The problem of Chinese New Year!

Chinese New Year is the biggest folk activity of the Chinese nation. The Chinese nation has lived for more than 5,000 years, which is closely related to the largest annual culture. Guangzhou citizens celebrate the New Year with rich and profound folk culture. However, several generations have passed, and the Spring Festival of Guangzhou people has also changed with the times. Even the God of Wealth has a cartoon version. Some folk customs passed down from generation to generation are even forgotten by young people. Next, I want to talk about the traditional Spring Festival in Guangzhou from the following aspects. Including the festive schedule of the Spring Festival, the biggest feature of the Spring Festival in Guangzhou, and the Spring Festival cuisine.

New Year's festive schedule-Guangzhou people are busy and lively in the New Year.

Guangzhou entered the New Year's Day on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, and its daily activities were strictly arranged. That is, twenty-three thanks for cooking, twenty-four fried, twenty-five steamed cakes, twenty-six sweeps, twenty-seven washes (in Cantonese, that is, things), twenty-eight packets of zongzi, twenty-nine couplets, and thirty years of Communist Youth League. This is the arrangement before the festival.

Xie Zao: On the 23rd night of the twelfth lunar month, I will send Master Zao to heaven, and call it "Xie Zao", "Send Zao" or "Sacrifice Zao". Tributes to the stove include: a bowl of rice, two pieces of sugar, a gift, a bowl of clear water, a gift of roast pork, some sugar cane, oranges, paper money and so on. Speaking of tributes, I think of a sentence my grandmother said when I was a child: "Winter oranges, New Year oranges, thanks for cooking oranges". This probably means that oranges should be used for winter solstice worship, oranges should be used for China New Year, and oranges should be used to thank the stove. He also wrote a "Book of Chefs" to the effect that he apologized to Chef Jun and asked him to put in a good word in heaven and keep peace in the underworld.

From the day of Xie Zao, people came and went. I don't think many people know this custom now. "Yuedong Notes" said: "At the end of the year, the custom in Guangzhou is to burn glutinous rice, which is called soaking bones, thinking that fried dumplings are stuffed; For those who fry piles, glutinous rice flour is rounded into oil, so that relatives and friends can be sacrificed first, and then flowers are fried in glutinous rice plates, which is called ten flowers; It is fried in lard with white sugar sand mixed with powder, called sand. " The things to be blown up will probably include gun valleys, fried piles and so on.

Twenty-five steamed cakes: In addition to steamed rice cakes, Guangzhou also likes to make radish cakes, London cakes, water chestnut cakes, nine-layer cakes, etc., which means "Spring Festival is rising step by step". Clean the house and greet the Spring Festival cleanly. There is also a "Spring Festival Dust-sweeping Song": the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, drying clothes; On the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, clean the edge of the house; On the 25 th of the twelfth lunar month, sweep the house for dust removal; On the 26th of the twelfth lunar month, clean the barn; On the 27 th of the twelfth lunar month, the inside and outside are washed into one; On the 28th of the twelfth lunar month, clean the furniture; On the 29th of the twelfth lunar month, all the dirty things are removed.

As for 28 packets of zongzi, I have never heard of it. I asked the old people at home, and they all said that there is no such custom in Guangzhou now, and I didn't know it before. Later, after reading some information, western Guangdong still retains this custom. Our family will buy squid, Nostoc flagelliforme, mushrooms, dried shrimps, vermicelli and other new year goods on the 28th. Posting Spring Festival couplets includes posting door pairs, banners and monologues. In a few words, it says "God bless the people", "Happy New Year", "All the best", "Safe entry and exit" and "Congratulations on getting rich". These monologues should be posted according to God. Thirty years? Chicken kills duck, worships heaven and earth, worships ancestors, and meets the god of wealth. On this day, housewives will be busy. In the evening, the whole family had a family reunion dinner, and then officially entered the New Year.

There is also a traditional custom here, which Guangzhou people call "opening the door". On New Year's Eve, he kept vigil until late at night to greet the guests. When it was time to make friends, he opened the door and said "Open the door", or posted the words "Open the door" with a red gilded background and fired a gun. At this time, every household lights firecrackers. Some people burn it for a few minutes in order to "grab the gun head". Others heard the sound, and the firecrackers exploded for a while, which was deafening. After several hours, it gradually quieted down at two or three o'clock. At four o'clock, firecrackers sounded again and didn't stop until dawn. Open the door and go out, every household, streets and alleys are affixed with a layer of firecrackers red paper, adding a lot of festive atmosphere. But now in Guangzhou, because it is forbidden to set off firecrackers, there is no such Chinese New Year habit on New Year's Eve. Although some people who are not afraid of death will still "open the door", the excitement is really not as good as it used to be. Without this activity, I always feel that the atmosphere is not so strong now as compared with when I was a child.

