What are the different customs of Chinese New Year in different places

All over China, there is a custom of posting a door god on the New Year's Eve. Initially, they were carved from mahogany and hung next to a person, but later they were painted

and posted on the door. Legend has it that the two brothers, Shentan and Yubi, specialize in controlling ghosts, and with them guarding the doorway, evil spirits of all sizes would not

dare to enter the door to do harm. After the Tang Dynasty, there were paintings of the fierce generals Qin Qiong and Yuchi Jingde as door gods, as well as paintings of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei as

door gods. Door god statue of the left and right households each one, later generations often a pair of door god painted as a text and a military. There are three types of door gods: the first type is the "gate

door god", mostly affixed to the door of the car or the whole gate, about four or five feet high, about two or three feet wide. The second type is the "Street Gate God", mostly posted on small street gates

, about two feet high and one foot wide. These two kinds of door gods are both black-faced and white-faced. White left and black right, white good and easy, black caracal,

each holding a battle-axe. The third type is "house door god", the street door god is a little smaller limited, also black and white two gods, but there are black and white two gods are sitting

like. The door of a house is most often labeled with the image of "the unicorn sending a son", two dolls powdered and coated with fat and combed with a prince's crown, each riding on a unicorn. This kind of door god should be

pasted on the door of a newly married house for good luck, but later it was used as a New Year's decoration for the common street door.

Posting Spring Festival couplets

Spring Festival couplets, also known as "door pair", "spring posting", is a kind of couplets, because in the Spring Festival posted, so the name. One of the origins of the Spring Festival couplets is the peach charm

. Initially, people used peach wood to carve human figures and hang them next to the door to protect themselves from evil spirits. Later, they drew a picture of the god of the door on peach wood, and then simplified it by inscribing the name of the god of the door on a peach wood board.

Another source of spring couplets is the Spring Festival couplets. Another source of Spring Festival couplets is spring stickers. In ancient times, the word "Yichun" was often posted on the day of the first day of spring, which was later developed into spring scrolls. The real

popularity of spring couplets began in the Ming Dynasty, with the promotion of Zhu Yuanzhang. According to the Qing dynasty's Chen Shanggu's "Hairpin Cloud House Miscellany", one year Zhu Yuanzhang

preparing for the New Year, ordered every family to post a spring couplet on the door to celebrate. Originally, the couplets were written on mahogany boards, but later they were written on

paper. The color of mahogany is red, and red means good luck and protection from evil, so most spring scrolls are written on red paper. But the temple with yellow paper,

Shou system (mourning service is not full) with white, green, yellow color, the first year with white paper, the second year of green paper, the third year of yellow paper, the fourth year of mourning full

before resuming the use of red paper. Because the Manchu still white, the Qing court spring couplets with white paper, blue wrapped in the outside, red strips set in the inside.

Posting lucky words, window decorations, New Year's paintings and hanging scrolls

These all have the folkloric function of praying for good luck and decorating one's home. New Year's paintings are an ancient folk art in China, reflecting the customs and beliefs of the people

and holding their hopes for the future. New Year's paintings, like spring scrolls, originated from "door gods". While the Spring Festival couplets were developed from the names of

Shentan and Yubi, the New Year's Paintings continued to be developed in the direction of painting. With the rise of woodblock printing, the content of New Year

painting is not only limited to the God of Door and so on, and gradually invited the God of Wealth to the home, and then in some of the New Year's paintings workshop produced FuLu

Sanshingxingxingxingtu

TianGuanZhiFu

FuLu FengDong

Six Livestock XingFu

colorful New Year's paintings in order to

Satisfy people's happy prayers for New Year's good wishes. Because of the Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang advocated the Spring Festival posting spring couplets, New Year's paintings are also influenced by its prevalence

Open, the country appeared in the New Year's paintings of three important places of origin: Peach Blossom Dock in Suzhou, Tianjin, Yangliuqing, and Weifang in Shandong; formed China's New Year's paintings

Three major schools of thought. In the early years of the Republic of China, Zheng Mantuo in Shanghai combined the lunar calendar and New Year's paintings. This is a new form of New Year's paintings. This

combination of the two was later developed into a calendar. The calendar is a red paper engraved with auspicious phrases, a foot in length, which is glued in front of the door to reflect the

peach symbols. There are eight immortals on it, hung in front of the Buddha. It is used by thousands of households, but less by large families. The yellow paper

three inches long, the red paper is more than an inch long, is a "small hanging thousand", used for the market. The earliest Hanging Chien was strung with coins (copper coins), which had the same effect of suppressing victory as the

year-end coins.

