Hand-painted solar terms

Spring Festival, that is, Lunar New Year, commonly known as Chinese New Year, generally refers to New Year's Eve and the first day of the first month. But among the people, the traditional Spring Festival refers to the sacrificial ceremony from the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month or the 23rd or 24th of the twelfth lunar month to the 15th of the first lunar month in La Worship, with New Year's Eve and the first day of the first lunar month as the climax. The Spring Festival has a long history, which originated from the activities of offering sacrifices to gods and ancestors in the beginning and end of the Shang Dynasty. During the Spring Festival, Han people and many ethnic minorities in China will hold various activities to celebrate. The main contents of these activities are offering sacrifices to gods and buddhas, paying homage to ancestors, saying goodbye to the old year and welcoming the new year, and praying for a bumper harvest. The activities are rich and colorful, with strong national characteristics.

Spring Festival, commonly known as "Chinese New Year", is the most grand celebration of the Chinese nation.

Unification day. Since the first year of Emperor Taizu of the Han Dynasty, the first day of the first month of the Xia Dynasty (lunar calendar) has been regarded as "Year", and the date of the annual festival has been fixed and continues to this day. New Year's Day was called "New Year's Day" in ancient times. After the Revolution of 1911, 19 1 1 adopted the Gregorian calendar to calculate the year, so it was called "New Year's Day" on the Gregorian calendar 1 and "Spring Festival" on the first day of the first lunar month. The 20-year-old festival is also called a "traditional festival". They have a long history, spread widely and have the characteristics of great popularity, mass and even the whole people. New Year's Day is a new day to get rid of old cloth. Although this festival is arranged on the first day of the first lunar month, its activities are not limited to the first day of the first lunar month. From the beginning of the Lunar New Year's Day on the 23rd (or 24th) of the twelfth lunar month, people began to "be busy": sweeping the floor, washing their hair and taking a bath, preparing new year's utensils and so on. All these activities have a common theme, that is, "saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new". People greet the new year and spring with grand ceremonies and enthusiasm. New Year's Day is also a day to pray for the new year. The ancients said that a mature millet is a "year" and a bumper harvest of grains is a "big year". In the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty, there was an annual harvest celebration. Later, New Year greetings became one of the main contents of the annual customs. Besides, the Kitchen God, Door God, God of Wealth, XiShen, Well God and other gods. Everyone enjoys human incense during the festival. People take this opportunity to thank the gods for their care in the past and pray for more blessings in the new year. New Year's Day is also a time for family reunion, family worship and ancestor worship. On New Year's Eve, the whole family get together to have a "reunion dinner". The elders give "lucky money" to the children, and the family sit around and "watch". At the turn of the New Year's Day, firecrackers exploded, and the activities to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new reached a climax. Every family burns incense to worship the heavens and the earth and ancestors, then pays tribute to the elders in turn, and then congratulates relatives and friends. After the Yuan Dynasty, we began to visit relatives and friends and exchange gifts to celebrate the New Year. New Year's Day is a festival for people to entertain and revel. After the January Festival, a variety of colorful entertainment activities were launched, such as playing with lions, dragon lanterns, yangko dancing, walking on stilts and juggling, which added a rich festive atmosphere to the Spring Festival.

The festive atmosphere. At this time, it happened to be around the "beginning of spring". In ancient times, a grand ceremony was held to welcome the spring, whipping cattle to welcome the spring, and praying for good weather and abundant crops. All kinds of social fire activities reached their climax again on the fifteenth day of the first month. Therefore, the grand New Year Festival, which integrates blessing, celebration and entertainment, has become the most grand festival of the Chinese nation. Nowadays, in addition to offering sacrifices to gods and ancestors, the main customs of the festival have been well inherited and developed. The Spring Festival is an important carrier of the excellent tradition of Chinese culture, which contains the wisdom and crystallization of Chinese culture, embodies the life pursuit and emotional sustenance of China people, and inherits the family ethics and social ethics of China people. After thousands of years of accumulation, the colorful folk customs of the Spring Festival have formed a profound and unique Spring Festival culture. In recent years, with the improvement of material living standards, people's demand for spiritual and cultural life has increased rapidly, and their desire for affection, friendship, harmony and happiness has become stronger. Traditional festivals such as the Spring Festival have attracted more and more attention from all walks of life. We should vigorously carry forward the excellent traditional culture condensed in the Spring Festival, highlight the theme of saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new, wishing reunion and peace and prosperity, strive to create a festive atmosphere of family harmony, stability and unity, joy and peace, and promote the sustained and continuous development and growth of Chinese culture. [ 1]