Not only is it a "opening gun", but now there are not many people in Guangzhou who keep these pre-holiday customs. Take my home as an example. Personally, I think that compared with other families, our family is still a relatively complete Spring Festival custom. Twenty-three thanks for cooking, twenty-seven washes, twenty-nine spring festival couplets, and the 30-year reunion dinner continues. My mother will still steam some cakes when she is free at the end of the year. But now most families in Guangzhou are afraid of trouble or don't have time, so they have bought cakes. 30% of the reunion dinner is no longer eaten at home, and most of them go to some restaurants for the New Year.

The lunar new year begins on the first day of the first month; There is also a fixed custom every day: "On the first day, one person worships God, on the second day, he is poor, and on the fourth day, four people beg for food. The fifth and sixth day are the same year. On the seventh day, they went to spring, and on the eighth day, they didn't come back. On the ninth sky, on the tenth day of spring, eleven children came back, twelve people set up a light shed, thirteen people turned on the lights, fourteen people turned on the lights, and fifteen people prayed for the lights. The Spring Festival activities didn't come to an end until the Lantern Festival.

The first day of the lunar new year. It is said that a former Cantonese would go for an outing on the morning of the first day of junior high school. Some walk around the village, some around the countryside, and some around the house. This is called "going out", commonly known as "going to the Universiade". I hope that good things will come often in the new year and everything will win. The second day of the first month is called "opening the year". On this day, people will bring gifts such as Three Beasts, Zan fried dumplings and so on, and take their children to visit relatives and friends. Take my family's situation as an example. In the morning, my mother will kill a chicken to worship her ancestors, and then start cooking New Year's Eve (the second day of the first month is the "first tooth" of the year, and eat "New Year's Eve"). After dinner, I took everything back to my grandmother's house and began to pay New Year's greetings. When leaving, grandma or grandpa will give lettuce, celery and onion tied with red paper as gifts to mom. Say: the whole family is full of energy, adults are diligent and children are smart. People visit the flower field every day-the seventh day of the first month is People's Day, and Guangzhou people visit the flower field every day.

During the Spring Festival, Guangzhou people have many taboos and habits: according to the old custom of "being old and broad", you can't wash your hair on New Year's Day for fear of washing away your wealth; The second day of the lunar new year is the beginning of the new year. Since the New Year's Eve, we can't eat meat until today. On the third day of the Lunar New Year, it is a red mouth. Don't pay New Year greetings, it is easy to get into trouble; There are countless details about Turner's birthday, People's Day and so on. Also, you can't buy shoes during the Spring Festival, because the Cantonese pronunciation of "shoes" is the same as "alas"; Buying books is even worse. The pronunciation of the book is the same as "lose", and it is even more taboo to be afraid of "lose, lose" all year round. At major festivals, wedding banquets and birthday banquets, I am used to saying auspicious words instead of discouraging words. If someone accidentally breaks the dishes, they will say "Peace through the years" or "Flowers bloom all over the place, flourishing like brocade".

During the Spring Festival, when relatives and friends meet, they always talk about mannitol and wish each other well. For example, congratulations on making a fortune, the spirit of dragon and horse, and everything wins. During the Spring Festival, elders will give their children some money, which is called "profit", meaning good luck. In addition to chicken, the store must also have barbecue (meaning red and strong braised), fish (more than one year), Nostoc flagelliforme oyster sauce (a good market for making a fortune), vermicelli (continous), yuba and sweet bamboo (rich and sweet). Even in the past, women had to choose an auspicious day to wash their hair. They can't wash their hair on the first and fifteenth day of the first month, which is said to be blasphemous. However, with the popularization of science and the progress of the times, some superstitious customs gradually disappear and are replaced by new social fashions.

It is a lingering Millennium complex in Guangzhou people's hearts to celebrate the New Year after the Flower Street.

"People in Guangzhou don't like flowers picked from broken branches. They are used to potting the roots of plants and transporting them in pots. Many flowers are tall and dense, covering the top of the truck cab. Looking from a distance, I saw groups of flowers flying in the sky, which was amazing. These flowers will rush into every household, and people will pour wine and bless them among the flowers. I think, compared with other parts of the country, Guangzhou people have more right to say: Spring Festival is coming! "

"I think most mainlanders spend the Spring Festival decorated with red paper and firecrackers, where spring and auspiciousness are artificially paved. Only in Guangzhou, it is difficult to let the floats transport for a season and introduce the real spring life into the house, so the celebration is the most honest and thorough. "

The above two paragraphs are Mr. Yu's words in Cultural Journey and Tales of Five Cities. Indeed, the Spring Festival in Guangzhou is made of flowers. People in Guangzhou don't eat jiaozi in the New Year, but go shopping in Flower Street in the New Year.

