The flavor of the year is getting stronger, how much do you know about Chinese New Year customs

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, the Golden Rooster crows. The late generation pays New Year's greetings to the elders, who give New Year's money to suppress evil spirits.

Introduction of the festival

The first day of the first month of the first day of the first month of the ancient name of the first day of the year, the first day of the first month of the first month of the year, the first day of the first month of the summer year (Lunar Calendar) for the first day of the first month of the first day of the first year of the first day of the first month of the first month of the first year of the summer year (i.e., year), the year of the festival, the year of the first day of the year of the first day of the first month of the summer year (Lunar Calendar). "), the date of the New Year's Day is thus fixed, and continues to this day. The New Year's Day was called "New Year's Day" in ancient times, and after the 1911 Xinhai Revolution, when the solar calendar was adopted to count the years, the first day of January was called "New Year's Day", and the first day of the first month of the Lunar Calendar was called "Spring Festival". ". The state attaches great importance to the protection of intangible cultural heritage, May 20, 2006, "Spring Festival" folk approved by the State Council included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.

The Spring Festival is also known as the Lunar New Year, commonly referred to as "New Year's Day" and "New Year's Day". The Spring Festival symbolizes unity and prosperity, and is a festival of new hopes for the future.

According to records, the Chinese people have been celebrating the Spring Festival for more than 4,000 years, and it was started by Yu Shun. On a day more than 2,000 years B.C., Shun became the son of heaven and led his men to worship heaven and earth. Since then, this day has been regarded as the first day of the year and is considered the first day of the first month. This is said to be the origin of the Lunar New Year, which was later called the Spring Festival. The Spring Festival used to be called New Year's Day. The month of January in which the Spring Festival falls is called New Year's Day.

The first day of the first month is the first day of the Lunar New Year. Spring Festival (Spring Festival) is the grandest and most characteristic traditional festival of Chinese folklore, which marks the end of the old year and the beginning of the new year in the lunar calendar. The Spring Festival generally refers to New Year's Eve and the first day of the first month of the lunar year. However, in folklore, the Spring Festival traditionally refers to the period from the Lunar New Year festival on the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, or the Zaos Festival on the twenty-third or twenty-fourth day of the Lunar New Year, until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, with New Year's Eve and the first day of the first lunar month as the climax. During the Spring Festival, the Han Chinese and many ethnic minorities in China hold various activities to celebrate. These activities are mainly to worship gods and buddhas, pay homage to ancestors, get rid of the old and bring in the new, welcome joy and receive blessings, and pray for a good year. The activities are colorful, with strong ethnic characteristics.

Origin of the Festival

Saying Wen - Wo Department: "The year, the grain is also ripe. In the Xia and Shang dynasties produced the Xia calendar, the cycle of the moon for the month, a year divided into twelve months, each month to the day of the moon for the solstice, the first month of the solstice of the day of the son of the hour is called the head of the year, that is, the beginning of the year, also known as the year, the name of the year is from the Zhou Dynasty, to the Western Han Dynasty was formally fixed, and has been continued to the present day. But the first day of the first month in ancient times was known as "New Year's Day", until China's modern Xinhai Revolution victory, the Nanjing Provisional Government in order to comply with the farming season and facilitate statistics, the provisions of the summer calendar in the civilian population, in the government agencies, factories, mines, schools and organizations in the implementation of the Gregorian calendar to the Gregorian calendar for the first day of the first month of New Year's Day, the first day of the first month of the Chinese lunar calendar, known as the Spring Festival.

September 27, 1949, the new China was founded, in the first plenary session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, adopted the use of the world's common calendar calendar, the first day of the first month of the Gregorian calendar as New Year's Day, commonly known as the solar year; the first day of the first month of the Lunar Calendar is usually in the spring before and after the start of the first lunar month, and thus the first day of the first month of the Lunar Calendar is designated as "Spring Festival ", commonly known as the lunar year.

Festive customs

The New Year's greeting is a traditional Chinese folk custom, a way for people to say goodbye to the old and welcome the new, and to express their good wishes to each other.

