Who can tell me the customs of the Spring Festival with this assignment

The Spring Festival (Spring Festival) is the grandest traditional festival of Chinese folklore. On the first day of the first month of the summer calendar, also known as the lunar year, commonly known as "New Year", "New Year". The Spring Festival has a long history, which originated in the Yin Shang period at the end of the year to the gods and ancestors activities.

Chinese New Year human significance

Spring Festival is here, meaning that spring will come, the recovery of all things grass and trees renewed, a new round of sowing and harvesting season will begin. People have just passed through a long winter of ice and snow, grass and trees withered, and have long been looking forward to the days of spring, when the new spring comes, naturally, full of joy, singing and dancing to meet this festival.

For thousands of years, people make the New Year celebrations have become very colorful, every year from the 23rd day of Lunar Lunar New Year to the 30th, the folk called this period of time, "Welcome to the Spring Day", also known as the "dust day", in the Spring Festival before sweeping the dust to engage in sanitation, is a traditional habit of the Chinese people. The Chinese people have always had the traditional habit.

Then it is the family to prepare for the New Year's goods, about ten days before the festival, people began to busy purchasing items, New Year's goods, including chickens, ducks, fish and meat, tea, wine, oil and sauce, North and South fried goods, sugar bait fruit, are to buy enough, but also to prepare some of the New Year's Eve when visiting friends and relatives when the gift, the children to add a new coat and a new hat, ready for the New Year when to wear.

Before the festival in the residence of the door to paste the red paper and yellow characters of the New Year message, that is, written in red paper Spring Festival couplets. Inside the house posted brightly colored auspicious New Year's paintings, clever girls cut out beautiful window decorations pasted on the windows, hanging red lanterns or sticking the word "Fu" and the God of Fortune, the God of the Door, etc., the word "Fu" can also be pasted upside down, passers-by read the Fu upside down, that is, the blessing to the festival, all these activities are to add enough festive atmosphere.

Another name for the Spring Festival is New Year's Eve. In the legends of the past, Nian was an imaginary animal that brought bad luck to people. Once the year came. Trees wither and no grass grows; once the year passes, everything grows and flowers are everywhere. How can the year pass? Need to bombard with firecrackers , so there is the custom of burning firecrackers, which is actually another way to bake a lively scene.

The Spring Festival is a happy and peaceful holiday, but also the reunion of loved ones, children away from home in the Spring Festival to go home to get together. The night before the New Year's Eve, is the old year's Lunar New Year's Eve, also known as New Year's Eve, also known as the reunion night, in this time of transition between the old and the new, the New Year's Eve is one of the most important customary activities, New Year's Eve night, the whole family stay up to keep watch together, get together to drink soundly, *** enjoy the joy of family, the northern region in the New Year's Eve to eat dumplings, dumplings, dumplings, dumplings and noodles, and the word is the together; dumplings and dumplings and cross the harmony of the together and cross the meaning, but also take more years of intercourse The dumplings have the meaning of "getting together" and "turning over the year". In the south, it is customary to eat rice cakes on New Year's Day. The sweet and sticky rice cakes symbolize the sweetness of life in the new year, and the high quality of life.

To the first rooster crows, or the New Year's bells ringing, the street firecrackers, loud and clear, the family is full of joy, the beginning of a new year, men, women and children are dressed in festive attire, the first to the elders in the family New Year's wishes, the festival there are to the children's New Year's money, eat New Year's Eve dinner, the second, third, began to go to the relatives to see their friends, and each other, congratulations on blessings, say some Congratulations to the new happy, Congratulations, congratulations, congratulations, New Year's Eve and other words, ancestor worship and other activities.

The Spring Festival is the most important festival of the Han Chinese, but Manchu, Mongolia, Yao, Zhuang, white, mountain, Hezhe, Hani, Daur, Dong, Li and a dozen other ethnic minorities also have the custom of the Spring Festival, but the form of the festival is more of their own national characteristics, more flavorful.

The origin of the Spring Festival and the legend

Spring Festival and the concept of the year, the original meaning from the agricultural, the ancient people of the grain growth cycle called "year", "Shuowen. Wo Department": "year, the grain is also ripe:. In the Xia and Shang dynasties produced the summer calendar, the cycle of the moon for the month, a year divided into twelve months, each month to not see the moon for the day for the first day of the first month of the first day of the month of the son of the time known as the first 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 to 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 after the victory of the Nanjing Provisional Government in order to comply with the farming season and facilitate the statistics, the provisions of the civil use of the summer calendar, 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 Lunar New Year, known as the Spring Festival.

