Sweep the dust-the folk proverb says: on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, sweep the house dust ". The north is called cleaning the house and the south is called dust removal. Indoor and outdoor, behind the house, thoroughly clean up, clothes and appliances, wash a new look, and greet the Spring Festival cleanly.

Door painting-According to Shan Hai Jing, when Li Shimin was ill, he often heard amityville horror's voice in his dream, so that he couldn't sleep at night. At this time, two generals, Qin and Weichi Gong, volunteered to stand on both sides of the door. As a result, the palace is safe. Li Shimin felt sorry that the two generals were too hard, so he ordered the painter to paint their mighty images on the door, which is the so-called "keeper". According to Cai Yong's Random Thoughts in the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were statues of Shen Tu and Lei Yu stuck on the door in the Han Dynasty, which evolved into woodcut New Year pictures in the Song Dynasty. Later, people rushed to follow suit, and after several evolutions, they formed their own unique style, that is, the current New Year pictures. The earliest existing New Year picture in China is the Song version of Meitu of the Sui Dynasty.

Spring Festival couplets evolved from "peach stalks" in the Warring States period more than two thousand years ago. According to Huainanzi, peach characters (peach stalks) are carved from peach wood. It is engraved with a spell that destroys happiness, and it changes every year. Meng Changjun, the Emperor of Shu after the Five Dynasties, had a whim during the Spring Festival and asked people to slice peach trees. He wrote a couplet on it: "Welcome to Qing Yu in the New Year and celebrate the festival in Changchun". This is the earliest Spring Festival couplets in China. As for the official birth of the name Spring Festival couplets, it was in the Ming Dynasty. After Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, made Jinling his capital, he issued an edict on New Year's Eve: "When the official family visits the New Year, they must write a Spring Festival couplets." Since then, Spring Festival couplets have become popular, and every household should post Spring Festival couplets during the New Year.

Fireworks-The custom of setting off firecrackers in the Spring Festival began in the Han Dynasty. According to "The Story of Meng Jing Times" written by Nan Liang Zonggu, "On the first day of the first month ... the rooster crowed, and people set off firecrackers in front of the court to drive away evil spirits from Shan Yao." In ancient times, firecrackers were set off by burning bamboo in a fire. Because the air in bamboo is heated and expanded, it makes a "crackling" sound to ward off evil spirits, hoping for good luck and happiness in the coming year. After the Tang and Song Dynasties, firecrackers made of gunpowder came into being.

New Year's greetings-According to the Miscellaneous Notes of Lu Rongyuan in Ming Dynasty, the custom of New Year's greetings was first implemented in Kyoto in Ming Dynasty. When dealing with officials, whether you know them or not, you should worship each other, while the people worship their relatives and friends. In the Qing Dynasty, it was popular to send "worship boxes" during the Spring Festival, that is, to send New Year cards to relatives and friends in exquisite and beautiful decorative boxes to show solemnity. In today's China, "Happy New Year" has become a traditional custom. Dear friends and colleagues visit and greet each other.

In ancient times, it was popular for literati to pay New Year greetings to each other. The New Year drill is today's New Year card, which evolved from ancient business cards. According to Zhao Yi's research in the Qing Dynasty, there was no paper in the Western Han Dynasty, so bamboo was cut into thorns, and the book was named "Ming Thorn". Later, people embroidered the words "business card" on the brocade with red wool. After the Eastern Han Dynasty, wood was replaced by paper, which was called "famous paper". In the Six Dynasties, it was called "Ming" for short, and in the Tang Dynasty it was called "door-shaped". Song dynasty was also called "hand stab" and "door stab". It was called "Inch Chu" and "Red Sheet" in Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Dragon boat festival custom

The Dragon Boat Festival on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month is one of the biggest traditional festivals in China. Dragon Boat Festival is also called Dragon Boat Festival, which means the same as Wu Chu's, just like the fifth day. The word "five" in the Dragon Boat Festival is also connected with "noon". According to the order of earthly branches, May is "noon" month. Because noon is the "sun", the Dragon Boat Festival is also called "Duanyang". On May 5th, both the month and the day are five, so calling five is also called noon. In addition, there are many nicknames for the Dragon Boat Festival, such as: Summer Festival, Magnolia Festival, Daughter's Day, Tianzhong Festival, Dila Festival, Poet's Day and so on.

