Old Beijing Spring Festival custom

Nowadays, with the development of the times and the flow of population, many ancient traditions and customs in Beijing are unknown. Take Spring Festival travel rush as an example. Compared with the custom of Spring Festival before old Beijing, great changes have taken place. The richness and customs of old Beijing are extremely exquisite, which makes people miss it so far.

First, the Spring Festival custom in old Beijing.

December is the last month of the year, commonly known as the end of the year, with more than 30 names such as Ladong, Poor Dong, December, Ice Moon, Yuyue, Polar Moon, Qingsi, Sudong and Dalu. Among them, people are most familiar with and familiar with the twelfth lunar month. It is called "twelfth lunar month" because "wax" is the name of ancient sacrifices to ancestors and gods, and there is also a saying that "there are three sacrifices to the gods after the winter solstice", that is, every day after the winter solstice, the branches of the three calendars contain earthly branches, while the Southern and Northern Dynasties are fixed on the eighth day of December. Traditional folks will hunt animals and hold big sacrifices. This memorial ceremony is called "hunting sacrifice". Because "La" and "Hunting" are interchangeable words and "Hunting Sacrifice" is written as "La Worship", the year-end December is called the twelfth lunar month. This custom originated in Qin and Han Dynasties. By 22 1 year BC, Qin Shihuang unified China and ordered the establishment of a calendar, calling December, when the old and the new alternate in late winter and early spring, the twelfth month.

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There used to be a jingle to describe the custom in Beijing: "Don't be greedy for children, it's Chinese New Year after Laba." Laba porridge, drunk for a few days, Li Li La La twenty-three. Twenty-three, honeydew melon is sticky; Twenty-four, sweeping the house; Twenty-five, fried tofu; Twenty-six, stew; Twenty-seven, slaughter the rooster; Twenty-eight, send face; Twenty-nine, steamed bread; Thirty children stayed up all night; Twist the button on New Year's Day. "On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, every household has to cook Laba porridge and soak Laba garlic. This thick flavor of the year has already begun.

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The 23rd of the twelfth lunar month is also called "off-year". Every household wants to buy jiaozi, and also specially buys Guandong sugar to sacrifice to the kitchen god. Sacrificing stoves is a traditional custom with great influence and wide spread among the people in China. In the past, almost every kitchen had a "kitchen king" throne. People call this god "Chef Master". According to legend, he was named "Chef King of Nine Days East Chef" by the Jade Emperor, who was in charge of the kitchen fires of various families and was worshipped as the head of the family. Kitchen shrines are mostly located in the north or east of the kitchen, with the idol of Kitchen God in the middle. Some people who don't have the niche of the Kitchen King even put the idol directly on the wall. Some gods only draw a kitchen god, while others have two men and women. The goddess is honored as "Grandma Chef King". Kitchen God is the most representative folk deity in China, with the widest mass base, and has entrusted the working people in China with the good wishes to ward off evil spirits and eliminate disasters and welcome good luck. From this day on, the Spring Festival is approaching, and every household in Beijing is busy, cleaning the house, cleaning, steaming steamed bread, buying all kinds of new year's goods, pasting the word "Fu", pasting New Year pictures, cutting window grilles, pasting couplets and hanging door gods. So the whole family was busy until New Year's Eve.

Beijing people's New Year's Eve reunion dinner (also called reunion dinner) is essential, and it is also the most abundant and complete family reunion dinner all year round. The annual New Year's Eve dinner is extremely important to China people. The whole family respected and loved each other, and sat around the dining table happily. New Year's Eve is the highlight of the year, which is not only colorful, but also very interesting. Worship the gods and ancestors before the reunion dinner, and eat after the worship ceremony. Generally, there should be chicken (for a living at home), fish (for more than one year), cabbage (treasure), tofu (wealth) and lotus root (good things) at the banquet for good luck. In the past, Beijingers ate jiaozi on New Year's Eve and the first day of the first month, thinking that it meant "making friends when young".

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From the first day to the fifth day, Beijingers will visit relatives and friends, pay New Year greetings to each other, treat guests and give gifts. At the same time, there are also recreational activities such as visiting temple fairs and factories. On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, Beijingers commonly call it "Breaking Five", which is the day when people "send the poor" and businessmen "open the market". On this day, the taboo of celebrating the New Year was completely eliminated, and the shopkeepers and shop assistants had to return to the store to reopen. On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, every household has to pack jiaozi, which is called "squeezing a dog's mouth", which means it's okay if you don't commit a dog within one year. And there will be a banquet in the business, and the owner will invite all the guys to dinner. Thank you for your hard work over the past year. Beijingers didn't finish the Lantern Festival until the fifteenth day of the first month, enjoying lanterns.

Second, talk about my work in Beijing for the New Year.

Last Spring Festival holiday, my family and I stayed in Beijing for the Spring Festival. There is less time to go home and return to the city, and more time to have tea and chat. I have to say that Chaoyang Park is very lively during the Spring Festival. Since New Year's Eve, Chaoyang Park has been open for free, and its opening hours have been extended, which is very popular. People wear masks, keep their distance and laugh all the way. Although there are no large-scale celebrations in the park, the festive atmosphere remains the same.

After studying, working and living independently for many years, the cognition of "the taste of the year" has become more and more blurred unconsciously. Whenever you want to buy new clothes or have a delicious meal. It is also convenient to give gifts to parents and video chat with them. It seems that there is nothing to do until the Spring Festival.

Thirdly, what impressed me was the dim sum in old Beijing.

At present, the three most famous snacks, snowballing, love nest and pea yellow, are all good flavors in the street. The snowballs of yellow wheat are soft and sweet, and the surface is covered with bean powder; Aiwowo is white and fat, and its round belly is stuffed with hawthorn candy or red bean paste and jujube paste; Pea yellow is crystal clear and delicate, and it melts at the entrance. These three kinds of snacks are all civilian snacks. In old Peiping, it was all cooked by rural women in neighboring suburbs.

For old Beijingers, they have a unique affection for Beijing dim sum. Dim sum is a memory of Chinese New Year. Besides giving gifts to relatives and friends, we often buy some favorite flavors at home. On New Year's Eve, I watched the countdown to the Spring Festival Gala, the bell rang, and I said Happy New Year to my family amid the noise of fireworks and firecrackers. On New Year's Day morning, a room full of people wearing red sweaters shuttled back and forth. At this point, the tea has been put on the table, and the snacks are listed on a big plate. No matter how naughty the grandson is, he has become clever at the moment, holding grandpa's milk on the table, and the younger generation queues up to pay New Year greetings.

Dim sum is the first handwritten letter that Beijing tourists and friends think of when they grow up. If you visit an elder over 40 or a family with children, nothing is more intimate than snacks. Some Beijing children are studying in other places. At the end of the winter vacation, they always go back to school with a big box of snacks and rush back and forth between several dormitories. Call friends to share snacks, and there is a little sugar residue hanging on the corners of your mouth.

As you can imagine, Beijing dim sum not only represents the ancient rituals and habits of the city. More importantly, every snack, from the kitchen to the diners, has gone through a long process, and finally it is solemnly eaten, and snacks have reached the extreme in friendship and blessing.