What are the customs in China during the Spring Festival?

In China, the beginning of the Lunar New Year is called the Spring Festival. The people of China have celebrated the Spring Festival for more than 4,000 years, which was initiated by Yu Shun. Shun is the emperor, leads his men and worships heaven and earth. Since then, people have regarded this day as the beginning of a year, that is, the first day of the first month. This is the origin of the Lunar New Year, which was later called the Spring Festival. The Spring Festival used to be called New Year's Day. The month in which the Spring Festival is held is called January. However, the New Year's Day dates in China are not consistent: for example, the first month of Xia Dynasty is January, the twelfth month of Shang Dynasty is December, and in October after the reunification of Qin Dynasty, the Qin calendar was adopted in the early Han Dynasty. Liu Che, Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty, thought that the calendar was too chaotic, so he ordered his ministers Gong Sunqing and Sima Qian to draw up a "solar calendar", which stipulated that the first month of the lunar calendar was the first year, and the first day of the first month was the first day of the year, which was New Year's Day. Since then, China has been using the lunar calendar until the end of Qing Dynasty, which lasted for 2080 years.

After the Revolution of 1911, 19 1 1 adopted the Gregorian calendar to calculate the year, so it was called "New Year's Day" on the Gregorian calendar 1 and "Spring Festival" on the first day of the first lunar month.

1949 On September 27th, the first plenary session of China People's Political Consultative Conference decided to adopt the international calendar year when People's Republic of China (PRC) was founded. In order to distinguish between the solar calendar and the lunar calendar, the first day of the solar calendar is called "New Year's Day" and the first day of the first lunar month is officially renamed as "Spring Festival" because the "beginning of spring" in the 24 solar terms is just around the lunar year.

The earth goes around the sun once, which is called a year in the calendar, and it goes on and on, never ending. However, according to the different seasons, people take the first day of the first month of the summer calendar as the beginning of the year. Every year, after midnight (12 o'clock) on February 30th (February 29th of the lunar calendar), the Spring Festival officially arrives.

New Year's Day is also a day to pray for the new year. Sacrificing to heaven and praying for blessings has also become one of the main contents of the annual customs. Besides, the Kitchen God, Door God, God of Wealth, XiShen, Well God and other gods. Everyone enjoys human incense during the festival.

New Year's Eve is a night of reunion, and it is difficult for China people to have a happy knot. Even if people are in the end of the world, they should go home for New Year's Eve dinner and New Year's Eve dinner.

Although the Lunar New Year is on the first day of the first lunar month, people have been busy preparing for the China New Year since the Lunar New Year. It is people's common wish to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new with grand ceremony and enthusiasm!

In folk beliefs, the first day to the fourth day is the carnival day of the New Year, and it is not until the fifth day that normal life is resumed. The fifth day is also called "breaking the fifth day". The custom activity on this day is to "send the poor", but for businesses, businesses open their doors on the fifth day. The first month's activities did not gradually calm down until 15. ...

China is a multi-ethnic country, and each ethnic group has different ways to celebrate the New Year. The customs and habits of the Han nationality, Manchu nationality and Korean nationality for the Spring Festival are similar. The family is reunited. People eat rice cakes, jiaozi and various sumptuous meals, set off firecrackers and wish each other well. Celebrations during the Spring Festival are extremely colorful, including lion dance and dragon dance, as well as walking on stilts and running dry boats. In some areas, people follow the activities of worshipping ancestors and gods in the past and pray for good weather, peace and good harvest in the new year. Ancient Mongols called the Spring Festival "White Festival" and the first month was Bai Yue, which means good luck. Tibetans celebrate the Tibetan calendar year. Hui, Uygur, Kazak, etc. Celebrate Eid al-Adha. The Spring Festival is also a grand festival for Miao, Yi and Yao people.

List of customs in China during the Spring Festival

Zhejiang Province

On the first day of the Lunar New Year in Wucheng County, a long pole sokcho was placed on it, which was lit and burned, and gongs and drums were played, which was called "Qingtian Silkworm". Light a lantern on the pole until March 3. Ningbo will eat bean porridge after ancestor worship on New Year's Day. Before closing at night, have another "closing gun". Shaoxing uses a "tea bowl" for Chinese New Year guests, in which olives and kumquat are put, and tea eggs are put at the same time, which is called "holding gold ingots".

