What are the unique customs in the south?

1, dust is being removed.

On the day of off-year, every household gets up at dawn, cleans houses and windows, washes clothes, scrubs pots and pans, and carries out a clean and thorough cleaning. A few days ago, every family cleaned the house, which meant not to let the kitchen god take the soil away. According to the records in the Collection of Notes, this custom can be traced back to more than 3,000 years ago. It is a religious ceremony for Han ancestors to drive away epidemic ghosts and pray for well-being. After "dust" and "Chen" are homophonic, so sweeping dust means sweeping away old things, which means both the old dirt in the courtyard and the unhappiness encountered in the old year.

Step 2 sacrifice the stove

That is, offering sacrifices to send the kitchen god to heaven, so off-year is also called kitchen festival. On the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, people will offer sacrifices to the stove. The statue of the kitchen god is posted on the wall next to the stove, facing the bellows. Most of the couplets on both sides are "Heaven speaks well, the lower bound is safe", and the lower couplet also says "Go back to the palace for good luck", and it is horizontally approved as "the head of the family". In the middle is the idol of the husband and wife in the kitchen, and two horses are often painted next to the idol as mounts.

Put candy, water, beans and grass on the console table in front of the kitchen god statue; Among them, the last three are materials for the mount of Kitchen God to ascend to heaven. When offering sacrifices to the kitchen god, you should also melt the Kwantung sugar with fire and stick it on the mouth of the kitchen god, so that you won't speak ill of the jade emperor, but also deliberately make the kitchen god's mouth sweet and only say good things.

Step 3 eat rice cakes

In the south, it is a tradition in many places to make rice cakes on this day. The rice cake, also known as "rice cake", is homophonic with "high year by year", which means that people's work and life are improving year by year.

Step 4 set off firecrackers

The custom of setting off firecrackers in the Spring Festival began in the Han Dynasty. According to "The Story of Meng Jing Times" written by Nan Liang Zonggu, "On the first day of the first month ... the rooster crowed, and people set off firecrackers in front of the court to drive away evil spirits from Shan Yao."

In ancient times, firecrackers were set off by burning bamboo in a fire. Because the air in bamboo expands due to heat, it makes a crackling sound to ward off evil spirits, hoping for good luck and happiness in the coming year. After the Tang and Song Dynasties, firecrackers made of gunpowder came into being.

5. Happy New Year

According to the Miscellaneous Notes of Lu Rongyuan in Ming Dynasty, the custom of welcoming the New Year was first implemented in Kyoto in Ming Dynasty. When dealing with officials, whether you know them or not, you should worship each other, while the people worship their relatives and friends. In the Qing Dynasty, it was popular to send "greeting boxes" during the Spring Festival, that is, to send New Year cards to relatives and friends in exquisite and beautiful decorative boxes to show solemnity. In today's China, "Happy New Year" has become a traditional custom. Dear friends and colleagues visit and greet each other.