Many nicknames of the Dragon Boat Festival indirectly explain the differences in the origin of the custom of the Dragon Boat Festival. That's what happened. There are at least four or five theories about the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival, such as: in memory of Qu Yuan; Wuyue's national totem sacrifice theory: From the three generations of summer solstice festival; Evil month and evil day drive away, and so on. So far, the most influential view on the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival is to commemorate Qu Yuan. In the field of folk culture, China people associate dragon boat racing and eating zongzi with Qu Yuan. Legend has it that after Qu Yuan jumped into the river, the local people injured him and died, so they sailed to save him because of the custom of racing. He also said that people often put food into the water to offer sacrifices to Qu Yuan, but most of the food was eaten by dragons. Later, due to Qu Yuan's suggestion, they wrapped rice in neem leaves, wrapped it in colored silk, and later made it look like zongzi.

The customs of the Dragon Boat Festival mainly include: eating zongzi, putting moxa or calamus on the door to exorcise evil spirits, tying long life wisps, drinking realgar wine or disinfection, and racing dragon boats. Zongzi is also called "Jiao Shu" and "Zongzi". The former is named after its angular shape and glutinous rice inside, while the latter is likely to cook rice with a bamboo tube. Eating zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival was very popular in Wei and Jin Dynasties. This kind of food is eaten on the Dragon Boat Festival and the summer solstice every year. Zongzi is also a holiday gift. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, Zongzi was very famous and was often sold in the market. Now, we still have to eat some zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival. There are many kinds of zongzi, which are different from north and south, and also from east and west. In the south, red dates, peanuts and bacon are often mixed in glutinous rice, and other foods are common, but you should taste the fragrance of Zongye; In the north, dates and preserved fruits are often used as stuffing for zongzi. Xiaozongzi seems to have become a traditional symbol of China, occupying a certain position in people's minds. In the past, there was a custom of hiding in the afternoon during the Dragon Boat Festival. This custom originated from a belief that May is an "evil month" and plagues and sores will spread. The fifth day is an unlucky day, so parents take their children under one year old to grandma's house every day to avoid disaster, so they call it afternoon hiding. This is undoubtedly an underdeveloped concept in ancient science, because the summer heat in May is approaching, mosquitoes are flourishing, and people without medical and health facilities are prone to infectious diseases, which brings people a kind of fear, thus resulting in the custom of hiding in the afternoon. Now some ancient customs of this festival have disappeared with the changes of society, but customs such as eating zongzi and dragon boat racing are still popular.