Traditionally, the Spring Festival refers to the Lunar New Year Festival from the Lunar New Year Festival on the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, or Lunar New Year Festival on the twenty-third day of the Lunar New Year, until the fifteenth day of the first month of the Lunar New Year, which culminates in New Year's Eve and the first day of the first month of the Lunar New Year. In the Spring Festival this traditional festival period, China's Han Chinese and most ethnic minorities have to hold a variety of celebratory activities, most of these activities to worship God and Buddha, ancestors, in addition to the old and new, to welcome the Jubilee to receive the blessing, and pray for a good year as the main content. Activities in the form of colorful, with a strong ethnic characteristics.

The Spring Festival originated in China's primitive society, the "wax festival". It is said that at the end of the day, people kill pigs to sacrifice to God, praying for the next year, the wind and the rain, the grain harvest. People painted their faces with vermilion sand, decorated with bird wings, singing and dancing. As for the "Spring Festival" one, the earliest in the "Book of the Later Han Dynasty - Yang Zhen": "and no snow in winter, the Spring Festival did not rain, the bureaucrats anxious."

September 27, 1949, the founding of the new China, 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 Lunar Calendar, and therefore the first day of the first month of the Lunar Calendar as the "Spring Festival!

The first day of the first month of the lunar calendar is usually around the beginning of spring, so the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar is designated as the "Spring Festival", commonly known as the lunar year.

One of the legends of the Spring Festival: the year-end vigil

The year-end vigil, that is, in the last night of the old year, do not sleep, stay up to meet the arrival of the new year's custom, also known as the New Year's Eve vigil, popularly known as the "year-end". To explore the origins of this custom, there is an interesting story circulating in folklore:

In ancient times, there was a ferocious beast, scattered in the mountains and dense forests, people called them "year". It is a hideous appearance, ferocious nature, specializing in eating birds and beasts, scales and insects, a day to change a kind of taste, from knocking insects have been eaten to the big living people, so that people talk about the "year" color change. Later, people slowly mastered the "year" of the law of activities, it is every three hundred and sixty-five days scurrying to the crowd gathered in the place to taste a mouthful of food, and the time of the infestation are in the dark, wait until the rooster breaks the dawn, they will return to the mountains and forests to go.

Calculating the date of the "year" rampage, the people will be this terrible night as a pass to brake, called the "New Year's Eve", and came up with a set of New Year's Eve approach: every evening of this day, every family is done in advance of the dinner, the fire! Net stove, and then all the chicken coop cattle pen tethered to the front and back doors of the mansion are sealed, hiding in the house to eat "New Year's Eve dinner", because this dinner has the meaning of bad luck and uncertainty, so organized very sumptuous, in addition to the whole family to eat together to express the harmony and reunion, but also have to be in the meal before the sacrifice to the ancestors, praying for the blessing of the gods of the ancestors, and the gods of the ancestors, and the gods of the ancestors. Safe through the night, after dinner, no one dares to sleep, sitting together in a crowded chatting courage. Gradually formed the habit of New Year's Eve to stay up to keep the New Year's Eve.

The custom of year-end vigil rose in the North and South Dynasties, the Liang Dynasty, many literati have a year-end poetry. "One night is even a double year, and the fifth night is divided into two years." People light up candles or oil lamps and keep vigil all night, symbolizing that all evil plagues and epidemics are driven away, looking forward to an auspicious new year. This custom has been passed down to this day.

The Spring Festival legend of the second: Wannian created the calendar said

Legend has it that, in ancient times, there is a young man named Wannian, to see that the festival was very chaotic, there is a desire to set the festival of the intention. But bitterly unable to find a way to calculate the time, one day, he went up the mountain chopping wood tired, sitting under the shade of a tree to rest, the movement of the shadow of the tree inspired him, he designed a sundial measuring the shadow of the sun counting the time of day, determine the time of day, and later, the drip of the spring on the cliffs inspired him to do a five-tiered funnel pot to calculate the time. Over time, he realized that every 360 days or so, the four seasons would turn once, and the length of the day would repeat itself.

