What about the "New Year" folk custom that has been passed down from the Qing Dynasty to the present?

To tell the truth, although I am talking about the customs of the Qing Dynasty, I am no stranger, because many customs of the Qing Dynasty have been handed down to this day, especially in the vast northeast, and the customs of the Qing Dynasty have been handed down almost intact. Take the author's own family as an example. According to genealogical records, my ancestors came to the northeast from Shandong as early as the Qianlong period. After several generations of management, they finally formed a huge clan in the local area. Even with the rapid development of today's society, in our rural hometown, people of ethnic minorities still follow the old rules of the New Year, which were formed in the Qing Dynasty.

Then let's talk about these old Chinese New Year rules.

On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the Northeast celebrated the New Year, and the Year officially kicked off. On the 23rd night of the twelfth lunar month, there is an important activity-saying "Kitchen God". As one of the most popular grass-roots cadres in heaven, he will return to heaven tonight to report on the food and clothing consumption of his family in the past year. There are many versions of the folklore about Kitchen God, but it can be said that Kitchen God is an auspicious god. As the saying goes, "If God says well, the next one will be lucky." Because the kitchen god reports many good things to God, the heaven has arranged another god to supervise whether the people have blasphemy and other "illegal" behaviors, that is, the kitchen god, which is located in the northwest, just opposite to the kitchen god (that is, the kitchen god) located in the southeast. Because God said too many bad things, he was regarded as a fierce god by folk people. After a long time, no one will sacrifice it, so he has also been forgotten by everyone.

I will pay more attention to this New Year's Eve, which is the New Year's Eve.

Wake up in the morning and get busy after breakfast. The main tasks in the morning are "paying tribute" and "closing the door". In fact, "offering tribute" is a kind of folk sacrifice activity for gods and ancestors. It is necessary to put the family genealogy (everyone may be the ancestral tablet of the past dynasties) in the upper position of the North and South Hall, and then put the prepared tributes on the record. Han people's tributes are vegetarian, mainly food and fried items, while Manchu people's tributes are mainly pork, pig's head and ribs are necessities. "Closing the door" means putting up Spring Festival couplets, which is called "putting up couplets" in the northeast. Sticking Spring Festival couplets is a folk activity all over the country. However, due to China's vast territory and rich resources, there are certain differences in humanities and cultures around the country, so the time for posting Spring Festival couplets is not the same.

Lunch at noon is mainly boiled and stewed, and Manchu people must eat tofu. Tofu originally belonged to the flag Han family and was deeply influenced by Manchu culture. Tofu is also a must-eat food for the New Year. In addition, you should also drink your own yellow wine. If you taste the hot homemade yellow rice wine, you will feel the mellow taste of this pure grain. Of course, you must not be greedy. This kind of yellow rice wine is full of stamina, and you will soon fall asleep drunk.

The "highlights" of the Chinese New Year are all staged on New Year's Eve.

Item 1: God bless.

Winter in the northeast begins to enter the night at five o'clock in the afternoon. Ask God to work at this time. The old rule is to invite the men in the family to visit the ancestral graves at home. The process is simple. Burn some paper money in front of the ancestral grave, set off some firecrackers after kowtowing, and then go straight home. On the way home, it is forbidden to turn around and whisper to each other, especially not to say blasphemous words, so all the ancestors followed you home. After going home and entering the courtyard gate, there is an important link-put your horse on hold, that is, put a straight wooden stick about two meters horizontally inside the gate. The main purpose is to stop ghosts who eat and drink with their masters, so that immortals and ancestors can't even go home. The god who please go home is in the upper position of the worship hall.

Item 2: Eat jiaozi.

Why do we ask God at night and before dinner? Because jiaozi, the first meal on New Year's Eve, should be tasted by the immortals and ancestors first, that is, before the official dinner, jiaozi should be given to the immortals and ancestors at the upper level to show their respect. After a while, the gods and ancestors will "eat" and dinner will officially begin.

Jiaozi is a very popular food in northern China. In the vast northeast, jiaozi is the most auspicious food, which can bring good luck. There is a popular saying in Northeast China: "jiaozi eats more and more", which is the most popular food in Northeast China. The author has a hardworking mother. At ordinary times, our family basically eats jiaozi once a week, takes a bite of jiaozi wrapped by mom, and drinks a little wine with dad. Life is so comfortable, I dare not expect too much.

