Investigation report on local customs during the Spring Festival

The last day of the Lunar New Year is called New Year's Eve, and Chaoshan custom calls it "Chinese New Year".

Before New Year's Eve, people are busy preparing all kinds of new year's goods: buying chicken, duck and fish; Add new clothes; Newly purchased furniture and appliances; Buy New Year pictures, Spring Festival couplets, etc. I especially want to buy oranges, green olives and other fruits as auspicious symbols. Welcome friends and relatives. Before the Chinese New Year, men want a new haircut and women want to "pull their faces". Nowadays, most women have haircuts and beauty treatments.

Lunar calendar1February 24th is the day when "immortals" go to heaven to report their work. From that day on, every household was cleaning, packing things and bills, which was called "picking up".

One or two days before New Year's Eve, every household is making all kinds of new year's goods.

Families who go out on New Year's Eve have to rush home for reunion. On New Year's Eve, the whole family sat around the fire and had a reunion dinner. After dinner, adults give "lucky money" to children and their parents. At night, the farmer's water tank should be full of water, the rice tank should be full of rice, and the lights can't go out, which symbolizes the good omen of "more than one year old" and "more than one year old".

The custom of vigil on New Year's Eve is very common. Waiting for the arrival of the new year, the New Year bell rings and firecrackers sound in every household.

the Spring Festival; Chinese New Year

The first day of the first lunar month is called January Day, which is the head of the New Year and the beginning of spring. At the dawn of heaven, I heard guns. On the big table in the hall of every household, red plates are filled with good luck (oranges are bigger than oranges, so they are called good luck), green olives and various exquisite sweets. Decorated with lanterns in front of the door, the younger generation wishes the older generation tea. On this day, most families should be vegetarian, at least not eating meat for breakfast. After breakfast, adults and children go to relatives and friends' homes to pay New Year greetings with good luck, and the host and guest exchange blessings, congratulations on making a fortune and adding blessings. The host treats you with Daji, Betel nut (the ancient custom of honoring Betel nut is now changed to green olive) and * * * congou. The guest presents Daji to congratulate the host on his good luck, and the host wants to give it back with Daji, which is said to be a good wish.

On the morning of New Year's Day, many lion dance classes and English song teams beat gongs and drums to pay New Year greetings to every household in every village, and the host set off firecrackers to welcome them. There are also auspicious sentences such as hand-cranked evergreen leaves (commonly known as cash cows) or "lucky money into treasure" posted on people's doors with books in hand; Or those who play suona, knock on bamboo boards, sing songs, make four sentences and say auspicious words from door to door to pay New Year greetings are all asking for some money. On the second and third days of junior high school, rural towns organized many cultural activities to celebrate the Spring Festival. In addition to putting up a theater shed to perform Chaozhou Opera, Mountain Opera and Shadow Play, there are also gongs and drums, tigers and lions, English singers and dragon dancers marching in the villages along the street. There are also movies, ball games, calligraphy and painting exhibitions, lantern riddles and so on. During the day and night, people flock to visit and enjoy it, creating a lively and joyful atmosphere for the Spring Festival.

have a family reunion dinner

New Year's Eve is approaching after all the houses in every household are completely decorated. Therefore, housewives are busy preparing the most abundant and meaningful reunion dinner in a year. A family reunion dinner, as its name implies, is a family gathering for dinner during the Chinese New Year, and even the deceased ancestors will not forget it. Therefore, after a good reunion dinner, every household should first "worship their husbands" (worship their ancestors). When offering sacrifices to ancestors, the incense burner representing ancestors should be removed from the shrine, put on the altar, and then burn incense to pray and invite ancestors to dinner. Then the old and the young bowed down in turn, fully demonstrating the traditional virtues of the hipsters, being cautious to the end, pursuing the distance, and putting all virtues first. After the sacrifice, the food for ancestor worship was reheated, and a big table was set in the hall, and the whole family gathered around. This is a wonderful time for every family to get together. No matter how far apart the family is at ordinary times, or how many zits there are at ordinary times, we should talk and laugh at this time, and we should not say anything sad or make noise.