Fujian Province

Before going out on New Year's Day, Xiamen people should worship the jade emperor in the sky, which is called "offering sacrifices to the gods". Sacrifice flowers and fruits to God in the morning, and sacrifice and a bowl of spring rice to God at noon. Spring rice is a spring flower made by inserting red paper on white rice. "Spring" and "surplus" are homophonic in Fujian, and spring rice is a good choice for its "annual surplus". The fourth day in Zhangzhou is called "Jiegu". In addition to burning incense in the temple, a candy and cake box called "recommendation box" should be prepared for the audience to meet the gods in the main hall.

Guangdong Province

In Haifeng area, young people and elders pay New Year greetings, and elders will give them red envelopes or oranges. Chaozhou's Spring Festival diet includes pickled vegetables, rotten jiaozi, fermented steamed stuffed buns, tube frying and five-fruit soup. On the fourth night, every household should light a lamp and prepare a jar of water, which is called "waiting for water". On the first day of the first month in Dongguan, taro is offered with sugar, which is called "wealth is predestined friends".

Jiangsu Province

During the Spring Festival in Jiangning County, a rooster was posted at your door. On New Year's Day, there were more believers in Wuxian than in Tong Yuan Temple. Suzhou custom: On New Year's Day, three firecrackers should be set off to open the door, which is called "promotion to the third level". When you go out in the morning, you should follow the direction specified in the yellow calendar, which is called "Happy God". In order to burn incense in temples such as the City God Temple and the Land Temple, you must go through ten temples, which is the so-called "ten temples to burn incense". From New Year's Day to Lantern Festival, huge coal is burning in the stove, which is called "Happy Group". Legend has it that people in Zhuan 'an eat jiaozi, so they eat jiaozi every day from the early morning of the New Year's Day to the Lantern Festival. Women in Wujin County cut off pine and cypress branches on New Year's Day, wrapped them in red silk and put them on a bun. It is said that they can live longer.

Sichuan Province

People in Chengdu don't eat during the New Year, because "rice" and "sin" are homonyms. In order to avoid taboos, they eat glutinous rice balls or dried noodles to pray for family reunion and longevity. Liu Ge and other places will celebrate the "off-year" on the seventh day of the first month. Besides worshipping God and ancestors, they will also have a family reunion dinner. Chengdu people visit Du Fu Caotang in the western suburbs every day. On the first day of the Lunar New Year in Changshou County, nine candles are lit outside the door, which are called "nine-level candles" to respect heaven and earth.

Shanxi(Province)

All the clans in Fuping County are portraits of their ancestors. On the first day, they called their children and grandchildren to worship. After the sacrifice, they were given a golden banquet called "Sacrifice Sitting". On the second day of the following year, relatives and friends give each other pasta and pork, which is called "Worship Festival". On the first day of New Year's Day in Gaoling County, yellow paper is hung on a bamboo pole at dawn to worship heaven, which is called "welcoming the gods". It is said that charcoal can be hung on the door, and it can kill the plague. Shiquan County takes yellow paper as money and hangs it on the door on New Year's Day, named "Bao Gai Qian". Lintong county regards the fifth day as "send the poor festival". After cutting the paper, every household takes it to the door and throws it away. Everyone must eat enough on that day, which is called "filling the five poor"

Shandong Province

Eating wonton on New Year's Day in Ningyang County is called "filling the warehouse". In Huangxian County and Penglai area, it is wasteful to get up early on New Year's Day. The hostess holds a red candle to light up every corner of the room, which means to drive away the darkness with light, and then paste all kinds of window grilles made of flour on the windowsill. After getting up, the child has to climb the door and play three swings. It is said that they grow very fast. In some areas, cooking jiaozi with sesame stems means that the New Year rises like sesame blossoms, and steamed bread should be put in the pot after meals, which means there are "leftover heads". In the first year, the new wife in Jiaodong will go to her husband's grandparents' house to pay a New Year call, which is called "Zagen". It is said that when you get to your grandparents' house, you can take root, and there will be no divorce and early widowhood. In the old days, there was a custom of "sending the poor on the fifth day". Firecrackers should be set off on that day to show "driving the five poor". Qufu held the "Wenqu Star Club" on the fifth day. On the evening of the fifth day, the students will go to the teacher's house to burn incense and worship Confucius. Then the teacher will write an article, and after writing it, the teacher will burn it, which is called "Wenqu Star Club".

