Zhuzhou's New Year Customs

Setting off firecrackers: In the early morning of the first day of junior high school, the first thing for every household is to set off firecrackers. The whole city is full of firecrackers, which symbolizes the farewell of the old and the welcome of the new, commonly known as "welcome". It is also customary to play "opening the door". Generally, a string of small firecrackers is put first, which is called the "Hundred Zi Bao". Two firecrackers were set off again, and only three firecrackers were set off, indicating that the plague of one year can be lifted and the New Year is coming. It is required to ring three times, and the sound is loud and clear, which is the most auspicious. As the saying goes, the sooner you open the door, the better, which symbolizes that everything you do casually this year is smooth, the financial resources are abundant, and the farmers have a bumper harvest. In some places, as soon as the gun was fired, they muttered: "Open the door and fire; When wealth comes, so does happiness. "Generally firecrackers and Lippi's skin are red. After the discharge, the paper flowers were all over the ground, and the clouds were bright and dazzling, forming a house full of joy. Firecrackers have been banned in cities and towns, but they can still be set off in rural areas and fishing islands.

Worship the Six Gods: After opening the door, both men and women wear new clothes. Housewives burned Buddhist tea and offered various sacrifices to the incense table with Jiangxi porcelain bowls. Nave hangs an ancestor statue, worshiping ancestors first, and then worshiping six gods (kitchen god, roof god, white tiger god, well god, land god and god of wealth). Folks believe that these six gods are the protectors of every family. They worship in the new year, mainly to pray for the safety of the population and the prosperity of family undertakings.

Visit the Three Gods: After worshipping the Six Gods, set up a small square table in the atrium, hold a bowl of rice, spread red paper on it, and stick glue around it. Put it on the table, burn incense and candles, and worship it devoutly. Known as the "meeting three gods" (that is, the Taoist Jade Qing, Qingqing and Taiqing), it was not until the fourth day of the first month that the gods were sent away from their seats.

Ancestor worship: In the old society, at noon on the first day of the first month, in Dongtou County, every family had to worship their ancestors. The ceremony was presided over by the housewife. First list the offerings, arrange the handlebars and chopsticks, and pour the yellow wine into the wine. A bench should be placed between the shrine and the altar, and then red candles should be lit to burn incense on the incense burners of all shrines, such as ancestors, san huang, land gods and kitchen gods. When the red candle burns to about three quarters or the incense will burn out, it will start to burn "golden paper" (a kind of paper money folded into ingots with gold foil, which is only effective after folk beliefs are recited) and set off firecrackers. Finally, take out the food. Move the chair to the front of the table before taking the food away. When offering sacrifices to ancestors, the gifts on the table are not allowed to move; All offerings that have been worshipped, except cakes and fruits, should be boiled or steamed before eating. Otherwise, it is considered disrespectful to God and ancestors.

Xiang: In the early morning of the first day of the first month, there is an old custom of "Xiang". Hundreds of civil and military officials in the city, wearing crowns on their heads, sounded gongs to clear the way, and went to various temples to burn incense, which was of great prestige. Every old man and his family bathed and changed clothes before dawn, rushed to the community temple or nearby temple, opened the door of the temple, burned incense and lit incense lamps. Some people even stay up on New Year's Eve and wait in temples. As soon as the sea passes, burn incense as a sign of piety. People think that the first person to light incense is the luckiest, so there is a custom of lighting the first pair of candles first. As the saying goes, "whoever opens the door first will definitely make a lot of money this year." Old people go to the temple to worship the temple gods, mainly to pray for good luck in the New Year and the safety of the whole family. However, due to the differences in class, industry, gender and age, people come to worship God in an endless stream, some seeking to make a fortune in business, some seeking a bumper harvest in agriculture, some seeking their children to continue their heirs, and so on. For larger temples, such as the King's Temple in Dong 'ou, worshippers should give red envelopes to the temples. If the prayer is effective, the rich will make a wish on the first day of each year with a big candle weighing 100 kilograms.

Ryan: In the past, in Dongtou Island, every household held a "Ryan" ceremony, which lasted from 30 nights to midnight. Presided over by the elders in the family or the person in charge of production and life in the family. The host should "clean up" (that is, abstain from color on New Year's Eve), bathe all over, and must not touch unclean things before "opening the light". The desk should be placed at the gate or in the courtyard, with two benches at the foot of the table to raise the desk. The offerings include three kinds of animals, fish, fruits, cakes and vegetarian noodles. And there are a pair of big red candles on both sides, commonly known as "all night". At the beginning of the ceremony, after the host lit the "all night" and burned incense, the whole family knelt down, put their hands together and prayed for God's blessing, wishing the whole family peace, wealth and all the best in the new year. After the prayer, the whole family stood quietly, waited for a while, then burned "golden paper" and set off firecrackers. Finally, withdraw. Since the 1980s, the opening hours have been advanced to midnight, with the New Year bell of CCTV ringing. The ceremony is also much simpler, and some are just firecrackers and fireworks. However, more firecrackers were set off, especially the "Baizibao", and even thousands of firecrackers were strung together, which was loud, long and extremely lively.

Tea worship: On the morning of the first day of the first month, there is another custom called tea worship on Dongtou Island. Sacrificial tea refers to "jujube tea" made of red dates, longan and rice cakes. Take its auspicious meaning: red dates-the days are getting more and more prosperous, longan-family reunion, safe and smooth, rice cakes-step by step. The "tea sacrifice" is divided into two parts: one is to worship the ancestors and hold a small bowl for the kitchen god; The second is to worship the kitchen god. Everyone should burn incense, light candles, light gold paper and set off firecrackers. After tea, everyone in the family has a bowl to drink. Because the first meal of the new year is soup, people will laugh at themselves with the phrase "eat soup on the first day of the first month" if it is blocked by rain whether going out or working at home in the future. After drinking tea, you have to burn noodles to eat, which is also commonly known as "longevity noodles." It is not only good luck, but also the wish of the whole family to live a long life. As a supplement to tea, you can kill two birds with one stone.