After dinner, housewives were busy clearing the table, so a cleaning activity began. This time, we don't have to care too much about cleaning, just for cleaning. Unlike the time at the end of the year, you have to brush pine grass. Then he lit a fire in the stove and began to prepare the offering to God tomorrow-vegetarian food. There are many kinds of vegetarian dishes, including taro, sweet potato, jujube, peanut, taro and sweet potato. All the ingredients of vegetarian dishes should be prepared and dried at noon. When frying vegetarian dishes, put the iron pot and inject a lot of peanut oil when the fire is good. When the oil boils, mix these materials with the slurry and put them into the pan, which will make squeaks and bubbles in the oil pan. Huang Chengcheng is especially attractive when cooking. At this time, if there are guests at home, the hostess will serve a plate of freshly fried vegetarian dishes, and then soak in mellow congou tea to let you taste delicious Chaoshan snacks.

Send lucky money

Giving lucky money is an important part of Chaoshan Spring Festival custom. The elders should give money to the younger generation, and those who can earn money should also send money to the elders. Money can't be sent directly to wait for a while, but it should be packed in a profit bag or a red paper bag. This is commonly known as "pressing the abdomen and waist", which means that from the beginning of the year to the end of the year, the pockets will be full of reality and wealth. What is particularly interesting is that when a child sleeps, his parents will put a large bill in his belly pocket and bring it back after waking up.

Happy new year, send big oranges.

New Year greetings, also known as "worship". In the early morning of the first day of junior high school, people get up and put on new clothes. The first thing they do is to pay homage to themselves. It is often the younger generation who wishes the elders first, and then the elders give their expectations to the younger generation. After breakfast, each of them pays a New Year call to relatives and friends. As the Chaoshan saying goes, "the first day and the second day have 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 sooner you pay a New Year call, the more you can see its sincerity. Therefore, some people go to pay New Year greetings to relatives and friends immediately after getting up, and then eat after coming back.

No matter how many gifts people bring, oranges (Chaozhou oranges) are indispensable. Big orange takes its homonym "Daji". It doesn't matter if you take more and less, but it can't be odd. People who pay New Year greetings enter the doors of relatives and friends, and they should look at different people and say different greetings. Say "Happy New Year" and "Longevity is better than Nanshan" to the old people, and they will grin. For those who have jobs, saying "smooth work" and "progress in the new year" will make the listeners very happy; If you are a business person, what you hear most is "making a big profit in the New Year" and "making a fortune and benefiting the market"; If children are studying, what they want most is to make progress in their studies and achieve excellent results in the new year. Send this greeting to them, and they will be very friendly to you. After being seated, the host will make famous Chaoshan congou tea to entertain the guests. Before leaving, the host will leave two oranges in the gift of the recipient, and then exchange his oranges in order to bring good luck to the other party. Humorous people often only put two oranges in their trouser pockets when they go out to pay New Year's greetings. After the New Year call, the two oranges are still in his trouser pocket. Therefore, good-hearted people call the New Year's greetings at the beginning of the year "orange-changing movement".

(of a person) return to one's place of origin or unit.

On the second and third day of the first month, the married daughters go back to their parents' homes to celebrate the New Year with their husbands and children. When a daughter returns to her mother's house, there must be a big bag of biscuits and sweets distributed by her mother to her neighbors, just like the scene of the New Year. If there are many daughters at home, and these daughters don't come back on the same day, then we must share one at a time. The gift is quite thin, just four biscuits. But it reflects the deep affection, the real "courtesy is light and affection is heavy", and expresses the girl's miss for the villagers. When the girl goes home, if there is a nephew at home, menstruation has to pay again. Although she gave lucky money on New Year's Day, this time it had a different meaning. This custom is called "eating midnight snack" by Chaoshan people. As the name implies, it's just lunch, and the daughter must get back to her husband's house before dinner.