The king of the country at that time was called Zuyi, and he was also often distressed by the unpredictability of the weather winds and clouds. Wannian knew, took the sundial and funnel pot to see the emperor, to Zuyi clear the reason for the operation of the sun and the moon. Zu Yi listened to the dragon's face, felt reasonable. So left Wannian, in front of the Temple of Heaven to build the Sun and Moon Pavilion, built the sundial and funnel kiosk. And hope to measure the law of the sun and moon, project the accurate morning and evening time, create the calendar, for the benefit of the people of the world.

Once, Zu Yi went to find out the progress of the Ten Thousand Years Test Calendar. When he ascended to the Altar of the Sun and the Moon, he saw a poem engraved on the stone wall beside the Temple of Heaven:

"The sun rises and the sun sets three hundred and six times, and the cycle starts all over again from the beginning.

The grass and trees wither and prosper in four seasons, and there are twelve rounds in a year."

Knowing that Wannian had created the calendar, he personally climbed up to the Sun and Moon Pavilion to see Wannian. Wannian pointed to the sky and said to Zuyi, "It is now the fullness of twelve months, the old year is over, and the new spring is beginning, so I pray that the king of the country will set a festival." Zu Yi said, "Spring is the first day of the year, let's call it Spring Festival". This is said to be the origin of the Spring Festival.

Winter and spring, year after year, Wannian after a long period of observation, careful projection, developed an accurate solar calendar, when he presented the solar calendar to the successor of the state ruler, has been full of silver beard. The king of the country was y touched, in order to commemorate the achievements of Wan Nian, the solar calendar named "Wan Nian Calendar", Wan Nian as the sun and moon life star. Later on, people put up a picture of the star of longevity on New Year's Day, which was said to be in honor of the highly respected Wannian.

The Third Legend of the Spring Festival: Posting Spring Festival Couplets and Door Gods

The custom of posting Spring Festival Couplets is said to have begun more than a thousand years ago in the period of the Later Shu, which is supported by history. In addition, according to the Jade Candle Book and the Yanjing Yearly Record, the original form of the Spring Festival couplets is what people call "peach symbols".

In ancient Chinese mythology, there is a world of ghosts, and in the middle of it there is a mountain with a big peach tree covering 3,000 miles, and on the top of the tree there is a golden chicken. Whenever the golden rooster crows early in the morning, the ghosts wandering at night will be rushed back to the ghost world. The gate of the Ghost Realm was situated in the northeast of the peach tree, and by the gate stood two godmen named Shentan and Yubi. If a ghost did something harmful at night, the gods would immediately find it, catch it, tie it up with a rope made of mango reeds, and feed it to the tiger. Therefore, all the ghosts in the world were afraid of Shentian and Yubi. So the folk used peach wood to carve into their likeness and put it in front of their house to avoid evil and prevent harm. Later, people simply carve the name of God Tantui and Yubi on the mahogany board, thinking that this can also suppress the evil to go to the evil. This kind of mahogany board was later called "peach charm".

By the Song Dynasty, people began to write couplets on the mahogany board, one does not lose the significance of the mahogany to suppress evil, the second is to express their own good wishes, and the third is to decorate the portal, in order to be beautiful. And write couplets on red paper to symbolize the joy and good luck, the New Year on both sides of the doors and windows, to express people's prayers for good luck in the coming year.

In order to pray for a family's well-being, people in some places still retain the habit of sticking the door god. It is said that if two door gods are posted on the front door, all demons and ghosts will be afraid. In folklore, the door god is a symbol of righteousness and force, the ancients believe that people with strange looks often have magical endowments and extraordinary skills. They are upright and kind-hearted, to catch ghosts and demons is their nature and responsibility, people look up to the ghost hunter Zhong Kui, that is, this kind of strange looks. So the folk god of the door is always angry eyes, grim-looking, holding a variety of traditional weapons, ready to fight with the ghosts and demons that dare to come to the door. Since the doors of our homes are usually two doors open, the door gods are always in pairs.

After the Tang Dynasty, in addition to the two generals of Shentian and Yubi in the past, people also took Qin Shubao and Yuchigong, two military generals of the Tang Dynasty, as door gods. Legend has it that Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty was sick and heard the ghosts and demons outside his door calling out, and he had no peace all night long. So he asked these two generals to stand beside the door with weapons to guard it, and the next night there were no more ghosts to disturb him. Later, Emperor Tang Taizong had the two generals' images painted and pasted on the door, and this custom began to be widely spread among the people.

