Tourism Composition of Guguan Third Bridge in Longxian County

On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, Laba porridge "delivers letters"

This is "Laba porridge".

Every year on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, people in old Beijing cook a pot of "Laba porridge". The raw materials are mainly beans, rice, red dates, raisins, longan and other miscellaneous grains, which means "five grains are abundant".

The sticky and delicious "Laba porridge" was used to worship the "Kitchen God" in the old society. In the past, food was the most important thing, and the kitchen god had a great position.

Today's "Laba porridge", old Beijing will cook a pot at home, the neighbors will taste each other, and then the whole family will get together to enjoy it.

After drinking this "Laba porridge" as the messenger of the New Year, old Beijing entered the agenda of the New Year. Buy food, buy new clothes, prepare new year's goods, clean up the house, and welcome the arrival of the 30 th anniversary.

Careful colleagues also pointed out that this "messenger" has another meaning: from the day of Laba Festival, "those who pay the bill begin to collect, and those who are in debt must pay back." This not only gives the person who pays the bill a reason to collect debts, but also gives the debtor a reminder. Don't hold back. Why don't you cook this bill into next year's meal? You have to pay it back sooner or later, preferably years ago, so that you can relax for the New Year.

On Laba, old Beijingers will never forget to soak some garlic in vinegar so that they can eat jiaozi food on the first day of the Lunar New Year. This kind of garlic is commonly known as "Laba garlic".

With the passage of time, the custom of cooking Laba porridge and pickling Laba garlic is still very popular in Beijing today.

I, a "foreigner" born in Beijing, was lucky enough to taste the "Laba porridge" sent by old Beijing this year. Thick sweet porridge, wrapped in the first fragrance of old Beijing for the New Year.

On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, "honeydew melon stick".

The 23rd of the twelfth lunar month is the real opening of the New Year curtain for old Beijingers, commonly known as "off-year", and the days are catching up, and the serious "New Year" is not far away.

This "off-year" is called "twenty-three honeydew melons stick" in old Beijing folklore. The so-called "sugar melon" is candy made of maltose.

On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, every household in old Beijing has to offer sacrifices to the kitchen stove, and the kitchen god is delighted. He is "sweet-tongued" in front of the Jade Emperor, bringing blessings to this family for a whole year, peace and health. Moreover, honeydew melon is used to stick the mouth of the kitchen god and seal it with sugar. When he met the jade emperor, he simply said nothing, for fear that he would suffer if he said too much.

"23 honeydew melons are sticky; Twenty-four house cleaning days; 25 windows; Twenty-six stews; Twenty-seven chickens were killed; Twenty-eight sides; Twenty-nine steamed buns; Thirty children stayed up all night; Twist on the first day of the new year. "

"Cleaning Day" is a big cleaning, but it is not as simple as sweeping the floor and cleaning the windows when we were students. In addition to thoroughly cleaning up the gray net in the corner that can't be swept inside and outside the house on weekdays, old Beijing should also do some work such as changing New Year pictures, painting and pasting walls.

It is difficult to reproduce the scene of "sticking windows" in Beijing now, so my colleagues in the planning department suggested changing it to "cleaning windows". The quadrangles in old Beijing are all wooden windows. Before the New Year in China, they must put up new white window paper and hang handicrafts such as "Fu", window grilles, paper-cutting and "auspicious knots" on the windows to symbolize peace and happiness.

It is not difficult to imagine the excitement of the New Year when you think about the scene of every household being red in those days. The most important part of this day is to put red paper and black (gold) Spring Festival couplets on our door. As soon as the Spring Festival couplets came out, the atmosphere of the New Year suddenly became strong.

"Stewing meat", "killing cock", "kneading dough" and "steaming steamed bread" are the delicious links in this huge countdown to the New Year. In those days when the diet was light, the smell of meat was a wonderful temptation. This pursuit of keeping my body and mind warm is a vivid memory of my childhood. Young people who advocate vegetarianism or various kinds of weight loss now don't know if they can understand.

