What are the customs of ancient people's birthdays?

There used to be a strict difference between "birthday" and "birthday". Because the original meaning of the word "longevity" means that people are old, as explained in Shuowen: "longevity." Guang Yun explained: "Longevity, Longevity Test (with Old Age)." As explained in "Edited by Hailei": "Long life is also old."

People regard "Five Blessingg" as the greatest happiness in life. The so-called "Five Blessingg" is described in Shang Shu Hong Fan: "First, longevity, second, wealth, third, corning, fourth, virtue, and fifth, the end of life (that is, a happy life ending)." Push "Longevity" to the top of "Five Blessingg". It is under the guidance of this outlook on life that people have attached great importance to all kinds of activities to pursue and wish longevity since ancient times, which has also produced the etiquette of wishing longevity. Most of these ceremonies are held on the birthday of the elderly, which are called "birthday celebration", "birthday worship", "birthday celebration" and "good life" locally.

From the above traditional ideas, young, young and mature birthday etiquette is called "birthday", not "birthday", which is considered "premature" and "short-lived". So, at what age can a "birthday" be called "birthday"? There has never been a uniform rule. Judging from local folk customs, one is to be over 50 years old or have grandchildren; Second, parents have passed away. If a person's parents are alive, even if they are over 50, they can't have a birthday at home, but only a birthday. This is what the ancients said: "Respect the old and love the young, but dare not say old". The ancients divided "longevity" into three levels: upper, middle and lower, with 100 as the upper longevity, 80 as the middle longevity and 60 as the lower longevity. Therefore, not every birthday of a person can be called "longevity". The ancients had some special names and metaphors for birthdays and people's ages. First of all, men and women have different names for birthdays. Men call it "Chunshou" and women call it "Xuanshou". The year of destiny means that men enter the age of 50. Sixty years old refers to people who enter this age group. Sixty years old is also called "the year of hearing". Seventy-year-old refers to a person who enters seventy years old. An octogenarian refers to an octogenarian. Period means that a person is over 100 years old. There are also people over 100 years old who use the metaphor of "Tiannian" to imply the longevity given by God. In addition, there are three special birthday words: 77 years old is called "Happy Birthday" because the running script of happy characters is very similar to 77 years old; Eighty-eight years old is called "Mi Shou", because when the word Mi is disassembled, the top two points look like a figure of eight, with a cross in the middle and a figure of eight below, which makes it eighty-eight. Ninety-nine years old is called "Bai Shou" because one hundred words are missing a horizontal line, which is the word "white". If one hundred words are missing, it becomes ninety-nine.

"Buy the students a drink and worship", which means that it is the initiative of children and grandchildren to celebrate their birthdays, and there is no need to send invitations. Children who have separated or married should be invited by the whole family as a grand gesture. Relatives' peers, younger generations and old friends all came to congratulate. Don't give an old man a birthday interval until the end of his life. If there is forgetfulness, children are called "unfilial" and relatives and friends are called "broken friends". If you are absent for some reason, you should inform in advance. Most people who celebrate their birthdays belong to older elders. Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, the "in-laws" of the same generation gave more gifts such as longevity noodles, longevity peaches and cakes. Rich people give gold or silver "birthday girls". The younger generation sent cash, which was called "adding food to the birthday girl". When the host entertains the guests, he eats refined noodles at noon, which is called "longevity noodles", and gives a banquet at night, which is called "longevity wine". Before the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), some big families had to perform on stage to show their luxury and wealth. There must be birthday candles, peaches and longevity noodles in the birthday present. The red birthday candle is about a foot long and weighs about one kilogram. The wax surface is printed with golden birthday characters or pine crane pictures, which are lit up during the celebration. Shoutao, also known as Shoubao, is the main birthday gift, with 65,438+004 peaches, meaning "show your head". Longevity noodles, noodles eaten at birthday party, are eaten on birthday, which means "long" to celebrate longevity. On the day before the birthday, a birthday hall should be set up in the birthday celebration room, and the word "Shou", birthday axis, birthday star and birthday couplet should be hung high. The birthday girl is the god in charge of longevity and is painted as an old man. You need to make a sacrifice to God in the early hours of your birthday. In the afternoon, the guard of the palace accepted the younger generation to bow down and give "longevity money". After the birthday celebration, a banquet was held. Shougong Shoupo took the first place in the theme, and each junior toasted separately. After the banquet, send birthday packages and golden balls to neighbors. Most people don't celebrate their birthdays, no matter how old or young, they just eat noodles to congratulate them every birthday. After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), celebrating birthdays is still very popular. Due to the continuous improvement of people's ideological consciousness and living standards, superstitions have gradually faded, and the dietary patterns for birthdays have gradually increased. In recent years, the way to celebrate the birthday of the elderly has added modern colors, such as children traveling with the elderly; Local party and government leaders personally went to celebrate their birthdays, send birthday wishes, give gifts and send congratulatory messages; During the festival for the elderly, the association for the elderly takes photos and presents gifts for the local elderly who get together every ten days to celebrate their birthdays. Mass amateur art groups hold special performances for the elderly. Each family gave a banquet to entertain guests, and the younger generation gave gifts to the elders as before. On birthdays other than 10, people usually send cakes, regardless of age, and some people hold birthday parties to congratulate each other.