In Chaoshan, the Spring Festival is divided into narrow sense and broad sense. Narrowly speaking, it refers to the first day of the first month, so county records are also called New Year's Day and January Day. Broadly speaking, it refers to the period from the first day of the first month to the fourth day of the first month. The Spring Festival mentioned by hipsters usually refers to the Spring Festival in a broad sense. Because the customs of a place are influenced by its natural geographical conditions and social environment, there are many folk activities in Chaoshan area that are both the same and different from those in the Central Plains.
First, set off firecrackers.
In the early morning of the first day of the first lunar month, every household should worship Chen Nan, Beidou, Tiangong and the gods worshipped at home in front of the door or on the balcony, hoping that the new year will be peaceful and auspicious.
After worshipping God, firecrackers will be set off. Firecrackers are also called firecrackers, firecrackers and firecrackers. Popular Frontier Tour: "In ancient times, firecrackers were all popular with real bamboo, so Tang poetry was also called explosive pole. Later generations rolled paper and called it firecrackers. " The legend originated from "Tingliao". The Book of Songs? There is a saying in Xiaoya that "the court is clear". The ancients used pine branches and bamboo as torches and lit them in the court for lighting. When the bamboo joint burns, it crackles, which is an early "firecracker". Besides, people use it to drive away ghosts and evil spirits, hoping for good luck. The Chronicle of Jingchu in Zonggu of the Southern Dynasties records: "The first day of the first month is a three-day day, and the spring and autumn are all day long. When the cock crows, set off firecrackers in front of the court to get rid of mountain evil. " Hipsters follow this custom, aiming to drive away evil spirits and pray for good health, bumper crops, prosperous livestock and all the best in the new year. After the reform and opening up, with the improvement of material living standards, it is more common for hipsters to set off firecrackers during the Spring Festival. Apart from the traditional concept of "exorcism" left by a few people, it has lost the superstitious color of the past and has only become an emotional expression of people's joy, celebration and good luck. In recent years, due to the progress of social civilization and security considerations, many cities in Chaoshan have banned firecrackers during festivals (however, traditional customs are always so ingrained, and some cities have recently lifted the ban), but firecrackers are still heard in rural areas.
Second, ancestor worship.
The custom of offering sacrifices to ancestors on New Year's Day was formed in the Han Dynasty. After the Song and Ming Dynasties, it became popular all over the country. "On the first day of the first month, festivals are celebrated at home and abroad, and incense and wine are set up to worship the ancestors of the god of heaven and earth," said Chen's "Donglizhi" in the Ming Dynasty. It can be seen that there was a custom of ancestor worship on the first day of the first month in Chaoshan before the Ming Dynasty. Since then, there have been many detailed records in the literature of past dynasties. For example, Qing Jiaqing wrote in Chenghai County Records: "On the first day of the New Year's Day, ancestors are worshipped in the morning, candles are lit to burn incense, and tea and fruit wine are available." Before liberation, there were two kinds of ancestor worship in Chaoshan: family sacrifice and family sacrifice. Family sacrifice is for ancestors. In the ancestral hall, family sacrifice is in this house. Ethnic festivals invite more paper shadow classes and troupes to perform, which is more grand.
The objects of ancestor worship in the Spring Festival are "vegetarian dishes: rotten box lunch, fungus, wax gourd, rotten branches, sweet materials, dried persimmons and other things, as well as various vegetarian dishes made by the New Year's Eve." (On the Customs of Chaozhou Dialect in Shen Min in the Republic of China) Because it is said that Maitreya sat on this day, she was a vegetarian. On the second day of the second year, we will worship our ancestors again. This time, we will use meat dishes, such as fish, pork, geese, chickens and ducks. Therefore, the Qing Gan Long's "Puning County Records" said: "On the first day of the Yuan Dynasty, I fasted to worship my ancestors, and on the second day, I sacrificed meat to worship my ancestors." In the old society, ancestors were also worshipped in the ancestral hall during the New Year. This is a gift from the clan, usually with meat dishes, but in some places five vegetarian dishes are added.