The customs of the Dragon Boat Festival

In China, people solemnly celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival, and there are various activities to celebrate it. Common activities are: dragon boat race: Dragon boat race is the main custom of the Dragon Boat Festival. According to legend, people who originated in the ancient State of Chu were reluctant to part with the death of the sage Qu Yuan, and many people rowed boats to save people. They rushed to catch up with each other and disappeared at Dongting Lake. After that, I will row a dragon boat on May 5th every year to commemorate it. Rowing a dragon boat to disperse the fish in the river so as not to eat Qu Yuan's body. The habit of competition prevailed in wuyue and Chu. In fact, the "Dragon Boat Race" existed as early as the Warring States Period. Carving dragon-shaped canoes in drums and playing race games are semi-religious and semi-entertaining programs to entertain gods and people in the ceremony. Later, people everywhere not only commemorated Qu Yuan, but also gave different meanings to dragon boat racing. Dragon boat rowing in Jiangsu and Zhejiang is of great significance to commemorate Qiu Jin, a native-born modern female democratic revolutionary. The night dragon boat is decorated with lights and shuttles, and the scene is moving and interesting. The Miao people in Guizhou hold the Dragon Boat Festival from May 25th to 28th of the lunar calendar to celebrate the success of transplanting rice and wish a bumper harvest. Yunnan Dai compatriots competed in dragon boat races at the Water-splashing Festival to commemorate the ancient hero Yan Hongwo. Different nationalities and regions have different legends about dragon boat rowing. To this day, dragon boat races with different characteristics are held every year in many areas near rivers and lakes in the south. In the 29th year of Qing Qianlong (1736), Taiwan Province Province began to hold dragon boat races. At that time, Jiang, the chief executive of Taiwan Province Province, held a friendly match in Fukeji Half Moon Pool in Tainan City. Now, Taiwan Province Province holds a dragon boat race on May 5th every year. In Hong Kong, races are also held. In addition, dragon boat racing was first introduced to neighboring countries such as Japan, Vietnam and Britain. From 65438 to 0980, the dragon boat race was included in the national sports competition in China, and the "Qu Yuan Cup" dragon boat race was held every year. 1991June 16 (the fifth day of the fifth lunar month), the first international dragon boat festival was held in Yueyang, China, Qu Yuan's second hometown. Holding the "Dragon Head Festival" before the competition not only retains the traditional ceremony, but also injects new modern factors. The "dragon head" was carried into Quzi Temple. After the athletes painted the dragon head red (tied with a red ribbon), the priest read out the sacrificial ceremony and "lit up" the dragon head. Then, all the people who took part in the Dragon Boat Festival bowed three times, carried the dragon head to the Guluo River and hurried to the dragon boat race. More than 600,000 people participated in competitions, expositions and evening activities, which is unprecedented. Since then, Hunan has regularly held the International Dragon Boat Festival. Dragon boat races will be widely spread all over the world. Eating zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival is another traditional custom of China people. Zongzi, also known as "millet" and "Zongzi". It has a long history and various patterns. According to records, as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, millet was wrapped into horns by leaves of zinia latifolia, which was called "horny millet". Rice packed in bamboo tubes is sealed and baked, which is called "tube zongzi". At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, millet soaked in plant ash water. Because the water contains alkali, the millet is wrapped in leaves into a quadrilateral, and when cooked, it becomes Guangdong sour rice dumplings. In Jin Dynasty, Zongzi was officially designated as Dragon Boat Festival food. At this time, in addition to glutinous rice, jiaozi