According to the rules of old Beijing, these sumptuous New Year's Eve dinners must be prepared in advance. Because there is a taboo in old Beijing, you can't use a knife at the end of the year, otherwise it will be unlucky and cause trouble.

Don't even move scissors and needles except knives to avoid squabbles and long pinholes. With so many taboos, food was prepared years ago. It is not until the "fifth day" (after the fifth day of the fifth lunar month) that you can chop meat and cut vegetables with a knife.

On New Year's Eve, "endure" one night.

Lunar New Year's Eve is the climax of Chinese New Year, and all the accumulation and preparation seem to be for the "carnival" of this day. However, in the subtle and calm old Beijing, this kind of "carnival" is enriched by the simplicity of Beijing flavor.

On this day, old Beijing must throw the leftovers out of the door and burn the prescription it is using. It is said that this can "throw away all diseases".

In addition, the family has to prepare banquets and put on new clothes, neighbors and relatives pay New Year greetings to each other, and the younger generation kowtows to the elders, commonly known as "resigning from office". Especially newlyweds, must "resign" at their mother-in-law's house, otherwise it will be disrespectful and unfilial.

New year's day, twist it.

Stay up until dawn, but I can't sleep yet. I wash well and tidy up neatly, and I have to bow to my elders to pay New Year greetings and kowtow to send my blessings.

Children love it during the Spring Festival. If you bow your head and kowtow, you can get a lucky money red envelope. When I was a child, my neighbor's children bowed and kowtowed to everyone. They are very economical, even if they break their heads, they are also very economical. Later, he became an economist

The new year begins on this day, and children open new year's red envelopes, which also opens a prosperous year.

Spring Festival custom in Shanghai

In the past, there were more beggars on the Spring Festival.

There is a beggar who begs not because his family is poor, but because of filial piety. It is said that there is a death gate for the elderly to live to 998 1 year-old, and only by eating "100 meals" can they spend it safely. Therefore, filial sons and daughters take the elderly out to beg for food for their parents on the first day of the new year. There is also a beggar, commonly known as "beggar". The way they beg is interesting. Some beggars wrap their heads in red paper and hang them on bamboo poles. Every time you come to a restaurant, you say that the vegetable head has arrived, the business is good, and you ask for charity. This is called "delivering vegetable heads".

Some use paper and bamboo silk to make cows. In order to give alms, they say good words and auspicious words in front of each house. This is called "sending spring cattle"; Some people hold branches of holly or cypress and hang some small bells on the branches to show that their families will be like cash cows in the new year. This is called a "cash cow"; Some corporate beggars wear Buddhist clothes, statues, masks, and make up as the god of wealth to run around in various houses to show that the god of wealth is coming. This is called "jumping the God of Wealth". Chongming people lived in poverty in the old society, but when they met these beggars, they were kind enough to give them some food such as dry food. After liberation, these ways of running enterprises have long since ceased to exist.

In the early morning of the second day of the Lunar New Year, all shops and craftsmen have to burn incense and worship God. This is the so-called "burning profit festival". At noon 10, the shopkeeper also held wine to entertain the clerk, praying for a prosperous business in the new year. According to legend, the fifth day of the New Year is the birthday of the God of Wealth. All the shops in the street are open for business. On this day, every household eats wonton at noon to show wealth. In addition, there are wooden plays (now known as puppet shows) in China. From the first day to the fifth day, every family visits relatives and friends, wishes each other a happy New Year and presents each other. During the period, the incense in the temple was far more vigorous than usual. Especially on the morning of New Year's Day, there are many people who go to temples to burn incense and worship Buddha, and they are very early. In order to catch the first incense, Shouan Temple outside the city and Guangfu Temple in Zhongxing Town are the most lively places.

