The Origin and Customs of New Year's Eve, Spring Festival and Lantern Festival

On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the kitchen god ascended to heaven. Eat honeydew melons to sacrifice to the stove (that is, everyone says "off-year") and let the kitchen god put in a good word in heaven. Next year will be more auspicious.

The origin of Lantern Festival

Lantern Festival has a history of more than two thousand years. Also called "Lantern Festival" or "Lantern Festival". During the Northern Wei Dynasty, Taoism believed in the "three gods", including the three gods of Shang Yuan Tian Guan, Zhong Yuan Di Guan and Xia Yuan Shui Guan. Their birthdays are the 15th day of the first month, the 15th day of July and the 15th day of October, so the 15th day of the first month is also called Shangyuan Festival. Some people think that it evolved from a ceremony in the court of the Han Dynasty.

The fifteenth day of the first month is the Lantern Festival, also known as Shangyuan, Yuanxi or Lantern Festival. This is a colorful folk festival and the last day of the Spring Festival. Since then, everything has returned to normal, so people warmly celebrate it, so it is called off-year

According to legend, before the reign of Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty, the fifteenth day of the first month was designated as the Lantern Festival, and Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty formulated the taichu calendar, which further affirmed the importance of the Lantern Festival. With the development of the past dynasties, the Lantern Festival has been continuously extended. According to legend, the Lantern Festival in the Tang Dynasty lasted only three days, which was extended to five days in the Song Dynasty and ten days in the Ming Dynasty, that is, from the eighth day of August until the seventeenth year.

Traditional women in China can't leave the boudoir for three steps, and it is difficult to go out during the day, let alone at night. Lantern Festival night is a rare exception, and you will naturally enjoy it and wait for the opposite sex to get to know each other. So many ancient love stories in China are based on the Lantern Festival.

Lantern Festival is a lively festival, and many important activities are as follows:

(1) Shangyuan prayed for blessings

People divide nature into three realms: heaven, earth and water, and personify it. Therefore, it is called heavenly officer, local officer and water officer. On the fifteenth day of the first month, Shangyuan is the birthday of Emperor Tianguan. The main duty of Tianguan is to bless, so the people prepare sacrifices to worship Tianguan early in the morning and pray for blessing.

(2) ancestor worship in Lantern Festival

Eating Lantern Festival may have started in the Song Dynasty, but it was called "floating Zi Yuan" at that time, and it was renamed "Yuanxiao" in the Ming Dynasty. Every family makes Yuanxiao. In ancient times, this was a good omen for the first year. Eating glutinous rice balls symbolizes family happiness. After the Lantern Festival is done, it is a happy reunion to respect the ancestors first and then have a family reunion to eat.

(3) Flower lanterns

Lantern Festival is also called Lantern Festival, so lanterns are the central activity of Lantern Festival. Folk call lanterns "drum lanterns" because the lanterns mentioned by children in the past are like drums and gongs. There are many kinds of Lantern Festival lanterns, including temple lanterns, shop lanterns and children's drum lanterns. There are many styles, which can be basically divided into two categories: first, image lights, such as knife-closing lights, rabbit lights, fruit lights, half lights and so on. The other is a movable lantern based on folk stories. At present, most of them are electric lanterns, such as the champion parade, the Eight Immortals celebrating their birthdays, and the Taoyuan ceremony, which all show the national traditions of loyalty, filial piety and justice.

(4) Solve riddles on lanterns

In the past, riddles were held in temples, because temples were places where people gathered in their leisure time, and there were riddles competitions and exhibitions. Therefore, in the past, a riddle was listed under the lantern, and the riddle on the lantern was solved by the relevant personnel in the temple at midnight. The scene was lively and warm, because it was a good sign to go home with the prize. Modern lantern riddles are displayed in newspapers and magazines, as well as temple fairs on TV, and some programs are interspersed with lantern riddles. Various forms can meet the different needs of the people. This also reflects the diversity of traditional festivals in modern society.

(5) Dragon and lion dances

There are dragon lanterns in the Lantern Festival all over the country. Dragon is an auspicious mythical animal and a national totem. The early dragon lanterns in Taiwan Province Province, about seven or eight feet long, were tied to bamboo drums. As a dragon-shaped lantern dragon, it lit a dozen candles on the dragon head and tied them to a wooden stick. They were carried away by a dozen people and danced behind the dragon ball next to the faucet, which was called "dragon making". /kloc-On the evening of 0/5, lion groups from all over the country also went out together, and were called "lions" to perform kung fu. Its purpose is to exorcise evil spirits and pray for peace, and it is also a festive significance to celebrate the New Year.

When dancing dragons and lions, gongs and drums are loud and firecrackers are endless, which brings a lively atmosphere to the Lantern Festival.