also added Alpinia oxyphylla, and the boiled jiaozi was called "Yizhi jiaozi". According to the "Yueyang Local Records" written by Zhou people, "It is customary to wrap the millet with leaves, cook it and cook it thoroughly. From May 5 to the summer solstice, one is Zongzi and the other is Xiaomi. " During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, miscellaneous zongzi appeared. Rice is mixed with animal meat, chestnuts, red dates, red beans and so on. And there are more and more varieties. Zongzi is also used as a gift for communication. In the Tang Dynasty, the rice used for zongzi was "white as jade", and its shape appeared conical and rhombic. There is a record of "Da Tang Zongzi" in Japanese literature. In the Song Dynasty, there was already a "candied jiaozi", that is, fruits entered jiaozi. The poet Su Dongpo has a poem "See Yangmei in Zongzi". At this time, there were also advertisements for building pavilions and wooden chariots and horses with zongzi, indicating that eating zongzi was very fashionable in the Song Dynasty. In the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, the wrapping material of zongzi changed from leaves to leaves. Later, zongzi wrapped in reed leaves appeared, and additional materials such as bean paste, pork, pine nuts, dates and walnuts appeared, and the varieties were more colorful. To this day, at the beginning of May every year, people in China have to soak glutinous rice, wash zongzi leaves and wrap zongzi, with more varieties of colors. From the perspective of stuffing, there are many dates in the north, such as jiaozi; There are many kinds of fillings in the south, such as red bean paste, fresh meat, ham and egg yolk, among which Zhejiang Jiaxing Zongzi is the representative. The custom of eating zongzi has been popular in China for thousands of years and spread to South Korea, Japan and Southeast Asian countries. Wearing sachets: Children wear sachets on the Dragon Boat Festival, which is said to mean to ward off evil spirits and drive away the plague. Actually, it is used to decorate the inner head. The sachet contains cinnabar, realgar and fragrant medicine, wrapped in silk cloth, and the fragrance is overflowing, and then tied into a rope with five-color silk thread to make a string of different shapes, all kinds of exquisite and lovely. Acorus calamus: the folk proverb says, "willow inserted in Qingming Festival, wormwood inserted in Dragon Boat Festival". On the Dragon Boat Festival, people regard inserting wormwood and calamus as one of the important contents. Every family sweeps the court, puts calamus and moxa sticks between their eyebrows and hangs them in the class. Acorus calamus, Folium Artemisiae Argyi, Liu Hua, Garlic and Dragon Boat Flower are made into human or tiger shapes, which are called Ai Ren and Ai Hu. It is made into garlands and decorations, beautiful and fragrant, and women compete to wear it to ward off evil spirits. Artemisia argyi, also known as Artemisia argyi and Artemisia argyi. Its stems and leaves contain volatile aromatic oils. Its unique fragrance can repel mosquitoes, flies, insects and ants and purify the air. Chinese medicine uses wormwood as medicine, which has the functions of nourishing qi and blood, warming uterus and dispelling cold and dampness. Processing Artemisia argyi leaves into "moxa wool" is an important medicinal material for moxibustion treatment. Acorus calamus is a perennial aquatic herb, and its long and narrow leaves also contain volatile aromatic oil, which is a good medicine for refreshing, strengthening bones, eliminating stagnation, killing insects and sterilizing. It can be seen that the ancients inserted wormwood leaves and calamus to have a certain disease prevention effect. Dragon Boat Festival is also a "health festival" handed down from ancient times. On this day, people sweep the courtyard, hang mugwort leaves, hang calamus, sprinkle realgar wine, drink realgar wine, stir up turbidity, remove rot, sterilize and prevent diseases. These activities also reflect the fine traditions of the Chinese nation. It is a common custom for all countries and ethnic groups in China to collect herbs on the Dragon Boat Festival.

