What are the customs on February 2nd?

Of course, customs vary from place to place:

Shandong area

On the second day of the second lunar month, the family should stop all housework, especially needlework, so as not to "hurt the dragon's eyes"; I wanted to stop washing on February 2, fearing that I would "hurt the dragon's skin". On the night of the first day of February, if there is a stone mill at home, it is said that it should not affect the "faucet". Only in this way can "rain flow everywhere, and there is no need to eat and wear for a year".

However, the most indispensable thing on February 2 is the custom of eating fried beans, which is widely spread in Shandong. In the morning, people fry beans with salt or sugar, which is called "frying scorpion claws". Many places are still using a very primitive method: stir-frying soybeans with pre-screened sand.

In Shandong, many supermarkets prepared all kinds of fried beans more than half a month ago, including broad beans, soybeans, popcorn, green beans, peas and other varieties, as well as fried chess pieces made of flour and eggs, with different tastes.

Beijing area

Beijing folk food, a kind of pancake, is also called pancake. Every year, at the beginning of spring, Beijingers eat spring cakes raised by dragons on February 2, which is called "biting spring". The second day of the second lunar month is the day when dragons look up ("On February 2nd, dragons look up"). There is an old saying in China. On this day, Beijingers also want to eat spring cakes, which is called "eating Longlin". Spring cakes are bigger than roast duck pancakes, and they are tough (Beijingers call them "strong gluten") because they have to roll a lot of dishes before they can be eaten. In the past, when eating spring cakes, we paid attention to going to a box restaurant called "Pan Su" (also called box lunch). Box hotel is a sauce meat shop, and the store sends people to deliver food to your door.

There are smoked pot belly, pine nut pot belly, oven meat (a kind of roast pork), sauce meat, smoked elbow, sauce elbow, sauce mouth strip, smoked chicken, sauce duck and so on in the box. Be put in a picture frame. When eating, you should change the knife and cut it into filaments, such as several home-cooked dishes (generally fried pork with leeks, fried pork with spinach, vinegar with mung bean sprouts, fried noodles with vegetarian ingredients, and spread eggs). ) Here we go. Seasonings include shredded onion and sesame oil yellow sauce (roast duck with sweet noodle sauce).

When eating spring cakes, the family sits around and puts the baked spring cakes in a steamer, taking them with them while eating, in order to have a hot meal. If you eat spring cakes on February 2, Beijingers also pay attention to taking married girls home. spring pancake

In Beijing, there is also a kind of bean flour cake, Beijing Muslim snack. Knead steamed yellow rice (or glutinous rice) into a ball, sprinkle with fried soybeans, add red bean stuffing, roll into strips, sprinkle with sesame seeds, osmanthus fragrans and sugar. Because the food stalls in the Qing Dynasty were made and sold now, the bean noodles were sprinkled as they were made, just like the donkeys in the country rolling on the spot, covered with loess, so they got the name of humor.

According to the custom of old Beijing, people always like to buy "snowballing usury" to taste in February of the lunar calendar, so there are many vendors and pushers who manage this kind of food, among which the white food stall in Tianqiao market and the "rice cake tiger" (tiger takes the blessing) are the most famous.

Shanxi area

Jinnan area thinks that this day is the day of Qinglong activities, so it is forbidden to go to the river and the well to fetch water, so as not to bring back dragon eggs. When walking and working by the river and the well, pay great attention to silence and try not to make any noise, so as not to disturb Qinglong and ruin the good weather.

On this day in the north of Shanxi, "Qianlong" prevailed. Before the sun rises in the morning, every family carries a teapot and goes to the river or the well to fetch water. According to the calculation of several dragons controlling water this year, put a few copper coins or coins in the teapot. After pumping water, he spilled water all the way home as he walked, poured the rest of the water and money into the water tank, and Qianlong was taken home, meaning to make a fortune in one year. Don't talk when attracting Qianlong, so as not to scare Qianlong away. In some places in northwest Shanxi, Qianlong chose a big tree or a big stone and sprinkled it with gray lines. Tie a copper coin with a red line. First, put the copper coin in the gray coil, pull it home by hand and cover it with a container.

In the southeast of Shanxi province, Yao Qianlong used kitchen ash and sprinkled a winding gray line from the door to the kitchen and around the water tank.

As the saying goes: "After a fright, all insects die." During the Dragon Festival, many activities to drive away drugs are very popular among the people. "Yangcheng County Records" records: "A hundred stings are shocked at the beginning, and the Tianshi curse hangs, preventing insects and poisons." When people get up in the morning, avoid saying the word "get up" for fear that all poisonous insects will react. Folklores in southern Shanxi like to cook Man Jing soup, which is spread all over the cracks in the walls, corners, the bottom of the kang mat and under the bed. It is called "no insects". Others gathered villagers, carried idols, went to the heads of families and sprinkled rice soup in the yard, which meant to dispel the plague. People's doors are surrounded by lime. Folk in southeastern Shanxi painted a medicine gourd, which contained poisonous insects such as snakes, scorpions, centipedes, dragonflies and spiders. , and posted on the wall, called "stop the insects". Others twist beans and wheat flour into lights and bury them in the soil, which is called "smoked dragonfly". In Jinzhong area, every folk family pats a dustpan, and the nursery rhyme says, "On February 2nd, clap a dustpan, fleas and ticks dare not go to the kang". Put a line around the toilet and the door with lime, which is called eliminating the plague. Luliang area is used to cleaning every house. The northern part of Shanxi pays attention to "paste the wolf's mouth", and paste the dough with sesame sugar or millet on the mouth of Erlang's barking dog.