Other "eight festivals at the age of eight" have ancestor worship activities, with similar forms, slightly different sacrifices, and some seasonal fruits and vegetables and special cakes have been added. The following sections will not be elaborated one by one.
Third, New Year greetings.
New Year greetings, also known as spring outing and spring exploration. According to legend, there was a monster in ancient times with a unicorn on its head and a mouth like a blood basin. People call it "Year". Every new year's eve, it goes door to door looking for food and eats people. People have to leave the meat outside the door, then close the door and hide at home. It was not until the morning of the first day of the first month that they opened the door to congratulate Nian on not being eaten. So the wind of New Year's greetings has been passed down from generation to generation.
Like ancestor worship, New Year greeting is the most important custom of hipsters. There are three main ways for hipsters to pay New Year greetings, and their customs are different. The first is the New Year greetings between family members. In Chaoshan, after the ancestor worship in the morning, the younger generation first pays New Year greetings to their elders, wishing them a "happy new year" and a "healthy and long life". In the old society, the younger generation had to wear new clothes and bow to their elders. Then the elders send expectations to the younger generation and wish the children a "Happy New Year"? Big "and" learning progress ".
The second is the New Year greetings between relatives and friends. After breakfast, family members pay New Year greetings to relatives and friends together or separately. New Year's greetings between relatives and friends are often held in the morning of the first day and the second day of junior high school, so there is a saying in Chaoshan: "The second day has the meaning of New Year's greetings, and the third day and the fourth day have no intention of New Year's greetings." It is said that the earlier the New Year call, the better and the more sincere it is. When hipsters visit relatives and friends, they always bring betel nuts (now replaced by olives) and Chaozhou oranges as gifts. The quantity is not limited, but it must be even, not odd. Moreover, there is always a red and green Chaozhou orange and betel nut on the tea table of the host family, plus candy to welcome the guests.
Because Chaozhou orange is bigger than orange, it is named big orange, and orange is homophonic with auspicious, which has changed from homophonic to "great luck". The origin of "Daji" is quite interesting. According to legend, a long time ago, one year the Spring Festival was coming. In a village in Chaozhou, all the villagers are very thirsty. A beautiful and clever girl in the village dreamed that a fairy had a dream for her at night: "Eat oranges, help." When the girl woke up, she told her mother with a grain of salt that the mother and daughter had eaten oranges, and she was really well. Since then, Chaozhou orange has become a symbol of good luck. The homonym of betel nut and betel nut contains the meaning of the guests, so the homonym of "Betel nut orange" becomes "Good luck to the guests". Hipsters have a long history of entertaining guests with betel nuts in New Year's greetings, which is recorded in local governments and county records. Ming Wanli's "Puning County Records" said: "On New Year's Day ... we also prepare betel nut leaves for tea sets." Qing Qianlong's Chaozhou County Records said: "Without betel nut, it is simple and slow." After the late Qing Dynasty, the customs of Chaoshan eat areca gradually declined. This is because the dietary customs change with the development of the times, the process in eat areca is complicated, and Chaoshan is not the origin of betel nut. Later, because Chaoshan is rich in olives, the shape and taste are very similar to betel nut, so hipsters use olives instead of betel nut. Because the change of customs is lagging behind, hipsters also call olives betel nuts.
When guests exchange auspicious words such as "Happy New Year" and "Congratulations on making a fortune" when they enter the door, the host will treat the guests to olives, candy and congou (Jiexi Hakka also makes a toast: "Smash tea and rice?" Custom). Before the guests leave for the Spring Festival, they will also exchange oranges and give their children a "good market" (red envelopes) with good wishes of "exchanging good luck and greeting each other". For some close relatives and friends, the host will politely prevent them from having lunch together, so Qing Jiaqing's Chenghai County Records said: "Set up separate dining tables and invite them to drink. As the saying goes,' every family has wine in the first month' ".
The third is the New Year greetings between colleagues. This is mostly a polite behavior. After meeting, we exchanged greetings with auspicious words such as "getting rich" and "getting promoted". In the past, there were famous cards in the scholar-officials' homes to celebrate the New Year. For example, "Records of Haiyang County in Guangxu of Qing Dynasty" said, "Giving a name card is called" New Year's greetings ",which is also called" respecting truth ". The third kind of New Year greetings does not contain as much warm atmosphere of family and friendship as the first two.