Interviewee: Shengmeng-Scholar Level 312-1513: 45

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Chinese spring festival custom

Sacrificial Society (23rd of the twelfth lunar month) Sweeping dust (23rd of New Year's Eve) Spring Festival couplets (30th of New Year's Pictures) (30th of New Year's Eve)

Shousui (New Year's Eve) firecrackers (New Year's Eve) Happy New Year (the first day of the first month) lucky money (the first day of the first month) back to parents' home (the second and third days)

Pick up the god of wealth (the fifth day of the first month) and send it to the poor (the sixth day of the first month)

Sacrificial furnace

In China, the Spring Festival usually begins with offering sacrifices to stoves. The folk song "Twenty-three, Melon Stick" refers to the sacrificial stove on the 23rd or 24th of the twelfth lunar month every year. There is a saying that "officials, three people, four boatmen and five", that is, in the twelfth lunar month, officials hold sacrificial stoves, 24 people hold them, and 25 curtilage boats hold them.

Sacrificing a stove is a kind of custom with great influence and wide spread among the people in our country. In the past, almost every kitchen had a "Kitchen God" shrine. People call this deity "Siming Bodhisattva" or "Chef Siming". It is said that he is the "Nine-day East Chef Wang Siming" sealed by the Jade Emperor, who is responsible for managing the stoves of various families and is worshipped as the head of the family. Kitchen shrines are mostly located in the north or east of the kitchen, with the idol of Kitchen God in the middle. Some people who don't have the niche of the Kitchen King even put the idol directly on the wall. Some gods only draw a kitchen god, while others have two men and women. The goddess is called "Grandma Chef". This is probably an imitation of the image of human lovers. Most of the statues of Kitchen God are also printed with the calendar of this year, which reads the words "Oriental chefs are in charge of life", "God of human supervision" and "head of the family" to show the status of Kitchen God. On both sides, there are couplets of "Heaven says yes, the lower bound is safe", wishing the whole family peace.

Kitchen God has been staying at home to protect and supervise his family since last year's Eve. On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the Kitchen God will report the good deeds or evil deeds of this family to the Jade Emperor in heaven. The ceremony of sending the kitchen god is called "sending the kitchen stove" or "resigning the kitchen stove". According to the report of Kitchen God, the Jade Emperor entrusted his family with the fate of good fortune and bad fortune in the new year. So for a family, Kitchen God's report is really interesting.

Sending stoves is usually held at dusk. The family went to the kitchen first, set the table, incense the kitchen god in the shrine on the kitchen wall, and present honeydew melons made of caramel and flour. Then tie the bamboo poles into paper horses and make them into animal feed. Sacrificing caramel to Kitchen God is to make his old man's mouth sweet. Some places still wrap sugar on the mouth of the kitchen god, saying, "Say more good things and don't say bad things." This is to block the kitchen god's mouth with sugar and tell him not to speak ill. In the Chronicle of the Old Times in the Tang Dynasty, there was an occasional record that "Siming (Kitchen God) got drunk by applying distiller's grains on the stove". People put sugar on the mouth of the Kitchen God, took off their idols and went to heaven with paper and cigarettes. In some places, sesame stalks and pine branches are piled in the yard at night, and then the statue of the kitchen god, which has been enshrined for a year, is taken out of the shrine and burned on the fire with paper horses and forage. The courtyard was brightly lit, and at this time, the family kowtowed around the fire, burning and praying: It's twenty-third this year, and I'm going to send the kitchen ruler to the Western Heaven. With strong horses and forage, you will arrive safely. Melon is sweet and sweet. Please speak kindly to the Jade Emperor.

When sending the Kitchen God, there are some beggars in some places who dress up, sing and dance to send the Kitchen God door to door, and name it "Send the Kitchen God" in exchange for food.

The custom of sending stoves is common all over China. Mr. Lu Xun once wrote the poem "A boxer sends a stove as a fact": only chicken glue smells, clothes smell and temples shadow. If there is nothing at home, there are only a few antelopes.