In ancient times, the original meaning of the term "paying homage to the New Year" was to pay homage to the elders to celebrate the New Year. The New Year's greeting usually started at home. On the morning of the first day of the new year, the younger generation to get up, the first to the elders to pay tribute to the new year, blessing the elders a long and healthy life, all the best. After the elders are worshipped, the "New Year's money" prepared in advance will be distributed to the younger generation. After paying New Year's greetings to the elders at home, when people meet outside, they should also congratulate the New Year with smiles on their faces and say to each other "congratulations on wealth", "four seasons as you wish", "Happy New Year" and other auspicious words. words, around the neighbors or friends and relatives also visit each other to pay tribute to the New Year or invited to drink entertainment.

Meng Yuanlao of the Song Dynasty described Bianjing of the Northern Song Dynasty in the sixth volume of Tokyo Menghua Lu, saying, "On October 1, the New Year's Day, Kaifeng Province put off pouncing for three days, and the common people celebrated with each other since the morning." Lu Rong in the middle of the Ming Dynasty in the "Beans Garden Miscellany" Volume 5, said "the capital on New Year's Day, from the court officials, down to the common people, to and from the staggering road for days, called 'New Year's Day'. However, the common people worship their friends and relatives out of the heart. Dynasty officials to and from, is more general love is not special ...... ". Qing Gu Tieqing in the "Qing Jia Record" described, "men and women in order to worship parents after the main rate of young, out of the neighboring relatives and friends, or only sent his son or daughter on behalf of the congratulations, so-called 'New Year's Eve'. To the end of the year do not meet, at this time also to worship each other in the door ......"

In ancient times, the upper class scholarly men had the custom of throwing congratulations to each other with a name tag. Song Zhou Hui in the "Qingbo Magazine" said: "Song Yuanyou years, New Year's greetings, often using servants to hold the name of the thorn on behalf of to". At that time, the scholars traveled widely, if around the door to pay tribute to the New Year, both time-consuming, but also exhausting energy, so some of the relationship is not close to the friends do not go in person, but to send a servant to take a kind of paper with plum blossom paper cut into two inches wide, three inches long, written on the top of the name of the recipient of the congratulations, address and congratulations on the words of the card to go to on behalf of the New Year's greeting. People in the Ming Dynasty to visit instead of New Year's greeting. Ming Dynasty distinguished painter, poet Wen Zhengming in the "New Year" poem described: "do not seek to meet but through the visit, the name of the paper towards the full sheltered hut; I also cast a number of paper with the people, the world hate Jane not suspected of false". Here the "famous prick" and "famous visit" is the origin of the present New Year's card. New Year's cards are used for contacting and greeting each other, which is both convenient and practical, and still prevails today.

With the development of the times, the custom of paying New Year's greetings is also constantly adding new content and forms. Nowadays, people in addition to the inheritance of the past New Year's Eve, and the rise of ritual telegrams and telephone New Year's Eve and so on.

Modern New Year's Eve. An important activity in the Spring Festival, is to new friends and neighbors to congratulate the New Year, the old term for New Year's Eve. Han Chinese New Year's Eve style, the Han Dynasty has. After the Tang and Song dynasties are very popular, some do not have to go in person, can be used in the name of the posters to throw congratulations. The Eastern Han Dynasty called "prick", so the business card is also known as the "name prick". After the Ming Dynasty, many people stick a red paper bag at the door, specializing in name badges, called "door book".

Ancient New Year's greeting. In ancient times, the original meaning of the word "New Year's Eve" is to greet the elders for the New Year, including kowtowing to the elders, congratulations on New Year's Eve, greetings to the living well, and so on. When there are relatives and friends of the same generation, they should also bow to congratulate.

Anciently, if or neighborhood friends and relatives too much, it is difficult to visit all over the door, the servants to bring business cards to pay tribute to the New Year, known as the "fly post", the door of each house to paste a red paper bag, written on the "receive the blessing of the two words, that is, for the bearer to put the fly post with. This custom began in the Song Dynasty upper class. The Qing Dynasty's "Yan Tai Yue Ling" described the Beijing New Year's Festival as follows: "This is the month when the pieces fly and the empty cars go away." It became fashionable. Large families ad hoc "door book" to remember the guests and fly piece of correspondence, the door book of the first page of the virtual "pro-arrivals" four people: one said the life of a hundred years old master, live in a hundred years of Square Lane; one said that the rich Yu master, live in Yuanbao Street; one said that the noble no great people, live in the university scholar building; one said that the blessing of the light of the old man, live in the House of the Five Fortunes. In order to try to auspicious to curry favor. To date, the Chinese New Year gift of New Year's tablets, New Year's cards, is the legacy of this ancient send each other fly post.