Mid-Autumn Festival customs in various places

China has a vast territory, a large population and different customs. The Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated in a variety of ways, with strong local characteristics. Some places have also formed many special Mid-Autumn Festival customs. In addition to enjoying the moon, offering sacrifices to the moon and eating moon cakes, there are dragon dances in Hong Kong, piling towers in Anhui, Mid-Autumn Festival in Guangzhou, burning towers in Jinjiang, moon-watching in Shihu, Suzhou, moon-dancing in Dai and Miao, moon-stealing dishes by Dong and dancing in Gaoshan. In Pucheng, Fujian, in order to live longer, women have to cross Nanpu Bridge during the Mid-Autumn Festival. In Jianning, hanging lanterns on Mid-Autumn Festival night is a good omen to ask the Moon Palace for children. People in Shanghang County celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, and most of their children are invited to visit their parents when they are in Yue Bai. When Longyan people eat moon cakes, their parents will dig out round cakes with a diameter of two or three inches in the middle for their elders to eat, which means that they can't tell the secret to the younger generation. This custom stems from the legend that moon cakes contain the message of anti-meta-killing. Before the Mid-Autumn Festival in Kinmen, Yue Bai should worship God. Guangdong-Chaoshan has the custom of Yue Bai in the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is mainly for women and children. There is a saying that "men are not satisfied with the moon, and women don't sacrifice stoves". At night, when the bright moon rises, women set up a box in the yard and balcony to pray. Silver candles burned high, cigarettes filled the air, and the table was filled with good fruits and cakes as sacrifices. There is also the custom of eating taro in the Mid-Autumn Festival. There is a saying in Chaoshan: "River to mouth, taro to eat." August is the harvest season of taro, and farmers are used to using taro to worship their ancestors. Of course, this has something to do with farming, but there is also a popular folk legend: 1279, Mongolian nobles destroyed the Southern Song Dynasty, established the Yuan Dynasty, and brutally ruled the Han people. Mafa defended Chaozhou against the Yuan Dynasty. After the city was broken, the people were slaughtered. In order not to forget the suffering of Hu people's rule, later generations used taro as a homonym with "Hu tou", which looked like a human head, in order to pay homage to their ancestors and pass it on from generation to generation, and it still exists today. Mid-Autumn Festival in Guangzhou-Guangzhou has an interesting traditional custom called "Mid-Autumn Festival on the tree". Every Mid-Autumn Festival, every household should tie lanterns with bamboo sticks. Lanterns have various beginnings, including fruit lanterns, birds, animals, fish and insects, and can also be made into Chinese lanterns. At night, candles are lit in the lights, and many small lights are connected below, tied to bamboo poles with ropes. Then insert bamboo poles at the height of the house, such as platforms, roofs or big trees. At night, the lights in the city are like stars, competing with the bright moon in the sky to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is also called "Vertical Mid-Autumn Festival". During the Mid-Autumn Festival, the folk customs in Jiangnan are also varied. Nanjing people love to eat moon cakes on Mid-Autumn Festival, so they must eat osmanthus duck, a famous Jinling dish. "Sweet-scented osmanthus duck" should be listed in Gui Xiang. It is fat but not greasy and delicious. After drinking, you must eat a small piece of sugar taro and pour cinnamon pulp on it. Beauty speaks for itself. Gui Jiang, named after Qu Yuan's Songs of the South? Think less about life ","aid the north to collect, drink cinnamon pulp ". Cinnamon pulp is a kind of sweet-scented osmanthus, which is picked around the Mid-Autumn Festival and pickled with sugar and sour plum. Jiangnan women are good at turning poems and songs into delicacies on the table. People in Nanjing enjoy the moon with their families, which is called "celebrating reunion", the group sitting and drinking is called "full moon", and the market trip is called "walking on the moon". Nanjing-In the early Ming Dynasty, Nanjing had the Moon Tower and the Moon Bridge. In the Qing Dynasty, the Moon Tower built under Lion Mountain was for people to enjoy the moon, and most people played the Moon Bridge. When the bright moon is high, people go to the Moon Tower to play the Moon Bridge and enjoy watching the Jade Rabbit. "The Moon Bridge is located in the Confucius Temple on Qinhuai River, next to the mansion of the famous prostitute Ma Xianglan. On this night, the literati gathered on the bridge to play the flute, sing songs and reminisce about Niuzhu playing with the moon and writing poems for the moon, so it was called playing with the moon bridge. After the death of the Ming Dynasty, it gradually declined. Later generations have a poem saying, "The romantic Southern Song Dynasty has run out, leaving the west wind as a long slab bridge, but remember to take the Jade Man Bridge and teach flute under the moon. "Longbanqiao, the original Moon Bridge. In recent years, the Confucius