history

In China, the beginning of the Lunar New Year is called the Spring Festival. It is the most solemn traditional festival of China people, and it also symbolizes unity, prosperity and new hope for the future. According to records, the people of China have celebrated the Spring Festival for more than 4,000 years. There are many theories about the origin of the Spring Festival, but one widely accepted by the public is that the Spring Festival began in Yu Shun. One day more than 2000 BC, Shun became emperor and led his men to worship heaven and earth. Since then, people have regarded this day as the beginning of a year. It is said that this is the origin of the Lunar New Year, which was later called the Spring Festival. The Spring Festival used to be called New Year's Day. The month in which the Spring Festival is held is called January. The dates of New Year's Day in China are different: January in Meng Chun was the first month in Xia Dynasty, December in Shang Dynasty, and October after Qin Shihuang unified the six countries. At the beginning of Han Dynasty, Sun Yat-sen, an oil painter in Qin Dynasty, became the interim president.

Calendar Liu Che, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, thought the calendar was too messy, so he ordered his ministers Gong Sunqing and Sima Qian to draw up a "solar calendar", which stipulated that the first month of the lunar calendar was the first year, and the first day of the first month was the first day of the year, which was New Year's Day. Since then, China has been using the Gregorian calendar (also known as the lunar calendar) until the end of the Qing Dynasty, which lasted for 2080. Spring Festival has different names in different times. In the pre-Qin period, it was called "going to Japan", "January Day", "changing the year" and "offering the year". In the Han Dynasty, it was also called "Three Dynasties", "Sui Dan", "Zheng Dan" and "Zhengri". Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties were called Chen Yuan, Yuan Ri, Fuehrer and Sui Dynasty. In the Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties, it was called New Year's Day, Yuan, New Year's Day and Singapore dollar. In the Qing Dynasty, it was always called "New Year's Day" or "Yuan Day". 19 12 When Sun Yat-sen became the provisional president of the Republic of China in Nanjing, he announced the abolition of the old calendar and used the Gregorian calendar to mark the year of the Republic of China. And decided to take 1 91265438+10/month1as the first year of the Republic of China. January 1st is called New Year's Day, but not New Year's Day. However, people still use the old calendar, that is, the summer calendar, and still celebrate the traditional New Year on February 18 of that year (the first day of the first month of the year of Renzi), and other traditional festivals remain unchanged. In view of this, 19 13 In July (the second year of the Republic of China), the then Beijing government, as the chief of the interior, submitted a report on the four-season holiday to President Yuan Shikai, saying: "It is an old custom to celebrate the four-season holiday every year in China, that is, it should be clearly stipulated that Lunar New Year's Day is the Spring Festival, Dragon Boat Festival is the summer, Mid-Autumn Festival is the autumn, and winter solstice is the winter, but Yuan Shikai only approved the beginning of the first month. Since then, the beginning of the summer calendar has been called "Spring Festival". 1949 On September 27th, the first plenary session of China People's Political Consultative Conference decided to adopt the world calendar year while establishing the People's Republic of China (PRC). In order to distinguish between the solar calendar and the lunar calendar, the first day of the solar calendar is called "New Year's Day" and the first day of the first lunar month is officially renamed as "Spring Festival" because the "beginning of spring" in the 24 solar terms is just around the lunar year. The earth goes around the sun once, which is called a year in the calendar, and it goes on and on forever. However, according to the different weather in spring, summer, autumn and winter, people hold the first plenary session of China People's Political Consultative Conference on the first day of the first lunar month.

