Traditional Chinese New Year Folklore

Traditional Folklore of the Spring Festival

Traditional Folklore of the Spring Festival, the custom of celebrating the New Year has been passed down from the ancient times to the present day, and has gradually formed a kind of "New Year" culture through continuous evolution. The Chinese traditional festival of Spring Festival is also known as the New Year. The Chinese New Year is also known as the New Year, so what are the traditional Chinese New Year folklore?

Traditional Chinese New Year Folklore1

First, the Spring Festival dust

According to the "Lv's Spring and Autumn Annals" records, as early as in the Yao and Shun era, China has already had a Spring Festival dust custom. Because of the "dust" and "Chen" harmonized, so the dust sweeping in the New Year is given a new meaning, there is "in addition to Chen Bu Xin" meaning, hope that all the poor luck, bad luck, all swept out of the door.

Second, sticking couplets, lucky words, door god

The afternoon of the day before the Chinese New Year, the children will step on the stool, with glue and brush, to the door of the couplets, and then let the adults below to see if the paste is correct. In some cases, the couplets are attached to the horizontal head of the lintel of the door, and the couplets are attached to the left and right sides of the door. Some people also put lucky charms on the doors, walls and lintels of their houses to express their hopes for a happy life. There are also people who will be painted with a picture of the god of the door posted on the door, pray for a year of peace and prosperity, adding festive atmosphere.

Third, ancestor worship, worship

Spring Festival worship, is a custom throughout the east and west, north and south of China. All over the country, the custom of sacrificing to the gods is very different, but the purpose is basically the same, are to pray for the next year, the wind and rain, the five grains, great luck and so on.

Ancestor worship is generally after the sacrifice of the gods, customs vary from place to place, in our hometown is every day at noon before the meal, each family sent a representative, take the food, offerings to the shrine to pay tribute to the ancestors, and has been continued until the first month of the fifteenth, the shrine will not be closed.

Fourth, eat dumplings, eat dumplings, eat rice cakes

Most of the northern regions, the Spring Festival have the custom of eating dumplings in the morning, but also often in the dumplings inside a coin, who ate the coin, we say he is the family that year's most fortunate people. In Huai'an, Jiangsu Province, the morning of the custom of eating dumplings, Kaifeng, Henan Province, the Spring Festival day both eat dumplings and eat dumplings. During the Spring Festival, it is also customary to eat rice cakes, the flavor of which varies from place to place.

Fifth, the New Year's Eve, to the new year's money

New Year's Eve, is one of the most important activities of the Spring Festival, neighbors and friends get together, or the family together, some playing cards, some watching the Spring Festival gala, we stay awake all day long, and wait for the day to greet the New Year together.

Pressing the New Year's money is a favorite custom of small children and the younger generation. On New Year's Eve, after the New Year's Eve dinner, the elders will present coins to the younger generation separately, and use red thread to weave copper coins into strings and hang them on the children's chests, which is said to be able to suppress evil spirits and drive away ghosts. This custom has been popular since the Han Dynasty, of course, now there is no copper money, usually take a red packet of cash.

Six, firecrackers

At the advent of the Spring Festival, families open the door to the first thing, is to set off firecrackers to crackle firecrackers sound old and welcome the New Year, in order to show that the auspicious celebration. Of course, now many places have banned firecrackers, or should comply with the national regulations, to the safety of the main.

Seven, the New Year

The New Year is one of the most important activities and customs of the Spring Festival. On the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, adults and children are wearing new clothes, wearing new hats, visiting friends and relatives, greeting each other, wishing a prosperous New Year. New Year's greetings are generally from their own homes, juniors to elders after the New Year's greetings, people meet outside, and then smilingly congratulate each other on the New Year.

Eight, temple fair

During the Spring Festival, generally in the countryside will have a temple fair. Early temple fair, just a grand ritual activities, but with the development of the economy and the needs of the people, the temple fair to maintain the ritual activities at the same time, and gradually increased the bazaar trading activities, as well as a number of colorful entertainment activities.

Nine, dragon dance, lion dance

The dragon is a legendary lucky animal, said to be able to call the wind and rain in the sky, but also for the earth to pray for the elimination of disasters. As early as during the Han Dynasty, there were dragon dances to pray for rain. In addition to the dragon dance, there is also the lion dance, which is also a more common custom during the Spring Festival, and in the north of us, it is also called playing the lion, which was often seen when I was a child, and is less common now.

ten, stilt walker

Stilt walker, is also a recreational activity during the Spring Festival, a long history, in the "Liezi, said the runes" is recorded: "Song have Lanzi people ...... with two limbs long times its body, belonging to the shin, and Driving and chasing." Stilt-walking is also known as "ZaGaoFe", "step on stilts", performers in two feet tied to two or three feet high wooden stilts stick, perform a variety of weird and funny. The action, when I was a child, basically all the villages have this activity, and then it is less and less.

