The first day of the first lunar month is the New Year in China. Among the traditional festivals in China, this is the most important and lively one. Because the Lunar New Year is celebrated in late winter and early spring, people also call this festival "Spring Festival".
China people have many traditional customs to celebrate the Spring Festival. People have been preparing for the Spring Festival since the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month. During this period, every household should clean up, buy new year's goods, stick grilles, hang New Year pictures, write Spring Festival couplets, steam rice cakes, prepare all kinds of food, and prepare to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new.
The eve of the Spring Festival is called "New Year's Eve". New Year's Eve is a time for family reunion. The family sat around, ate a big dinner, and talked and laughed until dawn. It's called shou sui. When the bell rings at 0: 00 on New Year's Eve, people will eat jiaozi. In ancient times, it was called "Zishi", and the Zishi on New Year's Eve was the time when the old and new years alternated. People eat jiaozi at this time, which means "making friends when they are young". This is also the origin of the name "jiaozi".
New Year's Eve is the first day of New Year's Day. From the first day of junior high school, people will visit relatives and friends and pay New Year greetings to each other. Paying New Year greetings is an important custom in the Spring Festival. During the New Year, everyone should say some auspicious words to wish happiness and health.
Spring Festival custom-setting off firecrackers
At midnight, the New Year bell rang and firecrackers shook the whole sky of China. In this "three yuan" moment of "year yuan, month yuan, time yuan", some places still set up "Wang Huo" in the courtyard to show that the spirit is soaring and prosperous. Around the blazing fire, the children set off firecrackers and danced happily. At this time, the bright lights in the house, the sparks in front of the court and the deafening noise outside the house pushed the lively atmosphere of New Year's Eve to a climax.
Firecrackers are a sign of saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new, and also an expression of festive atmosphere. Business people. Setting 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. Legend has it that if you want to get rich, firecrackers will ring at the end. In the past, since the opening of the financial door at midnight during the Spring Festival, people have sent the God of Wealth. The God of Wealth shouted outside the door with a piece of paper in his hand: "The God of Wealth is coming!" " At this time, in order to meet the God of Wealth, the owner of the house gave a reward to the bearer and sent it to the mouth of the God of Wealth. Of course, it is inevitable to say something auspicious. For example, "the treasure is rolling"! On the left is a pair of golden lions, and on the right is a pair of golden phoenix! And so on. There is also a man dressed as a god of wealth, wearing a red robe, a gauze hat, a fake beard on his mouth and a yellow cloth bag to collect money, followed by several drummers, who distributed the god of wealth from door to door in order to ask for a reward. Every time people go to the door, they sing, "The left compartment is full of gold and silver, and the right compartment is full of treasure." A lot of good luck words went on until the owner happily took over the red paper statue of the god of wealth and gave them some money. After thanking them, they knocked on the door for a while and went to another house with the sound of gongs and drums.
After setting off firecrackers and returning home, the first thing everyone does is to worship heaven and earth, god and ancestors. In ancient times, this custom was very popular. Due to different local customs and habits, the forms of ancestor worship are also different. Some go to the wild to sweep graves, and some go to the ancestral temple to worship their ancestors. Most of them put their ancestral tablets in the main hall in turn at home to show their worship, and then worshippers worship them in order of age. After paying homage to their ancestors, southerners look up this year's auspicious direction in the almanac, lighting lanterns and torches, holding pots and holding wine, burning incense and setting off firecrackers, and opening doors to meet the western gods, which is called "going out to the Arabian Nights" or "going out", which is called "going out to seek happiness" in Zhejiang and "going out to seek happiness" in Shanghai. This custom is to get good luck and pray to God for a smooth year. On New Year's Eve, you stay up all night. That night, housewives were busy hanging lanterns, making colorful decorations, putting up Spring Festival couplets, cutting window grilles and putting up New Year pictures, decorating their homes in red, green and green, adding a rich atmosphere to the festival. Perhaps what children expect most is lucky money. Lucky money is given to the younger generation by the elders. In some families, everyone is not allowed to leave the table after the New Year's Eve. After everyone has finished eating, the elders give it to the younger generation to encourage their children and grandchildren to learn and improve in the new year. In some families, parents put their children under pillows after they fall asleep at night, and in more families, children gather in the main hall, shouting Happy New Year to grandparents and parents, and queuing up to bow down; Then reach for the red envelope. They even took back their grandparents' bedrooms and ran to the bed together, shouting "lucky money, lucky money!" " "The old man is not busy enough, so he is stingy. From bargaining to siege, he finally dug up the red envelope of his ancestors. Everyone took them and roared away. The old man was overjoyed to see this scene and thought it was a good sign for all the best in the new year.
