Chinese New Year Customs in Various Places

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Customs of the Spring Festival in various parts of China include:

Dust sweeping. "On the twenty-fourth day of the Lunar New Year, dusting and sweeping the house", according to "Lv's Spring and Autumn Annals", China in the Yao and Shun era, there is a Spring Festival dust sweeping custom. According to folklore: the Spring Festival dust sweeping has the meaning of "in addition to the new", the intention is to sweep out all the poor luck, bad luck. This custom is to support the people's desire to break the old and new wishes and prayers for the old and welcome the new.

Posting Spring Festival couplets. Spring Festival couplets, also known as the door, spring stickers, couplets, couplets, peach symbols, etc., it is neat, couplets, concise, sophisticated text depicting the background of the times, expressing the best wishes, is China's unique form of literature. This custom started in the Song Dynasty, began to flourish in the Ming Dynasty, and in the Qing Dynasty, the ideology and artistry of the Spring Festival couplets have improved.

Pasted window and upside down "Fu" character. In folklore, people also like to put all kinds of paper cuttings on the windows - window flowers. Paper cutting is a very popular folk art in China, and has been loved by people for thousands of years. With its unique generalization and exaggeration of the window flowers will be auspicious events, good wishes expressed to the fullest. It is a long-standing folk custom in China to post the character "福" in Chinese New Year. The character "福" refers to good fortune and luck, and it expresses people's desire for a happy life and their wish for a better future. Some people simply put the word "Fu" upside down to show that "happiness has arrived" and "good fortune has arrived".

New Year's Paintings. New Year's paintings, like spring scrolls, originated as "door gods". With the rise of woodblock printing, the content of the New Year's paintings has not only limited to monotonous themes such as the God of the Door, become colorful to meet the good wishes of people celebrating the New Year's prayers. Three important production areas for New Year's paintings emerged in China: Taohuayu in Suzhou, Yangliuqing in Tianjin and Weifang in Shandong. In the early years of the Republic of China, Zheng Mantuo in Shanghai combined the lunar calendar and New Year paintings. This was a new form of New Year's paintings. This combination of two and one of the New Year's paintings, later developed into a wall calendar, and is still popular throughout the country.

New Year's Eve. The night of the last day of the lunar year is called "New Year's Eve", and that night is called "New Year's Eve". People often stay up all night on New Year's Eve, called the New Year's Eve. Su Shi wrote "Keeping New Year's Eve": "Children are strong enough not to sleep, and they keep vigil all night long." There is a legend about the origin of New Year's Eve, the purpose of which is to drive away the vicious monster called Xi. On that night, "Xi" broke into the village and ran back to the mountains, never daring to come out again. So on the night of the third day of the new year, every family puts up red spring scrolls and sets off firecrackers to drive away the beast of Xi. In order to seek peace in the new year, this custom has been passed down since then.

Vigilance. New Year's Eve is one of the most important New Year's Eve activities, the custom of year-end vigil has a long history. The earliest records are found in the Western Jin Dynasty Zhou Zhi's "customs": New Year's Eve night, each with the gift, known as the "feed year"; wine and food invited, known as the "other year"; young and old get together to drink, wishing to complete, known as the "sub year "and everyone stays awake all night, waiting for the morning, called" year-end vigil ". New Year's Eve night, the family gathered together, ate New Year's Eve dinner, lit candles or oil lamps, sitting around the fireplace chatting, waiting for the time to say goodbye to the old and welcome the new, the all-night vigil, symbolizing all the evil plagues and epidemics according to the run away, looking forward to a new year of good luck and good fortune. In ancient times, there are two meanings of the old age watch: the old age watch for the "resignation of the old year", there is the meaning of the precious time; young people to watch the old age, is to extend the life of parents. Since the Han Dynasty, the time of the transition between the old and new year is usually the middle of the night.

Crackers. Chinese folk "open door firecrackers" said. That is, the arrival of the new year, the first thing that families open the door is to set off firecrackers, to beeping firecrackers to get rid of the old and welcome the new. Firecrackers can create a festive and lively atmosphere, is a festive recreational activities, can bring people joy and good fortune.

Eating rice cakes and wrapping dumplings. Steamed rice cakes have become a must-have for almost every household because of their harmony with the word "nian gao" and their varied flavors. There are square-shaped yellow and white rice cakes, symbolizing gold and silver, which are meant to bring wealth in the New Year. The night before the actual New Year's Eve is called the Night of Reunion, when people who have been away from home for thousands of miles come home and the whole family sits together to make dumplings for the New Year. Dumplings are used to symbolize the reunion and joy; they are also taken as the meaning of the new year, which is very auspicious; in addition, dumplings are shaped like Yuanbao, and eating dumplings on New Year's Eve also carries the auspicious meaning of "inviting wealth into the treasure".