At the beginning of the year Every year, after midnight (12 o'clock) on February 30th (February 29th of the lunar calendar), the Spring Festival officially arrives. Near the Spring Festival, people buy new year's goods. On New Year's Eve, the whole family get together for dinner. New Year pictures and Spring Festival couplets; Welcome the new year. With the founding of New China, the Spring Festival celebrations are more colorful. It not only retains the past folk customs, excludes some activities with feudal superstition, but also adds many new contents. Give the Spring Festival a new flavor of the times. 1949 65438+February 23rd The government of People's Republic of China (PRC) and People's Republic of China (PRC) stipulates that there will be three days off during the Spring Festival every year. China is a multi-ethnic country, and each ethnic group has different ways to celebrate the New Year. The customs and habits of the Han nationality, Manchu nationality and Korean nationality for the Spring Festival are similar. The family is reunited. People eat rice cakes, jiaozi and various sumptuous meals, set off firecrackers and wish each other well. Celebrations during the Spring Festival are extremely colorful, including lion dance and dragon dance, as well as walking on stilts and running dry boats. In some areas, people follow the activities of worshipping ancestors and gods in the past and pray for good weather, peace and good harvest in the new year. Ancient Mongols called the Spring Festival "White Festival" and the first month was Bai Yue, which means good luck. Tibetans celebrate the Tibetan calendar year. Hui, Uygur, Kazak, etc. Celebrate Eid al-Adha. The Spring Festival is also a grand festival for Miao, Yi and Yao people. [2]

One legend is that ...

Stick to the end of this year.

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

Keeping the old year is the custom of staying up late to welcome the new year on the last night of the old year. Also known as New Year's Eve, the common name is "Enduring the Year". Exploring the origin of this custom, there is an interesting story among the people: in Archean, there was a fierce monster scattered in the mountains, which people called "Nian". Its appearance is ferocious, its nature is ferocious, and it specializes in eating birds, animals and insects. It changes its taste every day, from kowtowing insects to living people, which makes people talk about "Nian". Later, people gradually mastered the activity law of "Nian", that is, every 365 days, people go to places where people live in concentrated communities to taste fresh food. The haunting time is after dark, and when the rooster crows at dawn, they return to the mountains. After determining the date of the ravages of 2008, people regarded this terrible night as a gateway, and came up with a set of methods to close the New Year's Day: every family prepared dinner in advance, turned off the fire, cleaned the stove, then tied all the cowpeas, sealed the front and back doors of the house, and hid in the house to eat the "New Year's Eve" because this dinner was uncertain. In addition to inviting the whole family to have dinner together to show harmonious reunion, we should also worship our ancestors before eating and pray for their blessing to spend the night safely. After dinner, no one dared to sleep, so they sat together and chatted with courage. Gradually formed the habit of not sleeping on New Year's Eve. The trend of observing the age rose in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and many scholars in the Liang Dynasty had poems about observing the age. "One night for two years, five hours for two years." People light candles or oil lamps and keep vigil all night, which symbolizes driving away all evil diseases and epidemics and looking forward to good luck in the new year. This custom has been handed down from generation to generation.

Theory of perpetual calendar creation

According to legend, there was a young man named Wan Nian in ancient times. Seeing that the festivals at that time were chaotic, he had an accurate plan. But he couldn't find a way to calculate the time. One day, he was tired of chopping wood on the mountain and sat in the shade. The movement of the shadow inspired him. He designed a sundial to measure the time of the day. Later, inspired by the dripping spring water on the cliff, he began to make a five-layer clepsydra to calculate the time. Over time, he found that every 360 days, the four seasons would cycle once, and the length of the weather would be repeated. Longevity star pictures