Temple in Nanjing has been renovated, some pavilions and pavilions in the Ming and Qing Dynasties have been restored, and the rivers have been dredged. Until the Mid-Autumn Festival, you can enjoy playing with the moon together. Wuxi County, Jiangsu Province, will burn incense on Mid-Autumn Festival night. There are silks around the incense barrel, which depicts the scenery in the Moon Palace. There are incense sticks made of thread Kaori with paper kuixing and colorful flags on them. Shanghainese Mid-Autumn Festival Banquet with Sweet-scented osmanthus honey wine. On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival in Ji 'an County, Jiangxi Province, every village burns crocks with straw. When the crock is red, put the vinegar in it. At this time, the whole village will smell a fragrance. During the Mid-Autumn Festival in Xincheng County, grass lanterns are hung from the evening of August 1 1 to August 17. On the Mid-Autumn Festival in Wuyuan County, Anhui Province, children built a hollow pagoda with bricks. Curtains, plaques and other decorations are hung on the tower, and a table is placed in front of the tower, displaying various utensils to worship the "tower god". At night, lights and candles are lit inside and out. Children in Jixi Mid-Autumn Festival play Mid-Autumn firecrackers. Mid-Autumn Festival firecrackers are braided with straw, picked up and smashed stones after soaking, making a loud noise, which is a custom in Youlong. A fire dragon is a dragon made of grass with incense in it. When you visit the dragon, there are gongs and drums teams. They tour the village before being sent to the river. Sichuan Province-During the Mid-Autumn Festival, in addition to eating moon cakes, we also have to kill ducks, eat sesame cakes and honey cakes. In some places, orange lanterns are also lit and hung at the door to celebrate. There are also children who burn incense on grapefruit and dance along the street, which is called "dancing meteor ball" Jiading County's Mid-Autumn Festival is called "Guanyin Club" for offering sacrifices to land gods and performing zaju, vocal music and cultural relics. On August 15, farmers in Qingyun County, Shandong Province offered sacrifices to the god of land valley, which was called "Young Miao Society". Zhucheng, Linyi, Jimo and other places have to pay homage to their ancestors in addition to the moon. Landlords in guanxian, Laiyang, Guangrao and Postal City also entertain their tenants in the Mid-Autumn Festival. Jimo Mid-Autumn Festival eats a kind of holiday food called "Wheat Arrow". Shanxi Province-Lu 'an Mid-Autumn Festival fetes son-in-law. Datong county calls moon cakes reunion cakes, and it is a custom to keep vigil on Mid-Autumn Festival night. Wanquan County, Hebei Province calls Mid-Autumn Festival "Little New Year's Day", and there are pictures of Taiyin Xing Jun and Guandi reading Spring and Autumn at night on moonlight paper. Hejian county people think that the rain in Mid-Autumn Festival is bitter rain. If it rains in the Mid-Autumn Festival, the local people think that vegetables must be terrible. On the Mid-Autumn Festival night in Xixiang County, Shaanxi Province, men row boats on the cliff and women arrange banquets. No matter rich or poor, people should eat watermelons. On Mid-Autumn Festival, drummers blow drums along the door to ask for money. In Luochuan county, parents lead students to bring gifts to their husbands, and there are more lunches than school dinners. Burning towers on the night of Mid-Autumn Festival is also very popular in some places. The height of the tower varies from 1-3 meters, mostly made of broken tiles. The tower is also made of bricks, accounting for about 1/4 of the tower height, and then stacked with tiles, leaving a tower mouth at the top for fuel transportation. On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, it will be lit and burned. The fuel is wood, bamboo, chaff, etc. When the fire is booming, rosin powder will be poured to cheer, which is very spectacular. There are also folk rules for burning stupas. Whoever burns the stupa to the whole house wins, and those who fail or collapse in the burning process lose. The winner will be presented with colorful flags, bonuses or prizes by the host. It is said that burning towers was also the origin of the Han people's resistance to brutal rulers and the Mid-Autumn Uprising at the end of Yuan Dynasty. " Divination is an interesting activity in the Mid-Autumn Festival evening. After incantations and ceremonies, the descending gods can be revealed, including the table god, the moon goddess, the Eight Immortals and the Basket God (who is the goddess). "Listening to incense" is an ancient Mid-Autumn Festival custom in Taiwan Province Province. Women burn incense and pray in front of the gods worshipped at home, indicating what to predict (such as feelings and wealth). ). After asking the direction they should go after going out, they burned incense and went out. Anyone who hears all the conversations and songs on the road can predict what they will ask, and then ask God if the answer is so with a cup. If the answer is no, they will ask God if it is. Unmarried girls also have the custom of stealing vegetables or onions from other people's gardens on Mid-Autumn Festival night. If they succeed, it means that she will get beautiful love.