On the fifteenth night of the first lunar month; Lantern Festival; night of the 15th of the first lunar month；Lantern Festival；yuanxiao

The fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the Lantern Festival, also known as Shangyuan Festival, commonly known as the first half of the first month. People take the fifth to twentieth day of the first month as the Lantern Festival. In the old society, before the Lantern Festival, every household used glutinous rice flour to make cakes of various shapes, some shaped like ancient silk balls and silver, and some shaped like chickens, ducklings, carp, cotton peaches, corn, peaches and rice piles. At noon in the first half of the first month, every family eats wonton; In the afternoon, people also take these foods as sacrifices, go to graves to worship their ancestors, and offer sacrifices to the fields. In the evening, people carry lanterns of different shapes in groups of three and five, then throw fireballs and cross the third bridge to have fun. The habit of playing lanterns in the first month is very popular. Lanterns are shaped like rabbit lights, carp lights and pentagonal lights. And the places where lanterns are hung also have local characteristics. For example, many red lights are arranged in glyphs or various figures, candles are lit inside lanterns, and bamboo poles are hung high. This is called "running a red light". Put a bamboo pole between things in the country and hang a red lantern. When you light candles at night, it looks good to look up, just like during the day. There is a colorful building tied to the bridge mouth, full of all kinds of strange lanterns, and there is a unique style here at night. In addition, there are many activities in the Lantern Festival evening, such as horse racing, lion-tuning, soil-throwing rich man, inviting three queens into the pit and Yuan Jie girls.

As the saying goes, "eat two big heads, everyone has his own interests." After the 16th day of the first month, the people who celebrated returned to all walks of life, and at this point, the Spring Festival activities ended. After liberation, the Lantern Festival tends to be simplified, but the custom of children eating wonton, making silk balls, making jiaozi and playing with lanterns still exists, which has been given new significance, especially in the streets of county towns, where lanterns are hung and fireworks are set off at night, attracting many men, women and children, and some of them leave home to watch lanterns in the streets. Strange fireworks, colorful, set off the night sky of the Lantern Festival, symbolizing the growing prosperity of the motherland.

For more than a thousand years, our ancestors have thrived in this beautiful land, and gradually formed various customs with strong local characteristics in their long-term production activities and daily life. These customs and habits condensed the ancestors' pursuit and yearning for a better life, and showed their good qualities of simplicity and hard work. Of course, there are some backward and ignorant contents on the other side of traditional customs. With the development of production and social progress, people's traditional customs have also changed from barbarism to civilization and from ignorance to science. With the development of civilization and the progress of science, some old customs contained in this paper have been abandoned, and some customs have been injected with new contents and inherited and carried forward. At the turn of the century, we should devote ourselves to building a new socialist fashion, strengthen the construction of socialist spiritual civilization and ensure the smooth progress of socialist modernization. When celebrating traditional festivals, don't forget that it is our conscious behavior to change customs and make due efforts for the construction of socialist spiritual civilization.

New Year Customs in Shaanxi Province

The folk customs of the Spring Festival are similar all over the country.

Shaanxi has simple folk customs, and the Spring Festival has strong local flavor and local characteristics. In ancient times, the year was not on the 29th or 30th of the twelfth lunar month, but on the 29th of the twelfth lunar month, that is, Laba. La Worship was moved to the end of the Southern and Northern Dynasties. In the Republic of China, when the solar calendar was changed, the year of the lunar calendar was called the Spring Festival, because it was always after beginning of spring, so it was called the Spring Festival.

People in Shaanxi still call the Spring Festival "Chinese New Year" today, and a story about Chinese New Year has been handed down. In ancient times, there was a beast called Nian, whenever the cold winter approached the night of the New Year. Eating people outside makes people fidget. In the struggle with Nian, people found that this fierce beast was most afraid of fire and noise, so people thought of a way. As soon as Nian appeared, they lit a fire and jumped into the bamboo cracks. I saw a raging fire and heard firecrackers explode in 2000, and fled without a trace. Later, a Chinese New Year reunion was gradually formed. The customs and habits of observing the old age, hanging red lights, posting couplets, setting off firecrackers and eating New Year's Eve.