At that time, the monarch was called Zu Ti, who was often troubled by the unpredictable weather. Ten thousand years later, he took the sundial and the clepsydra to see the emperor and explained to Zu Ti the truth about the movement of the sun and the moon. Zu Ti was very happy after hearing this and felt reasonable. So I left for ten thousand years and built the Sun and Moon Pavilion in front of the Temple of Heaven, as well as the sundial platform and the Leaky Pot Pavilion. I hope I can accurately measure the laws of the sun and the moon, calculate the exact time in the morning and evening, and create a calendar to benefit people all over the world. On one occasion, Zu Ti went to learn about the progress of the perpetual calendar. When he boarded the altar of the sun and the moon, he saw a poem engraved on the stone wall next to the Temple of Heaven: sunrise 360, sunset 360, start all over again. Vegetation is divided into four seasons, and there are twelve circles in a year. Knowing that the perpetual calendar was created, I personally boarded the Sun Moon Pavilion to visit the perpetual calendar. Wan Nian pointed to the astronomical phenomena and said to Zu Ti, "It's been twelve months now, the old year has passed and the new year has begun again. Please make a festival for you. " Zu Ti said, "Spring is the first year of a year, so let's call it Spring Festival". It is said that this is the origin of the Spring Festival. After years of long-term observation and careful calculation, he worked out an accurate solar calendar. When he showed his successor the solar calendar, he was covered with silver whiskers. The monarch was deeply moved. In order to commemorate the achievements of 10 thousand years, he named the solar calendar "perpetual calendar" and named it the birthday star of the sun, moon and moon. In the future, people will hang up the Shou Xingtu during the Chinese New Year, which is said to commemorate the venerable ten thousand years.

Sticking Spring Festival couplets and door gods

It is said that the custom of pasting Spring Festival couplets began in the post-Shu period about 1000 years ago, which is proved by history. In addition, according to the Jade Candle Collection and the Chronicle of Yanjing, the original form of Spring Festival couplets is what people call "Fu Tao". In the ancient mythology of China, it is said that there is a ghost world, in which there is a mountain, a big peach tree covering three thousand miles, and a golden rooster at the top of the tree. Whenever the golden rooster crows in the morning, the ghost who travels at night will rush back to the ghost domain. The Gate of Ghost Domain is located in the northeast of Peach Tree District. There are two gods standing by the door, named Shen Tu and Lei Yu. If the ghost does something unnatural at night, Shen Tu and Lei Yu will immediately find it, catch it, tie it up with a rope made of Miscanthus and give it to the tiger. So all the ghosts in the world are afraid of Shen Tu and Lei Yu. So people carved them into peach trees and put them at their doorsteps to ward off evil spirits and prevent harm. Later, people simply carved the names of Shen Tu and Lei Yu on the mahogany board, thinking that this could also eliminate disasters. This kind of red board was later called "Fu Tao". Qin and Weichi Gong.

In the Song Dynasty, people began to write couplets on mahogany boards, one for killing evil spirits, the other for expressing good wishes, and the third for decorating the portal for beauty. They also write couplets on red paper symbolizing happiness and good luck, and stick them on both sides of doors and windows during the Spring Festival to express people's good wishes for good luck in the coming year. In order to pray for the longevity of the family, people in some places still keep the habit of sticking up doors. It is said that there are two door gods posted on the gate, and all monsters will be afraid. In the folk, the door god is a symbol of justice and strength. The ancients thought that people with strange looks often had magical temperament and extraordinary skills. They are honest and kind, and it is their nature and responsibility to catch ghosts and demons. Zhong Kui, a ghost hunter who is highly regarded by people, is such a strange look. Therefore, the folk door gods are always glaring and ferocious, holding all kinds of traditional weapons in their hands, ready to fight against ghosts who dare to come to the door. Because the doors of China's house are usually two opposite doors, the door gods are always paired. After the Tang Dynasty, besides peace, people also regarded Qin and Weichi Gong, two military commanders in the Tang Dynasty, as gatekeepers. According to legend, Emperor Taizong was ill, heard ghosts screaming outside, and stayed up all night. So he asked the two generals to stand by with weapons in their hands, and there was no ghost harassment the next night. Later, Emperor Taizong had the images of these two generals painted and pasted on the door, and this custom began to spread widely among the people.

