What are the holiday customs of the Spring Festival?

1, Spring Festival custom: offering sacrifices to kitchen gods

Offering sacrifices to stoves is a widely spread and influential custom among Chinese people. In the past, almost every kitchen had a kitchen god. Legend has it that he was named "Commander-in-Chief of the Nine-Day East Chef" by the Jade Emperor, who was in charge of the stoves and fires of various families. People call this kind of god "Commander-in-Chief Bodhisattva" or "Chef's Commander-in-Chief" and are worshipped as the protector of the family. The folk song "Twenty-three, cantaloupe stick" refers to the annual sacrifice on the 23rd or 24th of the twelfth lunar month, and it is said that "officials, three people, four boatmen and five", that is, the official government held the sacrifice on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, ordinary people held it on the 24th, and houseboats held it on the 25th.

Legend has it that on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the Kitchen God will ascend to heaven and report the good and evil of this family for a year to the Jade Emperor. According to Kitchen God's report, the Jade Emperor will give the family the good and bad fortune they deserve in the new year to Kitchen God. The ceremony of sending the kitchen god is called "sending the kitchen" or "saying goodbye to the kitchen". People presented red candles and honeydew melons, and sent Kitchen God to heaven with solemn ceremony, hoping that Kitchen God would "speak well in heaven and be lucky in the next life". Today, this custom is still followed in many rural areas.

"Twenty-four, cleaning day". To welcome the new, we must first get rid of the old. Dust removal is year-end cleaning, which is called "house cleaning" in the north and "dust removal" in the south. Sweeping dust before the Spring Festival is a traditional custom in our country. On the day of dusting, the whole family began to clean the house and yard together, scrub the pots and pans, dismantle and wash the bedding, and greet the New Year cleanly. In fact, people use the homonym of "dust" and "Chen" to express their willingness to get rid of the old and welcome the new.

2. Spring Festival custom: paste the blessing word backwards.

In our country, people often use the word "Fu" to express their yearning and pursuit for auspiciousness, wishful thinking and happiness. Whenever we bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new year, every household should put the word "Fu" on the door, which means that we are blessed to enter the house. In many places, the word "Fu" is reversed, and the homonym of "Dao" and "Dao" is used to mean "Fu is here".

3. Spring Festival custom: paste Spring Festival couplets.

Sticking Spring Festival couplets is an activity during the Spring Festival, which has been very popular since the Song Dynasty. Every family has the custom of sticking Spring Festival couplets every year.

Spring Festival couplets, commonly known as "appropriate" and "Spring Post", are a kind of couplets. Because they are posted during the Spring Festival, they are called Spring Festival couplets. One source of Spring Festival couplets is Fu Tao. At first, people carved figures out of mahogany and hung them by the door to ward off evil spirits. Later, they painted the door god on the mahogany, simplified it and wrote the door god's name on the mahogany board. Another source of Spring Festival couplets is spring stickers. The ancients posted the word "Yichun" every day when they were in beginning of spring.

The real popularity of Spring Festival couplets began in the Ming Dynasty, which was related to Zhu Yuanzhang's advocacy. According to historical records, one year before the Spring Festival, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered every household to post a pair of Spring Festival couplets to celebrate. At first, Spring Festival couplets were carved on mahogany boards, and later rewritten on paper. The color of mahogany is red, which means good luck and avoiding evil spirits, so most Spring Festival couplets are written in red paper.

Spring Festival couplets can be called the original artistic wonder of the Chinese nation, and they are deeply loved by generations because of their characteristics of appealing to both refined and popular tastes. Someone once summed up the Spring Festival couplets like this: "Two lines support Tianzhu; A pair of couplets, commenting on ancient Han. " Sticking Spring Festival couplets is an important folk custom in the New Year. On the eve of the Spring Festival, every household should put up red Spring Festival couplets. A pair of festive and warm Spring Festival couplets expresses people's good wishes to welcome the New Year and look forward to a new life.

4. Spring Festival custom: paste New Year pictures.

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 the door gods, and the God of Wealth is gradually invited to the home, and then colorful New Year pictures such as Fu Lushou's three stars, God bless the people, abundant crops, prosperous six animals, greeting the spring and wishing the New Year are made in some New Year picture workshops to meet people's good wishes of celebrating and praying for the New Year. Because Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding father of the Ming Dynasty, advocated posting couplets during the Spring Festival, New Year pictures became popular because of their influence. Taohuawu in Suzhou, Jiangsu, Yangliuqing in Tianjin and Yangjiabu in Weifang, Shandong are three important producing areas of Chinese New Year pictures. In the early years of the Republic of China, a new form of combining monthly calendar with new year pictures appeared in Shanghai, which later developed into today's calendar.

5, the Spring Festival custom: New Year's Eve is old-fashioned.

New Year's Eve refers to the evening of the last day of the year, which is connected with the Spring Festival from beginning to end. It is an important moment of "one night for two years, five hours for two years". "Except" means "going", and New Year's Eve means "the month is poor and the old year is exhausted", which means that the old year will be replaced by the new year next year. New Year's Eve is the first climax of the New Year's Festival. Shounian, commonly known as "Enduring the Year", begins with eating New Year's Eve. New Year's Eve is the most intimate and warm family dinner in a year. At this time, people not only enjoy a table full of delicious food, but also enjoy deep affection and festive celebrations.

After the New Year's Eve, except for the young children, the whole family began to observe the new year, saying goodbye to the old year and welcoming the new year. There was a custom of keeping old on New Year's Eve in Jin Dynasty, which was very common in Northern and Southern Dynasties. It was very popular after the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and it was more prosperous in the Song Dynasty following tang style. In addition, the custom of drinking pepper and cypress wine (medicinal liquor prepared with herbs) on New Year's Eve in Han Dynasty was changed to Tu Su wine in later generations, and Wang Anshi also wrote a poem "Spring Breeze Warms Tu Su". Nowadays, in the south of China, it is still a custom for the whole family to get together and drink Tu Su wine on New Year's Day.

On New Year's Eve, our people will hold an annual stilt walking activity, that is, sesame stalks are stuck in the courtyard in the shape of gold ingots made of yellow paper rolls and stored in a bundle, which is called a "cornucopia". Then the whole family crushed it with their feet to make "old" and "broken" homophonic, and borrowed the auspicious meaning of sesame blossom to wish the family prosperity and express their wishes and prayers for the new year.

6. Spring Festival custom: New Year's Eve dinner

It is an important custom for the whole family to have a reunion dinner on New Year's Eve. As the most important traditional festival in China, the Spring Festival is a good opportunity for family reunion, especially as many people are getting busier and busier at work. The reunion dinner on New Year's Eve is also called New Year's Eve. According to Zonggu's records of Jingchu times, there was a custom of eating New Year's Eve dinner at least in the Northern and Southern Dynasties. In the past, families worked together and cooked a big dinner at home. Now, in order to save trouble, some families directly put the location of the New Year's Eve dinner in the hotel. No matter where you eat, the theme of reunion will not change.

7. Spring Festival custom: lucky money

On New Year's Eve, the elders should give the younger generation lucky money, also called lucky money. Because "old" and "treasure" are homophonic, elders hope that lucky money can ward off evil spirits and avoid disasters, and protect children's safety. The lucky money is entrusted with the ardent hope and deep concern of the elders for the younger generation. So students should not compare the amount of lucky money with each other, but should pay attention to its emotional value. At the same time, we should use the lucky money reasonably, and use it to study or do something meaningful.