In rural Shaanxi, the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month is the Lunar New Year, and the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month is called "off-year". In some places in the countryside, it is called "offering sacrifices to stoves", that is, offering sacrifices to the "kitchen god" who dominates good and bad luck in order to have ample food and clothing. After the Spring Festival, people will prepare for it. Ordinary farmers kill pigs and sheep, grind rice and noodles, make tofu, buy vegetables, hang vermicelli and prepare all the food needed for the New Year. From the 27th to 29th of the twelfth lunar month, Guanzhong people pack steamed buns. Every household is short of several cages of steamed buns. It is a custom to eat them after the fifteenth day of the first month, and not to roll noodles before the fifteenth day of the first month. Women go to the streets to buy clothes, shoes and socks for the elderly and children, while the elderly buy red paper, New Year pictures, mingbi, white linen paper and other Chinese New Year etiquette supplies.

Two days before New Year's Eve, Shaanxi, whether it is Guanzhong, southern Shaanxi, northern Shaanxi or urban and rural areas, must "sweep the house", and people in the city call it general cleaning. Before and after every house, outside the kiln, even the corners should be cleaned. Then paste white paper and red window grilles on the window room. In the early thirties, every household posted couplets and door gods, and hung New Year pictures in the house. This year has finally arrived.

Entering the twelfth lunar month, people began to get busy, and they were busy until the thirtieth of the twelfth lunar month, when the Chinese New Year officially began. Before dinner on New Year's Eve, every household should clean and tidy up the house, yard, front and back of the house, and affix red couplets (yellow or green couplets for mourners), door gods, window grilles and so on. And put corresponding couplets on the gate, bedroom, stove and barn. When everything was ready, they started lighting candles, burning incense, setting off firecrackers and offering sacrifices to their ancestors. After that, the whole family gathered at a table to eat "reunion dinner", commonly known as "reunion dinner". In the evening, all the houses are brightly lit, the fires are blazing, the young and the old stay up all night, and the furnace is "guarding the old", commonly known as "sitting on the roots of the year". At the same time, the whole family should take a bath, change clothes and pack jiaozi in turn to prepare for the Chinese New Year. At midnight (equivalent to today's 23: 00- 1: 00), thousands of firecrackers rang in unison, meaning "catching stars" and "welcoming the god of wealth", and some of them even put on incense tables and bowed down. It is said that the god of wealth will go to the house where firecrackers ring first. Then, the younger generation kowtows to the elders to pay New Year greetings, and the elders also give the children "lucky money" prepared in advance. People separated from their families began to rush to pay New Year greetings to each other and stayed up all night until the morning of the first day.

From the first day to the tenth day, Ankang people also have the custom of predicting the prosperity of grain and livestock by watching the weather. According to legend, the weather is predicted every day. That is, the first day I see chickens, the second day I see dogs, the third day I see sheep, the fourth day I see pigs, the fifth day I see cows, the sixth day I see horses, the seventh day I see people, the eighth day I see cereals (crops), the ninth day I see fruits (fruit trees) and the tenth day I see vegetables. Commonly known as "the tenth day of the Spring Festival is sunny, the harvest year is happy and peaceful, the tenth day of the Spring Festival is cloudy, and rice is as expensive as gold".

Lanterns were everywhere in the first month.

In the moon, colorful lanterns, every household welcomes the Spring Festival. All kinds of colorful lights constitute a major landscape of Shaanxi customs.

