What are the Spring Festival customs in Yichang? What are the customs of Yichang Spring Festival?

The beginning of the new year will be a "busy year", so be prepared for the new year. From the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, clean the house, clean all the rooms, wash clothes, wash bedding, clean tables and chairs, and clean stoves; Make liqueur, boil sesame sugar, beat tofu and stir-fry rice grains; Buy vegetables, fruits and cakes.

Drive away mice

This day is also the day when mice marry women. It is forbidden to sweep, especially not to use scissors, or there will be endless rodents in the coming year. "Drive away rats" is an activity that farmers pray for reducing rat harm. At dawn, adults will encourage their children to get up quickly, go shirtless, put on sandals on one foot, drag shoes with laces on the other, hold a dustpan in their left hand and a wooden hammer or stick in their right hand, and then go to every corner of the room and knock on the dustpan and say, "Blow the dustpan twice, and drag the sandals twice." "Twenty-four, pat the dustpan, the mouse will spoil the bad child." This is people's curse on mice and their desire to keep the granary intact.

God of offering sacrifices to stoves

In the past, almost every kitchen had a kitchen god. Legend has it that he was named "Commander of the Nine-Day East Chef" by the Jade Emperor, who was responsible for managing the stoves of various families and was regarded as the patron saint of the family. Some gods only draw a kitchen god, while others have two men and women. The goddess is called "Grandma Chef". Usually amiable, they all imitate the image of human lovers.

In most areas of Yichang, the 24th of the twelfth lunar month is a small year. The main custom of off-year is "offering sacrifices to the kitchen gods", which are all run by housewives. On both sides of the stove door, there are red couplets written with the words "Heaven says yes, the lower bound is safe". Light candles in the pot, water tank and basin respectively. Everything is ready. After dressing up, women put offerings in front of the stove, burn incense and paper, sprinkle with white wine, and then bow down and kowtow, so that the kitchen god can "get drunk" so that he can say good things about the world the day after tomorrow. Women who menstruate on this day are forbidden to sacrifice to the kitchen god, otherwise they will collide with the kitchen god. It is said that on this day, Kitchen God will report the good and evil of this family to the Jade Emperor, and let him reward and punish it. When offering sacrifices to the stove, you should melt the Guandong sugar with fire and put it on the mouth of the kitchen god, so that he can't speak ill of the Jade Emperor. These kitchen sweets are especially popular with children.

Uneasy reunion dinner

In the old society of Yichang, during the off-year period, all the people outside went home for reunion. If there are servants at home, employers will hire * * * to get together. The host asked Mr. Accountant, long-term workers and short-term workers to raise their glasses, drink and eat meat, and exchange greetings. After dinner, the boss asked the accountant to get the account book and pay the employees the salary of the year. On the right side of the bill is the payee's name and amount, and on the lower left is written * * * to get rich together in the coming year. The employees are very happy because they have made money in the coming year. If the words "find another way to make a fortune in the coming year" are written on the lower left, employees will be like a cool breeze blowing from head to toe, worrying that there will be nothing to do in the coming year. Therefore, long-term and short-term workers' reunion dinners are both delicious and not delicious.

New Year's Eve/Reunion dinner and auspicious food

On New Year's Eve, the whole family sat around a big table. In the old society, Yichang people, like most places, had to worship relatives and teachers before having a reunion dinner. The reunion dinner is naturally a rare and rich dinner in a year. The table is full of meat and vegetables, both cold and hot. Smoked fish, bacon and other local specialties are indispensable meat dishes for both rich and poor families. There are several lucky dishes on the table, such as "three balls", that is, balls or fish balls, lotus root balls and tofu balls, which are called "ingots"; Day lily is cooked with shredded bamboo shoots, which is called "gold and silver silk"; Stewing bamboo shoots with shredded pork is called "increasing day by day"; Steamed preserved fish is called "rich and rich". I wonder if there are any auspicious dishes for the reunion dinner at home now.

Nianbao and Spring Festival couplets

"Nianbao" is rare now. "Nianbao" is a unique mascot in Yichang. Several bundles of green cypress branches are wrapped in red paper and hung in the middle of the room to show good luck in the new year and all the best. Spring Festival couplets are sold everywhere. Before liberation, most of the people who wrote Spring Festival couplets in Yichang city were old gentlemen with high academic ability, but most of them were sven people from poor families to supplement their families.

Old age or digging a hole?

"Shounian", Shounian Shounian, stayed up all night. In the old days, there was a pot of charcoal fire in the middle of the hall. The more the fire, the better, which symbolized that the days in the coming year would be more fiery. Farmers' fire cages should have a thick tree pocket as a "pillar of fire", and some of them are called "fire owners" and "fire pigs". They burn from New Year's Eve to the fifteenth day of the first month, and will never go out, which indicates the prosperity of the coming year. Leave the unfinished firewood and send it to the garden, so that the vegetables in the garden will not be infested.

Children can't keep up with their age and are often called by their elders to "dig holes". The auspicious words "digging pits" refer to sleeping, lying down with clothes or sleeping for a short time, which is called "digging silver pits", and sleeping with head covered or sleeping for a long time is called "digging gold pits".

In the old Yichang city, the outdoor scene on New Year's Eve is very lively, and the gongs and drums are loud to celebrate the New Year. The streets were brightly lit that night. The cries of the vendors selling steamed cakes "Steamed cakes, Steamed cakes, higher and higher" kept going all night. One cake buyer after another has formed the unique scenery of Yichang.

Three days a year/one day out

New Year's Day is the beginning of a new year. In the morning, people put on new clothes, open the door and let the "gold nugget" leaning against the door fall into the door. After visiting the shrine, put a whip to show "opening the door to make money and entering the door in the New Year". At this time, the outside seems to be bright, and every family takes firecrackers to watch the sky and stars outdoors, which is called "out of the sky" or "out of the sky". Back in the house, the younger generation pays New Year greetings to their elders, and then "goes out", saying that it is "a good trip". On the first day of the first month of Wufeng Fishing Pass, you must bring firewood into the house when you go out in the morning, which means opening the door and making a fortune. When greeting people in the New Year, you should shout "Congratulations on your wealth-Happy New Year" when you enter the door, and you should also bring firewood into the door.

It's a good day. When family members travel, they should first check the almanac of that year. If you are lucky, you will go here and finally go to the temple to worship God and Buddha. Most people in Yichang go to Guandi Building in the south gate. Climbing the stairs is called "ascending step by step", and the statue of Guan Gong is worshipped by burning incense and paper.