Old Beijing

There are many things in the twelfth lunar month.

Since the twelfth lunar month, there have been literati writing Spring Festival couplets under the eaves of shopping malls in an attempt to earn some money for the New Year. After the sacrifice, the new Spring Festival couplets were gradually posted, and thousands of families took on a new look. Some people use James Zhu, others use red paper, and only the imperial court and imperial clan princes use white paper with red and blue edges as the rules. Those who are not imperial clan shall not use them at will.

In the twelfth lunar month, plum blossoms are tied in a big-bellied and small-mouthed utensil and placed about five feet underground. When the fire warms the ground slightly, the plum blossoms will gradually turn white, put in paper cages and sell in the city. Momo, plum blossom and Spring Festival are also acceptable. Tents are set up and paintings are sold in prosperous areas. Women and children rushed to buy them for fun.

On the first day of the twelfth lunar month, porridge sellers lined up in the market on the street. There are even walnuts, persimmons, dates, chestnuts and dried water chestnuts, which are sold with baskets on their shoulders. Followed by fat pheasant, Guandong fish, wild cats, wild birds, bacon, iron finch, fruit cover, giant Buddha flower, Douguang Qianpian and Louzizhuang Yuanbao. After October of the lunar calendar, we sell Wei paintings, door gods, hanging money, gold and silver foil, yellow money, gold coins, burning paper, glass mirrors and windows. After the 20th, honeydew melons, sugar cakes, glutinous rice cakes and kwantung sugar will be sold. When the stove was delivered on the 23rd, Shenma was provided with copied beans with rotten grass. There are also kiln sellers, porcelain bowls, incense burners and candlesticks in Beijing. Stuffed gourd, children save money; Support the pot tile, and the furnace mouth is used as an aid. After 25th, sesame stalks, pine and cypress branches, atractylodes lancea, etc. are sold for "aging". The price and money in the twelfth lunar month are more expensive than usual, so there is a proverb that "the water and soil in the twelfth lunar month are three points more expensive". At this time, the old man always advised the younger generation to spend money carefully, so there was another proverb, "Twenty-seven or eight, take all the goods and catch them to the end."

On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, we celebrate Wang Houla and cook fruit porridge. Rice and beans were prepared the day before, and figures were carved with hundreds of fruits. Cooking porridge in the middle of the night, the whole family gets together to eat and feed it to relatives and neighbors, which is Laba porridge. Laba porridge is cooked with yellow rice, white rice, glutinous rice, millet, water chestnut, red cowpea and peeled jujube paste. And dyed with red peach kernels, almonds, melon seeds, peanuts, hazelnuts, pine nuts, sugar, red ponds, grapes, etc. Never use lotus seeds, lentils, coix seed and glutinous rice, which will hurt you. Peel the fruit once every seven days, wash the utensils once, and operate all night until the porridge is cooked at dawn. Afternoon is not allowed except for ancestor worship and Buddha worship. There are also red dates, walnuts and so on. Make it into categories such as lions and children, and you can see smart thinking.

Laba and Yuhe River start from the ice room, water is transported from Tonghe to the inner kiln, and ice is transported from Taiye Pool to the ice kiln, which is very convenient in summer.

At the end of 23rd, every family offered sacrifices to stoves, put up posts in the courtyard and hung lanterns. Sacrifice is a soup stove rice, honeydew melon and candied cake, and sacrifice is a fried bean pot with fragrant grains. Luo Bai, male, is willing to suppress evil and promote good. In the back room, women sweep the stove, smear clean mud and burn incense to worship.

Every year1February, within 19, 20, 2 1 22, Qin chooses an auspicious day, seals it as usual, announces it to the world, and all of them implement public holidays. Since then, the Liyuan Opera House has closed one day, and eight classes will perform together, and the play will be blessed on the first day of next year. Children who go to school are also given a holiday by the teacher after the "closure", which is called "the year after school".