Common Customs of Spring Festival

Sweeping Dust

"On the 24th day of the Lunar New Year, dusting and sweeping the house", according to "Lv's Spring and Autumn Annals", there was a custom of sweeping dust in Spring Festival in the Yao and Shun era in China. According to folklore: because the "dust" and "Chen" consonant, dust sweeping in the New Year has "in addition to the meaning of Chen Bu Xin", the intention is to all the poor luck, bad luck, swept out the door. This custom is a symbol of people's desire to break away from the old and bring in the new and their prayers for the old and the new. Whenever the Spring Festival comes, every household has to clean up the environment, wash all kinds of appliances, dismantle and wash the bedding curtains, sprinkle the six capitals of the courtyard, dusting dust cobwebs, dredge the nullahs and ditches. Everywhere overflowing with joyful health, clean and welcome the new year's happy atmosphere.

Posting Spring Festival couplets

Spring Festival couplets, also known as door-to-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 has to select a large red spring couplets posted on the door for the festival to increase the festive atmosphere. This custom began in the Song Dynasty, began to flourish in the Ming Dynasty, to the Qing Dynasty, the Spring Festival couplets of ideology and artistry have greatly improved, Liang Zhangrui prepared the Spring Festival couplets monograph "Threshold Lian series of words" on the origins of the couplets and various types of works of the characteristics of the discourse.

The types of spring couplets are more, according to its use of the place, can be divided into the door heart, frame pair, horizontal cape, spring strips, doufang and so on. "Door" in the upper center of the door panel; "frame" on the left and right door frames; "Phi" on the horizontal wood of the door winks; "Chunzhi "according to different content, posted in the corresponding place;" bucket catty "also called" door leaf "for the square diamond-shaped, mostly posted in the furniture, shadow wall.

Pasted window and upside down "Fu" character

In folklore, people also like to put all kinds of paper cuttings on the window - window flowers. Window flowers not only set a festive atmosphere, but also decorative, appreciative and practical in one. Paper cutting in China is a very popular folk art, for thousands of years by the people, because it is mostly pasted on the window, so it is also known as "window flowers". Window decoration with its unique generalization and exaggeration of the auspicious events, good wishes expressed to the fullest, will be decorated with festivals red hot and rich.

At the same time in the paste of the Spring Festival couplets, some people have to be in the house door, wall, lintel pasted on the large and small "Fu" character. The Spring Festival sticker "Fu" word, is China's folk custom from a long time. 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 will also be "Fu" word fine as a variety of patterns, patterns have the star, longevity, carp jump Dragon Gate, the five valleys, the 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 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 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 a Plentiful Harvest," "Six Animals Prosperity," "Welcoming the Spring to receive the blessings of" and other classic colorful New Year's paintings, in order to satisfy people's joyful prayers for the New Year's good wishes. There are three important production areas of Chinese New Year paintings in China: Taohuayu in Suzhou, Yangliuqing in Tianjin and Weifang in Shandong; forming three major schools of Chinese New Year paintings, each with its own characteristics.

China's collection of the earliest Chinese New Year paintings is the Southern Song Dynasty "with the fair presenting the face of the country" woodcut New Year paintings, the painting is Wang Zhaojun, Zhao Feiyan, Ban Ji and green beads of the four ancient beauties. The most widely circulated folk painting is the one of "The Mouse Marrying Her Marriage". It depicts an interesting scene of a mouse marrying a bride in accordance with the customs of the earth. In the early years of the Republic of China, Zheng Mantuo of Shanghai combined the lunar calendar and New Year's paintings. This is a new form of New Year's paintings. This combination of two and one of the New Year's paintings, later developed into a wall calendar, and is still popular throughout the country.

New Year's Eve

The evening of the last day of the lunar year. The last day of the year is called "New Year's Eve". The last day of the year is called "New Year's Eve", and that night is called "New Year's Eve". People often stay up all night on New Year's Eve, called the New Year's Eve. Su Shi wrote "Keeping New Year's Eve": "Children are strong enough not to sleep, and they keep vigil all night long." There is a legend about the origin of New Year's Eve: there was a vicious beast called Xi in ancient times, our ancestors had suffered from the threat of this most ferocious beast, which came out at the end of the year to harm people, and later, people found that Xi was afraid of three things, the color red, the light of the fire, the sound. So in the winter people hang red-colored mahogany boards on their doors, burning fires in front of the door, and staying up all night, knocking and banging. On this night, "Yu" broke into the village, saw the red color and firelight in every house, and heard the loud noise, so it ran back to the mountains and never dared to come out again. After the night was over, people congratulated each other and celebrated their victory with lanterns and colorful decorations, drinking and feasting. So later on the night of the New Year's Eve, every family put up red spring couplets, firecrackers, to drive away the beasts of the night. In order to seek peace in the new year. This custom has been passed down since then, and the night of New Year's Eve is called New Year's Eve.