People's traditional ideas always like to get more good luck during the Spring Festival, and hope everything goes well. There are many old customs among them. If there is a custom of prohibiting the use of brooms everywhere, it is considered that using brooms in the New Year will sweep away luck and wealth, and it is difficult to make good luck in the new year. If you must sweep the floor, you must sweep it from the outside to the inside. In order to make this custom popular, the first day of the first month is also designated as "broom birthday". Don't scold children during the Chinese New Year, and you must pay special attention to what you say. If a child accidentally breaks his rice bowl, people will never scold him, but say that he is "safe all the year round", because the homonym of "broken" and "old" has washed away an ominous atmosphere. Chinese New Year is coming, and adults are most afraid of children saying something unlucky. In some places, in addition to looking horizontally and vertically, you will wipe your mouth with a piece of red cloth or toilet paper, which means that even if you say something unlucky, it is equivalent to farting. Others put oranges and lychees on pillows and call them "year-old fruits". Oranges and lychees are homophonic, representing good luck in the coming year. In some areas, there is also the custom of stealing the statue of the god of wealth, and hiding it in the crotch after stealing, in order to take the meaning of the idiom "the god of wealth is put in the warehouse (pants)" Among these whimsical tastes and customs, there are many people who have worked hard in the past dynasties to flatter the god of fate.
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 Custom Made stick grilles
During the Spring Festival, people in many areas like to stick various paper-cut window grilles on their windows. Window grilles can not only set off the festive atmosphere, but also bring people beautiful enjoyment, integrating decoration, appreciation and practicality.
Paper-cutting is a very popular folk art, which has been deeply loved by people for thousands of years. Because it is often pasted on windows, people generally call it "window grilles".
Paper-cutting is a very popular folk art, which has been deeply loved by people for thousands of years. Because it is often pasted on windows, people generally call it "window grilles". With its unique generalization and exaggeration, window grilles show auspicious things and good wishes incisively and vividly, and decorate festivals with prosperity and celebration.
Spring Festival custom-paste the word "Fu"
During the Spring Festival, every household should put the word "Fu" on doors, walls and lintels. Sticking the word "Fu" during the Spring Festival is a long-standing folk custom in China. According to Liang Lu's Dream, "When I was young, I would visit department stores, draw door gods and spend the Spring Festival ..."; "Scholars, big or small, must sweep the floor, clean the family, change the door gods, hang Zhong Xu, nail peaches, stick spring cards and worship their ancestors." The "Tiechun Brand" in this article is the word "Fu" written on red paper.
The word "fu" is now interpreted as "happiness", but in the past it meant "good luck" and "good luck". No matter now or in the past, the word "Fu" posted in the Spring Festival has pinned people's yearning for a happy life and wishes for a better future. In order to fully reflect this yearning and wish, the people simply put the word "Fu" upside down, indicating that "Fu has fallen" and "Fu has arrived". There is also a legend that the word "fu" is posted upside down among the people. Ming Taizu used the word "Fu" as a code word to prepare for murder. In order to eliminate this disaster, kind Ma Huanghou asked all the families in the city to put "Fu" on their doors before dawn. Naturally, no one dares to go against Ma Huanghou's will, so the word "Fu" is posted on every door. If one family can't read, turn the word "fu" upside down. The next day, the emperor sent people to the streets to check and found that every family had posted the word "Fu", and another family had posted the word "Fu" upside down. When the emperor heard the news, he was furious and immediately ordered the body guard to cut down the house. Seeing that something was wrong, Ma Huanghou quickly said to Zhu Yuanzhang, "My family knew that you were visiting today and deliberately put the word' Fu' upside down. Isn't this the meaning of "blessed road"? " When the emperor heard the truth, he ordered his release, and a great disaster was finally eliminated. Since then, people have turned the word "Fu" upside down for good luck and in memory of Ma Huanghou.