In recent years, due to the progress of society and the development of science and technology, people use New Year greeting cards, New Year phone calls, New Year mobile phone messages and New Year's "Yi Meier" to pay New Year greetings. However, many work units hold "collective worship" in the first day of junior high school. It is a good thing that people get together to congratulate each other, which not only saves time, but also takes care of many things.
Fourth, send spring?
Spring? ("?" Yuan Shisheng, a folk product of Chaoshan, is a kind of bamboo gift basket with three or four floors covered, which is usually used in pairs. On the first day of the new year, the bride's family will give gifts to the married daughter's family. Gifts include more than a dozen oranges, sugar cane and bananas, packed in a pair of Da Chun? In the garden, the married woman's brother picked it off and sent it, commonly known as "seeing off the spring?" . When my uncle comes, my in-laws will kill three birds and treat them warmly, so there is a folk saying, "Uncle, come to hunt chickens?" . After the daughter's family received the gift brought by her brother-in-law, her mother-in-law carried a basket of flowers and a red plate and distributed the gift to her neighbors, commonly known as "eating food". Because every village has a daughter-in-law, it is very lively to give gifts to each other. This unique folk activity in Chaoshan embodies chaozhou people's excellent qualities of attaching importance to neighborhood friendship, living in harmony and unity.
Five, lion dance and swimming gongs and drums
During the Spring Festival, the entertainment activities in Chaoshan are very active, including dragon dancing, centipede dancing and guessing games. Among them, lion dancing and playing gongs and drums are more popular and eye-catching.
Lion dancing is very popular during the Spring Festival. There are two kinds of lion dances in Chaoshan: one is "Wen Lion" and the other is "Wu Lion". "Wen Lion" consists of two people, wearing masks, dressed as smiling "Land Lord" and "Land Woman", holding a sunflower fan, leading the big lion to dance while walking, and the lion kept shaking his mane and rolling. Every time someone sets off firecrackers in front of the door, the lion dance team will stop marching and pay a New Year call to its host. "Wu's" pays New Year greetings to prestigious local families and large enterprises. When the Lions arrived, the host lit firecrackers. At this time, gongs and drums rang, and the lions performed actions such as rolling, turning and falling. The most wonderful thing is that the owner gave the lion a red envelope. At the climax of the dance, the host hung a red envelope from the entrance on the second and third floors. With the help of the owner, the lion dance team folded under the red envelope with big stools and small stools. In the sound of gongs and drums, the lion climbed up the table calmly and calmly, climbed to the top floor, then jumped up and opened his mouth to take off the red envelope. The onlookers finally burst into applause and cheers. The lion nodded and bowed to bless people.
The performance of the lion dance in the square is that the lion dancer raises the lion's head, shakes his head, turns around quickly, and jumps while walking, just like a tiger going down the mountain. Dance to the center of the field, immediately sit on the ground, sometimes scratch your abdomen and back with your feet, sometimes turn your head and bite your tail, which is called "scratching lice" and suddenly roll over and lie down, which is called "turning over"; Then I fell asleep. This shows that the lion is sitting and resting, and its movements are lifelike. At this time, a masked man teased the lion at will, which added a lot of interest to people. The lion dance performance is followed by a martial arts performance. Boxing can be divided into Jia Zhu Foot, Li Family Foot and South Hand, but their performances are basically the same. Finally, dance the lion again, and get the "red envelope" rewarded by others after the performance.
During the Spring Festival, there is also a Chaozhou Gong and Drum Team, which plays Chaozhou music, walks the streets and parades, and Chaozhou is commonly known as "You Gong and Drum". Chaozhou Dagong Drum is a large-scale ensemble form with percussion as the main music, drum as the center and suona as the leading factor. The drummer is both the chief performer and the conductor of the band. Drummers beat the drum core, drum edge and drum edge, and perform band performance by beating, silencing, beating, beating and rhythm change, adding flowers to the hammer, etc.
