Spring Festival custom in Baiyin, Gansu Province

The custom of Spring Festival in Baiyin, Gansu Province is similar to that in the whole country, but the custom of Jingtai is slightly different. Customs and taboos of Jingtai people during the Spring Festival.

At the beginning of the twelfth lunar month, Jingtai people are busy inside and outside, preparing things for the New Year. Every family kills pigs and sheep and makes new clothes. Farmers should not choose sunny days. Clean your house and replace some old New Year pictures with new ones. This activity is called "house cleaning".

The eighth day of the twelfth lunar month is the traditional "Laba Festival". This morning, the peasant women of each family got up early, cooked a large pot of rice, mixed with cooked sliced meat or shredded pork and steamed together. Only this kind of rice is eaten for breakfast this day, and vegetables are not allowed.

"On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, Vulcan will go to heaven." Everyone invited the statue of "Kitchen God" to their home and posted it in the kitchen early. Until the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, every household was branded with "stove dry food", which is a round cake the size of a palm, sprinkled with sugar, and offered to the statue of the stove fire empress, meaning to paste the mouth of the stove fire empress and ask her to "speak well in the sky" and speak well of her family in front of the Jade Emperor. After dark, the "kitchen horse" prepared in advance will be burned, firecrackers will be set off, and the goddess of kitchen fire will be sent to heaven.

In Jingtai Luyang area, you have to go to the grave before the Chinese New Year. On the 28th, 29th and 30th of the twelfth lunar month, people from the same family bring paper money and steamed bread to the ancestral graves to pay homage to their ancestors, and send money and meals to their ancestors in the underworld, hoping that they will have a happy year.

On the afternoon of New Year's Eve, every household will thoroughly clean the yard inside and outside early. Paper windows in old houses will be torn off, and paper and paper will be pasted according to the panes. There is a riddle circulating in Jingtai countryside: "There is a big girl who changes clothes every year", which is stick grilles's business. When all this is ready, we will start posting Spring Festival couplets.

On the eve of New Year's Eve, women are very busy, steaming "jujube plates" (a kind of steamed bread for offering sacrifices to the gods with a red date on it), making long noodles (which are mostly pressed by a dough press now), cutting meat and minced meat, and preparing rich food for the New Year.

On New Year's Eve, I began to pick up "God" after dinner. Every family's Eight Immortals table has a memorial tablet of ancestors, in front of which there are offerings such as jujube plates and dim sum meat. Before picking up the "God", put the red-hot stone in the vinegar basin, walk around all the houses with the vinegar basin, and then burn incense and set off fireworks to welcome the ancestors home for the New Year.

Late at night on New Year's Eve, the whole family get together and eat cooked pig ears, which is called "biting ghosts".

After receiving it from home, I will worship the "God" for three days until the morning of the third day. The broom can't be moved at home for these three days, the ground can't be swept when it is dirty, and the married daughter can't go back to her family for these three days. Every morning and evening, a man will burn incense, kowtow and shoot until he is sent to heaven.

From the morning of the first day of junior high school, adults and children go to every household in droves to pay New Year greetings to their elders and relatives first, which is very lively.

After the third day, the upsurge of Chinese New Year came to an end, and the twelfth day of the first month began to be lively again. As the saying goes, "the fifteenth day of the first month is another climax of the New Year". Since the 13th day of the first month, the village fire teams have been deployed in every village. During the day, stilts, yangko, dry boats and lanterns are the default. In Jingtai area, Luyang is the most lively social fire in the Lantern Festival. In addition, in Luyang area. On the evenings of 14, 15 and 16, besides all kinds of lanterns hanging in front of every household, there is also a red charcoal fire, one of which is convenient for people watching lanterns to keep warm, and the other is a metaphor for the prosperity of this family in the coming year.

The fire burned until the sixteenth night of the first month. That night, after the dead of night, the people of the fire brigade began to "chase the epidemic", beating gongs and drums and running along the street, pretending to chase something, in order to drive all the plagues and ghosts out of the village and bless the whole village for a year. The team chasing the plague has been running far away from the village, so most people don't go out that night except the social fire team. Avoid vulgarity

From receiving God on New Year's Eve to sending God the next morning for two days and three nights, there are many taboos because the gods at home are taken home. For example:

These days, it is forbidden to sweep the floor and sweep the yard inside and outside the house. It is said that if taboos are removed, there will be many ants everywhere in the coming year.

Old people and young people should live in harmony. There should be no quarrel between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, and between husband and wife. There must be no crying at home, or there will be no peace at home in the coming year. Besides, we should be especially careful not to break anything, such as pots and pans, during the Spring Festival. If something breaks during the Spring Festival, it will often happen this year.

When talking with people, you should say more auspicious words, especially avoid saying things like "death" and "illness".

The seventh and seventeenth days of the first month are called "black days", and people at home can't travel far in these two days. In addition, on the eighth and eighteenth day, people who go out can't go home, so there is a saying that "seven people can't go out and eight people can't go in".

Also, during the first month, don't fry all kinds of food, and don't burn it on the fire, otherwise it is said that you will get aphtha in one year.