On the fifteenth day of the first month in Xi 'an, "Zhang Deng" can be traced back to the Han Dynasty. On the fifteenth day of the first month, this day was called Shangyuan Festival in ancient times, and the night of this day was called "Yuanxiao", also called "Yuanxiao". Every night, Emperor Wendi decorated lanterns and went out to enjoy them with people. Since then, the tradition of decorating lanterns on Xi 'an Lantern Festival has sprung up like mushrooms after rain, which shows that people can live a good year of social stability and adequate food and clothing, and it has been passed down to this day. Xi 'an's city walls and Revolutionary Park hold lantern exhibitions almost every year. In recent years, the lantern festival on Xi 'an city wall is getting bigger and bigger every year. From carrying forward China's traditional culture, abandoning evil and doing good, respecting the old and loving the young, wishing the year "good weather", the society "good luck" and the people "wealth and longevity" to the typical story that the 13th Dynasty established its capital here, it has formed a pleasing folk custom and historical picture scroll. The audience can not only read the historical records of Xi dynasties from the Lantern Festival.

In northern Shaanxi, the lights will be turned on on the fifteenth day of the first month. Villages and towns set up Jiuge Square in the open space, and people go to "turn Jiuge", also called "turn the lights". The Jiuqu Square was planted with 3,665,438+0 sorghum stalks, and 367 oil lamps (which have been replaced by colored lights) were hung on the stalks. There is no repeated road in the square. Some people call it Jiuqu Yellow River Array. Playing gongs and drums and suona together at night can turn nine songs. The "Zhuanjiuqu" lasted for three nights from the 14th to 16th of the first month. There is a local saying that "Zhuan Jiu Ge" can live 90 years. Playing with flowers is also a special activity of the Lantern Festival. This is a kind of self-made fireworks, which melts copper and iron into molten copper and molten iron, then pours wet sand on the board and throws it into the sky together, and then scatters when it falls. This kind of ancient fireworks is more interesting than some modern fireworks.

Lantern is a traditional folk handicraft in Longxian County. Strange shapes, including sky lanterns, dragon lanterns, gossip lanterns, flower basket lanterns, flower drum lanterns, toad lanterns, cabbage lanterns, red gauze lanterns, cupping lanterns, riding lanterns, beaded lanterns and so on. During the Spring Festival, relatives and friends should exchange lanterns to celebrate the New Year. My uncle sent a lamp to my nephew until he was twelve years old. The last year's lamp delivery was called "Finish the lamp". On the fifteenth day of the first month, the Lantern Festival is very lively. There are thousands of lights in the street. The lantern market decorated the county with colorful lights, and the crowds who bought and watched lanterns were bustling. Every household should hang sky lanterns in the yard, door lanterns on the doors, and even people who live in buildings should hang lanterns on the balcony. Children walk around the street with lanterns in droves, which is called "lantern-riding", while adults carry cupping lanterns and take offerings to their ancestral graves, which is called "ancestors hanging lanterns".

Customs of Spring Festival in Taiwan Province Province

In Taiwan Province Province, as in Chinese mainland, the Spring Festival, also called the China New Year, is the most lively and longest-lasting folk festival.

Generally speaking, it lasts 1 month from the end of the Lantern Festival (Shangyuan Festival) on the 15th day of the first month.

The first, fifteenth or the second and sixteenth day of each month is the day when Taiwanese businessmen worship the land god, which is called "tooth making". February 2 is the first time to make teeth, called "head teeth"; 1February 16 The dentist was the last dentist, so it was called "tail tooth". Tail tooth is the "end" of the business's one-year activities and the "first sound" of the people's Spring Festival activities. On this day, people in Taiwan Province Province will burn land money to worship the upright god of Ford (that is, land money), and set up a bench in front of the door to offer a five-flavored bowl, burn prayer flags and silver paper to worship the owners (to worship the foundation of the house). All business lines should also entertain employees today in return for their hard work in the past year. In the past, if the boss didn't plan to renew his employees in the coming year, he pointed his head at him at the banquet, implying dismissal. However, this custom has disappeared. In addition to the increasingly popular tail tooth banquet in recent years, according to the traditional custom, the whole family get together to "eat tail teeth". The main food is moist cakes and steamed bread. Wet cake is made of bean sprouts, shredded bamboo shoots, beans, garlic, dried eggs, tiger moss, peanut powder, tomato sauce and other ingredients wrapped in wet cake. The food in the bag is three layers of meat, pickles, dried bamboo shoots, coriander and peanut powder, all of which are local delicacies.