He said in the article "The Day of Sending Kitchen Stove": "On the day when the chef went to heaven, there was still a kind of sugar on the street, the size of a citrus, and we also had it there, but it was flat and flat, like a thick pancake. That is the so-called' gum teeth'. " The original intention is to ask the chef to eat it and stick his teeth on it, so that he won't speak ill of the jade emperor. The allusion to "antelope" in Lu Xun's poems comes from the Biography of Yin Shi in the Later Han Dynasty: "When Xuan Di proclaimed himself emperor, Yin Zifang was the most filial and kind. Cooking in the morning of the twelfth day, seeing the kitchen god, the children have to worship and celebrate; There is an antelope at home, so it is worshipped. After the third one, he naturally became extremely rich. "I have known the third generation, and I have made a fortune. Therefore, I often recommend the antelope in the twelfth lunar month to worship the stove. " Yin Zifang met the Kitchen God and sacrificed the antelope. Later, she got lucky. Since then, the custom of killing antelopes to sacrifice stoves has been handed down.

During the Tang and Song Dynasties, the offerings for offering sacrifices to stoves were quite rich. Fan Chengda, a poet in the Song Dynasty, wrote a very vivid description of the folk activities of offering sacrifices to stoves at that time: it is said in ancient times that in the twelfth lunar month, the kitchen god spoke to heaven. Clouds, cars and horses linger, and there are cups and plates at home. The pig's head is cooked, the fish is fresh, and the bean paste and Gan Song bait are round. When a man asks his daughter to avoid it, he drinks and burns money. You can't smell your servant's struggle, and your cat and dog don't feel angry when they touch you. Send you to Tianmen to get drunk, and don't repeat the clouds with long spoons and short spoons, begging for points from the market.

The sacrificial furnace on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month is closely related to the New Year in China. Because, a week later, on New Year's Eve, Kitchen God came to the world with the good and bad fortune that the family should get. Kitchen God is considered to guide the gods in the sky. Other gods will go to heaven after the New Year, and only Kitchen God will stay in other people's kitchens for a long time. The ceremony of welcoming God is called "receiving God", and the kitchen god is called "receiving kitchen". Generally, it is New Year's Eve to pick up the kitchen, and the ceremony is much simpler. At that time, just put on a new stove lamp and burn incense in front of the stove niche.

As the saying goes, "Men don't Yue Bai, women don't sacrifice to the kitchen". In some places, women don't sacrifice stoves. It is said that the kitchen god looks like a small white face and is afraid of women offering sacrifices to the kitchen stove, which is "suspected of men and women." The origin of Kitchen God has a long history. Among the folk gods in China, the qualification of Kitchen God has a long history. As early as the Xia Dynasty, he was already a great god revered by the people. According to the ancient book The Book of Rites, Kong Ying Da said: "Hitachi, the son of Zhuan Xu, is Zhu Rong and worshipped as the kitchen god." "Zhuangzi Sheng Da" records: "The stove has a bun." Sima Biao commented: "bun, kitchen god, dressed in red, looks like a beautiful woman." "Hold PiaoZi. "Wei Zhi" also recorded: "On a dark night, Kitchen God also accused the white man of being guilty." These records are probably the source of Kitchen God. Also, or the Kitchen God is a "Suiren" who digs firewood to make a fire; Or Shennong's "fire official"; Or "Su Liji" in "The Yellow Emperor Cooking Ren"; Or the kitchen god surnamed Zhang, the name list, the word Guo; Opinions vary. There is an interesting story circulating among the people.