Placement of the Heaven and Earth Table

This is a temporary table for offerings, and it is the only table set up on New Year's Eve. In general, families without a large Buddhist temple place special emphasis on the Tiandi Table, because in normal times

the offerings to the Buddha are small, and at the end of the year when the year is over, there is a big reward for the gods, and in addition, this table is mainly used to receive the gods. The contents of the heaven and earth table

are different from those of the permanent Buddha Hall, except for the money, incense and candles, five offerings, and big offerings, the idols worshipped are mostly temporary, such as: "Percent", which is a woodcut picture book of the gods; "Heaven and earth and the three worlds of the eighteen Buddhas and the gods", which is a large yellow burlap paper with a watercolor print of the whole gods; the three stars of the blessedness of life. Pictures and so on. Some of the above images are incinerated after receiving the god, such as "100 percent". Some of them have to be burned on

Break the 5th day of the 5th month, or even on the festival of lights. The location of the table of heaven and earth is not standardized. If the hall is large, it can be placed in the middle of the house; if there is no

ground in the house, it can be placed in the middle of the courtyard. Legend has it that this night is the time when the gods come down from the sky, so the folk have this custom of receiving the gods.

Watch the New Year

China's folk on New Year's Eve has the custom of watching the New Year's Eve, commonly known as the "New Year's Eve". The New Year's Eve vigil begins with the New Year's Eve dinner, which is eaten slowly, from the time the lanterns are lit, and in some cases is eaten late into the night. According to the record of "Jing Chu Yearly Records", there was a custom of having New Year's Eve dinner at least in the North and South

Dynasties.

The custom of observing the New Year's Eve is a way of saying goodbye to the years that have passed by and expressing hope for the coming New Year.

Firecrackers

When the midnight hour, the New Year's bell rings, the whole China over the land, firecrackers resonate in the sky. In this "year of the yuan, the month

of the yuan, the time of the yuan" of the "three yuan" moments, some places also in the courtyard of the base "Wang Huo", to show that the prosperous gas through the sky, prosperous and prosperous. In the bear

Burning around the fire, the children set off firecrackers, joyfully jumping around, then, inside the house is bright lights, in front of the court is brilliant

Sparks, outside the house is the sound of the sky, the New Year's Eve atmosphere to the climax of the bustling. Poets and writers throughout the ages have always praised the coming of the New Year with the most beautiful

poems. Wang Anshi's poem "New Year's Day":

The sound of firecrackers marks the end of a new year,

and the spring breeze brings warmth to the people.

Thousands of doors are full of pupils.

The new peach is always replaced by the old one.

It depicts the grand celebration of the Spring Festival by our people. The sound of firecrackers is a sign of the old and the new, a sign of joyfulness

Revealing. Doing business with the family. Firecrackers also have another meaning: they are in the New Year's Eve firecrackers is for the new year a great deal of profit.

However, according to the old custom, honoring the God of Wealth should be the first and setting off firecrackers should be the last. Legend has it that if you want to make a fortune, the firecrackers should be set off last

Sincerely.

Eating New Year's Eve dinner

Children playing with firecrackers, but also the housewives in the kitchen the busiest time, New Year's dishes are done a few days before

, and New Year's Eve dinner is always in the New Year's Eve on the day of the kitchen to do out. In the north, the dumplings for the first day of the Lunar New Year are also made on the night of the 30th.

At this time, every family's chopping board is thumping and busy chopping meat and vegetables.

The sound of chopping boards coming from every house, the sound of firecrackers coming from the streets and alleys, the sound of the abacus and the sound of accounts coming from the stores, and the sound of jokes and laughter coming from everywhere

all come together in a joyous and joyful way to form a happy music for the New Year's Eve.

Eating the New Year's Eve dinner is the most lively and enjoyable time for families in the Spring Festival. On New Year's Eve. Abundant New Year's dishes on the table, the family reunion,

Sitting around the table,*** eat a reunion dinner, the heart's fullness is really hard to describe. People are not only enjoying the table full of delicious food, but also enjoy

that happy atmosphere, the table has a large dishes, cold pots, stir-fry, snacks, usually two things, one is hot pot. The first is the fish.