Watch the New Year's Eve

The New Year's Eve watch is one of the most important New Year's activities, the custom of watching the New Year's Eve has a long history. The earliest records are found in the Western Jin Dynasty Zhou Chu's "Land and Customs": New Year's Eve night, each with the gift, known as "feed the year"; wine and food invited, known as "another year"; young and old get together to drink, wishing to complete, known as the "share the year! "

The first time I saw the movie was when I was a kid, and it was the first time I saw the movie.

"One night even double the year, five more 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 stove chatting, waiting for the old to welcome the new moment, all-night vigil, symbolizing all the evil plagues and epidemics according to the run to drive away, looking 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.

In ancient times, 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 parents. Since the Han Dynasty, the time of the transition between the old and the new year is usually the middle of the night.

Firecrackers

Chinese folk "open door firecrackers". That is, at the dawn of the new year, the first thing that families do when they open the door is to set off firecrackers, to beep and blare the sound of firecrackers to get rid of the old and welcome the new. Firecrackers is a Chinese specialty, also known as "firecrackers", "cannonballs", "firecrackers". Its origin is very early, so far has a history of more than two thousand years. Firecrackers can create a festive and lively atmosphere, is a kind of festival entertainment, can bring people joy and good luck. With the passage of time, the application of firecrackers is more and more widely used, varieties and colors are also increasingly numerous, every major holiday and festivals, and marriage, building, opening, etc., are to set off firecrackers in order to show the celebration, figure a good luck. Now, Hunan Liuyang, Guangdong Foshan and Dongyao, Jiangxi Yichun and Pingxiang, Wenzhou, Zhejiang and other areas is China's famous hometown of firecrackers, the production of firecrackers colorful, high-quality, not only sells well across the country, but also exported to the world.

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 opening the New Year's food. Because of the long time needed 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.

Steamed rice cakes, rice cakes because of the harmonic "year high", coupled with a variety of flavors, almost become a must-have seasonal food. There are square yellow and white rice cakes, symbolizing gold and silver, which means a prosperous new year.

The flavor of rice cake varies from place to place. Beijing people like to eat red dates made of rice or yellow rice rice cakes, fruit rice cakes and white rice cakes. Hebei people like to add jujube, small red beans and mung beans in the rice cake steamed 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, etc. They are very well made and can be steamed directly or deep-fried with egg whites.

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 and make dumplings for New Year's Eve. The dumpling method is to make dumpling skins out of flour first, and then use the skins to wrap up the fillings, and the fillings are all kinds of different things, such as various kinds of meats, eggs, seafood, and seasonal vegetables, etc., all of which can be put into the fillings, and the orthodox method of eating dumplings is to boil them with clear water, and then fish them out to be accompanied by soy sauce with vinegar, garlic, and sesame oil. 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. Dumplings can also be deep-fried and cooked (potstickers). 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.

Opening the door with firecrackers

On the morning of the Chinese New Year, when the door is opened, firecrackers are set off first, which is called "opening the door with firecrackers". After the sound of firecrackers, broken red all over the ground, brilliant as a cloud of brocade, known as "full red". At this time, the street is full of gas, joyful.

New Year's Day

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 Day. Han Chinese New Year's Eve style, the Han Dynasty has. After the Tang and Song dynasties, it was 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 in front of the door, specializing in name badges, called "door book".

On the first day of the New Year, people get up early, put on the most beautiful clothes, dressed neatly, go out to visit friends and relatives, pay respect to each other, wishing good luck in the coming year. Worship a variety of ways, some of them are the same patriarch led a number of people to go door to door to pay tribute to the New Year; some colleagues invited a few people to pay tribute to the New Year; there are also get together to congratulate each other, known as the "group worship". Because of the time-consuming and laborious door-to-door New Year's greetings, some of the later upper-class people and the scholarly elite will use the stickers to throw congratulations to each other, which developed the later "New Year's card".