Send it to god. The 24th of the twelfth lunar month is the day of offering sacrifices to the gods, and every household will hold activities of offering sacrifices to the kitchen stove to bid farewell to the kitchen god and other gods.

Kitchen God is commonly called "Kitchen God", and some are called "Siming Zhenjun", "Kitchen God" and "Hospital Protection". "Chef King" and so on. Its full name is "Oriental chefs point nine spirits, and Wang Yuan will be the God King", so some people call it "Nine-day Oriental chefs smoke the Lord". In early Taiwan Province Province, every kitchen had a fairly large "stove". Legend has it that there is a kitchen god in the kitchen. Every year 1 4, he is sent by the jade emperor to monitor the words and deeds of various families. Until1February 24th, he returned to heaven to report his work to the Jade Emperor and the merits and demerits of each family.

New Year's Eve: Resignation, debt-dodging drama, surrounding the kitchen, observing the new year, etc. New Year's Eve, also called New Year's Eve, is the most important day among the customs in Taiwan Province Province, and there are quite a few customs. First, we should resign from the New Year and decorate the "hall head", that is, put on new prints and couplets in the hall dedicated to the "Guanyin Bodhisattva" and the gods. In the afternoon, an "annual resignation" ceremony was held. There are five sacrifices and various titles on the altar to worship the gods, then worship the ancestors, kneel three times and knock nine times to express gratitude to the gods and ancestors for their blessings this year, and pray for more blessings in the new year. There is also a kind of "spring rice" in front of the god table, which is a small bowl filled with rice with flowers made of red paper. Three bowls before Buddha, one bowl on the stove. These flowers are also called "spring flowers" or "rice spring flowers", and this kind of rice is called "Chinese New Year rice". In Minnan language, "spring" and "leftover" are homophonic, indicating that there are leftovers that can't be eaten. There are three piles of oranges and some red dates on the table. Jujube symbolizes good year after year. Oranges can't be picked until the Lantern Festival. There is a saying called "Go to Yuan Qing (night) to tear down the orange shed." Finally, we will burn gold paper and set off firecrackers to end the ceremony.

Debt avoidance drama and debt collection lamp are holiday activities to prevent creditors from coming to collect debts during the New Year. On New Year's Eve, all the temples in Taiwan Province Province will offer sacrifices to the gods and perform plays. Anyone who is in debt for the New Year will run to the stage in the temple and hide in the crowd to watch the play. According to custom, creditors can't ask him for debts. If the debt collector asks for money at the stage of "debt avoidance drama", it will cause public anger, be besieged by the masses and be annoying. The play will last all night until the first day of the next morning. Debtors will also spend the New Year smoothly. However, creditors also have ways to deal with it, that is, on the first day of the New Year's Day, they wear old clothes and carry lanterns at home to collect debts, pretending that they have been collecting debts since the night of the New Year's Eve, and they have not returned home yet, and the lanterns are still in their hands, which cannot be regarded as "collecting debts for the New Year". This kind of lamp is called "debt collection lamp" However, unless there is deep resentment, creditors generally will not easily use the "debt collection lamp".