From 25th to New Year's Eve, it is said to be "Luan Nian Festival". "Twenty-seven, sick, twenty-eight, sloppy."

At the end of the year, throw the medicine left over from one year outside the door and burn the collected prescriptions together. This is called "losing all diseases".

Burning pine branches, cypress leaves, atractylodes rhizome and auspicious Dan in a furnace is called "simmering year".

The day before New Year's Eve is called "New Year's Eve" and there is a banquet at home. People call it "not old". Burning incense outdoors is called "Tianxiang", which usually takes three days.

Many old people are on New Year's Eve.

On New Year's Eve, people go out to visit relatives and friends in embroidered robes, which is called "saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new". Family members kowtow to their elders, which is also called "resignation". Newlyweds must go to their father-in-law's house to resign, otherwise it is disrespectful.

On New Year's Eve, sesame stalks should be sprinkled outside the walkway from home to the gate, which is called "stepping on the year".

It was the first time to have sex on New Year's Eve. Outside, treasures and torches win glory, and firecrackers explode. Shoulder cluster, chariots and horses stumble. Hundreds of officials went to North Korea to celebrate New Year's Day. At this time, firecrackers thundered all over the government and stayed up all night. It is even more mixed with the rattle, selling melon seeds to relieve boredom, selling rice wine ice cups, selling sweet-scented osmanthus head oil called Jiao Niang, and selling fine vegetable powder, which is comparable to the sound of firecrackers. It's really good. "Home of the natives, new clothes, Su Dai, worship the gods and ancestors; After burning germanium silk, the family went to worship, offered pepper plates, poured cypress wine, steamed cakes and sipped noodle soup. Going out to greet the relatives, attending the medicine window and the shadow window, there is a Cambodian celebration. " If you meet relatives and friends on the road, you should first pay a New Year call and then wish "Happy New Year". "As for entertainment, Huahui tea, Shijin hot pot is delicious, and the soup is served with goose oil, pork steamed buns, rice cakes and millet; Wine and vegetables are salted chicken bacon, bad heron and phoenix fish, pheasant feet, deer and rabbit breasts; Fruits include pine, hazelnut, lotus, peach, apricot, melon seed kernel, chestnut, jujube, hawthorn cake, green branch grape, Baizigang durian, Bo Qiu pear, apple, lion orange, orange and bayberry. Mixed with delicacies, home confuses the market. Even if you are not close, you should offer three glasses of wine. If you forget your feelings, why not get drunk! " As the saying goes, "it's better to take a thousand than one." Four horses are noisy and happy all day, which can be said to be a very temporary victory. "

The New Year's Eve dinner is made of gold, silver and rice, with pine and cypress branches inserted on it, and decorated with money, dates, chestnuts, longan, fragrant branches and chopped five pieces before it can be taken out. (called "Chinese New Year's Rice") Take larger branches of pine and cypress, put them in bottles, and decorate them with ancient money, ingots and pomegranate flowers. It's a cash cow.

Wear it with colored ropes, weave it into the shape of a dragon and put it at the foot of the bed. It is called "lucky money". What elders give to children is also called "lucky money", and the "sticker" used by wealth managers to withdraw money is called "ticket". Every year, except for the rich, anyone who exchanges money with silver is written on the lottery ticket, which is for the "red ticket" Take the meaning of gorgeous and auspicious.

Anyone who sells flowers is called Tanghua. "At the feast, give each other gifts. Peony is gorgeous, kumquat yellow, fragrant, warm and fragrant, and it can be cured in one room in three spring, so people call it "hall flower"

Hanging a thousand is carved with auspicious words on red paper, accompanied by a long ruler and A Zhi, which is posted in front of the door, reflecting the symbol of peach. There are eight immortals hanging in front of the Buddha statue. Hanging thousands of households use more, and aristocratic families use less. Its yellow paper is three inches long and red paper is more than one inch long, which is a "small hanging thousand" and is used by shops.

Every new year's eve, put a long case in the atrium. Percentage is the sacred picture of heaven. Before "100%", it is called "full supply" to provide display honey for the first floor. Cao Tong's Eight Immortals, Pomegranate and Yuanbao are called "flowers for Buddha". When it's time to pick up the gods, it will burn at 100%, and then burn incense until the Lantern Festival. This is what people often call "the table of heaven and earth".