The Legend of Fu Tao

Fu Tao

In the Song Dynasty, Wang Anshi wrote in the poem "January Day": "Every day, new peaches are always replaced with old ones." Describe the light on the first day. The "peach" and "symbol" in the poem are intertextual, which means that the new peach symbol is always replaced by the old one-the old one is replaced by the new one. There is a beautiful legend about Fu Tao. Long ago, Dushuo Mountain in the East China Sea had beautiful scenery, and there was a peach forest on the mountain. Among them, there is a huge peach tree, flourishing and winding for three thousand miles. Peaches are big and sweet. If people eat peaches from trees, they can become immortals. One dark night, a ghost with blue face and fangs, red hair and green eyes tried to steal Xiantao. The owners of Taolin, Shen Tu and Lei Yu, used peach branches to play ghosts, tied ghosts with straw ropes and fed tigers to watch the mountains. From then on, the names of the two brothers scared ghosts and became immortals who specialized in punishing evil and promoting good after death. Later generations painted two immortals, Shen Tu and Lei Yu, on a mahogany board one inch wide and seven or eight inches long to ward off evil spirits. This kind of red board is called "Fu Tao". With the changes of the times, Fu Tao itself is changing. Later, people wrote the names of two immortals on the Fu Tao instead of portraits. Later, it developed into "Inscription of Fu Tao", that is, short poems with equal words, symmetrical structure and corresponding meanings were inscribed on Fu Tao, which was the predecessor of Spring Festival couplets.

Ancient New Year cards

New Year cards, which are popular in modern society, have been implemented in ancient China. As early as the Song Dynasty, New Year greeting cards, as a special way of greeting the New Year, were used between the families and relatives of imperial nobles and literati, and were called "famous thorns" or "famous stickers". It is to cut plum blossom stationery into cards about two inches wide and three inches long, and write your name and address on them. A red paper bag called "door book" is attached to each door, with the owner's name written on it to receive the name thorn (name sticker). The worshippers write their names on the register, which means to pay a New Year call. Its meaning is the same as that of modern New Year cards. [3]