Qinglong Festival is called "Flower Tide" in some places in southern Shanxi. People take wine and food to the suburbs, sit around in selected places, sing and dance, and enjoy drinking, which is also called "spring outing" and "outing". Southeast Shanxi is used to making pancakes with glutinous rice flour, expressing condolences to women. Children in Jinzhong area are used to flying kites. Some counties pay attention to this day to play ash pits and worship the land god. People in northern Shanxi like to eat noodles and vermicelli, which is called picking dragon flavor. There are also cakes to paste the wolf's mouth and pears to fight fire and get dirty. Luliang area likes to eat pancakes, which is called "uncovering dragon skin". Jinnan must eat twist and prickly heat that day, which is called "biting the keel". Northwest Shanxi pays attention to the Qinglong Festival, causing a lot of social fires and yangko, and the grand occasion resembles the Lantern Festival in other places.

On the Qinglong Festival, people in northern Shaanxi pay attention to eating jujube hill before the kitchen god. A few people in a family cut jujube hill into several pieces, one for each person, and three tips for parents to enjoy.

Ruihecheng River

There is an ancient society that has persisted for more than a thousand years, which is a strange custom. It is said that it began in the reign of Emperor Guangwu of Han Dynasty, and it has been 1800 years. Also called "Three Societies Code", it commemorates the meritorious service of Emperor Huang Shui-zhi of Dongyue. On this day, villagers revel and display the most precious treasures in their homes. Folk also called "Ming Bao Hui", which means that taking treasure can ward off evil spirits and avoid disasters, and I hope that the weather will be good and the crops will be plentiful in the coming year. At that time, women dressed in colorful costumes will sing traditional folk songs, and men will play rough and powerful gods, local military commanders, civil servants, the Eight Immortals, secular gods and so on. , or riding a horse, riding a cow, lifting a pole; Or naked, waist wrapped in wild cloth; Or homespun underpants, with a straw cutter, ice skates, coarse purlin and stone mill on his back, which is very manly. The local nickname is "Hehe Erpai". The atmosphere of social fire is composed of gongs and drums, which are rendered. The attack method is simple and primitive, commonly known as "leaving gongs and drums". Traditional programs include playing with lions, running dry boats, walking on stilts and carrying people. The whole activity started outside the village and lasted for a long time until the end of the former site of Taishan Temple.

coastal areas

There has always been a custom of "cutting the tap". Adults and children shave their heads on February 2nd, which is called "shaving their heads". Boys, in particular, should have their hair cut. This is called "cutting the tap". It is said that getting a haircut on this day can bring good luck for a year. It also means shaving your head if you want good luck.

Yellow river delta region

There is a custom of "putting dragon lanterns". Many people make boats out of reeds or straws, insert candles or put small oil bowls dug with radishes, and light them in rivers or bays to light the way for dragons. The inland areas of Shandong pay more attention to "February 2", and there is an important folk activity, which is to surround the granary. On the morning of the second day of the second lunar month, the villagers get up early. The housewife took out a basket of firewood and the remaining plant ash from under her cooker, took a small shovel and shoveled some plant ash. People walk with their hands and draw circles on the ground. The circles around the warehouse are large and small, ranging from three to five, and the list is not double. After the warehouse was surrounded, the food at home was piously placed in the middle of the warehouse and deliberately scattered on the periphery of the warehouse to symbolize the bumper harvest of that year.

Other fields

There is also a saying that pig's head meat is eaten on February 2.

Since ancient times, pigs, cows and sheep have been used to worship the gods, and later it was simplified to the head of the three animals, and the pig head is one of them. According to a story recorded in Qiu Chi's Notes in the Song Dynasty, Wang Zhongling was very hungry after pacifying Bashu, so he broke into a temple in a small village, but he met a drunken monk. Wang Zhongling was furious and wanted to cut it, but he didn't know that the monk was afraid. Wang Zhongling was very surprised and asked him for food. Soon the monk presented a plate of "steamed pig's head" and wrote a poem for it: "The monk said that when steaming, the banana leaves were wrapped and watered with apricot paddles when cooked. Red, fresh and elegant, called Jin panting, ripe and soft, really like jade. If there is no comparison between hairy roots, felt roots will eat vines. " Wang Zhongling ate steamed pig's head, and was very happy to hear the funny and unique "pig's head poem", so he named the monk "Master of Purple Clothes". It seems that the pig's head is really delicious, and it is also an auspicious symbol of turning the corner and making rapid progress. Now there is a famous dish called "roast pork face", which can be served after twelve steps, such as selecting ingredients, cleaning, spraying, soaking, making sauce and cooking for more than ten hours. There are three kinds of "roast pig face", one is the original taste; The second is to dip in the sauce; The third is to roll pancakes to eat. Every way of eating has a different taste. "Roasted pig's face" is fat but not greasy, the meat and bones are separated, and it tastes delicious, which brings beauty and brain-strengthening effects to modern people. Eating modern "pork noodles" on February 2 nd and recalling the history of ancient catering is really a perfect experience of blending contemporary and history.