The first month of entering every household

On the first day of the first month, get up at five o'clock, burn incense and set off paper cannons. On this day, we visited each other, regardless of grades, and ran for several days, which was called "Happy New Year". Foods to eat, such as Pepsi-Cola boxes, are made of persimmons, lychees, longan, chestnuts and ripe dates.

On the first day of the lunar calendar, gods and ancestors are worshipped, and paper-cutting continues to reach the height of ancestors, which is called "zhangqian" and burning.

On the tenth day of the first month, I visited the door during the New Year, clamoring for posting, throwing a business card and leaving in a hurry. Most of them don't need to talk to their master.

From the first day of the first month to the fifth day of the first month, it is commonly known as "Breaking Five". According to the old custom, you should eat "dumplings" for five days, which is called "boiled cakes" in the north. Now some families only eat it for three or two days, and some eat it every other day. However, there is no one who does not eat. This is true from the royal residence to the small houses in the streets, even for entertaining guests.

The lights in the first month have always been concentrated in the "six lights" at the front door, which are called "six lights", among which the lights in the "Ministry of Industry" are the most praised. Ice lanterns, birds and animals, and all kinds of things in the world are made very skillfully.

The lantern market used to focus on the East and West archways, but later it moved to the gallery headlines.

From New Year's Day to 16 in Xinzheng, there are many department stores in Liulichang, with bright lights, glass screens, tents for 10,000 people, jade toothpicks, thousands of contacts, books all over the building, and treasure to play the town street. There is also "Qin Lou Chu Guan is partial to songs, and BMW is a guest." It is also a scene of the Old Beijing New Year Festival.

Angry old driver (Rizhao)

Zang (ZA)

Every nation has its own unique culture and living habits. Tibetans are an ancient and enthusiastic people. In the long history, they also formed their own living habits and taboos.

1. When two friends meet after a long separation, greet each other or chat, you can't put your hand on each other's shoulder.

2. You can't step on or step on other people's clothes, and you can't put your own clothes on other people's clothes, let alone cross people.

3. Women should not hang up their clothes, especially the pants and underwear that people pass by.

Don't whistle or cry loudly in the house.

5. The family is not at home, the guests have just left, noon and sunset, and on the first day of the Tibetan New Year, you can't sweep the floor or take out the garbage.

6, outsiders can't mention the name of the deceased in front of the relatives of the deceased.

7. What should be done this year can't be done next year, such as knitting wool, sweaters and carpets.

8. At dusk, you can't just go to other people's homes, especially pregnant women who have given birth and women who have just given birth or seriously ill patients. Strangers can't go.

9. After noon, you can't take out any belongings at home.

10, a stranger who has never been to mountains and cliffs and canyons, can't talk loudly.

1 1, tableware, pots, plates, etc. Can not be crossed or trampled.

12. Two people at home go out at the same time and go in the opposite direction. They can't go out at the same time. They must go out before and after, and the time to go out should be separated.

13, women can't comb their hair and wash their hair at night and can't go out with their hair covered.

14. When using brooms and dustpans, you can't pass them directly by hand. You must put them on the ground first, and then another person will pick them up from the ground.

15. Whenever relatives and friends visit your home or visit you, they will send you some butter tea or highland barley wine as a gift. When guests leave, they can't leave everything empty. Be sure to leave some in it or change something for themselves.

16. A chipped or cracked bowl cannot be used for eating or pouring tea for guests.

Yi ethnic group

Torch Festival of Yi people, that is, the Year of Yi people. In the eyes of Yi people, fire symbolizes light, justice and prosperity, and a powerful force that can destroy all evil. Torch Festival is a festival of joy, love and happiness for Yi people.