The upper class scholarly men had the custom of throwing congratulations to each other with famous posters. Song Zhou Hui in the "Qingbo Magazine" said: "Song Yuanyou years, New Year's greetings, often using servants to hold the name of the thorn on behalf of the go". At that time, the scholars traveled widely, if around the door to pay tribute to the New Year, both time-consuming, but also exhausting energy, so some of the relationship is not close to the friends do not go in person, but to send a servant to take a kind of paper with plum blossom paper cut into two inches wide, three inches long, written on the top of the name of the recipient of the congratulations, address and congratulations on the words of the card to go to on behalf of the New Year's greeting. People in the Ming Dynasty to visit instead of New Year's greeting. Ming Dynasty distinguished painter, poet Wen Zhengming in the "New Year" poem described: "do not seek to meet but through the visit, the name of the paper towards the full sheltered hut; I also cast a number of paper with the people, the world hate Jane not suspected of false". Here the "famous prick" and "famous visit" is the origin of the present New Year's card. New Year's cards are used for contacting and greeting each other, which is both convenient and practical, and even today they are still popular.

From about the time of the Qing Dynasty, New Year's Day and add the form of "reunion worship", the Qing Yi Lan master in the "side hat Yu Tan" said: "the capital in the first of the year, routine reunion worship, in order to unite the friendship of the year, in order to Township," "every year! By the year book red booking guests, food and drink banquets, for the whole day happy".

With the development of the times, the custom of New Year's Eve is also constantly adding new content and form. Nowadays, people in addition to the inheritance of the past New Year's Eve, and the rise of ritual telegram New Year's Eve and telephone New Year's Eve and so on.

But from the first to the fifth day of the first month, most families do not receive women, so-called "taboo door". Men are limited to going out to pay their respects, while women must wait until after the sixth day of the first month to go out and visit. The New Year's visit extends for a long time, until around the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month. When you go to someone's house in the evening to pay your respects, it is called the "Night Festival", and after the tenth day of the first lunar month, it is called the "Festival of Lights", which is why there is a joke that "if you want to pay your respects to the New Year, you will not be late for the cold food".

If, for any reason, you don't get to perform the rituals, you can make up for it later, and it's called "paying homage to the New Year".

Opening the door cannonball. The morning of the Spring Festival, open the door for good luck, the first firecrackers, called "open the door cannonball". After the sound of firecrackers, broken red all over the ground, brilliant as a cloud of brocade, known as "full of red". At this time, the street is full of auspicious gas, joyful.

Divination of fortune. In the old days, folk to enter the new first few days of the weather to account for the new year. It began with the Han Dongfang Shuo's "years accounted for", said the year after eight days, one day for the chicken day, the second day for the dog, the third day for the pig, the fourth day for the sheep, the fifth day for the cattle, the sixth day for the horse, the seventh day for the people, the eighth day for the valley. If the day is sunny, then the main thing is prosperous, when the day is cloudy, the main day is not prosperous. Later generations followed their custom, that the first day to the tenth, the weather is clear, no wind and no snow for good luck. Later generations from the occupation of the year developed into a series of rituals, celebrations. There is the first one does not kill the chicken, the second does not kill the dog, the third does not kill the pig ...... the first seven do not execute the custom.

Painted chicken. In ancient times, the Spring Festival painted chickens on the doors and windows to drive away the ghosts and monsters evil. Jin dynasty people written in the "Xuanzhongji" tells about the previously mentioned Doushuo mountain of this heavenly chicken, said that when too is just rising, the first sunlight shines on this big tree, the heavenly chicken crowed. When it crowed, all the chickens in the world followed. So the chicken cut for the Chinese New Year actually symbolizes the Heavenly Rooster. However, there is also an ancient myth that the chicken is a metamorphosis of the Chongming bird. It is said that during the time of Emperor Yao, the friends from the other side paid tribute to a kind of Chongming Bird, which could ward off evil spirits, and everyone welcomed the arrival of Chongming Bird, but the tribute envoys didn't come every year, so the people carved a wooden Chongming Bird, or casted a bronze Chongming Bird and put it in the gateway, or drew a Chongming Bird on the doors and windows, to scare off the evil spirits and demons, and make them not dare to come back again. Because of the heavy Ming bird similar to chicken, and then gradually changed to painting chicken or cut window flowers affixed to the windows and doors, that is, the source of the art of paper-cutting later generations. China's ancient especially valued the chicken, called it "five virtues of the bird". Han Shi Wai Zhuan" said, it has a crown on the head, is Wen De; feet after the distance can fight, is Wude; enemy in front of the dare to fight, is courageous; food to greet the same kind of benevolence; vigil does not lose time, dawn dawn, is the virtue of faith. So not only do people cut chickens on New Year's Day, but they also designate the first day of the New Year as Chicken Day.