It is said that in ancient times there was a family named Zhang, two brothers. The elder brother was a plasterer and the younger brother was a painter. My brother's specialty is cooking pots and pans. He was invited by East Street and West Square, and they all praised his cooking. He has been famous for a long time, and calling him "King Zhang Zao" is thousands of miles away. Strangely, Wang said that no matter who built a stove, he liked to interfere in other people's homes if there was any dispute. When he meets a noisy daughter-in-law, he will persuade him. When he meets a fierce mother-in-law, he will say that he seems to be an old elder. In the future, neighbors will look for him if they have anything, and everyone respects him. The king lived seventy years, and when he died, it happened to be late at night on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month. After the death of Wang, Zhang Jiake fell into chaos. It turns out that the king is the head of the family and everything in the family is under his command. Now that the eldest brother has passed away, the younger brother can only write poems and draw pictures. Although he spent a lot of time, he never did housework. The daughters-in-law in several rooms clamored for separation, and the painter was stirred helplessly and frowned all day. One day, he finally came up with a good idea On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the first anniversary of Wang's death, late at night, the painter suddenly called to wake up the whole family and said that the eldest brother had appeared. He led his son, daughter-in-law and the whole family to the kitchen, only to see the king and his late wife appear in the flickering candlelight on the dark kitchen wall, and his family were shocked. The painter said, "When I slept, I dreamed that my eldest brother and sister-in-law had become immortals, and the Jade Emperor named him' Nine Days East Chef ordered the chef to be the king of the palace'. You are always lazy and lazy, and your sister-in-law is not harmonious, disrespectful and unfilial, which makes your family uneasy. " Big brother was angry to know that you were going to break up. He is going to tell the Jade Emperor that he will come down on New Year's Eve to punish you. Hearing these words, the children's nephews and daughters-in-law were frightened. They immediately knelt down and kowtowed again and again, and hurriedly brought Wang Pingping's favorite candy to the stove and begged the kitchen king to forgive them. Since then, uncles, brothers and daughters-in-law who often make noise have never dared to make trouble again. The whole family lives in harmony, young and old. Neighbors knew about it, and the news spread. They all came to Zhang's house and wanted to know the truth. In fact, the kitchen god on the kitchen wall on the 23rd night of the twelfth lunar month was painted by the painter in advance. He came to town to scare his children's nephews and daughters-in-law, but this method really worked. So the neighbor came to the painter to inquire about the situation, so he had to pretend and distribute the painted kitchen god to the neighbors. As a result, it spread along the countryside, and the kitchen of every household was labeled as the kitchen god. Over time, the custom of offering sacrifices to the kitchen god on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month and praying for the safety of the family was formed. After the custom of offering sacrifices to the kitchen god spread, from the Zhou Dynasty, the palace also included it in the sacrificial ceremony, and formulated the rules of offering sacrifices to the kitchen god nationwide, which became a fixed ceremony.

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Sweep dust

After the Stove Festival, preparations for the Chinese New Year officially began. Every year from the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month to New Year's Eve, we folks call this period "Spring Festival" or "Dust Day". Dust removal is year-end cleaning, which is called "house cleaning" in the north and "dust removal" in the south. It is a traditional habit of our people to sweep the dust before the Spring Festival. Whenever the Spring Festival comes, every household should clean the environment, clean all kinds of electrical appliances, remove and wash bedding curtains, sweep six yards, dust cobwebs and dredge culverts in open channels. North and south of the great river, everywhere is filled with the atmosphere of being willing to engage in hygiene and welcoming the Spring Festival cleanly.

Interestingly, there is a strange story about the origin of ancient dust sweeping. Legend has it that the ancients believed that everyone was attached to a three-corpse god. Like a shadow, he followed people's whereabouts and was inseparable. Three dead gods are a guy who likes flattery and gossip. He often tells stories in front of the Jade Emperor and describes the world as ugly. Over time, in the jade emperor's impression, this world is simply a dirty world full of evil. Once. The secret report of the three dead gods tells us that the world is cursing the Emperor of Heaven and wants to rebel against him. The jade emperor was furious and made an imperial edict to quickly find out what happened in the world. Anyone who hates gods and insults them writes their crimes under the eaves. Then let the spider cover it with a net and mark it. The Jade Emperor ordered Wang Lingguan to go down on New Year's Eve, and all the marked families were beheaded, not one left. Seeing that the plan was about to succeed, three resin gods took advantage of the gap and flew down to earth. Indiscriminately, they marked the eaves and corners of every household to make the tomb palace extinct. Just as the Three Corpses God was doing evil, the Chef God discovered his whereabouts and was frightened to disgrace, so he quickly sought out various Chefs to discuss countermeasures. So, I came up with a good idea. From the day when the kitchen is delivered on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month to the time when the kitchen is closed on New Year's Eve, every household should clean up the house. If any household is not clean, Kitchen God will refuse to enter the house. According to the instructions of the kitchen god before he ascended to heaven, everyone cleaned the dust, dusted the cobwebs, cleaned the doors and windows, and thoroughly cleaned their houses. When Wang Lingguan visited the lower bound on New Year's Eve, he found that every household had bright windows and bright lights, people were reunited and happy, and the world was beautiful. Wang Lingguan was surprised that he could not find a sign indicating bad behavior. He rushed back to heaven, told the Jade Emperor that there was peace and happiness on earth, and prayed for a happy New Year. The Jade Emperor was greatly shocked after hearing this. He made a decree to detain the Three Corpses God, ordered him to be slapped for 300 mouths, and put him in prison forever. Thanks to the help of Kitchen God, this human disaster was spared. In order to thank the Kitchen God for helping people to solve disasters and bless Zhang Xiang, the folk dust-sweeping always starts from the kitchen and is busy until the New Year's Eve.