Opening the door with a cannonball. In the morning of the Spring Festival, the door is opened, the first firecrackers, called "open door firecrackers". After the sound of firecrackers, broken red all over the ground, brilliant as a cloud of brocade, known as "full red". At this time, the street is full of gas, joyful.

New Year's greetings. An important activity in the Spring Festival, is to new friends and neighbors to congratulate the New Year, the old term New Year's Eve. Han Chinese New Year's Eve style, the Han Dynasty has. After the Tang and Song Dynasty is very popular, some do not have to go in person, can be used in the name of the posters cast congratulations. The Eastern Han Dynasty called "prick", so the business card is also known as the "name prick". After the Ming Dynasty, many people stick a red paper bag in front of the door, specializing in name badges, called "door book". Spring Festival to pay tribute to the New Year, the younger generation should first give the elders to pay tribute to the elders, wishing the elders a long life and well-being, the elders can be prepared in advance of the new year's money to the elders, it is said that the new year's money can be pressed to the evil spirits, because the "age" and the "Sneaky" harmonic, elders to get the new year's money can be peaceful and safe! The new year's money can be used as a means of keeping evil spirits at bay.

Folk visit the form of New Year's greetings, according to each other's social relations, can be divided into four categories: First, go to relatives. The second is a courtesy visit. The third is a thank-you visit. Fourth, the string of visits. Now, some organizations, groups rest, enterprises, schools, we get together to congratulate each other, called "reunion". With the development of the times, the custom of New Year's Eve also constantly add new content and form. Nowadays, people not only follow the old way of paying New Year's greetings, but also rise the etiquette of telegraphic New Year's greetings and telephone New Year's greetings and so on. If for some reason did not follow the customary salute, to make up for later, known as "pay tribute to the New Year".

Occupy the year. In the old days, folk to enter the new first few days of the weather to account for the new year into the year. Its said began in the Han Dongfang Shuo's "year accounted for", said the age of eight days after the first day, one day for the chicken day, the second day for the dog, the third day for the pig, the fourth day for the sheep, the fifth day for the cattle, the sixth day for the horse, the seventh day Weiren, the eighth day for the valley. If the day is sunny, then the host of things prosperous, when the day is cloudy, the host of the day is not prosperous. Later generations followed their habits, that the first day to the tenth, the weather is clear, no wind and no snow as auspicious. Later generations from the occupation of the year developed into a series of rituals, celebrations. There is the first one does not kill the chicken, the second does not kill the dog, the third does not kill the pig ...... the first seven do not execute the custom.

Gathering of wealth. It is said that the first day of the first month for the broom birthday, this day can not move the broom, otherwise it will sweep away the luck, broke the fortune, and the "broom star" to attract, incurring bad luck. If you have to sweep the floor can not be, must be swept from the outside to the inside. This day also can not pour water out of the garbage, for fear that it will break the wealth. Today, many places still preserve a custom.

Sacrifice to the God of Wealth. Southern people on the fifth day of the first month of the God of Fortune. Folklore, the God of Fortune that is five-way God. The so-called five road, refers to the east and west, north and south, meaning that out of the five roads, all can get wealth. Qing Dynasty Gu Lu "Qing Jia Lu" cloud: "the fifth day of the first month, for the road head god birthday. Golden gongs and firecrackers, livestock sweet Bi Chen, in order to compete for the first for the market, will get up early to meet, called the head of the road." Also said: "Today, the road head, is the five rituals in the line of God. The so-called five roads, when it is east-west, south-north, north-south ear." The fifth is rumored to be the God of Fortune's birthday, in order to compete for the market, so the first in the first four to pick up, called "grab the head of the road", also known as "pick up the God of Fortune".

Send poor. On the fifth day of the first month, "send poor", is a very distinctive ancient folk custom of the year. On this day, each family made of paper woman, known as "sweeping clear mother", "five poor women", "five poor mother", carrying a paper bag, the house will be swept to the bag of dirt, sent to the door outside the firecracker bombing. This custom is also known as "send poor soil", "send poor daughter-in-law out". Shaanxi Hancheng area, the day of the fifth taboo out, and to put fresh meat in the pot roast, but also fried beans, so that it crumbles sound, that can collapse the poor gas, seeking wealth. In addition, the old New Year's Eve or the fifth day of the first month to eat especially full, commonly known as "fill poor pit". Widely popular folk send poor customs, reflecting the people of our country generally hope that the old and welcome the new, send away the old poverty and misery, to meet the new year's good life of the traditional psychology.

Opening. The old custom of the Spring Festival during the size of the store from the first day of the year closed, and in the first five days of the market. Common to the fifth day of the first month for the sacred day of wealth, that the choice of this day to open the market will attract wealth into the treasure.

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