How much do the Zhuang people in Xilin know about Chinese New Year customs?

There is a "hometown of China Shatangju" in Baise, Guangxi, namely Xilin County, which is known as the "West Gate of Guangxi". Is a multi-ethnic autonomous county, inhabited by Zhuang, Han, Miao, Yao, Yi, Gelao and other ethnic groups, each ethnic group has its own unique traditional customs. Then let Lao Huangli introduce the Chinese New Year custom of Xilin Zhuang nationality to you.

Prepare new year's goods

On the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month every year, the land of Xilin begins to be filled with rich flavor of the year. On that day, all Zhuang people cooked bean paste to sacrifice to their ancestors. There is a saying in it that "food goes up, food goes to the countryside", which means that after eating red bean paste for 15 times, I am waiting for the arrival of the New Year. With the approach of New Year's Day, they began to make comprehensive preparations for the new year's goods. They prepare firewood and clothes, as well as food and incense.

In the poor times, housewives of Zhuang nationality were very busy, and they had to make all the clothes for the whole family. Since the twelfth lunar month, they have to work overtime and stay up late to make new clothes for the whole family. On the first day of the new year, all Zhuang people should put on new clothes to show the atmosphere of the new year and everything goes well.

After the first three days of Chinese New Year, you should take off your new clothes and save them for visiting relatives or going to the market in the future. Now that life is good, new clothes are no longer so precious, but the custom of wearing new clothes in the New Year has not changed.

Preparing New Year's food is a great event for the Zhuang people in Xilin. After the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, every household will kill pigs to make bacon to prepare for the coming year. Every stockade has to choose the same day to kill pigs, and everyone helps each other, so it's very lively.

Making bait cakes is an important event for Zhuang people. Several families get together, or steam fragrant rice, or mash rice together, or knead and shape it. This primitive handicraft of making bait cakes has been passed down for thousands of years and witnessed the desire of the Zhuang people in Xilin to pursue a better life and the spirit of living in groups.

Pickling pickles is also an indispensable job for Xilin Zhuang people. Kimchi is their favorite food, and they are tired of eating big fish and meat in the New Year. Kimchi is the best food for them to adjust their appetite.

Clean sanitation

Near the end of the year, every household of Xilin Zhuang should clean up. They should not only remove weeds and rubbish in front of and behind the house, but also remove cobwebs and dust inside and outside the house. They also have to clean tables, steamer and other utensils, commonly known as "pulling", which can be described as "saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new".

In the past, they even had to scrub production tools such as hoes, pear rakes and even mud dustpans. On New Year's Eve, they will drive all the livestock home and feed them well. Before New Year's Eve, they should feed the dog first to see whether the dog eats meat or food first, so as to judge the fortune of the coming year.

Observe the zodiac to measure the weather or harvest.

In the past, the Zhuang people in Xilin had a way to judge the weather and harvest in the coming year, that is, to see the zodiac on the twelfth day of the first month. If the first day is ugly, the sixth day is noon, which means that "one cow works and six horses have to carry it", which indicates a bumper harvest. If the first day is "noon" and the eighth day is "ugly", which means "eight cows work and one horse can carry it", it means that the harvest is not good and it is hard.

The weather is judged like this: if the first day is "Chen", it means that only one dragon is making waves, which means that the rain will be relatively scarce in the coming year; If the ninth day is "Chen", it means that there are nine dragons making waves, which means that there is a lot of rain and flood control is needed; If you meet a pair of "Chen", the rain will be even rarer, which means that the pair of dragons will shirk each other and no one will work hard. You have to guard against drought.

To judge the weather, they also have a prediction method, which is to look at the morning of 12 days before the first month (each day represents one month). If you get up in the morning and see fog or rain on the hillside that day, it means that it rained that month. If it is sunny, it means that there is little or no rain that month, so you have to plant crops according to the situation.

Although the people's judgment method is somewhat unscientific, it also shows their spirit of carefully observing life phenomena and actively summing up experience, which is the crystallization of thousands of years of life wisdom.

offer sacrifices to ancestors

Happy New Year is the only way for the Zhuang people in Xilin. Because of the different surnames and families, the ways of offering sacrifices are also different. The food provided is different, the time is different, and the dishes and chopsticks are placed differently. But everything is the same. People who eat meat will put meat, vegetarians will put scaly fish, tofu and vermicelli. For Xilin Zhuang people, sacrifice is a kind of culture and a kind of belief, which has been passed down for thousands of years. At the same time, the moral concept of respecting the old and loving the young has also penetrated into the hearts of the next generation.

Pray for blessings

At the beginning of the new year, Xilin Zhuang people attach great importance to blessing. On the first day of the first lunar month, before dawn, the elders of each household scrambled to get up, carrying buckets and three incense sticks wrapped in three pieces of paper money, and went to the water source where they lived to get water and use it for the first meal of the New Year. This is the so-called "grabbing the first water".

"Grab the first water" contains two meanings: one is to pray for the water god to let the water of life flow down all the time; The second is to pray that the whole family will have smooth sailing and all the best in the coming year.

After breakfast on the first day of the first month of the first month, the family went in the direction of Geely, collected some firewood and went home, meaning "hug the Chai Jin family" and prayed for a prosperous and bumper harvest in the coming year. As for opening, starting and going out, we should choose an auspicious day to show all the best and happiness. This kind of prayer is still very popular today.

Congratulate sb on a happy occasion.

It is the custom of Zhuang people to congratulate each other in the New Year. When we meet in the New Year, everyone will greet each other with smiles and congratulate each other. On the first day of the first month, they don't like visiting each other. The next day, they invited others to dinner at home, sent some delicious food that the other party could not cook, and then cooked together to enhance their feelings and friendship.

On the third day, the married daughter brought her husband and children to visit her family. Children with "michel platini" want to visit "michel platini" to pay a New Year call. They should not only bring some bacon, zongzi and other gifts, but also set off firecrackers. This is a manifestation of filial piety to the elderly and a virtue. In the Zhuang village of Mabang town, there is also the custom of offering sacrifices to mountain gods in the early years, praying for the blessing of mountain gods, good weather, abundant crops and peace of the people.

amusement

During the Chinese New Year, Zhuang people in Xilin like to gather at the head of the village, or play cards, top, sing folk songs, play erhu or play suona with their bare hands, which makes them feel happy and peaceful. Now there are more sports and events such as basketball, tug-of-war and dance, and many fresh elements have been added.