Around the stove, New Year's Eve, also called Chinese New Year, families who go out to make a living will return to their hometown for reunion. If they can't go back, they will vacate a seat to put that person's clothes to show their reunion. The whole family sat around the dining table, eating the most abundant dishes of the year. There is a burning stove under the table, and there are some copper coins beside the stove to show warmth and wealth. What you eat around the stove is usually symbolic. If you must eat "long-year-old vegetables" (made of mustard, which means longevity) and "leeks" ("leeks" and "long" are homophonic, you must eat them one by one, from beginning to end, without eating sideways or biting, in order to "live a long life"). In addition, you should eat radish (that is, the head of the vegetable) to look good; Eating "whole chicken" is a family portrait ("chicken" and "home" are homonyms); Eating "clam" means it can give birth. After eating, the mussel shell should be placed under the bed, indicating that it will give birth to clams and grandchildren. Eating fish balls, shrimp balls and meatballs means "ternary harmony" (pills are homophonic with yuan, and ternary means champion, meeting yuan and solving yuan); Don't eat all the dishes with knives, and the cooking is still the same.

There is a proverb in Taiwan Province Province called "Erjiu Lao", which means that New Year's Eve is a happy day. In the past, it was popular in Taiwan Province Province to adopt women with different surnames as "child brides". It was not until he was seventeen or eighteen that he married his son. Rich people usually hold banquets to entertain relatives and friends and hold weddings in 20 days. The average family will have a family reunion on New Year's Eve, and the child bride and son will have a perfect marriage, commonly known as "sending them to make a pile", "sharing a room" and "adults". Usually choose the auspicious day of the ecliptic to avoid touching god. However, on New Year's Eve, all the gods were sent to heaven. At this time, you choose your child bride and son to "send them to make piles", so you don't have to worry about being condemned by the gods.

New Year Customs in Wenzhou

China New Year is a very important festival for China people.

Every place has its own characteristics, and Wenzhou also has its own unique Chinese New Year culture.

Eat glutinous rice balls on the solstice in winter

The solstice in winter is called "solstice", commonly known as "winter festival". On this morning, every family will eat glutinous rice balls or sesame seeds. There are sweet sugar or sesame seeds in the dumplings, and there are preserved meat dumplings. However, glutinous rice should be cooked first, mashed into pieces, and then rolled in bean flour to make it stick with bean flour. This is a winter snack, commonly known as "rolling sesame". Eating sesame paste and glutinous rice balls symbolizes reunion and celebration. There is a folk proverb, "Eat the winter solstice pill, and you will grow one year old".

Sun-dried soy sauce meat and eel owl

Wenzhou people are used to drying sauced meat and eel in November of the lunar calendar. Soaking raw lean meat and raw chickens and ducks in soy sauce and then drying them to eat have a special flavor. In the months before drying these wax goods, nails were nailed to the rafters of every household, and there were sauce meat, sauce duck and sauce chicken hanging on them. Homemade sauced meat and chicken are delicious and of high quality, so people are willing to do it themselves even if there are ready-made ones on the market. Eel is a specialty of Wenzhou. Wenzhou people usually go to the food market to buy some larger eels, cut them open and dried them, and they become what we call "eels". Eel is more delicious than fresh eel, and it is a good accompaniment to New Year's Eve.

Dao rice cake

Also called "mashed sugar cake", glutinous rice is mixed with some indica rice, brown sugar or white sugar, steamed, mashed in a stone mortar and then made into a rectangle. Ryan is called "slow food". If placed in a printing plate with different patterns, it can be pressed into sweet cakes with peony, flat peach, Kuixing, God of Wealth, champion, carp, unicorn and other patterns. , can also be made into ingots, weighing about 3kg at most. It can be placed on the long table with silver flowers in the nave or in every room. This is also called "making rice cakes", which means increasing year by year.

Sacrifice to the kitchen god

On the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, every household will also "worship the iron pot Buddha". It is said that this day is the day when Kitchen God reports the merits and demerits of ordinary people to the Jade Emperor. It is said that the kitchen god is greedy, and he will be silenced as long as he has sugar to eat, so maltose is indispensable to sacrifice to the kitchen god, so that the kitchen god will not speak ill of the jade emperor.