There are many beautiful and moving stories about the origin of the Torch Festival among the people in the Yi areas of various provinces. One of them said: Long ago, heaven and earth were connected. One year, the god Stiguge sent Sigaby to collect taxes on earth. Due to crop failures caused by various disasters in the world, people can't afford to pay rent. A strongman who can eat copper and iron in the world, Rabbah, Russia, killed the tax collector Sylvia Abby. The gods were furious. The first flood tried to drown people on the ground, but the flood was defeated. The gods released all kinds of pests into the world to eat people's crops. Russian Rabbah and everyone gathered around the fireplace to discuss ways to control pests. Unexpectedly, a bug fell into the fireplace and was quickly burned to death. As a result, the Russian Laba organization set everyone on fire, finally defeated the pests and achieved a bumper harvest. Over time, the Yi Torch Festival was formed. Generally speaking, the Torch Festival of Yi people is celebrated for three days. On the first day, the whole family got together and drank congratulations. People cooked the meat of livestock, cut it into pieces, offered it to gods and ancestors, and then used it to drink. At night, torches burn everywhere, usually for three nights. People are very enthusiastic. Taking the village as a unit, people hold high torches and burn around the village and fields, just like a thousand fire dragons flying. On the second and third day, the Torch Festival reached its climax, and the whole Liangshan was boiling. The young man put on national costume and wrapped in headdress with hero knot; Women wear pleated skirts and gather on the vast grass dam for various traditional sports competitions. Boys take part in wrestling, horse racing and archery competitions, while women sing, dance and play harpsichord.

In some areas, pigs and sheep should be beaten to sacrifice to the gods during festivals; In some areas, a dog will be slaughtered to the edge of the field to sacrifice to "Mother Earth". People think that torches can ward off evil spirits, so after lighting torches, people have to take pictures from house to house and sprinkle rosin on the fire while walking. People call it "giving gifts". There is no doubt that this is a relic of the ancient concept of worshipping fire.

During the Torch Festival, the most lively place is the bullring. Bullfighting is not only a recreational activity, but also a good way to choose improved cattle, which is of great positive significance to the production of agriculture and animal husbandry. Whose cow wins in the competition means that the young cattle breeder is an industrious animal husbandry expert and is often a good target for girls to choose a spouse. Wrestling is another activity that attracts audiences during the Torch Festival. The two wrestled together, people gathered together, and relatives and friends came to cheer. Before and after the game, onlookers played harpsichord, and young people played Qin Yue to show their love.

The beauty contest is unique. The beauty contest was judged by a venerable old man. After the referee announced the beginning of the "beauty contest", the Yi girls who participated in the election formed a circle, and the latter took the handkerchief in the former's hand and sang beautiful and moving folk songs as they walked. The young people here are the most generous and generous. The boy thinks which girl is the most suitable, so he gives the already prepared gift to the referee and asks him to give it to that girl. The judge declared that the girl who received the most gifts was a beauty. Dangdang was chosen as a beautiful girl with many gifts on her back and Xia Hong on her face. When she walked out of the venue, relatives and friends gathered around to congratulate her. The boys went back and forth around the girl, tinkling Qin Yue to express their feelings.

On the fourth day, several people swept up the ashes of the torch and offered sacrifices with wine and meat, praying for good luck.

Hong kong customs

Lunar New Year is a traditional grand festival in China, which I believe is unknown to all people in China. However, celebrating the Lunar New Year in Hong Kong is completely different from the traditional ones in terms of customs and atmosphere.

In recent years, few Hong Kong people put up Spring Festival couplets and New Year pictures at home during the Lunar New Year. On the contrary, they posted "Prosperous Business" and "Safe Access" in some shops or homes. Even so, the original intention of posting Spring Festival couplets and New Year pictures is the same as that of posting Spring Festival couplets and New Year pictures. I hope everything will be smooth and safe in the coming year.

In addition, lion dances and dragon lanterns will also appear in some villages and villages in the New Territories. It is difficult to see large-scale lion dances and dragon lanterns on the streets of urban areas in the New Year. As for setting off firecrackers and firecrackers, it is forbidden in Hong Kong. However, since 1982, a grand fireworks display has been held in Victoria Harbour every year on the second night of the Lunar New Year, which has been a program to welcome the Spring Festival for more than ten years.

Hong Kong is known as a "gourmet paradise". There are many customs about eating during the Spring Festival, and most families will have a "reunion dinner" during the Spring Festival, usually at home, and the whole family will get together for dinner on New Year's Eve. I believe that the first choice for after-dinner programs is to visit the flower market. During the Lunar New Year, there are many flower markets in Hong Kong and Kowloon, among which the flower market in Victoria Park is the largest and most lively. Hong Kong people are used to visiting the flower market after dinner. On New Year's Eve, people are crowded and everyone will spend the holidays together.