Others elaborate the word "Fu" into various patterns, such as longevity, longevity peach, carp yue longmen, abundant grains, dragons and phoenixes, and so on. In the past, there was a folk saying that "on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, every family wrote big characters". The word "fu" used to be handwritten, but now it is sold in markets and shops.
The custom of the spring festival-observing the year.
In our country, people have the habit of keeping watch on New Year's Eve. Watching the new year begins with eating New Year's Eve dinner. This New Year's Eve dinner should be eaten slowly, starting with lighting lanterns, and some families have to eat it until late at night. According to Zonggu's records of Jingchu's age, there was a custom of New Year's Eve dinner at least in the Northern and Southern Dynasties.
Keep your age at 30, commonly known as "endure the year." Why is it called "Endure the Year"? There is an interesting story from generation to generation among the people: It is said that there was a fierce monster in the ancient wild times, and people called it "Nian". Every New Year's Eve, Nian beast will climb out of the sea to kill people and animals, destroy the countryside and bring disaster to people who have worked hard for a year. In order to avoid the Nian beast, people close the door early on the 30th night of the twelfth lunar month, dare not sleep, wait until dawn, and drink to kill time and courage. On the first morning of the new year, you dare not go out until the Nian beast comes out. When people saw it, they bowed to each other, congratulated each other, and were glad that they had not been eaten by Nian beast. After many years, nothing happened, and people relaxed their vigilance against Nian beast. On the evening of 30th one year, Nian beast suddenly fled to a village in the south of the Yangtze River. A village was almost eaten up by Nian beast, and only a pair of newly-married couples in red curtains were safe and sound. There are also a few childish people who lit a pile of bamboo in the yard and were playing. The fire is red. Bamboo exploded after burning. Nian beast turned here and saw the fire turn and flee. From then on, people know that Nian beast is afraid of red, light and noise. At the end of each year, every household sticks red paper, wears red robes, hangs red lights, beats gongs and drums, and sets off firecrackers, so that Nian Beasts dare not come again. After the ancients burned bamboo poles, the air in the bamboo seams expanded, and the bamboo cavity burst, making a crackling sound. This is the origin of "firecrackers". However, villagers in some places don't know that Nian beast is afraid of red and is often eaten by Nian beast. This story later spread to Zixing in the sky. In order to save people, he is determined to destroy Nian beast. One year the beast came out, knocked it down with a fireball and chained it to a stone pillar with a thick chain. From then on, every New Year, people always burn incense and ask Zixing to come down to keep safe.
On this night of "two years old in one night, two years old in class five", families get together and get together. The family sat together and the table was full of tea and fruit. In the new year, a large plate of apples is indispensable, which is called "Ping An". In the north, some families will provide a pot of rice, which was cooked years ago and provided for China New Year. It's called "annual meal", which means that there are leftovers every year, which can't be eaten all year round, and this year we still eat the grain of the previous year. This bowl of New Year's Eve dinner is usually cooked with rice and millet. As the saying goes in Beijing, it is called "two rice" because it is yellow and white. This is called "golden rice with gold and silver, gold and silver everywhere". In many places, cakes, melons and fruits are prepared to win a lucky one: eating dates (spring comes early), persimmons (all the best), almonds (gratifying), longevity fruit (immortal) and rice cakes (getting higher every year). On New Year's Eve, the family ate happily, talking and laughing. Some vulgar families push pai gow, roll dice, bet on stud and play mahjong, and the noise of laughter and laughter has become the climax of New Year's Eve.
Spring Festival custom-New Year greetings
New Year greeting is a traditional folk custom in China, and it is a way for people to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, and express their best wishes to each other. In ancient times, the original meaning of the word "Happy New Year" was to pay New Year greetings to the elderly, including kowtowing to the elderly, congratulating them on a happy New Year and greeting their lives. In case of friends and relatives of the same generation, you should also salute and congratulate.
