Busy year: Just like folk songs, the old farmers in northern Jiangsu have been busy preparing glutinous rice flour and grinding noodles since the twelfth lunar month. After the twelfth lunar month, we started steaming rice cakes, making cakes and frying rice. After the twentieth day of the twelfth lunar month, everyone will "please" the incense sticks and bodhisattvas. Rich people will also write the dates, brown sugar, fried fruits and big cakes they want to buy on paper, which is called "annual loan slip"; As the Spring Festival draws near, every household wants to buy fish.
Sending stoves and connecting stoves: Old farmers in northern Jiangsu combine sending stoves and connecting stoves into one, offering sacrifices to stoves, and the Spring Festival begins with offering sacrifices to stoves. "Twenty-three, cantaloupe stick" in folk songs refers to the sacrificial stove on the 23rd or 24th of the twelfth lunar month every year. There is also a saying among the people that "officials, three people, four boatmen and five", that is, on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the government held activities to worship the stove, on the 24th, people's homes, and on the 25th, boat people were on the water. Exquisite families also have a kitchen king niche on the back or east of the kitchen, and the idol of the kitchen king is provided in the middle. If there is no chef, put idols on the wall. According to folklore, Kitchen God has been staying at home to protect his family since last New Year's Eve. On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the Kitchen God will ascend to heaven and report the good and evil of this family to the Jade Emperor, so this day will be "sweet and sticky". On New Year's Eve, a week after the stove was delivered, the kitchen god and the gods came to earth together. After the New Year, other immortals ascended to heaven again, and only Kitchen God stayed in the kitchen for a long time.
Dust removal: After the kitchen is connected, people begin to prepare for the Spring Festival, that is, from the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month to the eve of the New Year's Eve. This period is called "Spring Festival", also known as "dust day" or "dust day".
Sticking Spring Festival couplets: Sticking Spring Festival couplets and happy paper has long been a custom in northern Jiangsu. During the Spring Festival, red Spring Festival couplets can be seen everywhere. Sticking Spring Festival couplets is also exquisite, and the contents posted on the doors, doorframes and doors of the same family are different; Sticking happy paper and pasting Spring Festival couplets are almost simultaneous. Happy paper is mostly hollowed out from red paper, and the hollowed-out pattern is more elastic. Wallpaper is pasted on doors, windows, stoves, etc.
New Year's Eve: The 30th or 29th of the twelfth lunar month is called "New Year's Eve", and the whole family will get together to have a "big wine". After dinner, the elders at home usually wrap the money in red paper and give it to their children and grandchildren to express their blessings; Some people give lucky money to the younger generation on the morning of New Year's Day, which is called "pocketing the money", indicating that there is no shortage of money for the New Year. These are collectively called "lucky money", which is intended to suppress evil and drive away evil, and wish good health and all the best in the new year.
Pay homage to God and celebrate the New Year: On the first day of the New Year, people get up early to set off firecrackers. The layman must first get up and burn incense and candles to pray for peace; After getting up in the morning, children must eat some sweets before they can speak. Eat glutinous rice dumplings tea in the morning; When the younger generation at home wants to pay a New Year call to their elders, they congratulate each other when they meet, congratulating each other on "Congratulations on getting rich", "All the best" and "All the wishes come true". Children are the most active in paying New Year greetings. They went door to door in droves. Some families give candy, peanuts and other food to children during the Spring Festival. After several New Year greetings, their pockets are full. Some children are sent home, and families who never pay New Year greetings continue to pay New Year greetings.
"Spring Wine" and "God of Wealth Day": On the second day of New Year's Day, friends and relatives began to walk around. From this day on, some people hold banquets and get together with relatives and friends, which is called "Spring Syria Wine". "Spring Syria wine" still follows the world today; "God of Wealth Festival" is the common name of the fifth day of the first month. On this day, all walks of life began to open. Legend has it that the god of wealth will travel to thousands of households, so he lights candles and offers incense early in the morning to "receive the god of wealth" and achieve good luck.
During the Spring Festival, with the New Year's Day, the new daughter-in-law returns to visit relatives and friends on the second day, and the Lantern Festival on the fifth and fifteenth day, the new year is getting farther and farther away, the spring is getting deeper and deeper, Vientiane is recovering, and the new sowing and harvesting season is coming again. Let's cherish this wonderful time and work hard.