Traditional customs of the Spring Festival

Traditional festivals and customs of the Spring Festival include: sweeping dust during the Spring Festival, pasting couplets, blessing characters, door gods, offering sacrifices to ancestors, eating jiaozi, glutinous rice balls, eating rice cakes, keeping old age and giving lucky money.

First, the Spring Festival sweeping dust

According to Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals, as early as the Yao and Shun era, China had the custom of sweeping dust during the Spring Festival. Because "dust" and "Chen" are homophonic, sweeping dust in the Spring Festival has a new meaning, meaning "getting rid of the old and not being new", hoping to sweep all bad luck out of the house.

Second, paste couplets, blessings and door gods.

On the afternoon of the day before the Spring Festival, children will paste couplets on the door with paste and brushes, and then let the adults below see if they are pasted correctly. Some of them are pasted on the crosshead of the lintel with couplets on the left and right sides of the lintel.

Others put blessings on doors, walls and lintels to express people's yearning for a happy life. Others will stick pictures of door gods on the door panels, praying for a safe year and adding festive atmosphere.

Third, New Year greetings.

Paying New Year greetings is one of the most important activities and customs in the Spring Festival. On the morning of New Year, adults and children wear new clothes and hats, visit relatives and friends, say hello to each other and wish good luck in the New Year. Generally speaking, New Year greetings begin at home. After the younger generation pays New Year greetings to their elders, when they meet outside, people are greeted with smiles.

Four, eat jiaozi, eat jiaozi, eat rice cakes.

In most parts of the north, it is a custom to eat jiaozi in the morning during the Spring Festival, and a coin is often put in the jiaozi. Whoever eats a coin will be said to be the happiest person in the family that year. In Huai 'an, Jiangsu, there is a custom of eating jiaozi in the morning. In Kaifeng City, Henan Province, people will eat jiaozi during the Spring Festival. There is also the habit of eating rice cakes in the New Year, and the taste of rice cakes varies from place to place.

Five, shou sui, give lucky money.

Keeping New Year's Eve is also one of the most important activities in the Spring Festival. Neighbors and friends get together, or family get together, some play cards, some watch the Spring Festival party, and everyone stays up all day, waiting for dawn to welcome the arrival of the New Year.

Lucky money is the favorite custom of children and the younger generation. After the New Year's Eve dinner, the elders will give coins to the younger generation respectively, and wear copper coins in strings on the children's chests with red lines, saying that they can suppress evil spirits and drive away ghosts. This custom has been popular since the Han Dynasty. Of course, there are no copper coins now, and they are usually cash in red packages.