Traditional Chinese New Year Folklore 2

1, the Spring Festival custom sticker

According to the provisions of the ancient calendar, Lunar New Year 30th day is known as the "big year". When you get up in the morning on the day of the New Year, you need to put up door gods and spring scrolls. Spring Festival couplets are a unique Chinese folklore symbol, and putting them up during the Spring Festival is a very grand project.

The so-called "Spring Festival Couplets" are made of red paper, on which good wishes are written. In fact, this is an organic fusion of culture and the Spring Festival. When people put the red Spring Festival couplets on both sides of the front door of their homes, that is, "TEEEL, always change the new peach for the old one", it means that the prelude to the Spring Festival has been officially opened.

Posting Spring Festival couplets in ancient times can also be called "posting the year red", in addition to the two sides of the door of the Spring Festival couplets, but also includes the main door of the red "Fu" character. Whether posting spring couplets or posting the word "Fu", in fact, is to express people's good wishes for the New Year. In some places, the two "door gods", Qin Qiong and Yuchi Jingde, are also posted, which are believed to be able to drive away evil spirits and avoid disasters for the whole family.

2, firecrackers

The custom of setting off firecrackers on New Year's Eve has a history of more than two thousand years. Although many places have basically banned this custom for the sake of environmental protection, it is still retained in some remote areas. According to legend, the firecrackers are set off at midnight on New Year's Eve to drive away the "New Year" beasts.

At this critical time of the year, the month and the year, when the sound of firecrackers echoed across the land of China, not only to scare away the "New Year" beasts, but also to symbolize the new year will be more prosperous and prosperous. To this day there are still many places, in the New Year's Eve at the time to point a bunch of "Wang Huo", is the hope that in this new year, the family is smooth, good luck.

"The sound of firecrackers in a year in addition, the spring breeze sends warmth into the tassel."

In the crackling sound of firecrackers, the old year has passed, and the new year has come. After the Spring Festival is the Spring Equinox, the people have to start preparing for spring plowing, and all things are moving in a thriving direction. The custom of setting off firecrackers on New Year's Eve is in fact the main function of the ancient people in order to drive away bad luck, and look forward to good luck after the New Year.

New Year's Eve, in addition to firecrackers, ancestor worship, there is a very important custom is to "keep the year", also known as the year-end fire or shine the year, etc.. On the night of New Year's Eve, all the candles in the house should be lit, and the house should be brightly lit for the whole night. This custom is also known as "Shouji" (照虚耗). The main purpose is to hope that the new year will bring more wealth in the family.

3, New Year's Eve and New Year's Eve money

In China, there are many areas of the New Year's Eve, "New Year's Eve", in fact, it is the whole family, no matter how young or old, New Year's Eve are not sleeping. And must wait until after eight o'clock on the first day to sleep. The main moral is to hope that the family peace and health. Especially for small children, only in the New Year's Eve, "to keep the New Year's Eve" in order to grow up healthy.

Many regions will eat New Year's Eve dinner before the younger generation "new year's money", the younger children need to kneel down to worship the elders, and to kowtow to the elders in order to get their own share of the "new year's money". The so-called "new year's money" can play a "pressure on the role of evil spirits", is the elders of the younger generation of a kind of care and blessing.

Getting the new year's money will give you a year of peace and security. The new year's money in folk culture means to ward off evil spirits, blessing peace. The original purpose of the new year's money is to suppress evil and drive away evil spirits. It was believed that children were vulnerable to ghosts and spirits, so the money was used to ward off evil spirits and spirits. It is given by the elders to the younger ones during the countdown to the New Year to show that the money is used to suppress the evil spirits. It contains the concern and sincere blessing of the elders to the younger generation.

4, New Year's Eve New Year's Eve dinner

In fact, the evening of the Spring Festival is the highlight of the "New Year's Eve dinner", also known as the New Year's Eve dinner, reunion dinner. Regardless of whether the family is poor or rich, on New Year's Eve, the night of the preparation of a table of sumptuous "New Year's Eve dinner". The family sits around eating dumplings and sumptuous dishes, reminiscing about the past and looking forward to the future, is a very happy thing.

