning, the ghost who travels at night will rush back to the ghost domain. The Gate of Ghost Domain is located in the northeast of Peach Tree District. There are two gods standing by the door, named Shen Tu and Lei Yu. If the ghost does something unnatural at night, Shen Tu and Lei Yu will immediately find it, catch it, tie it up with a rope made of Miscanthus and give it to the tiger. So all the ghosts in the world are afraid of Shen Tu and Lei Yu. So people carved them into peach trees and put them at their doorsteps to ward off evil spirits and prevent harm. Later, people simply carved the names of Shen Tu and Lei Yu on the mahogany board, thinking that this could also eliminate disasters. This kind of red board was later called "Fu Tao".
In the Song Dynasty, people began to write couplets on mahogany boards, one for killing evil spirits, the other for expressing good wishes, and the third for decorating the portal for beauty. They also write couplets on red paper symbolizing happiness and good luck, and stick them on both sides of doors and windows during the Spring Festival to express people's good wishes for good luck in the coming year.
In order to pray for the longevity of the family, people in some places still keep the habit of sticking up doors. It is said that there are two door gods posted on the gate, and all monsters will be afraid. In the folk, the door god is a symbol of justice and strength. The ancients thought that people with strange looks often had magical temperament and extraordinary skills. They are honest and kind, and it is their nature and responsibility to catch ghosts and demons. Zhong Kui, a ghost hunter who is highly regarded by people, is such a strange look. Therefore, the folk door gods are always glaring and ferocious, holding all kinds of traditional weapons in their hands, ready to fight against ghosts who dare to come to the door. Because the doors of China's house are usually two opposite doors, the door gods are always paired.
After the Tang Dynasty, besides peace, people also regarded Qin and Weichi Gong, two military commanders in the Tang Dynasty, as gatekeepers. According to legend, Emperor Taizong was ill, heard ghosts screaming outside, and stayed up all night. So he asked the two generals to stand by with weapons in their hands, and there was no ghost harassment the next night. Later, Emperor Taizong had the images of these two generals painted and pasted on the door, and this custom began to spread widely among the people.
? The second folk custom of the Spring Festival: Eating New Year's Eve?
New Year's Eve is also called reunion dinner. According to Zonggu's records of Jingchu times, there was a custom of eating New Year's Eve dinner at least in the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Because it is winter, northerners often put hot pot in the middle of the table, so it is also called stove.
The dishes of Northern people's New Year's Eve often include jiaozi, fish, rice cakes and long dishes. Because jiaozi looks like a gold ingot, representing wealth; Fish is inexhaustible, because in Chinese, "fish" and "fish" are homophonic, meaning "more than one year". The rice cake has the meaning of "rising year by year"; Eating vegetables for a long time means longevity. In the south of China, there are many kinds of chicken, barbecue, Nostoc flagelliforme and oyster sauce, because Nostoc flagelliforme and oyster sauce are homophonic. Typical Jiangnan New Year's Eve dinner, there must be fish, there must be a rich soup pot.
Jiangnan is naturally very particular about food, which has been greatly reflected in the New Year's Eve dinner. People in Jiangnan eat an even number of New Year's Eve dinners, including eight cold cuts, four to eight cooked foods, four to eight stir-fried dishes, and some soup and water. But unlike other places, Jiangnan people prefer side dishes. Most of the Jiangnan area began to eat New Year's Eve when it entered the twelfth lunar month. Chicken, duck, fish, fruit cake, candy and melon seeds have everything.
The same is true for New Year's Eve, which is fried, fried, fried and stewed. Color, fragrance, taste and shape are all available. The common dishes of Jiangnan supper are family photos, braised pork, drunken chicken, shredded pork, fried shrimp, fried shrimp, smoked fish, eel, four-happiness baked bran, eight-treasure rice and so on. Naturally, it shows the style of this dish, and with snacks such as lobster slices, the family eats well.