New Year's Eve Vigil. New Year's Eve is one of the most important New Year's Eve activities, the custom of New Year's Eve has a long history. The earliest records are found in the Western Jin Dynasty Zhou Zhi's "Land and Customs": New Year's Eve night, 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 "

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 days divided into two days", New Year's Eve night, 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 plagues and diseases, according to the run away, and look 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 time of the transition between the old and the new year is usually the middle of the night.

Chinese New Year food customs

In the ancient agricultural society, about since the eighth day of the first month of the Lunar New Year, housewives will be busy with the New Year's food. Because it takes a long time to pickle the preserved meat, it must be prepared as early as possible. Many provinces in China have the custom of pickling preserved meat, of which the preserved meat in Guangdong Province is the most famous.

Steaming rice cakes, which are known as "nian gao" (yearly high) and have a wide variety of flavors, has become a must-have food for almost every family. There are square-shaped yellow and white rice cakes, symbolizing gold and silver, which are meant to bring wealth in the New Year.

The flavor of rice cakes varies from place to place. Beijingers like red date rice cake, white rice cake and white rice cake made of river rice or yellow rice. Hebei people like to add jujubes, small red beans and mung beans to the rice cakes and steam them together. Northwestern Shanxi in Inner Mongolia and other places, New Year's Eve used to eat yellow rice flour fried rice cakes, some also wrapped with bean paste, date paste and other fillings, Shandong people with yellow rice, red dates steamed rice cakes. Northern rice cakes are mainly sweet, or steamed or fried, some people simply dip sugar to eat. In the south, rice cakes are both sweet and salty, such as those in Suzhou and Ningbo, which are made of round-grained rice and have a light flavor. In addition to steaming and deep-frying, they can also be sliced and stir-fried or boiled in soup. Sweet rice cakes are made from glutinous rice flour with sugar, lard, roses, osmanthus, mint and veggie paste, and are so well made that they can be steamed or dipped in egg white and deep-fried.

The night before the real New Year is called the Night of Reunion, when people who are away from home have to travel thousands of miles to come back home, and the whole family has to sit together to make dumplings for the New Year. The dumpling method is to make dumpling skin with flour, and then use the skin to wrap the filling, which is a variety of contents, including various kinds of meat, eggs, seafood, seasonal vegetables, etc., and can be put into the filling, and the orthodox way of eating dumplings is to boil it with water, and then fish it up to be accompanied by vinegar, garlic, and soy sauce. The orthodox way of eating dumplings is to boil them in water and then dip them in soy sauce flavored with vinegar, garlic, and sesame oil. There are also ways to eat fried dumplings and branded dumplings (pot stickers). This is because the word "he" (和) means "to merge" (合), and the words "饺子" (饺子) and "交" (交), which mean "to merge" and "to merge" (合), harmonize with each other. The words "合" and "交" have the meaning of getting together, so dumplings are used to symbolize reunion and happiness; they are also taken as the meaning of a new year's handover, which is very auspicious; in addition, dumplings resemble a Yuanbao (元宝), so eating dumplings on New Year's Day carries the auspicious meaning of "inviting wealth and prosperity" (招财進宝). In addition, eating dumplings on New Year's Day also carries the auspicious meaning of "inviting wealth and prosperity". Families get together to make dumplings and talk about the New Year in a happy way.

Related taboos

Popular legend has it that the first day of the first month of the broomstick birthday, this day can not move the broomstick, otherwise it will sweep away the luck, broke the fortune, and the "broomstick star" attracted, incurring bad luck. If you have to sweep the floor can not be, must be swept from the outside to the inside. This day also can not pour water out of the garbage, for fear that it will break the wealth. Today, many places are still preserved a custom, the New Year's Eve clean sweep, the first day of the year is not out of the broom, not down the garbage, a large bucket, to Sheng wastewater, the day is not outside the splash.