The custom of setting off firecrackers during the Spring Festival

The custom of setting off firecrackers in the Spring Festival began in the Han Dynasty and has a history of more than 2,000 years. At first, it was mainly to drive away the plague, that is, to drive away the plague ghosts. It was not until the Song Dynasty that I realized the significance of getting rid of the old today. One year after firecrackers, the spring breeze sent warmth to Tu Su, and thousands of families always exchanged new peaches for old ones. The poem "January Day" by Wang Anshi, a poet of the Song Dynasty, is a true portrayal of this.

In China, the Spring Festival usually begins on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, and fireworks are set off during the festival.

There is a folk saying that "officials, three people, four boatmen and five", that is, on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, the government held sacrifices, while the twenty-four ordinary people held sacrifices. The ritual of offering sacrifices to the kitchen god is called "giving way to the kitchen" or "giving way to the kitchen", which is usually held at dusk. When the family went to the kitchen, they set the table, offered incense to the kitchen god in the shrine on the kitchen wall, offered offerings, bowed down and kowtowed, set off firecrackers, and let the kitchen god "speak well in heaven and keep peace in the next world". Setting off firecrackers has become one of the important procedures of Kitchen God.

There is a close relationship between offering sacrifices to stoves and Chinese New Year, because on the evening of 30th a week later, Kitchen God came to the world with the good and bad luck that the family deserved. Kitchen God is considered to guide the gods in the sky. Other gods will go to heaven after the New Year, and only Kitchen God will stay in other people's kitchens for a long time. The ceremony of welcoming God is called "receiving God", and the kitchen god is called "receiving kitchen". The kitchens are usually connected on New Year's Eve. Then just put on a new kitchen lamp and you can burn incense and set off firecrackers in front of the kitchen niche.

On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the first round of firecrackers will be set off in urban and rural areas of the Central Plains. Urban residents are busy buying sesame candy, fire and other food for offering sacrifices to the stove, but in the vast rural areas, the preparations for offering sacrifices to the stove and the grand ceremony for offering sacrifices to the stove began with deafening gunfire. In the old days, there was a saying in Kaifeng: "Laba, offering sacrifices to the stove. During the Chinese New Year, girls want flowers and boys want guns." Therefore, when it comes to "offering sacrifices to stoves", both urban and rural areas in China will have an "annual flavor".

Sacrifice to the kitchen god, the next day 24, the custom is cleaning. In addition to cleaning the house for the new year's environment, we should also sweep away all the bad luck and bad luck. Folk customs in some areas also want to say goodbye to the old and welcome the new to welcome the god of wealth. They cleaned the house clean, then burned incense for worship, blew whips and exploded to welcome God, thus wishing their families a safe and prosperous year.

I will be twenty-five years old after cleaning the house. The custom of this day is grinding bean curd. Besides grinding bean curd's Spring Festival, the Jade Emperor will be welcomed in Beijing and Tianjin on this day. When welcoming guests, we should set off firecrackers and burn incense to worship. Every household should be in high spirits and pray for the jade emperor's blessing, longevity and disaster relief. You can't curse people on this day, or the jade emperor will be blamed if he hears it, and there will be endless future trouble.

The folk custom of 26, 2008 is to cut meat, and there is another important custom in the Central Plains: steaming steamed bread. Steamed steamed bread is not only for eating, but also for predicting the fortune of the coming year. If steamed bread is fluffy, smooth and even, it will naturally flourish and be invincible in the coming year; If the steamed bread is too hard and asymmetrical, there must be domestic ghosts or wild ghosts making trouble in the steamer. This will require some prayers or abuse, and even setting off firecrackers to scare the situation. In short, it is necessary to avoid that everything goes wrong before the arrival of the new year, thus affecting the luck of next year.