According to the old ceremony, the traditional seats of New Year's Eve dinner are "Zuo Zun Dong" and "Zun Men". The person in charge of the New Year's Eve dinner is the elder with the highest qualifications, and the last seat is the lowest. If it's a treat, the chief is the most respected guest, and the host is at the bottom. ? No one else is allowed to sit down until the chief executive is seated, and no one is allowed to start work before the chief executive starts work.
? The third folk custom of the Spring Festival: Send the poor and send the poor ash?
In the farming era, every household in Linzhou had a coal fire, and there was a cinder tunnel under the coal fire, which was a special place for loading cinders. At ordinary times, the accumulated cinders should be pulled out at regular intervals. However, no matter how much cinder is accumulated, it is impossible to dig it out from the New Year's Eve to the fourth night. How did this custom come about?
According to legend, a long time ago, there was a little monster named "Chi", which looked like a cricket. Although it is not big, its destructive power cannot be underestimated. Jump into other people's homes, the rich become poor, and the poor die. However, flies have three fears, one is red, the other is noise, and the third is fire. Therefore, during the Chinese New Year, people will stick couplets, set off firecrackers and light cypress fires in the yard. He was afraid that there was nowhere to hide, so he got into the cinder tunnel and dared not come out. From the first day of the first month to the fourth day of the first month, every household does not dig coal cinders for fear of disturbing flies and causing trouble. It was not until the early morning of the fifth day that flies and cinders were sent to the intersection outside the door, the incense table was lit and firecrackers were set off to let them fly away.
This custom is called "sending poor ashes" because it is homophonic with "poverty".
Sending the poor is a folk custom in China. On the fifth day of the first month, it means offering sacrifices to poor ghosts (poor gods). Poor guy, also known as "poor boy". According to Song Chen Yuanliang's "Guang Ji at the Age of Years" quoted from Wenzong Beiwen: "When Zhuan Xu was in high spirits, a son was born in the palace, and he was called a poor son in the palace. Later, he died in the first month and was buried in the palace, meaning' send poverty today'. " According to legend, this poor man is the son of Zhuan Xu. He is weak and short, and likes to wear rags and drink porridge. Even if new clothes are given to him, he will tear them or burn them before wearing them, so "contractions are poor."
People attach so much importance to giving money to five poor people on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month because people were afraid of poverty in the past. Although people clearly know that doing it has no effect, people will still do it, mainly because giving five poor people is a vision for a better future.
? What is the folk custom of the Spring Festival? Open the door and set off 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. Firecracker is a specialty of China, also known as "Firecracker", "Firecracker" and "Firecracker". Its origin is very early, and it has a history of more than two thousand years. 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.
Wang Anshi s Poem Yuan Ri;
Except for the one-year-old in firecrackers,
The spring breeze warmed the Tusu people.
Thousands of families have a bright future.
Always trade new peaches for old ones. ? ?
This song describes the scene of people celebrating the Spring Festival in the Song Dynasty: the spring breeze warms them, the sun rises, every family lights firecrackers, and the whole family faces east, drinking Tu Su wine, busy taking off the old peach symbol on the door and replacing it with a new peach symbol with a door god. The author chooses these typical Spring Festival holiday scenes to show a picture of China folk customs with a strong flavor of life.
In China, firecrackers are a sign to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, and also an expression of festive atmosphere. Businessmen set off firecrackers has another meaning: they set off firecrackers on New Year's Eve to make a fortune in the new year. But according to the old custom, respecting the god of wealth should be the first, and setting off firecrackers should be the last. Therefore, if you want to make a fortune, firecrackers will ring until the end.
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.
Spring Festival is an ancient festival in China, and it is also the most important festival in a year. How to celebrate this festival has formed some relatively fixed customs and habits in thousands of years of historical development, and many of them have been passed down to this day. Customs and cultures are different in the north and south, but they are basically the same in one thing, that is, family reunion, visiting relatives and friends, and visiting elders. May our children remember these customs full of affection and good wishes and pass them on from generation to generation.