The hot pot boiling, steaming, warm and inviting, suggesting that the red hot; "fish" and "Yu" resonance, is a symbol of "good fortune", but also a metaphor for "

year after year". There are also turnips, commonly known as "choy tau" (菜头), for good luck, and fried foods such as lobster and fish, for good fortune, such as "cooking oil on a blazing fire" (烈火煮油). Lastly, there is a sweet dish, wishing sweet days ahead, this day, even if you do not drink alcohol, but also more or less drink a little

.

New Year's Eve dinner has many names, different from the north and south, there are dumplings, wontons, long noodles, snacks, etc., and each has its own rules. People in the north

are accustomed to eating dumplings on New Year's Eve, which is the meaning of "change of year" for the change of the old and the new. Because white dumplings are shaped like silver dollars, they are brought to the table in pots and pans

symbolizing the "New Year's fortune, the Yuanbao rolls in". In some cases, a few coins sterilized in boiling water are wrapped in the dumplings, saying that whoever eats them first will earn more money. The custom of eating dumplings was passed down from the Han Dynasty. Legend has it that Zhang Zhongjing, the sage of medicine, saw the ears of the poor frozen in the winter months and made a "cold-removing ear soup" for the poor to cure frostbite. He used mutton, chili pepper

and some of the cold and warm herbs, wrapped in dough into an ear like "Jiao Er", boiled in a pot, distributed to the poor to eat, people ate, feel

warm body, two ear heat. Afterwards, people followed the example and it has been passed down to this day. The idea of eating wontons in the New Year is to take the meaning of the beginning of the year.

Legend has it that before the world was created it was in a state of chaos, and it was only when Pangu opened up the sky and the earth that there was a universe of four sides, long noodles, also known as longevity noodles. The new year,

It is to wish for a long life of a hundred years.

Giving New Year's money

New Year's money is sent by the elders to the younger generation, some families are after the New Year's Eve dinner, everyone is sitting at the table and not allowed to go, and when everyone is

finished eating, the elders will send to the younger generation, and encourage their children and grandchildren in the new year to learn to grow up and do well. Some people's parents put it under their children's pillows at

night when they are asleep, while many others have children gather in the main hall, calling out Happy New Year to their grandparents, parents

parents, and kneeling down to pay respect; and then reaching out for the red envelopes. They even went to the bedroom of their grandparents and ran to the edge of the bed, shouting, "New Year's money! The old man is still not lively enough, pretending to be petty, from bargaining to the siege of groping, and finally the

Old ancestor's red packet unearthed, everyone looted empty, before they whistled and dispersed. The old man was overjoyed at the sight and took it as a good omen for a successful new

year. Giving New Year's money on New Year's Day reflects the love and respect of elders for their elders, and is a

folkloric activity that integrates ethical relationships within the family.

There is a nursery rhyme:

The three stars are in the south, every family pays homage to the New Year;

the younger generation kowtows, the older generation gives money.

If you don't want any money, you'll leave with your face turned away.

The gods

The gods are for the old and the new year, but the time for the gods is not uniform. In some cases, the ceremony starts as soon as it is midnight, in some cases it starts at midnight, and in some cases it starts after midnight. After the Zaosai festival, the gods return to the heavenly palace and ignore the ordinary

things on earth, and then come down to the earth after the midnight of New Year's Eve, when the new year comes. The ceremony of receiving the gods is held at the table of heaven and earth, and is presided over by the eldest member of the family

. Because the gods live in different directions in the heavenly realm, they naturally come in different directions when they descend to the earth. As to which god to receive and from where the god is coming from, it is necessary to check the "Genshu" beforehand, and then lead the whole family to receive the god according to the direction by holding up incense in the courtyard. For example, in the year of Xinwei, the "Constitution" instructs:

"The God of Wealth is in the east, the God of Fortune is in the south, the God of Nobility is in the northeast, the God of Happiness is in the southwest, and the God of the Year of the Year is in the southwest, and so on". After kowtowing according to the directions, one stands at attention and waits for the incense to be

exhausted, then kowtows again, and finally removes the incense sticks, statues of the gods, and the ingots, etc., and puts them into the money and grain pots that have been prepared in the courtyard for the burning process. When burning

The same pine branches, sesame stalks, etc. are burned. The firecrackers are blazing and the atmosphere is very strong.

Treading Souls

After receiving the gods, sesame stalks are spread from the street door to the door of the house, and people walk on them, making crackling noises, which is known as "stepping on the year", or "stepping on souls".

Because of the "broken" and "Soun" homophonic, take the meaning of the beginning of the New Year to drive out evil spirits.

