What are the folk customs in the Spring Festival?

For everyone in China, the Spring Festival is definitely the biggest and most lively traditional festival of the year. How to celebrate this festival, in thousands of years of historical development, has formed some relatively fixed customs and habits, many of which are still handed down today. So what traditional Spring Festival customs do you know?

First, keep the New Year's Eve.

Keeping old age is a unique form of blessing in China's New Year custom, which expresses people's good wishes and expectations for the new year. Waiting for the arrival of the New Year means staying out at night. On New Year's Eve, after people eat the New Year's Eve, the whole family, old and young, will sit around the stove, eat dry goods, eat melons and fruits, talk about the past and present, play cards and chess and stay up all night. This is called "shou sui". Why keep your age? Some folklorists believe that "Nian" and "Nian" in ancient China are universal, "Nian is Nian" and "Nian is Nian" stands for "grain maturity". From this perspective, observing the age represents people's good wishes and expectations for the coming year.

Second, New Year greetings

Paying New Year greetings is one of the most important activities and customs in the Spring Festival. On the morning of New Year, adults and children wear new clothes and hats, visit relatives and friends, say hello to each other and wish good luck in the New Year. Generally speaking, New Year greetings begin at home. After the younger generation pays New Year greetings to their elders, when they meet outside, people are greeted with smiles.

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Third, set off firecrackers.

When the Spring Festival comes, the first thing for every household to open the door is to set off firecrackers to bid farewell to the old year and greet the new year with firecrackers to show good luck. Of course, fireworks and firecrackers are forbidden in many places now, but we still have to abide by state regulations and put safety first.

Fourth, ancestor worship.

Sacrificing to God during the Spring Festival is a custom all over China. The customs of offering sacrifices to gods are similar all over the country, but the purpose is basically the same. They all pray for good weather, good harvests and good luck in the coming year.

Sacrificing ancestors is generally after offering sacrifices to gods, and customs vary from place to place. In our hometown, every day before lunch, every household sends a representative to the ancestral temple with food and offerings, and the ancestral temple will not close until the fifteenth day of the first month.

Five, dragon and lion dance

Dragons are legendary auspicious animals. It is said that you can summon the wind and rain in the sky, and you can also pray for the elimination of disasters on earth. As early as the Han Dynasty, there were dragon dances for rain. Besides dragon dancing, there is also lion dancing, which is also a common custom during the Spring Festival. Also known as playing the lion.

The cultural customs of the Spring Festival reflect the Chinese national spirit of attaching importance to blessing, gratitude, reunion, affection and harmony. It embodies the traditional ethics and customs of the Chinese nation and is an important link to maintain social interpersonal relationships. Inheriting the custom of Spring Festival can strengthen interpersonal communication, smooth interpersonal relationship and promote social harmony.