The most important thing to remember is that it's not just about the way you do it.

Harbin Spring Festival Customs Year-keeping

New Year's Eve year-keeping is one of the most important New Year's Eve activities, the custom of year-keeping has a long history. The earliest records are found in the Western Jin Dynasty Zhou Zhi's "customs": the night of New Year's Eve, each with the gift, known as "feed the year"; wine and food invited, known as the "other year"; young and old get together to drink, wishing to complete, known as the "split year"; everyone all night long to keep the year. "

The first time I saw this is when I was a young man and I had to wait for the day to dawn, so I called it the "New Year's Eve".

"One night even double the year, five nights divided into two days", New Year's Eve, the whole family gathered together, ate the New Year's Eve dinner, light up 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 plague and epidemic according to the run drive away, looking forward to a new year of good luck. This custom gradually prevailed, to the early Tang Dynasty, Tang Taizong Li Shimin wrote a "year-keeping" poem: "cold resignation from the winter snow, the warmth of the spring wind". Until today, people are still accustomed to the New Year's Eve to welcome the new year.

Anciently, there are two meanings of year-end vigil: the elderly year-end vigil for the "resignation of the old year", there is the meaning of the treasure of time and light; young people year-end vigil is to extend the life of their parents. Since the Han Dynasty, the moment of transition between the old and the new year is usually the middle of the night.

Thirtieth: staying up all night

First day: eating dumplings at zero hour

First day: stringing relatives to see the elders

First two and three: usually married ladies go back to their mother's home

First four: stringing doors to see their friends

First five: eating dumplings at the break of dawn

Christmas seven: small children eat longevity noodles

Fifteenth: eating Lantern Lantern Festival

Seventeen: middle-aged people eat longevity noodles

Twenty-seven old: the elderly eat longevity noodles

The second day of February: the dragon carries the head of the pig, eat pig's head, cut hair

Generally do not allow the first month to cut hair. The old man has a first month hair cut dead uncle's saying!

"Three balls" are fish balls, meat balls, lotus root balls. Harbin area of the average family fried 8, 10 or 12, 16 dishes ranging from the main ingredients are chicken, duck, fish and vegetables. Gannan New Year's Eve dinner is generally 12 dishes. Some places in Zhejiang generally for the "Ten Bowls", to discuss the "ten full ten blessings" of the color, to chicken, duck, fish and all kinds of vegetables. Nanchang area in Jiangxi Province, generally more than ten dishes, pay attention to four cold, four hot, eight dishes, two soups.

Northern areas of the Spring Festival like to eat dumplings, its symbol of unity, expressed good luck and the old and welcome the new. In order to increase the festive atmosphere and fun, people over the generations in the dumpling filling up and down a lot of effort, people in the dumplings on the money, who ate the coming year will be rich; in the dumplings on the honey, who ate the dumplings means that the next year life is sweet and so on.

"Year" is actually how to come? There are two main folk theory:

One theory is:

Legends that, in ancient China, there is a kind of monster called "year", the head of the long tentacles, ferocious and abnormal. "It lived at the bottom of the sea for many years, and only climbed ashore on New Year's Eve to devour livestock and hurt people.

Therefore, on New Year's Eve, people from villages and hamlets fled to the mountains to avoid the harm of the Nian beast.

This New Year's Eve, Peach Blossom Village, the people are supporting the old and young to take refuge in the mountains, from the village came a begging old man, see his hand on crutches, arm with a bag, silver beard flowing, eyes like a star.

The townspeople have sealed the windows and locked the door, some packing, some cattle and sheep, everywhere people shouted and hissed, a scene of panic in a hurry. The first time I saw this is when I was in the middle of the night, when I was in the middle of the night, when I was in the middle of the night.

Only an old woman at the east end of the village gave the old man some food and advised him to go to the mountains to avoid the "New Year" beasts, the old man stroked his beard and laughed: "If you let me stay at home for a night, I will definitely "New Year" beasts away.

The old woman looked at him with astonished eyes, and saw that he had hair, hale and hearty, extraordinary. But she still continue to persuade, begging the old man smiled but did not say. The old woman had no choice but to leave her home behind and take refuge in the mountains.

In the middle of the night, the "New Year" beast broke into the village. It found that the atmosphere in the village was different from that of previous years: the old lady's house at the east end of the village had a big red paper on the door, and the house was ablaze with fire. "The beast shuddered and gave a strange cry.

"The year" stared angrily at the grandmother's house for a moment, then screamed furiously and pounced on her. Close to the door, the yard suddenly came "bang, bang, bang, bang," the sound of explosions, "year" trembling, and do not dare to come forward. It turns out that Nian is afraid of the color red, fire and explosions. At this time, the door of the mother-in-law's house was wide open, only to see an old man wearing a red robe in the yard laughing. The "Nian" was shocked and fled in a panic.