Ancestor Sacrifice

Anciently, this ritual was very popular. Because of the differences in local customs, the form of ancestor worship also varies, some go to the field to visit the ancestors' graves, some go to

clan temples to worship ancestors, but most of them will be placed at home in the main hall in the order of ancestral tablets, display offerings, and then the worshippers according to the order of the eldest and youngest to incense

kneeling worship. Han Chinese ancestor worship, most of the fish and meat bowl dishes, served in a high bowl, quite a bell ringing the meaning of food. Southern people living in Beijing, ancestor worship is particularly

grand, most of the eight bowls of food, set up a hot pot, according to the spirit of the cups and chopsticks, on New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, New Year's Eve, the hot pot will be fanning open, at any time to change

dish. Banner ancestor worship, Manchu-Mongolian different, Mongolian Banner for butter fried yellow rice noodles, withdrawal of offerings fried in sesame oil, dipped in sugar, another flavor

. Manchurian flag people worship ancestors, for walnut cake, hibiscus cake, apples, wax sandalwood incense, quiet and unusual. New Year's Eve and New Year's Day for vegetarian boiled meat and potatoes,

Superior New Year's Eve for the Lantern Festival, every morning and evening to burn incense and kowtow to the new tea offerings. Although the form of ancestor worship is different, most of them are New Year's Eve hanging shadow, on New Year's

Night withdrawal of the offerings, family and friends of the closest, the New Year's Day must also bow to visit the ancestral hall, not only to be careful to catch up with the intention of not dying, because of its people to honor their ancestors of the beauty of

Death, but also through this to preserve the.

Send the God of Wealth

Old times, from the Chinese New Year midnight to open the door of wealth, there will be the God of Wealth, holding a paper printed God of Wealth outside the door yelling: "Send the God of Wealth

Master's come!" At this time, the master of the house, in order to welcome the God of Fortune, will take the reward money to the person who comes to the house, to send the God of Fortune's mouth, of course, always

cannot help but to say some auspicious words. For example: "Gold, silver and treasure roll in"! There is a pair of golden lions on the left and a pair of golden phoenixes on the right"!

And so on, such as the mouth color. There is another kind is dressed up in the appearance of the God of Wealth, dressed in red robes, wearing a hat, mouth with a fake beard

, carrying a yellow bag to collect money, followed by a few gongs and drums, door to door to distribute the image of the God of Wealth, in order to ask

Reward money. Whenever they arrive at the door of a house, they sing: "The left side is full of gold and silver, and the right side is full of treasures." A lot of auspicious words were sung until the host happily took the red paper statue of the God of Wealth and gave them some money. After thanking them, the people pretending to be the God of Wealth would

beating vigorously and moving on to other houses with the sound of gongs and drums.

Drinking Tusu Wine

Tusu wine is a kind of medicinal wine. In ancient times, the whole family drank it on New Year's Day in order to get rid of any unhealthy spirits. The method of making Tusu wine

is: use one cent of rhubarb, Chinese bellflower, one and a half cent each of Sichuan peppercorns, one and a half cent of Gui Xin, one and a half cent of cornelian cherry, one and a half cent of cornelian cherry, one and a half cent of windbreaks, and then hang them in the well, and then pick them up on New Year's Day when they are about to be born and fry them with wine for four or five hours. In ancient times, the method of drinking tusu wine was very unique. In general, people drank wine from the oldest person, but the opposite was true for Tusu wine, which was drunk from the youngest person. Probably the youngest grow up day by day and drink it first to

congratulate them, while the oldest grow up year by year and drink it later to retain them. The Song Dynasty writer Su Zhe's poem "New Year's Day" reads, "Every year, I drink tusu at the end of the year, and I don't realize that the year is more than seventy years old." This is the custom. This unique order of drinking, in the ancient times, often produced

a variety of feelings, so it leaves a deep impression.

New Year's Rice

In the north, some people still have to offer a pot of rice, burned before the year, to be offered for New Year's, called "New Year's Rice", is leftover rice, a year

To the end of the year can not be eaten, this year, but also ate the previous year's food meaning. This pot of New Year's Eve rice is usually cooked with a mixture of rice and millet, which is called "

two-meter rice" in Beijing, in order to have yellow and white, which is called "gold and silver, gold and silver pots full of" "gold and silver rice". Many places in the New Year's

prepared cakes and fruits,

are trying to get a good fortune: eat jujube (early spring), eat persimmon (everything is as good as it can be) eat almonds (happy people), eat fruit (

Long life), eat rice cakes (a year more than a year high). On New Year's Eve, families eat and laugh together.