The traditional winter jasmine market in Guangzhou starts from the 28th of the twelfth lunar month (the 27th of the first month) and lasts for three days. The third day was postponed until the early morning of New Year's Day. Generally, one week before New Year's Eve, these flower streets have been closed to traffic, and relevant departments have begun to set up flower stands and stalls for flower farmers. Flower Street stretches into several long corridors. A few days ago, some flowers and trees began to arrive, and the lunar calendar1February 28 officially opened. At that time, Shilihua Street was covered with lanterns, and cheerful Cantonese music was played on the loudspeakers. People look at flowers, buy flowers and "sell them lazily", and people flow endlessly, day and night, and flower farmers eat and live in the flower market. New Year's Eve. The flower market is in full swing. It was a sea of people, packed with people. There are often famous calligraphers in the central flower market, which is quite lively. It was not until two o'clock in the middle of the night that people slowly dispersed, and the flower farmers also auctioned the remaining flowers at a reduced price, and there was no surplus. It is often at this time that people who visit the flower street will find good bargains. As a result, everyone is very happy and happily welcomes the new year.

"Chunxiang Street is ten miles away, and laughter enters the colorful gate. It is suspected that if you collect honey at different levels, there will be millions of people watching flowers. " Flower Street in Guangzhou is not an ordinary man-made landscape, nor a man-made "city card", nor is it an image project of the government. Guangzhou Flower Street is a huge flower market. It is an indispensable program for Guangzhou people to celebrate the New Year and an important part of Guangzhou people's traditional culture. It can be said that, like the habit of drinking morning tea, shopping in the flower street during the New Year is a unique cultural phenomenon of Guangzhou people, and it is also an important feature that distinguishes Guangzhou people from other China people.

Guangzhou people must buy a pot of kumquat, a pot of daffodils, or a peach blossom for the Spring Festival. Why is peach blossom a tree, not a tree? Yes, Guangzhou people bought the whole peach tree home. Peach blossoms are to Guangzhou people what Christmas trees are to westerners. People in Guangzhou have a soft spot for flowers. No matter elegant people or vulgar people, they should buy old ones such as peach blossoms and mix them with various flowers during the New Year.

"Yangcheng world is a flower, and it takes more time to buy flowers. On New Year's Eve, the desk is dedicated, and the fragrant wind warms others. " It is said that the flower market in Guangzhou sprouted in the Tang Dynasty, formed in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and lasted for a long time. Why do Guangzhou people have a soft spot for flowers? Not because people in Guangzhou are elegant people who know how to appreciate flowers, but because flowers can represent countless good intentions. Nothing in this world can express the best wishes in the world like flowers. During the Spring Festival, China people need to express their wishes, go to the old and welcome the new, and hope to get better every year. Cantonese people are particularly superstitious, so we must make the "Italian head" the most incisively and vividly in the New Year. Flowers symbolize prosperity and good luck, which perfectly fits the mentality and needs of Guangzhou people. In addition to buying flowers, Flower Street has also become a symbol of Guangzhou people's wish for "good luck" in the New Year. A trip to Flower Street can bring you good luck. Bad things get better and good things get better, so Flower Street is suitable for anyone, whether it is a family, a couple or a group of bachelors who want to find a partner in the coming year. Flower Street is a sea full of joy and celebration. In a year, going to Flower Street is the most relaxing time for Guangzhou people to walk on the street.

The most traditional holiday food symbolizes Guangzhou people's expectations for the New Year:

Food is the most important thing for the people, especially the Guangzhou people who can eat the most. Chinese New Year's dishes are the most important, with rich varieties. Popcorn, fried dumplings, oil angle, scattered eggs, taro shrimp and rice cakes are the most traditional Spring Festival foods in Guangzhou.

As the saying goes, "people will blow up their own piles at the end of the day." Fried piles are a must for every family. The stuffing of the fried pile is made of glutinous rice and sugar gum. Stir-fry glutinous rice until it bursts, and shell it. The fried dumpling skin is made of glutinous rice flour, which is very thin and covered with sesame seeds. The whole fried pile was fried in boiling oil until golden brown. I'm not so particular now. Some people make fried piles, while others don't put stuffing. There is also oil angle, including soft angle, crisp angle and crisp angle. When I was young, my grandma and dad took me to be a "oil angle". Although I didn't like it very much and didn't do it well, it was also a pleasure to do oil angle with my family. Then there are fried foods such as doughnuts, winter fruits, scattered eggs and taro shrimp. The "sugar ring" is made of glutinous rice flour, pressed into wooden molds, and fried into golden yellow, crisp and delicious, usually sweet and salty. "Winter Fruit" is made of glutinous rice flour into strips or slices and fried. "Taro Shrimp" takes areca nut and taro as raw materials, cuts them into shreds, mixes them with rice flour slurry, and drops them into an oil pan. It tastes crisp and delicious. "Egg powder" is a mixture of flour, lard and eggs. Add sugar to the sweet powder, fry and glue it with sugar; Salty with milk and salt powder, crispy and delicious.