Entertainment teams of Chaozhou gongs and drums often use flags to clear the way. The flag they carry on their shoulders is called "Biao". Bamboo with tail is used as a flagpole, and the mascot is hung on the head of the flagpole. Most of them are young women. The girl carrying the banner is full of decoration and graceful. Then the well-dressed golden couple carried firecrackers and sweet bears, which brought good luck to people. There are also dolls dressed as adults, performing some traditional Chaozhou opera clips. After the huge pioneer, there is a continuous sound of gongs and drums. The performance form of Chaozhou gongs and drums is very flexible, which is called "long line set" when marching, and the tracks are mainly marching songs. If you play in a fixed venue, it is called a "brand set". Large-scale performances, bands often have thousands of people, magnificent.
Famous families and businessmen set off firecrackers to welcome the arrival of the gongs and drums team. At this time, the gongs and drums will stop and offer their skills to celebrate the New Year. After the performance, the host will get a red envelope reward.
Although this kind of lion dance, beating gongs and drums vaguely contains the legacy of exorcism dance, and the purpose is to win money, it does bring vitality, joy and celebration to the Spring Festival and add a lively atmosphere to the festival.
Six, family gambling
Gambling originated from opera. Historical records? Yin Benji says: "Xin Yi is a puppet, called God, and he is rich. "It can be seen that there was a Bo Opera as early as the Shang Dynasty. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, money was used as a bet.
During the Spring Festival, hipsters have worked hard for a year, and it is rare to have such a leisurely and happy time, so they gather in alleys, ancestral temples and other places to gamble in order to predict their luck this year. But this is only a small number of people, and more people gamble at home. This kind of family gambling is often done by parents betting with others. Even in a strict family, children can relax with their elders at this time. It doesn't have the tension and worry of real gambling, but it is relaxed and happy. Anyway, all the money won and lost belongs to our own family, commonly known as "the rich and the poor don't flow out of the field."
In recent years, due to the new civilized fashion advocated by the government, this gambling habit in the Spring Festival has become increasingly cold.
Seven, mixing drum
The jar is a common name of the hipster for the pottery jar containing swill (rice washing water) for feeding pigs. During the Spring Festival, in Chaoshan rural areas, housewives have to put their hands or bamboo poles into the swill, while stirring the swill, saying that "the swill has floated, and this year's pigs are bigger than cattle" or "the swill is round, and it costs more to feed the pigs." I look forward to feeding pigs smoothly in the new year, growing fast and earning more money.
Eight, well opening
Before liberation, except the tap water supply after the completion of 19 14 Shantou Waterworks, other urban and rural residents had to draw their drinking water from wells, ditches and rivers. Where there is a township, there must be a well, both for external use and for internal use.
Chaozhou people worship Jing very much, and there are myths and legends about Gong Jing and Jingxing among the people. The wellhead should be sealed on New Year's Eve, and the well can only be opened after the Spring Festival to worship Jingfu and Grandma. Usually, the public wells in the village are forbidden to be used in the first two days of the first year, and they are not used until the third day. Some places can be used from the second day of junior high school. When opening a well, the old woman in the village should take the lead and worship at the foot of the well with gifts such as oranges, green tea, brown sugar and vegetarian fruit. After that, the priest's old woman will open the manhole cover and pour half a brown sugar and three cups of green tea into the well. Finally, take out 12 barrels of water from the well and pour it on the ground. Every time you pour a bucket of water, you should read four auspicious poems casually. This ritual activity is "drilling wells". When digging a well, the mother-in-law at home should also worship. This ceremony is similar to the ceremony of public wells.
Now the villages in Chaoshan basically drink tap water, and the activities of offering sacrifices to wells have gradually disappeared.
Nine, back to her mother's house
On the first day and the second day of the first month (especially the second day is more popular), the married daughter should take her husband and children back to her parents' home to pay New Year greetings. This is the filial piety of a married daughter to her adoptive parents. There is a saying among the people: "Filial piety' Zouzai' (daughter) falls into the sky on the first and second days of the first month (April of the lunar calendar), and there is no sticker on the Lantern Festival." This is a fact. When the daughter goes back to her mother's house, she should prepare a big bag of biscuits and candy, which will be distributed to the nearby villagers by her mother to express her miss for the villagers. When you have a nephew at home, you should also give him a red envelope. After lunch, my daughter will chat with her parents for a while and go back to her husband's house before dinner. Therefore, it is commonly known as "eating midnight snack".