In traditional folk customs, people have their hair cut and take a bath on the 27th and 28th of the year. In Zhengzhou, there is a saying that "twenty-seven pick fine children and twenty-eight pick fools". There is a saying in Beijing that "twenty-seven washes the sick, twenty-eight washes the sloppy". Folk customs in the Central Plains will also kill chickens and ducks these two days and prepare a rich New Year's Eve dinner. At this time, firecrackers can be heard everywhere in urban and rural areas, and colorful fireworks have begun to bloom in the night sky.

On 28th, in the rural areas of northern Henan, folk customs also posted "paintings", one of which was called "Ga", that is, writing couplets and pasting them on doors. In some places, people are used to setting off firecrackers when posting couplets to add fun. At this time, the courtyard of quadrangles is usually as red as satin as Julian, full of festive atmosphere.

The folk custom of 29 is drinking. It's an old habit. People get rid of wax and leave. In the evening, dozens of people, led by neighboring villages, went to the temples in each village to light candles, burn incense foils and set off firecrackers with lanterns, drums and incense sticks, with the intention of offering sacrifices to the gods to exorcise evil spirits and deliver the gospel. Send one village to another, the fields are brightly lit and firecrackers are ringing. After liberation, this custom gradually disappeared, but the folk custom of praying for blessings, offering sacrifices and setting off firecrackers never stopped.

The day before New Year's Eve is also called "Little New Year's Eve". In some places in northern Henan, it is customary to hold a banquet at home, worship the Year and burn incense outdoors (called Tianxiang). Usually shoot for three days in front of the stadium.

The period before the festival is a paradise for children. At this time, the school has already had a holiday, and there is no need to intervene in family affairs. Playing crazily is the happiest thing. I remember this time when I was a child, I always took all my pocket money and went around the world to buy guns. Some gun stalls are often surrounded. At that time, there was little money, and we were very careful in buying guns, saving time. The silent gun was broken and twisted before it was detonated. Someone in the neighborhood wants to shoot, and everyone wants to see it. This is a big deal. The lively scene and atmosphere are still unforgettable.

In most parts of the north, the folk custom of New Year's Eve is to knead kernels and cook them. That is, squashed food and fried food. These two tasks are the most tense and arduous work on the thirtieth day of the twelfth lunar month. Packed flat food should be enough for 30 nights and the first day of junior high school. I have been busy until about 5 pm. After the flat food is wrapped, the rural folk customs in northern Henan should first cook a pot and fish it into a small dish. Housewives will burn incense and paper at home to pray for their ancestors, and men at home will carry them to the grave to worship their ancestors. A small dish will be placed in front of each grave, a cannon will be burned to kowtow, and then the dishes will be fried. On New Year's Eve, jiaozi in Zhengzhou also has the custom of setting off firecrackers before meals, but it is more about saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new.

New Year's Eve refers to the last night of the twelfth lunar month, which is connected with the Spring Festival (the first day of the first month). The word "except" in "New Year's Eve" means "go, change and alternate". New Year's Eve means "the month is poor and the old year is exhausted", that is, the old year is removed here and replaced with a new year. This is the last night of the Lunar New Year. Therefore, the activities during the period are centered on eliminating the old and welcoming the new, eliminating disasters and praying for blessings, and setting off firecrackers has also become the highlight of the activities.

At midnight, the New Year bell rang and firecrackers shook the whole sky of China. At this time, the bright lights in the house, the sparks in front of the court and the deafening noise outside the house pushed the lively atmosphere of New Year's Eve to a climax. In the book "Ji Sheng of the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty", Pan Rongbi recorded the situation of setting off firecrackers on New Year's Eve at that time: "On New Year's Eve, we met at midnight, and the treasures outside the door competed for glory. The firecrackers were like waves, all over the government and the people, all night."

Setting off firecrackers on New Year's Eve today is even more magnificent. Whenever the bell rings at zero, the sky in urban and rural areas is full of guns, and the earth shakes. At least 1000 lashes, up to 10,000 lashes, up to tens of thousands of lashes, and hundreds of thousands of lashes exploded one after another. When I woke up in the morning, the door was red all over the floor. When I go out to pay a New Year call, I always step on thick firecrackers and pieces of paper, like a velvet red carpet. Years, and then really came.