Shanxin

Every year around the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, following the custom of "dusting the old" in the twelfth lunar month, every household in Wenzhou should sweep away dust and dirt, decorate their rooms with white walls, wash clothes and hang things. Every household takes this opportunity to wash away the dirt accumulated at home and welcome the Spring Festival.

paste up Spring Festival couplets

Another common custom of New Year in China is to paste Spring Festival couplets. As early as the Song Dynasty, posting Spring Festival couplets has become a popular custom. In Song Dynasty, Spring Festival couplets were called Fu Tao. The ancients believed that peaches could ward off evil spirits, so they often placed some items made of peach wood in front of the door as decorations, which were called peach ornaments, and later gradually evolved into Fu Tao, that is, Spring Festival couplets. In the past, Spring Festival couplets were written in black on red paper with ink. In recent years, red paper and gold-printed Spring Festival couplets are popular in the market, which is quite popular among people. On New Year's Eve, all doors, columns and windows are pasted with red paper for Spring Festival couplets, commonly known as "door pairs". There are four words posted on the lintel, commonly known as "horizontal approval", and the word "Daji" is posted on the single door. Spring Festival couplets with different contents are posted in the main room, hall, study, pigsty, sheepfold and cowshed, mostly to pray for good luck and peace and a bumper harvest in all walks of life.

Aged wine

On New Year's Eve, the whole family will have dinner and drink, or invite relatives and friends to eat and drink to their hearts' content, which is called "Fenjiu". Because New Year's Eve is the dividing line between the new year and the old year, it means that the old year and the new year are divided from this night. Therefore, this meal, rich or poor, should be as rich as possible. Wenzhou people are very particular about eating "vintage wine", also called "New Year's Eve".

It's lucky to drink at the age of seven. In the past, ten tall cinnabar bowls and ten kinds of cold dishes were used at banquets, which were called "stone springs". Besides chicken and meat, there should be peanuts (fruits), oranges (good luck), carp (jumping the dragon gate), tofu (cleaning the house) and so on. And each bowl must have a round carrot head cover with the top sliced to show appreciation. After drinking too much wine, people often stay up all night for entertainment, commonly known as "guarding the old age" or "looking forward to the New Year's Eve".

Open the gun

In the early morning of the first day of the first month, the first thing that every household should do is to play "opening the door" in a hurry, and firecrackers in the whole city are ringing, symbolizing the farewell of the old year and the welcome of the new year, commonly known as "closing the year". It is also customary to play "opening the door". Generally, a string of small firecrackers is put first, which is called the "Hundred Zi Gun". Two firecrackers were set off again, and only three firecrackers were set off, indicating that the plague of one year can be lifted and the New Year is coming. It is required to ring three times, and the sound is loud and clear, which is the most auspicious.

Pay new year's call

On the first day of the first month, when you get up in your own home, the younger generation kowtows to the elders in order, which is called "Happy New Year". From the second day of the first month, neighbors, relatives and friends come and go to worship the festival. According to the old custom, Wenzhou people don't visit relatives on the first day of the first month. Generally speaking, New Year greetings are from the second day to the tenth day, and some are extended to the fifteenth day of the first month. Before the 1950s, it was relatively simple to pay New Year's greetings, mostly longan, litchi, red dates, yuan dates, brown sugar, dried persimmons and so on. They are wrapped in special papyrus paper with red paper on it, so they are called "paper Bao Peng".

Put on new clothes

On the first day of the first month, people have to wear new clothes, which also means seeing off the old and welcoming the new. Because people regard red as a symbol of good luck, children wear big red clothes, young women are of course all red, and even old women wear big red skirts. Nowadays, people have changed a lot in their clothes. Colors are not limited to red, but become more colorful and diverse.

After the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the year is over.

In recent years, the life of citizens has become more colorful, and the way of celebrating the New Year has also changed. Some families choose to travel in the first month, and some young people are becoming more and more indifferent to the New Year. Their enthusiasm for the new year is not as good as that of some western festivals. In this regard, Pan Yigang still believes: "The Spring Festival cannot be represented by any festival, and the change of concept only proves the progress of civilization."