X. "Send the poor"
In the past, hipsters called the third day of the first month "Poor People's Day" (Raoping County Records in Guangxu of Qing Dynasty recorded Raoping as the Poor People's Day on the fifth day of the first month). On that day, people cleaned up the filth and sundries in the house and sent them to the ground for burning. At the same time, he lit incense offerings, kowtowed and even said, "The poor ghost will go, and the lucky star will come." This activity is commonly known as "sending the poor". On that day, people are most taboo to visit relatives and friends.
There is a legend about this custom. When Zhuan Xu was emperor, a son was born in the palace, who could wear rags. When someone gives him new clothes, he shreds them and burns them before wearing them. Everyone in the palace called him "poor son". When the "poor son" died on the full moon night, people said, "Send the poor son today." The saying of "sending the poor" has been passed down. Later, sending the poor changed from cloudy day to the fifth day, and most parts of Guangdong regarded the third day of the first month as the Poor People's Day.
With the development of society, the activities of hipsters sending the poor have disappeared. With their wisdom, hard work and courage, Chaoshan people have truly sent the poor to welcome the rich. The poor also go out to visit relatives and friends and congratulate each other, instead of going out every day as the ancients said.
Xi。 Welcome God to accept the blessing.
On the fourth day of the first month, "the gods descended to earth", and every household should worship at home to welcome the gods to the world. Sacrifice with a heart is a good sign of "opening the door"; A plate of brown sugar symbolizes the sweetness of life; A plate of rice represents a bumper harvest, as well as oranges, black beans, wicks, paper horses and so on. In addition to worshipping at home, we will also go to temples in the countryside to burn incense and pray for blessings. Some people write their family members' birthdays and ages on red stickers, tie them to sedan chairs, and make a wish to God, thanking God for "putting in a good word and landing safely".
Twelve, holiday taboos
The first day of the first month is the holy day, and there are many taboos about fashion. Everyone should talk about auspiciousness. On this day, adults should avoid beating and scolding their children, lest they cry endlessly. Otherwise, crying means "no first prize", which is a sign of illness and disaster in the new year. If children accidentally break dishes, bowls and other utensils, adults should immediately say something auspicious, such as "come with your mouth, be rich and glorious" or "don't go too far, be lucky and benefit the city" to make up for their mistakes. If lanterns and cloth are burned, adults should say auspicious words like "prosperous wealth" or "prosperous wealth". On this day, creditors are forbidden to come to collect debts. If this happens, the host will say, "If you have money, don't say more." As soon as the creditor heard that the master was going to pay back, he got up and left.
On this day, you can't sweep the floor, you have to hide the broom, and you have to pile firecrackers all over the floor, which means "snow is auspicious and harvest is good"; When you need to sweep the floor, just use the chicken feather fan of the stove to sweep in from the outside, which means to prevent the outflow of family wealth. I don't wash clothes this day, for fear of losing money. Don't get a haircut either, because people always associate haircuts with funerals on this day. Also avoid killing, thinking that killing is not rich, and it was unlucky to raise livestock in those days.
In terms of diet, don't eat with long and short chopsticks on this day, otherwise you won't be able to catch the boat during the transition period; Don't eat porridge or drink rice soup, or it will rain when you go out; Don't take medicine, or you will be considered sick all the year round. Keep taking medicine. If the patient has to eat, the family must say auspicious words such as "breaking the money and eliminating disasters" to comfort the patient and let the patient recover as soon as possible.
With the development of society and the progress of civilization, some taboos are gradually being eliminated. For example, today's young people don't think that the accumulation of firecrackers paper on the ground is a superstition of accumulating gold and jade, but think that someone will visit during the Spring Festival, which is harmful to health, so they pick up a broom and clean it, breaking the traditional custom.