The first day of the first lunar month is called Yuanri, which is the head of the New Year. In the early morning of the first day, firecrackers were louder and more overwhelming. The first thing for every household in Wenzhou is to rush to open the door. The whole city is full of firecrackers, which is usually called "next year". People are also used to "opening the door". Generally, a string of small firecrackers is put first, which is called the "Hundred Zi Gun". Set off two more big firecrackers. Only three rounds of firecrackers are set off, which means that the plague of one year can be lifted, and it also means welcoming the new year. As the saying goes, the sooner you open the door, the better. It symbolizes that everything you do casually this year is smooth sailing, getting rich and getting rich, and farmers have a bumper harvest. In some places, when the door is opened, it is murmured: "Open the door and fire; Wealth has arrived, and so has happiness. "Generally firecrackers and Lippi's skin are red. After the discharge, the paper flowers were everywhere, colorful and radiant, forming a full house.

In most northern areas, it is a folk custom to go to jiaozi for breakfast on the first day of the New Year, and it is also the first meal of the New Year. It is essential to set off firecrackers before meals (some of them are when going to jiaozi). When shooting was popular in the past, at this time, every household was pots and pans, and when the whip rang, a prosperous New Year came.

On the morning of the first day of junior high school in rural Beijing, many lion dance classes and yangko teams will beat gongs and drums to pay New Year greetings in various villages, and the host will set off firecrackers to welcome them.

In previous years, there were few kinds of guns, so there was not much choice. There are quite a few kinds of firecrackers now, the most common ones are "single ring", "double ring" and "whip", with more than a thousand colors.

There is no big difference in setting off firecrackers, but the specific meaning is different. In Jiangsu, you have to fire three shots to open the door, which means "promotion to the third level". An endless stream of firecrackers can be heard before dawn, because people believe that the earlier firecrackers are set off, the more prosperous they will be. In some places, guns should be fired at the time and direction specified in the circular. When setting off fireworks, first light firecrackers in the house, then open the door, shoot the gun out, and say "everything is fine". Such firecrackers should be put on from dawn until dawn.

Businessmen set off firecrackers for another purpose: they set off firecrackers on New Year's Eve in order to make a fortune in the new year. But according to the old custom, respecting the god of wealth should be the first, and setting off firecrackers should be the last. Legend has it that if you want to get rich, firecrackers will ring at the end. After setting off firecrackers and returning home, the first thing everyone does is to worship heaven and earth, god and ancestors. After worshipping their ancestors, southerners look up the auspicious direction of this year in the almanac, lighting lanterns and torches, carrying pots and wine, burning incense and setting off firecrackers, and opening doors to meet the Western Heaven, which is called "going out of the Arabian Nights" or "going out". This custom is to get good luck and pray to God for a smooth year.

What people do in the first month is mostly eating, drinking and having fun, but there are specific titles almost every day. From the second day to the fifth day, these days are the most important days in the new year except New Year's Day.

There are many people who pay New Year's greetings on the second day, and it is also the day when the married daughter returns to her family to pay New Year's greetings with her husband and children. Hainan folk custom, in the first year of marriage, you should bring your own firecrackers and put a string of firecrackers in front of the door as a warning.

On the second day of the old days, firecrackers, horns and whistles sounded early in some villages in eastern Henan, and mules and horses shuttled in an endless stream. People are full of joy, visiting relatives and friends and enjoying festivals.

In Beijing, this day is also a day to worship God, and Minnan is also assisting this case. Local folk customs take the 26th day of the twelfth lunar month as the official, and the second day of the first month as the official. In the past two days, three sacrifices have been made to worship the god of Ford and the god of the earth, which is called being an official. As the saying goes, the tail officer did it late and the head officer did it early. Therefore, when offering sacrifices to the gods on the second day, firecrackers should be set off immediately after the incense is lit. It is said that only in this way can Ford Shen Zhengcai get money quickly and make a lot of money for himself.

