The custom of reading short articles before and after the Spring Festival.

The Spring Festival in northern Shaanxi is full of excitement and prosperity.

People in the yellow land attach great importance to festivals. There are many festivals in a year, but people are most concerned about the Spring Festival. Those who have worked hard for a year have added joy and hope to the new year. Every year when the twelfth lunar month comes, people start to get busy. Speaking of being busy, it's actually women who are busy. Busy with food and clothing, busy with washing, all the work must be done by the aunts themselves. Push the roller to press the cake noodles, catch up with grinding bean curd, donkey, steaming yellow steamed bread, brewing yellow wine, rolling noodles and frying oil cakes to prepare for the New Year's Eve dinner. During the Spring Festival, the whole family, old and young, should put on new clothes inside and outside. No matter how poor a family is, everyone should make a new coat. In addition, all bedding and clothes should be washed clean. There is also a custom to make "jujube cards" for children in the New Year. "Jujube brand" is to put red dates and straw with red lines on it, hang a copper coin on it, and hang a firecracker on the child's back. This is the mascot to ward off evil spirits and pray. Here, I also saw some people put on the "thimble" for needlework with red thread and hang it around the child's neck. This is also the mascot of blessing, called "aging thimble". Add one every year until you are twelve.

It's New Year's Eve, and everything is ready, such as putting up couplets, playing vinegar and charcoal, hanging red lights and cleaning the courtyard. Playing vinegar charcoal is a unique custom, that is, putting a red-hot charcoal on an iron spoon and pouring vinegar on it. "Burning vinegar and charcoal" should be carried out in every corner of the house, which means exorcism. In fact, this is a scientific disinfection method. As night falls, the old man always worships God, burns incense and paper, and leads his curious grandchildren to kowtow. The older children are busy shooting and lighting the tower. The careful aunt put charcoal blocks and ice cubes by the door, and set up a rolling pin and a knife and axe behind the door. It is said that this is evil, and it is called "guarding the old" here. People always go to bed on New Year's Eve. Generally, the lights are not turned off at home all night, which indicates peace and longevity in the four seasons. Put some food in the pot, which is called "according to the pot", which means that there is no shortage of food for a year. Some old people can't sleep this night. They climbed to the top of the mountain quietly in the dark and looked east. This is called "Pintian". According to the old man, we can see the abundance of crops and the good and bad luck in the village from the colorful roads in Xiaotian this year. Whether it works or not, no one will delve into it. On the first day of the first month, people get up at dawn. The first thing to do is to open the door, that is, open the door. Then, the old people were busy meeting God and the Kitchen God. The children have gone out to pay a New Year call. Here is called "seeking health" to pay a New Year call. When the younger generation meets their elders, they should "greet", like "Grandpa is in good health!" "Grandma is strong!" The elder replied, "Be a good doll!" It means praising children's health and progress. This custom of greeting the New Year is not limited to children, but also applies to men who have married and adopted children, and it is also true when they meet their elders.

Yangko is a unique custom in northern Shaanxi. During the Spring Festival, every village organizes yangko teams to pay New Year greetings from door to door, which is commonly called "along the door". Yangko pays homage to God in the temple first, praying for good weather and abundant crops for a year, and then pays a New Year call to every household. Every time the Yangko team went to a family, the umbrella head touched the scene and improvised lyrics to bless the owner. For example, "When you enter the gate and look up, the six-hole stone kiln will be in full bloom, and the grain will be abundant, and people will be safe all year round."

Customs of Spring Festival in Hong Kong:

Lunar New Year is a traditional grand festival in China, which I believe is unknown to all people in China. However, celebrating the Lunar New Year in Hong Kong is completely different from the traditional ones in terms of customs and atmosphere.

In recent years, few Hong Kong people put up Spring Festival couplets and New Year pictures at home during the Lunar New Year. On the contrary, they posted "Prosperous Business" and "Safe Access" in some shops or homes. Even so, the original intention of posting Spring Festival couplets and New Year pictures is the same as that of posting Spring Festival couplets and New Year pictures. I hope everything will be smooth and safe in the coming year.

In addition, lion dances and dragon lanterns will also appear in some villages and villages in the New Territories. It is difficult to see large-scale lion dances and dragon lanterns on the streets of urban areas in the New Year. As for setting off firecrackers and firecrackers, it is forbidden in Hong Kong. However, since 1982, a grand fireworks display has been held in Victoria Harbour every year on the second night of the Lunar New Year, which has been a program to welcome the Spring Festival for more than ten years.

Hong Kong is known as a "gourmet paradise". There are many customs about eating during the Spring Festival, and most families will have a "reunion dinner" during the Spring Festival, usually at home, and the whole family will get together for dinner on New Year's Eve. I believe that the first choice for after-dinner programs is to visit the flower market. During the Lunar New Year, there are many flower markets in Hong Kong and Kowloon, among which the flower market in Victoria Park is the largest and most lively. Hong Kong people are used to visiting the flower market after dinner. On New Year's Eve, people are crowded and everyone will spend the holidays together.

The happiest thing about spending the Lunar New Year in Hong Kong is to "benefit" the children. Laughter can be heard everywhere during the Spring Festival. "Li" was originally a kind of "good thing", based on good luck, and also became an indispensable custom with relatives during the Spring Festival.