The happiest thing about spending the Lunar New Year in Hong Kong is to "benefit" the children. Laughter can be heard everywhere during the Spring Festival. "Li" was originally a kind of "good thing", based on good luck, and also became an indispensable custom with relatives during the Spring Festival.

Macao customs

The old customs in Macao are very unique. "Xie Zao" is one of the most traditional China customs preserved in Macau. On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, Macao people call it "Xie Zao". According to the tradition in China, Macau people also give the kitchen god sugar, saying that it is to paste the mouth of the kitchen god with sugar, so as not to speak ill of him in front of the Jade Emperor. I saw a picture of Santa Claus on the stove of a Macao family in Flower Street, Macau. Strangely, the portrait of Santa Claus was affixed with a couplet that read "Heaven speaks well and returns home with clothes on".

Macao people celebrate the New Year from the 28th of the twelfth lunar month, which is a homophonic word in Cantonese. Most business owners invite their employees to have a "reunion dinner" at the end of the year to show their prosperity and good luck. From the 28th of the twelfth lunar month, we can truly feel the annual flavor of Macao.

On New Year's Eve, watching the Spring Festival and visiting the flower market are two major events for Macao people to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new year. Keeping old is playing mahjong, watching TV, catching up and chatting, and sharing family happiness; Probably influenced by Christmas and Valentine's Day in the West, people in Macao are also scrambling to buy some auspicious flowers and trees to welcome the New Year. Now this has become a custom in Macao. Macau holds a flower market on Lunar New Year's Eve, mostly peach blossoms, daffodils, potted bamboos and potted oranges. Flowers are rich and prosperous, wishing peace and a bright future in the new year. The flower market in Macao was held for three days, which brought endless comfort to Macao people who had been running around for a year.

During the Spring Festival, Macao people pay attention to "benefiting the market", which is a red envelope. On this day, when the boss meets the employees, the elders meet the younger generation, and even the married see the unmarried, they must "benefit the field". "Shili" is pure and crisp to show good luck. Macao people call New Year's Day the "opening year". The custom is to eat "New Year's Eve". In order to make money and profit, New Year's Eve must contain Nostoc flagelliforme, lettuce and carp. Starting from "New Year's Day", the Macao government will allow civil servants to "gamble" for three days. After the Chinese New Year, Macau has completely returned to the traditional Chinese New Year custom in China. Until the Lantern Festival, it is also a fireworks festival, playing with dragons and lions, and being in high spirits.

The Spring Festival customs in Taiwan Province Province.

The Spring Festival is a traditional folk festival with a long history of the Chinese nation. Taiwan Province Province, which is separated from Fujian Province by water, has the same history, culture, customs, living habits and kinship with Chinese mainland, especially in southern Fujian, so the Spring Festival customs of the people on the island are naturally similar to those of Chinese mainland.

Because the ancestors of Bao Dao residents (mostly Minnan and Hakka) went to Taiwan for development with a long history and experienced vicissitudes, the Spring Festival customs there gradually formed some unique patterns and colors.

On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, compatriots in Taiwan Province Province should get dressed, provide livestock such as pigs, sheep, dogs, ducks, fish and seafood at home, as well as offerings such as melons, sugar and fragrant tea, and then burn incense and set off firecrackers to see Kitchen God off, hoping that he would "speak well from heaven". From this day on, the "New Year" began.

Before New Year's Eve, compatriots in Taiwan Province Province will also have a comprehensive cleaning and tidy up the courtyard rooms. They are busy preparing for the Spring Festival.

On New Year's Eve, every household often sticks Spring Festival couplets on their doors and windows, grain depots, pigsty, well platforms and other places, symbolizing good luck, all the best in the new year, lucky money and treasures, and then places offerings and incense sticks on the table in the hall to worship their ancestors and welcome them to "go home for the New Year". Since then, the sound of setting off fireworks and firecrackers has been one after another, and it has been very lively until the morning of the first day of the New Year's Day.

