Is the Spring Festival a custom?

The Spring Festival is the most important festival of the Han nationality, but more than a dozen ethnic minorities, such as Manchu, Mongolian, Yao, Zhuang, Bai, Gaoshan, Hezhe, Hani, Daur, Dong and Li, have also had the custom of the Spring Festival, but the form of the festival has its own national characteristics and is more meaningful.

Spring Festival is a new day to take off old cloth. Although it is arranged on the first day of the first lunar month, the activities of the Spring Festival are not limited to the first day of the first lunar month. Since the end of the year, people have started a "busy year". All these activities have the same theme, that is, "saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new".

Customs of Spring Festival: prepare new year's goods, paste new year's red, offer sacrifices to stoves, remove dust, keep New Year's Eve, wash your hair and take a bath, hang lanterns, paste blessings upside down, celebrate New Year's Eve, get lucky money, eat jiaozi, open the door, pay New Year's greetings, watch social fires, walk on stilts, play lanterns and dance lions.

I think there are four customs worth mentioning during the Spring Festival in China. Let's take a look:

? One of the Spring Festival customs: candied melon strips?

On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, honeydew melons are sticky. This day is what people call a small year. As the name implies, it is the day when the Chinese New Year officially begins. On this day, people will buy candy, peanuts, melon seeds and other foods needed for the New Year. From this day on, children are happiest because there are enough sugar tubes.

According to folklore, Kitchen God was originally a star in the sky. Because he made a mistake, he was demoted to the world by the Jade Emperor and became an "oriental chef". It sits in the middle of every kitchen, watching how people live and act, recording all the good and bad things in detail, and turning to heaven on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, reporting the good and evil of every household to the Jade Emperor. On the night of the twelfth lunar month, he returned to earth to punish evil and promote good according to the jade emperor's will.

Therefore, on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, people will offer sacrifices to the kitchen god and give him sticky and sweet honeydew melons, so that he can "speak well in the sky and keep peace underground". Children regard this day as a prelude and "rehearsal" for the Spring Festival. Set off firecrackers as soon as it gets dark. In the sound of firecrackers, the host put a plate of honeydew melon and a bowl of green tea in front of the kitchen god statue, lit candles and incense, prayed and saluted, then took the kitchen god statue off the wall and burned it, then poured tea on the paper ash, and the honeydew melon was eaten by the children.

On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, honeydew melons offer sacrifices to the stove, which is lively, grand and humorous, so it is called "Chinese New Year".

? The second custom of the Spring Festival: reverse blessing?

It is a traditional custom in China to pour blessings. During the Spring Festival, every household should post the word "Fu" upside down on doors, walls and lintels, indicating that they are blessed. Sticking the word "Fu" in the Spring Festival is a long-standing custom of the Han people.

During the Spring Festival, the red word "Fu" is often seen upside down on the doors and windows of many family courtyards, which can be regarded as the traditional custom of China people. According to "Dream of Liang Lu", "Scholars of all ages sweep the floor, remove dust and dirt, clean their homes, change door gods, hang Zhong Kui, nail peaches, stick spring cards and worship their ancestors." The "spring card" in this article is the word "fu" written on red paper.

There is also a legend that the word "Fu" is inverted in China. Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming emperor, took the word "fu" as a secret memory and prepared to kill people. In order to eliminate this disaster, kind Ma Huanghou asked the whole city to put a "blessing" on the door before dawn.

Naturally, no one dares to go against Ma Huanghou's will, so the word "Fu" is posted on every door. If one of the families 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. When Ma Huanghou saw that things were not good, he said to Zhu Yuanzhang, "The family knew that you were visiting today, and deliberately turned 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. This is an upside-down calendar.

? The third custom of the Spring Festival: New Year's Eve?

New Year's Eve: A set of auspicious words, the end of December of the lunar calendar is New Year's Eve, also known as "New Year's Eve". In addition to paying attention to enjoying "delicious food", it is particularly important to explore the "delicious food" in New Year's Eve dishes. In other words, Ningbo people like to pin their hopes for the coming year on dishes. Such as "chicken" and "auspicious" homophonic, indicating good luck; "Eel" means "full tank, full tank", which means adequate food and clothing; Businessmen in Ningbo seem to have a special liking for "roasted crab with red paste", which means "prosperous business and good luck in all directions"; Lotus node means "getting higher and higher, Passepartout". In Ningbo people's New Year's Eve dinner, whole fish is an essential New Year's dish, and later it gradually turned into smoked fish, which means "auspicious and festive"; "shepherd's purse spring rolls" used to line up, and the sound of "shepherd's purse" was close to "gathering money" "Eat spring rolls to welcome the spring" is to welcome the arrival of spring. Soybean sprouts are similar in appearance and are called "ruyi cuisine", which means "all the best in life" and "all the best in everything"; The golden cake acts as a "golden brick"; Leek takes the homonym of "leek" and "long"; Sausage, homophonic "fragrant and long",