New Year greetings usually begin at home. On the morning of the first day, after getting up, the younger generation should first pay a New Year call to their elders, wishing them a long and healthy life and all the best. After the elders worship, they should distribute the "lucky money" prepared in advance to the younger generation. After greeting the elders at home, you should also greet people with a smile when you go out to meet them, and exchange auspicious words such as "Congratulations on getting rich", "Best wishes in the four seasons" and "Happy New Year". Neighbors, relatives and friends also visit each other or invite them to drink and entertain.
In ancient times, if there were too many relatives and friends in the neighborhood, it was difficult to visit the whole house, so servants were sent to bring business cards to pay New Year greetings, which was called "flying cards". A red paper bag with the words "Fu Jie" written on it is placed in front of every house to hold the flight cards. So far, the gift of New Year cards and greeting cards during the Spring Festival is the legacy of this ancient exchange of flying cards.
With the development of the times, the custom of New Year greetings is constantly adding new contents and forms. Nowadays, in addition to following the previous way of greeting the New Year, etiquette telegrams and telephone greetings have mushroomed.
Lantern Festival, a traditional festival in China.
The 15th day of the first lunar month is the traditional Lantern Festival in China. Because the first month is also called January, the night of the fifteenth day of the first month is the first full moon night in a year, and "night" means "night", so the festival on the fifteenth night of the first month is called Lantern Festival.
On the Lantern Festival, people in China have the custom of enjoying lanterns and eating Yuanxiao. As the saying goes, "Lantern Festival is also called Lantern Festival".
The custom of enjoying lanterns on the Lantern Festival has a history of more than 2,000 years. Lantern Festival is full of lanterns and colorful decorations, which is very lively. When night falls, people flock to see lanterns. Multicolored palace lantern, wall lamp, figure lamp, lantern, animal lamp, toy lamp, etc. , gathered into a sea of lanterns. Some lanterns also have riddles written on them, which make the lantern watchers scramble to guess.
Eating Yuanxiao is a traditional custom of China people. As early as 1000 years ago in the Song Dynasty, there was this kind of food. Yuanxiao is a small ball made of glutinous rice flour, and the stuffing is made of sugar and various nuts. When cooked, it tastes sweet and delicious. Because this kind of food was eaten on the Lantern Festival, people later called it Yuanxiao. China people want everything to be perfect. Eating Yuanxiao on the first full moon night at the beginning of the year means their family reunion, harmony, happiness and fulfillment.
Traditional Festival in China-Tomb-Sweeping Day
Tomb-Sweeping Day is one of the 24 solar terms in China and an ancient traditional festival in China. Tomb-Sweeping Day is in the third month of the lunar calendar (around April 5 of the Gregorian calendar), which is a season of bright spring and fresh air. Therefore, this festival is called "Tomb-Sweeping Day".
In Tomb-Sweeping Day, people have the custom of sweeping graves to worship ancestors and stepping on grass to insert willows.
China people have the traditional virtue of respecting the elderly. They cherish and respect their dead ancestors. Therefore, when I was in Tomb-Sweeping Day, every family went to the suburbs to worship their ancestors and sweep their graves every day. People remove weeds from graves, add new soil, light incense in front of graves, and place food and paper money to express their thoughts and respect for their ancestors. This is called going to the grave, also called sweeping the grave.
During my stay in Tomb-Sweeping Day, the grass in Shan Ye has sprouted, and the willows along the river have grown leaves, and new green is everywhere. This is a good time to play outdoors. The ancients had the custom of walking in the suburbs, which was called "outing"; Also known as "inserting willow", the roots of willow branches are broken and worn on the head. It is said that willow branches can drive away ghosts and disasters, so people wear willow branches one after another to pray for peace and happiness.
Now, the way of funeral has changed a lot. After cremation and burial were abolished, there were fewer and fewer graves in the fields. However, it is a traditional custom of China people to worship their ancestors in Tomb-Sweeping Day. On this day, people will still remember their ancestors in various ways. They will also go to the suburbs to breathe fresh air and watch the blue sky, green trees, grasslands and flowers.
Traditional Festival in China-Dragon Boat Festival
The fifth day of the fifth lunar month is the traditional Dragon Boat Festival in China, also known as the "May Festival". On the Dragon Boat Festival, people eat zongzi and race dragon boats. It is said that these activities are to commemorate Qu Yuan, a great patriotic poet in ancient China.
