People here also have the custom of judging the new year's output by the birds they hear on the first day of junior high school. Even birds sing first, and ducks should be raised; Magpie singing for the first time is suitable for raising chickens; At dawn, sparrows fly around noisily, which is a good year; People also think that hearing dogs barking on the first day is not a good sign.
On New Year's Eve 12, every household will send a finished gold ingot model to their door, which means making a fortune in the New Year.
On the first and second days of the New Year's Day, people don't sweep the floor, draw water or even make a fire. Food is prepared in advance, which is called "pressing the old". It was not until the third day that I began to carry water and burn paper money by the well pool, saying that it was "buying water". The next day, Tianmen Wei will also be taken down and burned. As the saying goes, "the doorman's paper should be burned in the third day, and everyone should look for physiology." At the beginning of the new year, when we picked up a pen to write, we used to write a picture of "Everything is fine" on red paper and stick it on the wall.
The fifteenth day of the first month is the climax of the Spring Festival. When there are no gongs or drums, people regard iron cans as gongs and drums. So there is a saying in Xiaogan that "knock on the tin can in the first half of the month".
The fifteenth day of the first month is the center of Xiaogan folk festivals. People usually tie dragons from the eighth day, and also tie lions, floats, bamboo horses, stilts, platforms and other styles. On the fifteenth day of the first month, men, women and children go out to have fun and sing all kinds of colorful words. Lotus-picking boats go from village to village and sing whatever they see, such as the auspicious words "Old people live longer, few people are safe, family affairs are complete, the four seasons are safe, the grain is abundant, the deer and crane are in the same spring, the seven stars turn to fight, the Eight Immortals are at home, wealth is long, and ten blessings are complete".
On Lantern Festival night, Xiaogan also has the customs of inviting seven sisters, seeking success in the new year and begging for cleverness. Seven sisters, whose local name is Zhang, are said to be the seventh daughter of the Jade Emperor. She is the cleverest and kindest. One day, Qi Jie learned that there was a young man named Dong Mingyong in Danyang (now Xiaogan). Because his family was poor and he had no money to bury his dead father, he had to sell himself into slavery. Seven sisters were deeply moved. Privately, Tiandao and Yong Dong got married for a hundred years and got married under the big pagoda tree. Unfortunately, the matchmaker, Sophora japonica, was happy for a while and described "a hundred years of harmony" as "a hundred days of harmony", which led to the fate that Dong Yongliu's sisters only had a hundred days of harmony. Seventh Sister skillfully weaves 10 brocade, redeems Yong Dong, prepares to renovate her home, and loves their old leader. Unexpectedly, the jade emperor was very angry when he learned about it, and called Qimei back to the palace, so Qimei had to fly away reluctantly. Her knitting became a flying stone, and the loom remained on earth. People can still hear the sound of the loom "click, click" in the dead of night. On the fifteenth night of the first month of every year, girls dressed in costumes gather by the flying shuttle stone, holding sewing boxes to please Qi Mei and singing begging songs. After singing Qiao Qi's songs, you should also ask about your quality of life, good luck, whether you can get married and so on. In addition, some people use glutinous rice flour to make the shape of goose eggs and let pregnant women burn "goose eggs" to occupy boys and girls. Cleavage gives birth to a girl and wart gives birth to a boy.
The local people also said that the fifteenth night of the first month is the day when mice marry women, and people can't make noise at home. A woman wants to light a sesame oil lamp under the bed and say, "Look at the lamp, matchmaker." It is said that there will be no bedbug harassment for a year like this. People also throw bamboo baskets from the house to show the richness of cotton. Looking up, you will have a good harvest, but your servant will have a bad harvest.