There are also melon seeds necessary for the Spring Festival, including red melon seeds and black melon seeds, as well as "modern" melon seeds (sunflower seeds). China candy includes sugar lotus root, sugar lotus seed, sugar water chestnut (water chestnut), sugar wax gourd, sugar orange cake, sugar coconut horn, sugar coconut slices and so on.

Pastries include rice cakes, radish cakes, taro cakes, water chestnut cakes, nine-layer cakes and muffins. It means that life is better during the Spring Festival. The rice cake is also called "big cage cake", which is named because the container for the rice cake can be a bamboo cage with a big opening. Rich people make a rice cake with dozens of kilograms of rice, and red dates and cypress branches are inserted on the golden cake surface, which means good luck. The Cantonese dialect of radish is called "Caitou", which is the homonym of "vegetable" and "wealth". Eating radish cake in the New Year is to make money and cherish it. Water chestnut cake is made of water chestnut, which is called "water chestnut" in Cantonese. Eating water chestnut cake in the New Year can clear away heat and eliminate food stagnation. Its effect of regulating appetite has been proved by practice, and it also has the significance of "non-stop" and self-improvement.

I have to mention the dishes on the table of Guangzhou people. There are many kinds of Chinese New Year food in Guangdong, which means auspiciousness. Ordinary dishes have also been given beautiful names, which make people happy to enjoy. For example, the hands of Nostoc flagelliforme and oyster sauce are called "making a fortune", the tongue of fried pork with sauerkraut (called Julie in Guangzhou) is called "win-win", the fried lily is called "harmony for a hundred years", the stewed mushroom with green vegetables is called "money everywhere", and the fish-slippery tofu pot is called "peace through the years". There are also a variety of chicken products, such as "Feng Dan is facing the sun", "A hundred birds are facing the phoenix", "Dragon and Phoenix are auspicious" and so on. Chicken is an essential part of China's New Year dishes. As the saying goes, "no chicken can make a feast", roast pork not only symbolizes chastity in marriage, but also means prosperity in the New Year. On the first day of the lunar new year's lunch, we must also eat vegetarian dishes blindly, commonly known as "Luohanzhai", and use pickles, fungus, vermicelli, shrimp, and some people to steam bacon, but we must eat "Zhai" first when lifting chopsticks.

Finally, I would like to talk about some Spring Festival activities, such as lion dance, dragon dance, playing football and setting off fireworks.

Lions in Guangdong are different from lions in other provinces and are called "lion awakening". There are Guangdong characteristics in production and dance. Guangdong lion dance originated in Foshan. According to legend, in the early Ming Dynasty, a one-horned monster appeared in Foshan, with wide eyes and the sound of "Year, Year" from time to time. As long as monsters appear, the old people will suffer greatly, either livestock will suffer or crops will collapse. Later, everyone thought of a way to weave a number of lion head models with bamboo sticks, paint them in mottled colors and ambush them in the countryside. Once the monster appears, the golden drum will ring and dance to scare the monster away. Therefore, people think that lions have evil spirits and auspicious omen. Every Spring Festival in the future, every township will use lion dance to eliminate disasters and announce good luck. This is a story about the origin of lion dance. During the Spring Festival, besides performing in the square, the lion dance will also dance along the street and pay tribute to the lion from door to door to show that the lion is awake and lucky. At the door, the host offered a reward, wrapped red flowers and hung green flowers, which was called "picking green flowers". Take this activity to hope that the lion can bring good luck home. Followed by dragon dance, Guangdong dragon dance, various names, different dragon dances, entrusted with people's different ideals and wishes. The Spring Festival is a festive day, and dancers are mostly enthusiastic colorful dragons, golden dragons and sarongs. They dance dragons during the day and play dragon lanterns at night. As for playing football, it was a traditional culture a long time ago, but now it seems that not many people can do it. Every year on the first day of Guangzhou, large fireworks will be set off along the Pearl River. That night, the tunnels along the river and other roads were crowded with people, which was very lively.

Guangzhou's New Year is lively and rich, which makes people feel deeply. How strong is the local traditional culture in Guangzhou.

However, the long river of history is fleeting, and people's ideas are easily moved by new things, especially Guangzhou, as one of the cities with the largest foreign population, the change of social customs is also an indisputable reality. Now that life is good, everyone's ideas have changed, and the activities of the Spring Festival are different. However, the historical and cultural forms and traditional customs of cities are important wealth of human culture.

As big as a nation's cultural form, as small as a city's New Year custom, this. Everything needs people to build and maintain. As one of the symbols of folk culture, the Chinese New Year custom in Guangzhou represents the profound historical and cultural resources of a city. The power of culture must be recognized by people, and it should be consciously maintained and consolidated after recognition.