Eating New Year's Eve is a family reunion day, and there will definitely be a steaming hot pot symbolizing reunion. People in Ningbo call it a "warm pot", which gives people a feeling of "rich life". In the old days, there was a riddle with local characteristics in Shipu: "Vegetarian dishes are mixed with meat dishes, Ningbo is separated by Dinghai, with Zhaobaoshan in it, and the whole group is the sea." The answer is "warm pot". Old families use copper pots, which will occupy a large part of the table and put egg dumplings, meatballs, fish balls, vermicelli, oil skin, rice cakes and so on. And fish balls, meatballs and shrimp balls take the meaning of "three yuan" and "family reunion" and add soup; The staple food is fruit juice and vegetable rice cake soup, which means that "rice cakes are getting higher every year" and there will be more oil and water in the coming year.

Eating New Year's Eve requires the whole family to serve together, and not leaving one person behind means reunion. If your family can't come or don't go home for the New Year's Eve, you should also prepare bowls, chopsticks and wine glasses on the table, filled with wine and rice, which can be regarded as a complete family reunion. On this day, children from other places will be reunited at home no matter how far away they are. In the past, after the New Year's Eve dinner, children would go to the ancestral temple with lanterns to watch operas. After 1983, people usually watch CCTV Spring Festival Gala at home.

? The fourth custom of the Spring Festival: get lucky money?

Lucky money (called "gift giving" in Guangdong) is one of the customs of Chinese New Year. Its true origin is unknown, and the legend is to suppress evil spirits. After the New Year's Eve, the elders should give the younger generation lucky money and wish them a safe New Year. Lucky money is the most anticipated gift for children in the New Year. Legend has it that lucky money originated earlier, but it really became popular throughout the country in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. There are two kinds of lucky money in ancient times: special money and general money. The special lucky money is an imitation. Its material is copper or iron, and its shape is square or long. Generally, money is engraved with "good luck", "happy life" and "long life". Some lucky money is given directly to the younger generation, and some are put at the foot of the bed or beside the pillow after the younger generation sleeps. Lucky money originally means blessing. Lucky money has the meaning of exorcising evil spirits and keeping peace in folk culture. The original intention of lucky money is to suppress evil and drive away evil, because people think that children are easy to sneak around, so they use lucky money to suppress evil.

Disaster: Han people believe that lucky money is for children. When evil spirits or Nian hurt children, children can use the money to bribe them and turn evil into good luck. In the Qing Dynasty, Wu Manyun wrote a poem in "Lucky Money", which said: "One hundred yuan grows in the colored thread, and then it is taken from the pillow to discuss the price of firecrackers, which keeps Joule busy all night." ? From this point of view, lucky money is tied in children's hearts, and children's lucky money is mainly used to buy firecrackers, toys and candy and other things needed for holidays. At present, the custom of elders giving lucky money to younger generations is still prevalent. The amount of lucky money ranges from tens to hundreds. Most of these lucky money are used by children to buy books and school supplies. The new fashion has given new content to the lucky money.

Lucky money, also called precious money ("precious" is unlucky. The ancients used this custom to show that nothing unlucky should happen in the coming year. After dinner in 2008, the elders should distribute the lucky money prepared in advance to the younger generation. It is said that lucky money can kill evil spirits, and the younger generation can spend a year safely with it. Lucky money has the meaning of exorcising evil spirits and keeping peace in folk culture. The original intention of lucky money is to suppress evil and drive away evil. Because people think that children are easy to be invisible, they use lucky money to suppress evil spirits. On the morning of the first day of the first month, the younger generation will pay New Year greetings to the elders, and the elders will give them lucky money. Usually on New Year's Eve, mothers put lucky money sealed with red paper under their children's pillows. When giving lucky money, the mother will say something similar to wishing the children a safe and healthy growth. Giving children lucky money originated from an old legend.

There are many kinds of lucky money in history, which are usually distributed to the younger generation by the elders during the countdown to the New Year, indicating that the lucky money contains the care and sincere wishes of the elders to the younger generation; The other is given to the elderly by the younger generation. The "year" of this lucky money refers to the age, which is intended to expect the elderly to live longer. The earliest lucky money written in the Han dynasty, also known as winning money, is not circulated in the market, but cast as an ornamental in the form of coins, which has the function of avoiding evil spirits.

Headed by the centennial festival, the Spring Festival is the most solemn traditional festival of the Chinese nation. Influenced by China culture, some countries and regions in the world also have the custom of celebrating the Spring Festival. The custom of Spring Festival means reunion, gathering good fortune and eliminating disasters, and celebrating and entertaining.