Spring Festival is an ancient festival in China, and it is also the most important festival in a year. How to celebrate this festival has formed some relatively fixed customs and habits in thousands of years of historical development, and many of them have been passed down to this day.

sweep the dust

"On the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, dust sweeps the house". According to Lv Chunqiu, 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. 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. Everywhere is filled with the joyful atmosphere of cleaning and welcoming the Spring Festival cleanly.

paste up Spring Festival couplets

Spring Festival couplets are also called door couplets, spring stickers, couplets, couplets and peach symbols. They depict the background of the times and express good wishes with neat, dual, concise and delicate words, which are unique literary forms in China. Every Spring Festival, no matter in urban or rural areas, every household should choose a pair of red Spring Festival couplets and stick them on the door to add festive atmosphere to the festival. This custom began in the Song Dynasty and was popular in the Ming Dynasty. By the Qing Dynasty, the ideological and artistic quality of Spring Festival couplets had been greatly improved. Liang Zhangju's monograph Poetry of Spring Festival couplets discusses the origin of couplets and the characteristics of various works.

There are many kinds of Spring Festival couplets, which can be divided into door heart, frame pair, cross string, spring strip and bucket square according to the place of use. The "door core" is attached to the center of the upper end of the door panel; The "door frame pair" is attached to the left and right door frames; "Cross-dressing" is posted on the crossbar of the door; "Spring strips" are posted in corresponding places according to different contents; "Dou Jin", also known as "door leaf", is a square diamond, often attached to furniture and screen walls.

Stick the window grilles and the word "fu" upside down.

In the folk, people also like to stick various paper-cuts on the windows-window grilles. Window grilles not only set off the festive atmosphere, but also integrate decoration, appreciation and practicality. Paper-cutting is a very popular folk art in China, which has been loved by people for thousands of years. Because it is often pasted on the window, it is also called "window grilles". With its unique generalization and exaggeration, window grilles show auspicious things and good wishes incisively and vividly, and decorate festivals with colorful colors.

While putting up Spring Festival couplets, some people have to put large and small "Fu" characters on doors, walls and lintels. Sticking the word "Fu" during the Spring Festival is a long-standing folk custom in China. The word "Fu" symbolizes good luck and wishes for a happy life and a bright future. In order to fully reflect this yearning and wish, some people simply put the word "Fu" upside down, indicating that "Fu has arrived" and "Fu has arrived". Others elaborate the word "Fu" into various patterns, such as longevity, longevity peach, carp yue longmen, abundant grains, dragons and phoenixes, and so on.

New Year picture

Hanging New Year pictures during the Spring Festival is also very common in urban and rural areas. Thick black and colorful New Year pictures add a lot of prosperity and festive atmosphere to thousands of families. New Year pictures are an ancient folk art in China, which reflects people's simple customs and beliefs and places their hopes on the future. New Year pictures, like Spring Festival couplets, originated from "door gods". With the rise of block printing, the content of New Year pictures is not limited to monotonous themes such as door gods, but has become rich and colorful. Some New Year pictures workshops have produced classic color New Year pictures, such as Fu Lushou's Samsung, God bless the people, abundant crops, prosperous livestock and welcoming the New Year, to meet people's good wishes of celebrating and praying for the New Year. There are three important producing areas of Chinese New Year pictures: Taohuawu in Suzhou, Yangliuqing in Tianjin and Weifang in Shandong; Three schools of New Year pictures have been formed, each with its own characteristics.

The earliest existing collection of New Year pictures in China is the woodcut New Year pictures of the Southern Song Dynasty, which depict four ancient beauties: Wang Zhaojun, Zhao, Ban Ji and Lvzhu. The most popular folk painting is the Year of Marrying the Rat. It depicts an interesting scene in which a mouse marries a bride according to human custom. In the early years of the Republic of China, Zheng of Shanghai combined the monthly calendar with the New Year pictures. This is a new form of New Year pictures. This new year's picture, which was combined into one, later developed into a calendar and has been popular all over the country.

stay up late or all night on New Year's Eve

Keeping the Lunar New Year's Eve is one of the most important activities, and the custom of keeping the Lunar New Year's Eve has a long history. The earliest record can be found in the Local Records of the Western Jin Dynasty: on New Year's Eve, all parties give gifts to each other, which is called "the year of giving back"; Wine and food are invited, which is called "not old"; Young and old get together to drink and wish a complete song called "age division"; Everyone stays up all night, waiting for dawn. This is the so-called "shou sui".

On New Year's Eve, the whole family get together, eat New Year's Eve, light candles or oil lamps, sit around the stove and chat, wait for the time to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new year, and keep vigil all night, which symbolizes driving away all evil diseases and epidemics and expecting good luck in the new year. This custom gradually became popular. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong, wrote a poem "Shou Sui": "Cold words and winter snow, warm with spring breeze". To this day, people are used to celebrating the New Year's Eve.