The custom of "sweeping the house with dust on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month" has a long history. According to "Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals", China had the custom of sweeping dust during the Spring Festival in the Yao and Shun era. According to the folk saying, because of the homonym of "dust" and "Chen", sweeping dust in the Spring Festival means "getting rid of the old and not being new", and its original intention is to sweep away all "bad luck" and "bad luck". This custom has placed people's desire to break the old and create new ones and their prayers to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new.

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Spring Festival couplets

As a unique literary form, Spring Festival couplets have a long history in China. It began in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, especially in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and has developed for more than a thousand years today.

As early as before the Qin and Han dynasties, there was a custom of hanging peach symbols around the gate every New Year. Fu Tao is two big boards made of peach wood, on which are written the names of the legendary gods and spirits who exorcise ghosts and suppress evil spirits. This custom lasted for more than 1000 years. It was not until the Five Dynasties that people began to put couplets on mahogany boards instead of the names of gods. According to historical records, on New Year's Eve in 964 AD, Meng Chang, the master of Houshu, wrote a couplet on the bedroom door, namely, "On New Year's Eve, Jia Jienuo. Changchun ",the earliest Spring Festival couplets in China.

After the Song Dynasty, it has become quite common for people to hang Spring Festival couplets in the New Year. Therefore, Wang Anshi wrote in the poem "January Day" that "thousands of households always change new peaches for old ones" was a true portrayal of the Spring Festival couplets at that time. Due to the close relationship between the appearance of Spring Festival couplets and Fu Tao, the ancients also called Spring Festival couplets "Fu Tao".

In the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding father of the Ming Dynasty, strongly advocated couplets. After establishing the capital of Jinling (now Nanjing), he ordered ministers, officials and ordinary people to write a couplet and put it on the door before New Year's Eve. Dressed in casual clothes, he went out door to door to watch the excitement. Scholars at that time also regarded couplets as elegant enjoyment, and writing Spring Festival couplets became a social fashion.

After entering the Qing Dynasty, couplets prevailed in Qianlong, Jiaqing and Daoguang generations. Just like the prosperous Tang Dynasty, many famous couplets appeared.

With the development of cultural exchanges among countries, couplets were introduced to Vietnam, Korea, Japan, Singapore and other countries. These countries still have the custom of pasting couplets.

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New Year picture

During the Spring Festival, people not only paste Spring Festival couplets and cut window grilles, but also like to hang New Year pictures in the living room and bedroom. A New Year picture adds a festive atmosphere to every household.

New Year pictures are an ancient folk art in China. They reflect people's customs and beliefs and place their hopes on the future. New Year pictures, like Spring Festival couplets, originated from "door gods". Spring Festival couplets developed from the names of Shen Tu and Lei Yu to figures, while New Year pictures still developed along the direction of painting.

With the rise of block printing, the content of New Year pictures is no longer limited to the door gods, but gradually invites the god of wealth to their homes, and then in some New Year pictures workshops, colorful New Year pictures such as three stars of Fu Lushou, God bless the people, abundant crops, prosperity of six animals, greeting the spring and praying for blessings are produced to meet people's good wishes of celebrating and praying for the New Year.

As Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of Ming Dynasty, advocated posting Spring Festival couplets, New Year pictures became popular, and three important producing areas of New Year pictures appeared in China: Taohuawu in Suzhou, Yangliuqing in Tianjin and Weifang in Shandong. Formed three schools of Chinese New Year pictures.