After dinner, it is usually a family chat and a joke. At that time, there was no Spring Festival Gala, mainly playing cards and chatting as a pastime.

Item 3: kowtow to pay New Year's greetings.

Before retiring from the old year, the oldest man in the family led the men in the family to line up in the order of seniority and elders in the family, kowtowing to the ancestors, gods and every elder in the family in turn. Every elder kowtowed and prayed for a happy new year. When I was a child, I went back to my hometown to celebrate the New Year, and I kowtowed to every elder. You can imagine how many people the older generation will kowtow to.

After New Year's greetings, we collect lucky money from every elder. In the past, people's lives were generally difficult, especially in the vast rural areas, and their living standards were even worse. Therefore, we are very happy to get a little lucky money from each elder, unlike now, we can't get two red tickets.

Item 4: Setting off firecrackers

When it comes to setting off firecrackers, children are the happiest. Children don't know what "firecrackers say goodbye to the old year" is, but they are more attracted by the beauty of fireworks and the loud noise of firecrackers. There are long firecrackers hanging high in the yard, which is very exciting to set off. Salutes flying into the sky and beautiful fireworks booming bear all the unhappiness of people to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new year. This moment is really a great moment for China to celebrate.

Fireworks should be set off after midnight, that is to say, bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new year. At this time, we still want to eat a jiaozi, bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new year.

On New Year's Eve, the lights must not be broken. Red lanterns should be hung high in the courtyard, and the lights on the gong table should not be broken. In the past, only lighting candles could ensure the lighting. Now the candles are replaced by electric LED bulbs, which saves the trouble of changing candles in the middle of the night and is much more environmentally friendly.

After New Year's Eve, it's the first day of New Year's Day, as the saying goes. Why? Happy new year! Different from meeting in the city to pay New Year's greetings, in our hometown, the younger generation should go to their elders' homes to pay New Year's greetings in person, which is also a rule left by several generations of elders. Regardless of blood relationship, as long as the seniority is higher than their own, they should pay New Year greetings to their elders and ask them "Happy New Year"! When my grandfather was alive, he was the patriarch of the clan. The families who come to pay New Year's greetings early in the morning are really in an endless stream, so lively.

By the way, I want to talk about this meal in jiaozi on the morning of the first day of junior high school. The difference of this meal in jiaozi is that it is mainly vegetarian stuffing, with one or two jiaozi wrapped in steel money. Whoever can get money indicates good luck this year and will not be short of money. Often in order to eat money, especially children, eat very full.

On the second day of New Year's Day, there is an important ceremony, that is, to send God. The specific time to send the gods varies from place to place. Generally, when the second day and the third day alternate, or on the evening of the third day, the rule in our hometown is the former. It's time to go back to the ancestors and immortals who invited us on the 30th. There is a saying that "it is easier to pray than to send God", so the ceremony of sending God is much more complicated than praying for God: first, staying up late into the night, second, burning a lot of prepared paper money at the tribute table, third, the whole family kowtowing in front of the tablets of God and ancestors, praying that their families will not get sick this year, and finally, setting off a lot of fireworks to send you away.

After seeing off their ancestors and gods, they began to visit New Year's greetings, especially when the son-in-law and married daughter were ready to go back to their parents' home to pay New Year's greetings. So the third and fourth cars immediately said that most of them came back to pay New Year's greetings. Now there are fewer children in the family, and there is no distinction between men and women. Therefore, the time for the son-in-law to "go home" is not so rigid, and even it is normal to go to his parents' home for the New Year, which is absolutely not allowed in the old society with deep feudal thoughts.

The custom in Northeast China is not over yet, and there are many exquisite activities, such as setting off lanterns on the fifteenth day of the first month, raising the dragon's head on the second day of February and so on. After February 2 (the second day of the second lunar month), the year is completely over.

Through the annual custom activities, we can see that China people attach great importance to the most important festivals in China. Through this series of annual custom activities, people pray for good weather and good health for their families in the coming year, and we will also feel the improvement of people's living standards and the prosperity of the motherland from these annual custom activities.