process

Twenty-three and twenty-four of the twelfth lunar month

Xiaonian Kitchen God (16) The 23rd or 24th of the twelfth lunar month, also called Xiaonian, is the day when people worship the kitchen. The folk song "Twenty-three, Melon Stick" refers to the sacrificial stove on the 23rd or 24th of the twelfth lunar month every year. There is a saying that "officials, three people, four boatmen and five", that is, on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the government held a sacrifice to the kitchen, on the 24th, the general public, and on the 25th, the boat was built. Off-year is the beginning and foreshadowing of the whole Spring Festival celebration, and there are two main activities: sweeping the New Year and offering sacrifices to stoves. In addition, there is the custom of eating stove candy. In some places, we also eat fire, sugar cakes, oil cakes and tofu soup. Offering sacrifices to stoves is a very popular custom in China. In the past, almost every kitchen had a kitchen god. People call this god "the Bodhisattva who commands life" or "the stove commands life". It is said that he is the "Nine-day East Chef Commanding the Kitchen Palace" sealed by the Jade Emperor, who is responsible for managing the kitchen fires of various families and is worshipped as the patron saint of the family. Kitchen shrines are mostly located in the north or east of the kitchen, with the idol of Kitchen God in the middle. Some people who don't have the niche of the Kitchen King even put the idol directly on the wall. Some gods only draw a kitchen god, while others have two men and women. The goddess is called "Grandma Chef". The sacrificial furnace on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month is closely related to the New Year in China. Because, a week later, on New Year's Eve, Kitchen God came to the world with good or bad luck that the whole family should get, and steamed steamed steamed buns with other gods (19). Kitchen God is considered to guide the gods in the sky. Other gods have ascended to heaven after the Chinese New Year, and only Kitchen God will stay in other people's kitchens for a long time. The ceremony of welcoming God is called "receiving God", and the kitchen god is called "receiving kitchen". Generally, it is New Year's Eve to pick up the kitchen, and the ceremony is much simpler. At that time, just put on a new stove lamp and burn incense in front of the stove niche. As the saying goes, "Men don't Yue Bai, women don't sacrifice to the kitchen". In some places, women don't sacrifice stoves. It is said that the kitchen god looks like a small white face and is afraid of women offering sacrifices to the kitchen stove, which is "suspected of men and women." People pay attention to eating jiaozi on the Festival of Sacrificing Kitchen, which means "Look at the windward side of jiaozi". Eat more cakes and buckwheat noodles in mountainous areas. In the southeast of Shanxi, the custom of eating fried corn is popular. There is a saying in the folk proverb called "Twenty-three, don't eat fried corn, pour a pot at the beginning of the new year". People like to bond fried corn with maltose and freeze it into pieces, which tastes crisp and sweet. After the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, every household should steam steamed bread. Generally speaking, it can be divided into two types: worshipping God and visiting relatives. The former is solemn, while the latter is gorgeous. Especially to make a jujube hill for Kitchen God. "A steamed bread, neighbors to help". This is often a great opportunity for folk women to show their dexterity. Steamed bread is a handicraft. After writing Spring Festival couplets on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, every household should write Spring Festival couplets. People pay attention to it, and God will stick it, and doors will stick it, and things will stick it, so Spring Festival couplets have the largest number and the most complete content. The couplets in front of the statues are particularly particular, and they are mostly words of admiration and blessing. The vulgar god is the god of heaven and earth, "the grace of heaven is as deep as the sea, and the virtue of posting Spring Festival couplets (twenty pieces) is as heavy as a mountain"; The land god "white jade is born in the soil, and gold is born in the ground"; God of wealth "God of wealth in heaven, God of wealth on earth"; Jing Shenlian "The well can pass through the four seas, and the home can pass through the three rivers". The Spring Festival couplets in granaries and barns all express warm congratulations and hopes, such as "five crops are abundant and six livestock are prosperous"; "The rice surface is as thick as a mountain, and the oil and salt are as deep as the sea"; "Nanshan cattle are like tigers, Beihai Ma Rulong"; "Big sheep flourish every year, and little sheep increase every month" and so on. There are also some single couplets, such as "Looking up to see happiness" in each room, "Going out to see happiness" across the door, "Prosperity is soaring to the sky" on the fire, "The courtyard is full of gold" on the tree, and "Deep-rooted foliage" on the stone mill. The couplets on the gate are the facade of a family, which are particularly exquisite, lyrical or picturesque, rich in content and witty. Eating stove candy is a kind of maltose, which is very sticky. The candy that is drawn into a long strip is called "Guandong Sugar", and the candy that is drawn into a flat circle is called "Tanggua". When it is placed outside in winter, because of the cold weather, the honeydew melon is solidified firmly, and there are some tiny bubbles in it, which tastes crisp and sweet and has a special flavor. The real kwantung candy is too hard to break. Be sure to split it with a kitchen knife when eating. The material is very heavy and fine. The taste is slightly sour, there is no honeycomb in the middle, each piece weighs one or two, two or four, and the price is relatively expensive. Sugar, sesame sugar and non-sesame sugar. Sugar is made into melon shape or north melon shape. The center is empty and the skin thickness is less than five points. Although the size is different, the transaction is still calculated by weight. The big honeydew melon weighs one or two Jin, but few people buy it as a cover. After sweeping the dust and holding the stove festival, we officially began to prepare for the New Year. Dust removal is year-end cleaning, which is called "house cleaning" in the north and "dust removal" in the south. It is a traditional habit of China people to paste New Year pictures (19) before the Spring Festival. Clean thoroughly outside, in front of and behind the house to welcome the Spring Festival. The custom of "sweeping the house with dust on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month" has a long history. According to Lu 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 "unlucky" and "unlucky". 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.