The New Year's Eve dinner in the south is usually characterized by seafood and vegetables, while in the north the table is full of fish and meat. The family gathering and reunion dinner at the end of the year is actually one of the many Chinese New Year customs that deserve to be passed down to all of us.

The New Year's Eve dinner table is usually filled with fish and chicken, which symbolizes that there is a plan as well as a yearly surplus. The so-called "Yau Kei" refers to the livelihood, which is the most important thing in the new year. Lettuce and garlic symbolize wealth and calculation, and southerners also make a plate of Chinese sausage in the hope that the family will have a long and happy life.

Traditional Chinese New Year Folklore 3

Dusting the house: China has had a custom of dusting the house for the Spring Festival since the Yao and Shun Dynasties. Whenever the Spring Festival comes, every household has to clean the environment, wash all kinds of utensils, dismantle and wash the bedding and curtains, sprinkle and sweep the courtyard of the six capitals, dust the cobwebs and dredge the nullahs and ditches. The intention is to sweep out all the poor luck and bad luck.

New Year's Eve: New Year's Eve is one of the most important New Year's Eve activities, the custom of the New Year's Eve has a long history. 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 complete, known as the "sub-year"; we stay awake all night, to wait for the daybreak, known as the "old age watch"! The first is the "New Year's Eve", and the second is the "New Year's Eve", which is called the "New Year's Eve".

Mutual Greeting Cards: As early as the Song Dynasty, the royal aristocrats and scholarly families and relatives have been used to pay tribute to the New Year's Day between the New Year's Day piece of greeting, called the "name of the prick" or "name stickers". The door of each family stick a red paper bag, called "door book", on which is written the master's name, to receive the name prick (name post). Worshippers cast name prick (name post) in the door book, that is, to pay tribute to the New Year, the meaning of which is the same as the modern New Year's card.

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 good wishes, is a unique form of literature in China.

Window: In folklore, people also like to put all kinds of paper cuttings on the windows - window. Paper cutting is a very popular folk art in China, and has been loved by people for thousands of years, because it is mostly pasted on the window, so it is also known as "window flowers".

Firecrackers: Chinese folk "open door firecrackers". That is, the arrival of the new year, the first thing to open the door of every household is to set off firecrackers, to beeping firecrackers to get rid of the old and welcome the new. So far there has been more than two thousand years of history.

How did the ancients celebrate the New Year?

Ancient emperors: Qing Dynasty emperor in the first day of the first month of the New Year's Day after getting up in the early morning, the day's most important activity is to perform the bright window open pen ceremony, to the ancestors and everywhere in front of the gods and buddhas flicked incense salute, held a ceremony of pilgrimage to accept the royal officials salute to the Queen Dowager salute to the Queen's Court salute to accept the harem salute to perform feasts in the Palace of the Emperor in the Qianqing Palace and watch the play, the morning in the Palace of Qianqing Palace of Hongde Palace into the auspicious cakes and potatoes (here refers to the dumplings, in which there are a within the (here refers to dumplings, which has a small ingot) is also the emperor in the New Year's Day fixed program; New Year's Eve in addition to incense and watch the play everywhere, to be in the Qianqing Palace and the Consort line feast, to the Empress Dowager and accept the Empress Dowager line farewell ceremony.

The Emperor's New Year

Officials on the court are uniformly dressed in red uniforms (weekdays are often red, green and blue colors to choose from), the Chief Secretary will also "not play the matter", presumably some of the day-to-day political affairs to be dealt with after the pressure. Therefore, although not completely rested, but the whole court is indeed immersed in the atmosphere of the festival.

Other classes: On New Year's Eve of the lunar calendar, people should "clean the house, change the door gods, hang Zhong Kui, and nail peach charms". The main purpose of posting door gods and nailing peach symbols is to drive away evil spirits and avoid disasters, and to pray for good luck in the New Year. On the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar, after the third shift, when the fifth shift comes, the firecrackers will ring through the sky. Not only in the Imperial Palace, firecrackers ringing, to hold a grand ceremony on the first day of the New Year. Ordinary people also competing firecrackers, began to worship heaven and earth, ancestors, each other's New Year's activities. In fact, today's New Year's Eve has been inherited the tradition of the previous generation, the family reunion, drinking, eating dumplings, firecrackers, New Year's Eve. Only in the New Year's content is richer, folk performances, fireworks, lanterns and many other entertainment activities, lively.