The earliest collection of New Year pictures in China is woodcut New Year pictures of the Southern Song Dynasty, which shows four ancient beauties: Wang Zhaojun, Zhao, Ban Ji and Lvzhu. However, the most popular picture among people in China is the New Year picture of marrying a mouse. This painting depicts an interesting scene in which a mouse marries a bride according to human custom. His paintings are lively in composition. This painting left an indelible impression on Lu Xun. As he said, this entertaining "Marry a Mouse" not only aroused the interest of adults, but also had a stronger artistic appeal to children.

According to folklore, New Year's Eve is an auspicious day for mice to get married. People should put some food under the bed and in the kitchen as gifts for the groom of the mouse to pray for a bumper harvest next year. Some grandmothers often tease their children before they go to bed and say, "Hide your shoes quickly, and don't let mice steal them as sedan chairs." This is the origin of words. Therefore, the New Year's picture Marry a Mouse can especially arouse the children's voices.

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Family reunion dinner on New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve is extremely important for China people. On this day, people are ready to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, and have a family reunion dinner. In ancient China, some prison officials even let prisoners go home to reunite with their families for the New Year, which shows how important "reunion dinner" is to ancient China people.

The annual reunion dinner fully shows the mutual respect and care among family members in China, which makes the relationship between families closer. Family reunion often comforts and satisfies the head of the family spiritually. The old people see their children and grandchildren all over the house, and the family is happy. The care and hard work of raising children in the past were not in vain. How happy this is. The younger generation can also take this opportunity to express their gratitude to their parents for their parenting.

When children are playing with firecrackers, it is also the busiest time for housewives in the kitchen. Chinese New Year's food is cooked a few days ago, and the New Year's Eve dinner is always cooked on New Year's Eve. In the north, jiaozi on the first day of New Year's Day will also be wrapped up on the evening of 30th. At this time, everyone's chopping boards are busy chopping meat and vegetables. At this time, the sound of chopping boards from every household, firecrackers from streets and alleys, the sound of "scratching" abacus, and the cadence of reimbursement from shops and shops are mixed with laughter and laughter everywhere, echoing with joy and interweaving into a cheerful movement on New Year's Eve.

Speaking of the anvil sound on New Year's Eve, Deng Yunxiang's "Yanjing Local Records" recorded a very bleak story on New Year's Eve: in the old society, the poor lived a hard life, and the New Year's Eve was a pass. There is a family whose husband hasn't brought money back until late at night. "There is no bottle of millet at home, and there is no new year's goods. The woman let her children sleep at home and could do nothing. She was in great pain when she heard the chopping block next door. I wonder if her husband can bring back some money or something. I don't know how to spend this year tomorrow, and I'm afraid there is no chopping block at home to make people laugh. So she chopped the chopping board with a knife, smashed and chopped, and shed tears ... This story is really sad.

Eating New Year's Eve is the most lively and enjoyable time for every household in the Spring Festival. On New Year's Eve, a table of rich Chinese New Year's dishes, family reunion, sitting around the table and having a reunion dinner, I really can't tell you the sense of fulfillment in my heart. People not only enjoy the delicious food on the table, but also enjoy the happy atmosphere. There are big dishes, cold dishes, stir-fried dishes and snacks on the table. Generally, two things are indispensable, one is hot pot and the other is fish. The hot pot is boiling, steaming, warm and sultry, which indicates that it is thriving; "Fish" and "fish" are homophonic, which is a symbol of "auspicious celebration is more than enough" and also a metaphor for "more than enough every year". There are also radishes, commonly known as vegetable heads. Good luck. Lobster, fried fish and other fried foods, wish your family prosperity, such as "cooking oil with fire" Finally, I want a dessert. I wish you a sweet life in the future. On this day, even if I can't drink, I will drink a little. In ancient times, people paid great attention to the quality of wine when drinking during the Spring Festival. Some wines are gone now, leaving only many touching names, such as fermented grapes, Wei Lan wine, Yichun wine, Mei Huajiu wine, peach blossom wine wine and Tu Su wine. Among these wines, Tu Su wine is the oldest and most popular. But how did the name of Tu Su wine come from? What is it made of? Legends are never the same.