1February 29th, New Year's Eve

The night on the last day of the twelfth lunar month, that is, the last day of the lunar year (30 days old and 29 days old) is called "New Year's Eve". It is connected with the Spring Festival (the first day of the first month), which is a day for people to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. Because the big moon has 30 days and the small moon has only 29 days, the date of New Year's Eve is different. But this day, whether it is 29 or 30, is customarily called "New Year's Eve". On New Year's Eve, the whole family get together to have a New Year's Eve dinner (the last meal of the Lunar New Year). After New Year's Eve, there is a custom of giving lucky money and staying up on New Year's Eve, which means from the last day of the lunar new year to the first day of the following year. During the Zhou and Qin Dynasties, a ceremony of "exorcism" was held in the palace at the end of each year to beat drums to drive away epidemic ghosts, which was called "banishment". Later, the day before New Year's Eve was called "small exorcism". New Year's Eve is New Year's Eve, that is, New Year's Eve. Legend has it that this night is the time when the gods in heaven are in the lower world, so there is a custom of receiving gods among the people. Heaven and earth table is a temporary table, which is specially designed for New Year's Eve, and is mainly used to receive gods. Generally, there is no big Buddhist temple house to pay special attention to, because there are few sacrifices to the Buddha at ordinary times, and a large reward should be given to the Buddha at the end of the year. The content of Heaven and Earth Table is different from that of perennial Buddhist temples. Except for some hanging money, incense sticks, five sacrifices and big sacrifices, most of the idols worshipped are temporary, such as Percentage, which is a woodcut idol album. "Eighteen Buddhas and Gods in the Three Realms of Heaven and Earth", a complete book of color printing, and woodcut on rhubarb fringed paper; Fu Lushou Samsung photo, etc. Some of the above images will be incinerated after receiving the gods, such as "percentage", and some will not be incinerated until the evening shift or even the Lantern Festival. The position of the table is not uniform. For example, the room is spacious and can be put in the house. If there is no land at home, put it in the yard. Eating New Year's Eve and watching the Spring Festival Gala (Figure 6) are also the time when children play and set off firecrackers, and housewives are the busiest time in the kitchen. All the dishes on the New Year's Eve were cooked a few days ago, and the chef always cooked the New Year's Eve. In the north, jiaozi on the first day of New Year's Day will also be wrapped up on the evening of 30th. At this time, everyone's chopping boards are busy chopping meat and vegetables. At this time, the sound of chopping boards in every household, firecrackers in streets and alleys, abacus and accounting sounds in small shops are full of laughter and laughter, one after another, echoing, interwoven into a cheerful movement on New Year's Eve. Eating New Year's Eve is the most lively and enjoyable time for every household in the Spring Festival. On New Year's Eve, a table is full of rich New Year's dishes, and the family get together, sit around the table and have a reunion dinner. The sense of accomplishment in my heart is beyond words. People not only enjoy the delicious food on the table, but also enjoy the happy atmosphere. There are big dishes, cold dishes, stir-fried dishes and snacks on the table. Generally, two things are indispensable, one is hot pot and the other is fish. The hot pot is boiling, steaming, warm and sultry, which indicates that it is thriving; "Fish" and "fish" are homophonic, symbolizing "more happiness and more celebration" and also meaning "more than one year". There are also radishes, commonly known as vegetable heads. Good luck. Lobster, fried fish and other fried foods, wish your family prosperity, such as "cooking oil with fire." Finally, dessert, I wish the future sweet. Even if you can't drink on this day, you can drink a little. There are many kinds of New Year's Eve dinners, including jiaozi, wonton, long noodles and Yuanxiao. , and each has its own emphasis. Northerners are used to eating jiaozi during Chinese New Year (the custom of eating jiaozi was handed down from the Han Dynasty), which means "making friends when young". Because the white flour jiaozi is shaped like a silver ingot, the pots on the table symbolize the meaning of "getting rich in the New Year, and the ingots are rolling in". Some wrapped jiaozi and some coins sterilized with boiling water, saying that whoever ate first would make more money. Eating wonton in the New Year is based on its original meaning. Legend has it that the world was in chaos before it was created, and Pangu began to create the universe. Long noodles, also known as longevity