Nanning Spring Festival

The Spring Festival is the biggest festival in Nanning. From the first day of the first year, every household set off firecrackers to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new year. The next day, relatives and friends came to visit each other with gifts to "celebrate the New Year". Lantern Festival, Lantern Festival, night. Temple fairs and "fireworks grabbing" were held in rural areas of sixteen counties. According to the unique Spring Festival custom of Zhuang nationality, we should also carry out activities such as picking new water, drinking spiritual water, dancing lions, jumping chickens and jumping spring cows. Before the dawn of the New Year's Day, Zhuang wives had gone to the river to fetch water for the whole family. When picking fresh water, you should also pick up a few stones similar to livestock and go home to imitate the sounds of six livestock all the way. After returning home, I put these stones in pigsty and cowshed, praying for the prosperity of six animals. Then, make New Year's tea with new water for the whole family to drink. Strong women want to drink smart water, that is, before drawing new water, they compete to drink the clear water given to them by the "smart sister-in-law" recognized in the village. They believe that this will make them smarter, and the girls to be married will take this opportunity to make up for finding the right husband in the new year. Dancing chickens and spring cows in western Guangxi is unique. On the first day of New Year's Day, the young man who jumped the chicken carried two chicken doors made of wood and papaya and went to every household to knock gongs to pay New Year's greetings. They sang a humorous chicken dance song, which made the main family smile. The main family pulled a few chicken feathers from the "chicken" and put them in their own chicken cages to pray for the prosperity of the six animals. Dancing cows are more interesting. The people who jump cattle regard this department as an exquisite "Spring Cattle" performance, with one supporting the bull's head in front and the other bending over and swinging its tail at the back; Behind him, a man with a plow is rushing to "Spring Cattle", and others are beating gongs and drums and singing the song of Spring Cattle, which is vast and jubilant.

Simple cattle

In some areas of western Guangxi, chicken dances and spring cattle dances handed down from generation to generation have added a festive atmosphere to the Spring Festival. The young man who jumped the chicken carried two cockfights made of wood and papaya and went to every household in the village to knock gongs to pay New Year's greetings. Dancing chickens and singing auspicious and humorous songs make the host's family smile. Give red envelopes to the chicken jumpers in the New Year, pull a few chicken feathers from the "cockfighting" and put them in their own chicken cages to pray for the prosperity of the six animals.

It's more interesting to jump spring cattle. "Spring Cattle" is skillfully woven with bamboo pieces. Cow's head and horn are pasted with paper towels and painted with cow's eyes. The body of a cow is black cloth or gray cloth. Cattle dancers beat gongs and drums to perform in the village. Two people got into the bottom of the cloth, one was holding a bull's head in front, the other was bending over and swinging his tail behind, followed by a man with a plow frame. In addition, some people beat gongs and drums to lead the singing of Spring Cattle. Wherever they go, there are songs and laughter. After the dance, I went to the village and went to the village next door, from the first day to the Lantern Festival. The people who jumped the spring cattle brought the farmers the joy of the festival, and at the same time pinned their hopes for a bumper harvest and peace.

Use a pole to celebrate the New Year.

"In the first month, the hall was closed and this year was full of crops." This is an old proverb spread by Zhuang families in Mashan, Du 'an, Shanglin, Xincheng and other places in Guangxi. In the Tang Dynasty, Liu Xun vividly recorded the dance rhyme of worshipping the hall in his Notes on the Ridge Table: "Those who worship the hall in spring are carved with deep wood, and lemons are arranged on both sides of a trough. Men and women stood on the rice beam and knocked on the edge of the ditch. They all knocked on the ground, and the sound of the ditch was like a drum, which was heard for miles. Although they thought of the ingenious idea of women making autumn anvil, they could not be better than it. Today, instead of bamboo, it is a farmer's shoulder pole, and the wooden board replaces the big wooden trough. The ancient hall is full of vitality in the form of playing with poles.

Every year from New Year's Eve to the fifteenth day of the first month, all parts of Zhuang people will hear the light and pleasant sound of "Deng Deng Da, Deng Deng Da, Deng Da Du Da". Playing pole dancing is a traditional self-entertainment activity. Every banker is an actor in the hall. Women's movements are light and graceful, while men's movements are powerful. The "theater" that entertains itself places the Zhuang people's desire for a bumper harvest.

The dance forms of the pole are duet, four people wearing flowers, and many people wearing flowers. Dancers are mostly even. The performers hold the pole, around the bench or rice trough, beat the bench rhythmically, and sometimes beat each other's poles. The shoulder pole can be used freely in your hands, or you can knock on the front, back or side. The sound is crisp or heavy, and the sound is different, forming a lively and ups and downs rhythm. When the poles kept hitting each other, the performers kept spinning among the flowers, which made them more dazzling. Skilled movements can be easily completed in the voice of the pole.

The pole-carrying activities in the festival are even more lively. With long bamboo tubes and gongs and drums on the field, onlookers sang songs from time to time. The atmosphere of the festival is particularly warm.

In the crowd carrying pole, you can find old people with gray hair and childish children. Some families are carrying poles, and some mothers and children are carrying poles in the same field. The whole pole-carrying activity was full of joyful laughter.

On the way to the fair, the villagers were tired of walking, so they put down their burdens to carry pole, and soon the fatigue disappeared in the sound of pole. The bump on the pole on the way to the fair began impromptu and broke up. Picking a load is indeed a light cultural and sports activity of Zhuang nationality.

The dance vocabulary of "carrying a load" contains rich farming culture, and dance modeling is closely related to farming labor. The performances include: harrowing fields, transplanting rice seedlings, scooping water and plowing fields, harvesting and threshing, and tasting new rice. The life and labor characteristics of artistic images are extremely prominent. It is firmly rooted in the soil of a strong family and will last forever.