Qu Yuan was a native of Chu during the Warring States Period. Among the seven countries of Qi, Chu, Yan, Han, Zhao, Wei and Qin in the Warring States period, Qin was the strongest, and it always wanted to annex the other six countries and dominate the world. Qu Yuan is a doctor of Chu State, and he is very talented. He advocated reforming Chu politics, uniting with other countries and resisting Qin. However, Qu Yuan's idea was opposed by the bad guys. After listening to these bad guys, the king of Chu not only refused to adopt Qu Yuan's ideas, but also drove him out of the capital of Chu. After Qu Yuan left the capital, he was still concerned about the fate of the motherland. Later, when he heard the news that Chu was defeated by Qin, he was very sad. He felt that he had no power to save the motherland, so he jumped into the Miluo River and committed suicide. This day is the fifth day of the fifth lunar month in 278 BC.
After hearing the news that Qu Yuan jumped into the river, people rowed to salvage his body, but they never found it. In order to prevent fish and shrimp from eating Qu Yuan's body, people put food into the river to feed the fish. From now on, people will do this on the fifth day of May every year. Over time, people changed to reed leaves to wrap glutinous rice into zongzi and still enter the river. So ... Formed the custom of eating zongzi and racing dragon boats on the Dragon Boat Festival.
China Traditional Festival-Mid-Autumn Festival
August 15th of the lunar calendar is the traditional Mid-Autumn Festival in China.
According to China's calendar, the seventh month of the lunar calendar is autumn. August is a month in the middle of autumn, and August 15th is a day in the middle of August, so this festival is called Mid-Autumn Festival. On the Mid-Autumn Festival, people in China have the custom of enjoying the moon and eating moon cakes.
In autumn, the weather is clear and cool, there are few clouds in the sky, and the moon in the night sky is particularly bright. The night of August 15 is a full moon night, which has become the best time for people to enjoy the moon. People regard the full moon as a symbol of reunion and happiness, so the Mid-Autumn Festival is also called "Reunion Festival".
According to the traditional custom, when people in China enjoy the moon, they should also put fruits and moon cakes and eat them while enjoying the moon. Because moon cakes are round and symbolize reunion, they are also called "reunion cakes" in some places. There are many kinds of moon cakes in China, and the methods of making them vary from place to place. There are sweet, salty, fleshy and well-prepared fillings, and there are various patterns and characters on the moon cakes. They are really beautiful and delicious.
Traditional Festival in China ―― Double Ninth Festival
The ninth day of the ninth lunar month is the Double Ninth Festival. This is a very old festival with a history of 1700 years.
In China's figures, one, three, five, seven and nine are positive numbers, and two, four, six and eight are negative numbers. Therefore, the ninth day of September is called Chongyang or Chongyang. In ancient China, the Double Ninth Festival was an important festival, and people held various activities on this day, such as climbing mountains, enjoying chrysanthemums, inserting dogwoods and eating double ninth cake.
Mountain climbing is the main custom of the Double Ninth Festival. The ancients believed that climbing on the Double Ninth Festival could avoid disaster. Later, climbing on the Double Ninth Festival gradually evolved into a sports tourism activity for people to relax and keep fit.
Inserting dogwood and enjoying chrysanthemums are also traditional customs of the Double Ninth Festival. Cornus officinalis is a kind of plant, its fruit is edible, and its stems and leaves are medicinal materials. Chrysanthemums are in full bloom in September and have the reputation of "longevity flowers". In order to avoid the plague and exorcise evil spirits, people put dogwood and chrysanthemum on their bodies, watch chrysanthemums, drink chrysanthemum tea and chrysanthemum wine on the Double Ninth Festival.
Chongyang cake is a kind of food made of flour. You can add jujube, ginkgo, pine nuts and almonds to make it sweet, or you can add meat to make it salty. If it is exquisite, it should be made into nine floors, and then two lambs should be made on it to reconcile the sound of "Chongyang (Sheep)".
Now, after the Double Ninth Festival, we can't see the custom of inserting dogwood, but many people still climb mountains to enjoy chrysanthemums and enjoy the beautiful scenery in autumn. In recent years, this ancient festival has added new content and become an annual "respect for the elderly". Whenever festivals come, people will hold various activities to respect the elderly and wish them health and longevity.