Tu Su is a grass name. Some people say that Tu Su is an ancient wine brewed by this family, so it is called Tu Su wine. According to legend, Tu Su wine was created by Hua Tuo, a famous doctor at the end of Han Dynasty, and its formula was made by soaking rhubarb, Atractylodes macrocephala, Cinnamomum cassia twig, Saposhnikovia divaricata, Zanthoxylum bungeanum, Radix Aconiti Lateralis and Radix Aconiti Lateralis in the wine. This medicine has the effects of warming yang, expelling wind and cold, and avoiding epidemic diseases. Later, it was spread by Sun Simiao, a famous doctor in Tang Dynasty. Every year in the twelfth lunar month, Sun Simiao always sends a pack of medicine to his neighbors, telling them to take medicine to soak wine and drink it on New Year's Eve, which can prevent the plague. Sun Simiao also named his house "Tu Su House". Since then, after several generations, drinking Tu Su wine has become the custom of China New Year. In ancient times, Tu Su wine was drunk in a unique way. Most people drink alcohol, always starting from the elderly; But drinking Tu Su wine is just the opposite, starting with the smallest. That is to say, when a family gets together to drink Tu Su wine, they should start with the younger children and the older children should drink a little one by one. Su Zhe, a writer in the Song Dynasty, wrote in the poem "Except for Japan": "Drinking Tu Su at the end of each year is not over 70 years old." It's a custom. Some people don't understand the meaning of this habit. Dong Xun explained: "Young people will get old, so congratulations; The old man lost his age, so he was punished. "This custom was still very popular in the Song Dynasty. For example, Su Shi said in the poem "Sleeping Outside Changzhou": "Only learn from your worries, and never hesitate to drink Tu Su. "Although Su Shi was poor in his later years, he was optimistic. He thinks that as long as he is healthy and doesn't care about his old age, he naturally doesn't have to refuse to drink Tu Su wine in the end. In ancient times, this unique drinking order often caused people to have various emotions, so it left a deep impression on people. This custom remained unchanged until the Qing Dynasty. Although this custom is no longer popular on a large scale today, the custom of drinking these medicinal liquor still exists on festivals or at ordinary times.

There are many kinds of New Year's Eve dinners, including jiaozi, wonton, long noodles and Yuanxiao. , and each has its own emphasis. Northerners are used to eating jiaozi during the Spring Festival, which means "making friends when you are young". Because the white flour jiaozi is shaped like a silver ingot, the pots on the table symbolize the meaning of "getting rich in the New Year, and the ingots are rolling in". Some wrapped jiaozi and some coins sterilized with boiling water, saying that whoever ate first would make more money. The custom of eating jiaozi was handed down from the Han Dynasty. According to legend, Zhang Zhongjing, a medical saint, saw that the poor people's ears were frozen and rotten in the cold winter, so he made a kind of "cold-dispelling Joule soup" to treat frostbite for the poor. He used mutton, peppers and some herbs to drive away the cold and warm, made ear-shaped "corners" out of flour bags, cooked them in a pot and distributed them to the poor. After eating it, people feel hot all over and their ears are hot. Since then, people have followed suit and spread it to this day. Eating wonton in the New Year is based on its original meaning. Legend has it that the world was in a chaotic state before it was created, and Pangu created a universe with four long faces, also called longevity noodles. Eating noodles in the New Year is to wish you a long life.

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Shousui

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.

The custom of observing the old age not only includes the feeling of farewell and nostalgia for the fleeting time, but also expresses the good hope for the coming New Year. The ancients wrote in the poem "Shousui": "Invite Shousui Arong's family to spread red candles to green gauze; Thirty-six years have passed, and I am more willing to cherish my youth from this night. "It is human nature to cherish the years, so the great poet Su Shi wrote a famous sentence:" There will be no years next year, and I am worried about waste; "Do your best tonight, young people can still boast!" This shows the positive significance of keeping old on New Year's Eve.

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.