In Dongguan, in addition to offering sacrifices to the gods on the second day, there is also the custom of opening the new year. On this day, the store will offer three sacrifices to the land god, which is called opening a shop. As for the opening of the new year, it means that after offering sacrifices to the gods at noon, I take chicken, goose and pork to my parents' home to pay New Year greetings. Setting off firecrackers has become an essential thing for sacrifices, heroic deeds, celebrations and so on.

The third day is the day to go to the grave and mourn for the deceased family, also known as the "third day". Many places in China have the custom of offering offerings, burning incense, bowing down and setting off firecrackers. Some places still think that the third day is the poor people's day, and firecrackers should be set off specially, which is called "sending the poor". The third day is not a fun day. People don't like to travel on this day. In Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the third grade is regarded as a "small year", which is the same as the first grade.

In some places, the fourth day of the fourth lunar month is considered as the day when God comes home. Prepare some sacrifices for the kitchen god, called "Waiting for God". They think that God should come home later. The later he comes back, the more the Jade Emperor loves him. In southern Fujian, the fourth day of the first month is the day to take Kitchen God home. However, it is necessary to burn "Ma Yun" on the third night to illuminate God and let him ride to the world in his childhood. In addition, three sacrifices will be prepared for them on the afternoon of the fourth day, and then firecrackers will be set off to let the gods take their positions. This is the completion of taking God.

On the fourth day in Meixian, it was still a day of love between men and women. They all dressed up, set off firecrackers and fireworks in the street, wandered around and enjoyed the festival. It would be great if a man looking for fragrance could meet his Mr. Right.

The fifth day, commonly known as the birthday of the god of wealth (also the second day in the north), is a day when people who want to have a prosperous fortune must prepare sacrifices to meet the gods. Merchants and shops pay special attention to this, and some open their doors on this day to show good luck. For example, Jia Qinglu said, "On the fifth day, it is the birthday of God Reuters, and the golden gongs and firecrackers are ringing, and the milk is ready. In order to compete for the market, you must get up early to meet it. This is called Reuters. " Some businessmen eager to get rich began to take orders on the fourth night. They are singing golden gongs and guns, and they often drink "road wine" until dawn. This is called "robbing the road".

On the fifth day, some merchants also eat "God of Wealth Wine". In Beijing, shops will set off firecrackers when they open their doors after the fifth day, which is called "ghost collapse". It is also very popular for some merchants in the north to set off firecrackers after the fifth day of the fifth month. Everyone hopes that firecrackers can break the bad luck of the past and usher in a new year.

Merchants in Shanghai hung a new portrait of Marshal Zhao in the middle of the hall on the fifth day of junior high school. Except for the three sacrifices, the other offerings are extremely rich. Incense candles were lit and the house was brightly lit. Then, firecrackers were set off indoors and outdoors, one after another, and the whole city roared and the sound shocked hundreds of miles. And continuously, its sound and strength are too strong for the first morning: "firecrackers can't be picked up, and the god of wealth is busy fighting." I just hope that business will be good this year. Why not pick me up at the fifth watch? "

Tianjin people call the fifth day "Breaking Five". On this day, every household will eat jiaozi, and the chopping board will jingle for the neighbors to hear, to show that they are chopping "little people". Tianjin people attribute all unhappy things to "little people", and only by getting rid of "little people" can they prosper. Setting off firecrackers on the fifth night also means avoiding evil spirits and disasters.

In some places, the sixth day is the day when married daughters go home. On this day, the son-in-law and daughter will come to pay New Year greetings, and the custom of celebrating and setting off firecrackers is roughly the same as that of the second day of junior high school.