When the Spring Festival to pay homage to the New Year, the younger generation should first pay homage to the elders, wishing the elders a long life and well-being, the elders can be prepared beforehand the New Year's Eve money to the elders, it is said that the New Year's Eve money can be pressed to stop the evil spirits, because the "age of" and the "Sneaky" harmonic, the elders to get New Year's Eve money can be a year of peace and security. It is said that New Year's money can keep evil spirits at bay, because "year" and "spirit" sound alike. There are two kinds of New Year's money, one is a colorful rope threaded and braided into the shape of a dragon, placed at the foot of the bed, which is recorded in the "Yanjing Yearly Record"; the other is the most common, that is, wrapped in red paper by the parents of the money given to the children. New Year's money can be rewarded in the evening after the New Year's greetings in public, can also be in the New Year's Eve when the child is asleep, by the parents secretly placed under the child's pillow. Now the elders for the younger generation to send the custom of the new year's money is still prevalent.

Folk visit the form of New Year's Eve, according to each other's social relations, can be divided into four categories:

One is to go to relatives. The first day must go to the father-in-law, shall bring gifts. After entering the door first to the Buddha statue, ancestral images, tablets each line three kowtow salute, and then to the elders in turn kneeling. You can stay to eat and play.

The second is a courtesy visit. Such as to colleagues, friends to pay tribute to the New Year, a door into the house, only to the Buddha three kowtow, such as with the master of the Department of the same generation is only required to arch a bow, such as older than their own, should still take the initiative to kneel down, the master should walk down the seat to do to help the shape, even said free to show humility. This situation is generally not appropriate to sit for a long time, two polite words to say goodbye. After the master was worshiped, should choose a day to return to worship.

Third, thank you for the visit. Where a year to people owe love (such as lawyers, doctors, etc.) to buy some gifts to send, through the New Year's opportunity to express gratitude pillow.

Fourth, the string of visits. For the left and right neighbors of the neighborhood, not much interaction in the past, but to meet can be said to be able to, to the Jubilee, just to the yard, meet with each other a fist, said: "Jubilee Fazhi", "a Shunbashun", in the house to sit for a while only, not very much etiquette.

New Year's Eve is a traditional Chinese folk custom, is a way for people to say goodbye to the old and welcome the new, and express their good wishes to each other. In ancient times, the original meaning of the word "New Year's Eve" was to greet the elders for the new year, including kowtowing to the elders, congratulating them on the new year, and greeting them with a good life. The first thing you need to do is to ask your friends and relatives to pay you a visit.

In ancient times, if or neighborhood friends and relatives are too many, it is difficult to visit all over the door, so that 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, to bear 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 also the month when pieces fly and empty cars go." 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 the Square Lane; one said the rich Yu masters, live in Yuanbao Street; one said that you have no great people, live in the university scholar's house; One said the blessing of the old master, live in the five blessings building. 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, this is the legacy of the ancient mutual fly post.

The custom of the upper class scholarly men to throw 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 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 even today still prevails.

From about the time of the Qing Dynasty, New Year's Day and add the form of "reunion", the Qing Yi Lan master in the "Side Hat Yu Tan", said: "the capital in the first of the year, routine reunion, 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.

The first to the fifth day of the first month, most families do not receive women, called "taboo door". Limited to men to go out to pay homage to the New Year, women have to wait until after the sixth day of the first month to go out to visit. The New Year's visit extends for a long time, until around the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month. In the evening, people go to the house to pay respect to the New Year called "night festival", after the first ten days of the festival called "worship lamp festival".

If for some reason you do not perform the rituals as usual, you can make up for it at a later date, which is called "paying homage to the New Year".

The year

In the old days, folk to enter the new first few days of the weather to account for the new year into the 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 cow, the sixth day for the horse, the seventh day of the Weiman, the eighth day for the valley. If the day is sunny, then the host of things prosperous, when the day is cloudy, the host of the day is not prosperous. Later generations followed their habits, that the first day to the tenth, the weather is clear, no wind and no snow as auspicious. 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 windows and doors to drive away the ghosts and monsters evil. Jin Dynasty people wrote the "Xuanzhongji" about the previously mentioned Doushuo mountain of this sky chicken, said that when too is just rising, the first sunlight shines on this tree, the sky 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 heavy bright bird that could ward off evil spirits, and everyone welcomed the arrival of the heavy bright bird, but the tribute envoys didn't come every year, so the people carved a wooden heavy bright bird, or casted a heavy bright bird in bronze and put it on the gateway, or painted a heavy bright bird on the windows and doors, 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, become 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 people not only in the New Year cut chicken, but also the first day of the new year as chicken day.