About Anhui Spring Festival

The Spring Festival is one of the most important festivals for Chinese people. Over the centuries, the Chinese people have developed many customs for celebrating the Spring Festival. These customs have accompanied the Chinese people from year to year, and many of them have died out and many new ones have been born, forming the most traditional Chinese Spring Festival folk culture in China.

Traditionally, the Spring Festival is a festival that begins on the eighth day of the Lunar New Year with the Lunar New Year Festival (commonly known as the Lunar New Year Festival) or on the twenty-third day of the Lunar New Year with the Zaosi Festival (commonly known as the Zaowang Festival) and lasts until the fifteenth day of the first month of the lunar calendar, culminating in the New Year's Eve and the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar. During the Spring Festival, the Han Chinese and most of the ethnic minorities in China have to hold a variety of celebrations, most of these activities to the gods and Buddha, pay tribute to ancestors, get rid of the old and bring in the new, welcome the Jubilee to receive the blessings, and pray for a good year as the main content. Activities in the form of colorful, with a strong ethnic customs.

Sacrificing the God of Zao Wang. On the twenty-third day of the Lunar New Year, the first day of the Spring Festival, the god Zao Wang must be worshipped. According to legend, Zao Wang Shen is the god in charge of the world's harvest, and the main reason for worshipping him is to pray for a good harvest and good days. In addition, it is also necessary to make hoarding on this day. It is to use flour to draw a circle or several circles on the ground (usually the place where grain is stored), just like a hoard. Hoarding - in the countryside is the main tool for storing grain. The main reason for the formation of this custom is that in the past, when productivity was not developed, people prayed to the gods for the protection of their crops. The main purpose of hoarding is to pray for a good crop and to be able to fill all the hoards in one's house.

Sweeping the dust. "On the twenty-fourth day of the Lunar New Year, dusting and sweeping the house", according to Lü's Spring and Autumn Annals, there was a custom of dust sweeping in the Spring Festival in China in the ancient times of Yao and Shun. The folk saying is like this: because "dust" and "Chen" harmonized, dust sweeping in the New Year has the meaning of "get rid of Chen Bu Xin", the intention is to sweep all the poor luck, bad luck all out of the door. This custom is the wish of the people to break the old and build up the new and the prayer of saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new. Every waxing twenty-fourth this day, families have to clean the house, cleaning all kinds of appliances, dismantle the bedding curtains, dusting dust cobwebs, dredging nullahs and ditches. Everywhere overflowing with joy to engage in health, clean and welcome the happy atmosphere of the New Year.

Posted Spring Festival couplets. Spring Festival couplets, also known as the door, spring stickers, couplets, couplets, peach symbols, etc., it is neat, couplets, concise, sophisticated text depicting the background of the times, expressing the best wishes, is China's unique form of literature. Every Spring Festival, whether urban or rural, every family should select a pair of big red spring couplets posted on the door, for the festival to increase the festive atmosphere. This custom began in the song dynasty, in the ming dynasty began to prevail, to the qing dynasty, the spring couplets of ideology and artistry have greatly improved, liang zhang toru prepared by the spring couplets of the monograph "sillian series of words" on the origin of the couplets and all kinds of works of the characteristics of the discourse. There are many kinds of spring couplets, according to its use place, can be divided into door heart, frame pair, horizontal phi, spring strip, bucket square and so on. The "door heart" is pasted on the center of the upper part of the door panel; the "frame pair" is pasted on the left and right door frames; the "horizontal phi" is pasted on the horizontal wood of the door winks; the "spring strip" is pasted on the horizontal wood of the door winks; the "spring strip" is pasted on the horizontal wood of the door winks according to different contents. "according to different content, posted in the corresponding place;" bucket catty "also known as" door leaf "for the square diamond-shaped, mostly posted in the furniture and shadow wall.

Pasted upside down "Fu" character. At the same time in the sticker, some people in the house door, wall, lintel on the large and small "Fu" word. Posting the word "Fu" on the Spring Festival is a long-standing custom in China. The character "福" refers to good fortune and good luck, and it expresses people's desire for a happy life and their wish for a better future. In order to more fully reflect this yearning and wishes, some people simply stick the word "Fu" upside down, indicating that "happiness has arrived" and "good fortune has arrived". Folk there will be "Fu" word fine as a variety of patterns, patterns have longevity, longevity peach, carp jump Dragon Gate, five grains, dragon and phoenix, and so on.

New Year's paintings. Spring Festival hanging stickers in urban and rural areas is also very common, thick black colorful New Year's paintings to thousands of families added a lot of prosperity and joy of the festive atmosphere. New Year's paintings are an ancient folk art in China, reflecting the people's simple customs and beliefs, and holding their hopes for the future. New Year's paintings, like spring scrolls, originated as "door gods". With the rise of woodblock printing, the content of the New Year's paintings has not only been limited to monotonous themes such as the God of the Door, become colorful, in some of the New Year's paintings in the workshop produced the "Three Stars of Fortune and Longevity," "Heavenly Officials Provide Blessings," "Five Grains and Plenty of Fortune," "Six Animals Prosperity," "Welcoming the Spring Receiving Blessings," and other classic colorful New Year's paintings, in order to satisfy people's wishes for a happy and prayerful New Year. China appeared in the three important production areas of New Year's paintings: Peach Blossom Dock in Suzhou, Yang Liu Qing in Tianjin and Weifang in Shandong Province; the formation of the three main schools of Chinese New Year's paintings, each with its own characteristics.