The seventh to tenth day is a very important day in the old calendar. According to Dong Fangshuo's book The gauntlet, "Eight days after one year old, a chicken, a dog, a tapir, a sheep, a cow, a horse, a man and a valley. When the sun is sunny, the main thing is fat, and the yin is a disaster. " There is also a saying in Lu Gu's Jia Qinglu that there are nine days and ten places: "The custom regards seven days as days, eight as valley days, nine as the sun, and ten as Earth Day. People regard these four sunny days as auspicious disasters all year round. " In the past few days, people have been praying for beautiful weather, bringing prosperity to the population and bumper crops, and celebrating the birthday of the Jade Emperor (the ninth). Whips, firecrackers and various sacrificial activities are becoming more and more popular.

In the first month, except the fifth day of the first month, the Lantern Festival is the most lively. In some places, the Lantern Festival starts on the 12th and 3rd of the first month and doesn't end until the 16th. Its significance is similar to that of New Year's Eve, and it is also to burn incense and set off firecrackers to worship ancestors and gods. Eating Yuanxiao was popular in the Song Dynasty, and the custom of decorating lanterns followed in the Tang Dynasty and prevailed in the Song Dynasty. On this day, in addition to decorating the streets, various chambers of commerce will also set off fireworks and firecrackers, which will last from 8: 00 to 10. It can be said that it is full of excitement and people go to the building.

The custom of celebrating Lantern Festival in the north is "fifteen flats and sixteen yuan", that is, fifteen eats jiaozi and sixteen eats Lantern Festival. Fireworks (also called fireworks) are very popular among people these two days. People commonly call fireworks "flowers", setting off fireworks is called "releasing flowers", and it is called "fireworks" together with firecrackers. Fireworks can be roughly divided into spray, spin, lift off, spit beads, thread incense, ground fireworks, smoke, modeling toys, small fireworks and other categories, with thousands of varieties, which is the most popular way to play the Lantern Festival.

Since the Song Dynasty, people have had the custom of setting off fireworks and firecrackers. On the fifteenth day of the first month, the emperor often watched it as a sign of happiness with the people. The scene of setting off fireworks is also extremely grand and brilliant, which is rare in modern times.

"A Dream of Red Mansions" depicts setting off fireworks: "A screen frame was installed in the yard and fireworks were set off. These fireworks are tributes from all over the world. Although it is not very big, it is extremely exquisite, with all kinds of stories and fireworks. While speaking, the color outside was put again and again. There are also a lot of sporadic firecrackers, such as "Stars in the Sky", "Kowloon Entering the Cloud", "A Thunder in the Flat Land" and "Flying to ten ring". From this, we can also see the grand occasion of setting off fireworks in the old Spring Festival.

When I was a child, I was eager to set off fireworks in the New Year. Colorful bamboo tubes, Didi Jin, Mantianxing and Tiannv Scattered Flowers are all very popular varieties in Five Blessingg. Beautiful fireworks, carrying childhood dreams, fly into the sky and turn into colorful brilliance, making the night sky of the festival colorful and enchanting. Looking back now, it is still fresh in my memory.

Setting off firecrackers, accompanied by the beep of firecrackers, can create a festive and lively atmosphere and bring happiness and good luck to people, which is one of the important entertainment activities of the festival. With the passage of time, firecrackers are more and more widely used, and there are more and more varieties and colors. Every major festival, wedding celebration, wedding, building, opening, etc. We should set off firecrackers to celebrate and make good luck. At present, Liuyang and Liling in Hunan, Foshan and Dongyao in Guangdong, Yichun and Pingxiang in Jiangxi, Wenzhou in Zhejiang and other regions are all famous hometown of fireworks in China. The firecrackers produced are of many colors and high quality, which are not only sold well all over the country, but also exported to other countries and regions in the world.

Loud firecrackers and bright red Spring Festival couplets show people's enthusiasm, yearning and longing for a new life, and also reflect a nation's psychology, dreams and wishes. Although the northland was still frozen with ice and snow at this time, people awakened spring in the rumble of firecrackers; From the glittering snowflakes, I saw the golden wheat fields; I smell the scent of peaches and plums from the scent of wintersweet. Since then, the time series has turned to Yangchun, and Wan Li Gankun is full of vitality. As a result, people greet the Spring Festival with joy, optimism and self-confidence.