On New Year's Eve, the whole family on the island will get together to "surround the stove", that is, men, women and children will sit around the stove or hot pot to eat New Year's Eve (or "reunion dinner"). Of course, this meal should be exceptionally rich.

In the New Year's Eve, in addition to eating fish balls and meatballs symbolizing family reunion, there are dog meat with the meaning of "eating dogs" and leeks with the meaning of "living a long life", as well as various fried foods with local flavor, glutinous rice balls and rice cakes, especially eating "tortoise bean paste rice cakes" (a kind of rice cake made of wooden molds engraved with tortoise shapes and filled with bean paste), which can prolong life. In addition, there is a kind of salted radish rice cake, which needs to be baked and heated before it can be wrapped with laver. It not only has the function of removing the fishy smell of meat and adjusting the taste, but also contains the wish of "good color head" in the coming year (radish is called vegetable head in Taiwan Province Province, which is homophonic with "color head").

After the New Year's Eve, even the elders give their children "lucky money", which is quite distinctive: for older children, "lucky money" is wrapped in red paper in advance and given to them; Children's "lucky money" is wrapped in red rope in advance, tied into a small collar and worn around the neck.

On the first day of the first month, people will get up early, get dressed and wash, and then begin to greet each other, express their respect and wishes, visit relatives and friends or visit parks. Very lively and pleasant. People are generally immersed in the festive atmosphere of joy, celebration, happiness and happiness.

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, it was the new son-in-law who took his wife to visit her husband's house. It is naturally more interesting for the son-in-law to come to the door and the daughter to return to her family.

The third day is regarded as an unlucky day by compatriots in Taiwan Province Province. People don't go out much, eat early and go to bed early at night, which is also a good opportunity to stay away from the noise and rest.

The fourth day is the day to greet the kitchen god, and it will naturally be very lively.

Since the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, many people have started their own businesses, and everyone who should go to work has gone to work.

According to legend, the ninth day of the ninth lunar month is God's birthday. Every family should prepare the best wine and food, burn incense and worship, and chant to celebrate God's birthday. This is the last day of the Spring Festival every year.

Since then, the "Lantern Festival" that followed is the last scene of the whole Spring Festival. On this day, according to the traditional custom, every household should eat glutinous rice balls and enjoy lanterns. Under the full moon, all kinds of lanterns are shining, and there are activities such as lion dancing, playing dragon lanterns and welcoming drums, which are colorful and dazzling. Especially those children who are full of childlike interest have been carrying lanterns and chanting songs across the street, like fish swimming around the bottom of the sea, adding icing on the cake to the lively Lantern Festival night!

The folk Spring Festival in Taiwan Province Province originated from the mainland, especially for people in Taiwan Province Province who speak Minnan dialect, and the way of celebrating the Spring Festival is more similar to that of Minnan.

People's Chinese New Year activities in Taiwan Province Province began with "Tail Teeth" in 65438+February 65438+June. On this day, every household should pay tribute to the landlord, especially the businessman. In order to make a fortune in the new year, they will make sacrifices with sacrificial bodies and gold paper, and share the sacrifices with colleagues to reward employees. This is called "eating tail teeth". When eating a person's tail, the employer will give another person a dog's head, indicating the year, please find another job. Therefore, there is a proverb in Taiwan Province Province: "Eat your tail teeth and worry, eat your head teeth and caress your mouth.". Tail-toothed rice is related to work or staying.

The 24th lunar month is the day when people send immortals to heaven, just like the 23rd twelfth lunar month in southern Fujian. There must be "glutinous rice balls" (glutinous rice balls) in the sacrifice, which are stuck at the mouth of the stove, so that the kitchen god can "spread good words to the sky and bad words to one side". On this day, we will clean up and sweep away all the "bad luck" at home to welcome the arrival of the New Year.

On New Year's Eve, Taiwan Province Province is called "29" and "30", depending on the size of the twelfth lunar month. "Ten days" means the end of a year. Before it gets late, every household will prepare offerings, such as sweet oranges, sweet rice cakes, "spring rice" and "lucky money". "Spring rice" means inserting paper-cut spring characters on sharp rice. Because "Spring" and "Ying" are homophonic in Minnan dialect, meaning "more than one year old".