noodles, eat noodles in the New Year and wish you a long life. Watching the Spring Festival Gala is not an ancient custom, but since 1980s, due to the popularity of television, it has become an indispensable cultural feast for China people. Every year, more than/kloc-0.0 billion people around the world watch the Spring Festival Gala on TV or the Internet. Since the Han Dynasty, the alternation between the old and the new year is usually at midnight, and celebrating the New Year's Eve is one of the most important custom activities every year. The custom of observing the old age has a long history, which was first seen in the local chronicles of the Western Jin Dynasty: on New Year's Eve, all parties give gifts to each other, which is called "giving back the old age"; 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 looking forward to 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; Receiving God means dividing the old year into the new year, but the time of receiving God is not uniform. Some people begin to hold ceremonies as soon as their children arrive, some people begin to receive gods at midnight when their children are "right", and some people do so after their children are "right". After the sacrifice, immortals from all walks of life returned to the Heavenly Palace, ignoring worldly affairs, and after New Year's Eve, that is, when the New Year came, they came to direct on earth. The ceremony of receiving gods was held at the table of heaven and earth, presided over by the oldest person in the family. Because the immortals live in different directions in heaven, the lower bound naturally comes in different directions. As for who to meet and where to come from, we should check the "constitution book" in advance, lead the whole family to hold incense in the yard, and follow their instructions to meet the gods. After kowtowing according to the position, stand still until the incense is exhausted, and then kowtow. Finally, take down the fragrant roots, idols and ingots, put them into the money and grain pots already prepared in the yard, and burn them with pine branches and sesame stalks. When receiving the gods, firecrackers exploded. After receiving the gods, sesame stalks are spread from the street gate to the door, and people walk on them and make a sound, which is called "stepping on the old" or "stepping on the special". Because "broken" and "treasure" are homophonic, it means that the new year begins to exorcise evil spirits. In the old society, since the financial door was opened at midnight during the Spring Festival, people have sent the God of Wealth. The god of wealth shouted outside the door with a piece of paper in his hand, "Here comes the man who sent the god of wealth!" " At this time, the owner of the house welcomed the arrival of the god of wealth and gave the reward to the bearer. Say something auspicious when sending the god of wealth, such as "gold and silver treasures are rolling in!" There are a pair of golden lions on the left and a pair of golden phoenix on the right. In addition, some people dressed in red robes, gauze hats, beards on their mouths, yellow cloth bags on their backs, dressed as the god of wealth, followed by several drummers, and distributed statues of the god of wealth from door to door as a reward. Every time I go to someone's door, I will sing a bunch of auspicious words, such as "the left compartment is full of gold and silver, and the right compartment is full of treasure", until the owner happily takes over the statue of the god of wealth and gives them some money. These talents thank each other and fight harder later. In the sound of gongs and drums, go to another house.

The first day of the lunar new year

Setting off firecrackers (1 1) was originally called "New Year's Day", and the original meaning of "yuan" was "head", and later it was extended to "start". This day is the first day of the year, the first day of spring and the first day of the first month, so it is called "Sanyuan". Because this day is still the old dynasty, the moon dynasty and the Japanese dynasty, it is also called the "three dynasties"; Because it is the first Shuori, it is also called "Yuanshuo". On the first day of the first month, there are other nicknames, such as Shangri-La, Zheng Chao, Sanshuo and Shisan, which means the beginning of a year, January and a day. On the first day of the new year, men get up early, put on their most beautiful clothes, dress neatly, go out to visit relatives and friends, and wish each other a happy New 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 famous cards, thus developing the later "New Year cards". During the Spring Festival, the younger generation should pay New Year greetings to their elders and wish them health and longevity. The elders can distribute the prepared lucky money to the younger generation. It is said that lucky money can kill evil spirits, because "old" and "expensive" 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.