The next day was the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar, and the people who had returned from their refuge were very surprised to see that the village was safe and sound. It was then that the old woman realized what had happened, and rushed to the townspeople to tell them about the old man's promise.

The townspeople flocked to the old lady's house, only to see the old lady's house door with red paper, a pile of unburned bamboo in the yard is still in the "snap" explosion, a few red wax candles inside the house is still glowing with the remaining light ......

The ecstatic townspeople in order to celebrate the The right auspicious arrival, have to change new clothes and wear new hats, to friends and relatives to say hello. The story spread quickly in the surrounding villages, and people knew the way to drive away the "New Year" beasts.

From then on, every year on New Year's Eve, every family puts up red couplets and sets off firecrackers; every household keeps the candles burning brightly and keeps watch for the new year. Early in the morning on the first day, but also to go to friends and relatives to say goodbye.

This custom has spread far and wide and has become the grandest of all traditional Chinese festivals.

Another theory is:

China's ancient character book put the "year" character in the Wo Department, to show that the wind and rain, the five grain harvest. Since the grains and cereals are usually cooked once a year. The word "year" was then extended to the name of the year.

China's ancient folk although there has long been the custom of the New Year, but then it is not called the Spring Festival. Because then the Spring Festival, refers to the twenty-four seasons in the "spring".

North and South Dynasties, the Spring Festival refers to the entire spring. It is said that it was after the Xinhai Revolution that the Lunar New Year was officially named the Spring Festival. Because of the change to the solar calendar at that time, in order to differentiate between the lunar and solar festivals, the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar had to be renamed "Spring Festival".

Lunar New Year's Eve: is the traditional festivals in China's big festival, quite prominent. The name of the Lantern Festival is derived from the fact that the festival is held on the fifteenth day and night of the first month of the year (Yuan).

The Lantern Festival is also called the "Festival of Lights" and "Lantern Festival" because the main activity of this festival is to release lanterns at night, hence the name. In addition, the Lantern Festival is also called "Shangyuan" and "Shangyuan Festival", which is borrowed from Taoism.

On the formation of the Lantern Festival custom, there are a lot of sayings, but generally changed to the Han Dynasty on the first embryonic form. It is said that during the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Han family had to sacrifice to a god called "Taiyi". Allegedly, Taiyi was a rather prominent god at that time, the status of the five emperors above, and have benefited from the Han Emperor, so by the worship of the more prosperous. It is rumored that another Han emperor, Han Wendi, was also associated with the Lantern Festival.

This Han Emperor was the general Zhou Bo to calm the "Zhulu's rebellion" to the throne of the emperor, and that the day to calm the rebellion is the 15th day of the first lunar month, so since then every night on the 15th night of the first lunar month, the Han Emperor had to go out of the palace to play, and the people with the fun, and to determine the day for the Lantern Festival. However, and these two Han emperors related to the night of the first month of the fifteenth night festival Taiyi, play, and no record of open lamps, fire, another emperor of the Han Dynasty - Han Mingdi, but the edict of the Lantern Lantern Lantern, thus forming the later generations of the custom of open lamps, watching the lamp.

Chinese people in the past and in some parts of the country now have many taboos when celebrating the Spring Festival, mainly to ensure peace and prosperity in the coming year. From the first day to the first ten taboos are:

The first day: the day of the chicken, in the old days on New Year's Day to paint chickens to ward off evil spirits and pray for good luck (chickens harmonic Ji Ji).

The second day of the month: the day of the dog, go out to pay homage to the New Year or ancestors.

The third day of the month: the day of the sheep, prone to quarrels, should not pay homage to the New Year.

The fourth day of the month is the Pig Day, which is a day to worship the God of Wealth.

Fifth: Ox Day, "broken five", can break many taboos: "send poor five" from the first to the fourth of the garbage can not be dumped, so as not to pour the wealth, the first five of the garbage is considered poor soil, dumped to send poor out.

Charter six: Horse Day, the day of sending God, the God of Wealth sent on New Year's Eve paper horse burned, the store began to resume business.

The seventh day of the month: People's Day, people's birthday, and the gathering to eat and drink, and the custom of setting off firecrackers and fireworks, Kai fireworks, is the birthday of fire.

Chu Hai: Valley Day, the stars down, so to sacrifice the stars, temples often set up altars on this day to sacrifice the stars .

The first nine: the birthday of the celestial master, the birth of the Jade Emperor, held a grand festival of heavenly activities.

The tenth: stone birthday, where the mill, pestle, mill and other stone utensils are taboo to move, called the stone does not move, and even burn incense to worship the stone