In ancient times, observing the age has two meanings: the old man's observing the age means "resigning from the old", which means cherishing time; Young people keep their age in order to prolong the life of their parents. Since the Han Dynasty, the time for the alternation of the old and new years is generally at midnight.

firecracker

There is a folk saying in China that "open the door and set off firecrackers". That is, when the new year comes, the first thing for every household to open the door is to set off firecrackers to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. Firecracker is a specialty of China, also known as "Firecracker", "Firecracker" and "Firecracker". Its origin is very early, and it has a history of more than two thousand years. Setting off firecrackers can create a festive and lively atmosphere, which is a kind of entertainment in festivals and can bring happiness and good luck to people. With the passage of time, firecrackers are more and more widely used, and there are more and more varieties and colors. Every major festival and happy celebration, as well as marriage, building, opening, etc. We should set off firecrackers to celebrate and make good luck. At present, Liuyang, Hunan, Foshan and Dongyao, Yichun and Pingxiang, Jiangxi, Wenzhou, Zhejiang and other regions are famous fireworks towns in China. The firecrackers produced have many colors and high quality, which are not only sold well all over the country, but also exported to all parts of the world.

Pay new year's call

On the first day of the new year, people get up early, put on the most beautiful clothes, dress neatly, go out to visit relatives and friends, and wish each other good luck in the coming year. There are many ways to pay New Year's greetings, some of which are led by the same patriarch from door to door. Some colleagues invited several people to pay New Year greetings; Others get together to congratulate each other. This is called "group worship". Because it takes time and effort to pay New Year greetings at home, some elites and scholars later congratulated each other with stickers, thus developing the later "New Year cards".

When paying New Year greetings during the Spring Festival, the younger generation should first pay New Year greetings to their elders and wish them health and longevity. The elders can distribute the lucky money prepared in advance to the younger generation. It is said that lucky money can kill evil spirits, because "old" and "special" are homophonic, and the younger generation can spend a year safely with lucky money. There are two kinds of lucky money, one is to put colored rope in the shape of Jackie Chan at the foot of the bed, which was recorded in Yanjing year; The other is the most common, that is, parents wrap the money distributed to their children in red paper. Lucky money can be given in public after the younger generation pays New Year's greetings, or it can be secretly put under the child's pillow by parents when the child falls asleep on New Year's Eve. It is still very popular for elders to give lucky money to younger generations.

Eating custom in Spring Festival

In ancient agricultural society, housewives began to prepare food for the New Year from the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. Because curing bacon takes a long time, it must be prepared as soon as possible. Many provinces in China have the custom of curing bacon, among which Guangdong is the most famous.

Steamed rice cake, because of its homophonic "high year" and diverse tastes, has almost become a must-have food for every household. The styles of rice cakes are square yellow and white rice cakes, which symbolize gold and silver and express the meaning of making a fortune in the New Year.

The taste of rice cakes varies from place to place. Beijingers like to eat jujube rice cakes, 100-fruit rice cakes and white rice cakes made of glutinous rice or yellow rice. Hebei people like to add jujube, red beans and mung beans to rice cakes and steam them together. In northern Shanxi, Inner Mongolia and other places, it is customary to eat yellow wheat fried rice cakes during the New Year, and some people will also stuff them with bean paste and jujube paste, while Shandong people steam rice cakes with yellow rice and red dates. The rice cakes in the north are mainly sweet, steamed or fried, and some people simply eat them with sugar. There are sweet and salty rice cakes in the south, such as those in Suzhou and Ningbo, which are made of japonica rice and have a light taste. In addition to steaming and frying, you can also slice and fry or cook soup. Sweet rice cake is made of glutinous rice flour with sugar, lard, rose, osmanthus, mint, vegetable paste and other ingredients. They are fine in workmanship and can be steamed directly or fried with egg white.

The night before the real Chinese New Year is called Reunion Night. A wanderer who has left his hometown has to go home from thousands of miles away. During the Spring Festival, the whole family will sit around and wrap jiaozi. Jiaozi's practice is to use flour to make dumpling wrappers first, and then use leather bags to fill them. The contents of stuffing are varied, and all kinds of meat, eggs, seafood and seasonal vegetables can be stuffed. The orthodox practice in jiaozi is to cook it with clear water, remove it and mix it with vinegar, minced garlic and vegetables. There are also methods of frying jiaozi and baking jiaozi (fried dumpling). Because the word "he" in dough mixing means "he"; Jiaozi's "jiao" and "glue" are homophonic, and "harmony" and "glue" have the meaning of reunion, so jiaozi is used to symbolize the reunion of acacia; It is very auspicious to make friends with older people; In addition, jiaozi, which is shaped like an ingot, has the auspicious meaning of "making a fortune" when eating jiaozi in the New Year. All the families get together to pack jiaozi, so it's fun to celebrate the Spring Festival.

Customs of Spring Festival-Speech Customs

Sacrifice the stove to sweep the dust and paste the New Year pictures of the Spring Festival couplets.

On New Year's Eve (reunion dinner), the word "Fu" is pasted upside down to worship the ancestors.

New Year's Eve red envelopes (lucky money) are given to oranges in the New Year.

Set off firecrackers in the New Year and take the God of Wealth back to her family.

Send the poor on the sixth day