Send the poor in the traditional Spring Festival.

The third day of the first lunar month.

Comments:

Guangdong people regard New Year's Day as "sending the poor", while Hakka people call it "dog days" or "insect day" according to the homonym of the word "sending the poor". Fujian people also have the same view that this day is "Poor Ghost Day" (or "Red Ghost Day").

After the popular tradition enters New Year's Day, people can't sweep the floor until at least the third day. On this day, clean up the garbage at home or pour it into the river ditch, and kindly clean up the "poor ghost" out of the house; Legend has it that this night is a big day for every household mouse to marry a woman.

On the third day, it was also the day when the husband's family had to let the daughter-in-law stay at her mother's house according to customs. In feudal times, there was only one day in a year, and women could stay at their parents' home from morning till night without giving excuses to their in-laws.

As usual, the Chinese New Year is not necessarily the day to go out to pay New Year greetings. It is not until the second day of the Lunar New Year that people go out to visit their relatives and friends.

According to China people's practice of paying attention to seniority, the first thing couples do when they go out to pay a New Year call is to go to Yue's home. If the wife is far away from her mother's family and doesn't have much contact at ordinary times, she will stay at her mother's family for a day and a night on the third day after returning to her family the next day, and will not be escorted by her family or sent by her husband's family until the fourth day.

Therefore, Hakkas refer to the second day as the day of "running away from home", while Fujian people say that "there is no posture mother in the third day"-"posture mother" refers to the newly married wife; When the newly-married daughter goes back to her mother's house, most of her mother-in-law and sisters will leave her behind, and the newly-married husband will be accompanied by the woman who just got married that day.

Custom:

(1) People think that it is not appropriate to take out the garbage on the second day of the first grade, so as not to "leak money". Therefore, even if there is garbage at home these two days, we can only clean up and concentrate. Even if you want to sweep the floor, you can only sweep it in. It was not until the third day that the garbage was taken out.

Guangdong families are the main families who began to clean up garbage in the third grade. Guangdong people gave a kind name to this day's cleaning activity: "Send it to the poor."

Among them, Hakka people burn incense and paper when they go out to clean up garbage, hoping to "become rich from poverty" Although Fujian people also regard the third day as a day to send the poor, many people postpone cleaning up the garbage until the fifth day to open a shop to worship the god of wealth.

(2) Hakka farmers call this day "Insect Day", so they avoid picking vegetables or collecting any agricultural products in the garden on this day to avoid "insects".

(3) Both Fujian and Guangzhou believe that this day is a home rest day that is not suitable for going out. A woman who spends a day at her parents' house will not go home until the next morning; According to custom, a husband can't take his wife home on this day. Fujian people also legend: If you go out on this day and meet a "poor ghost", it will bring bad luck.

(4) According to the legend of the older generation, this night is the time for mice to marry women, and they must turn off the lights early when they sleep at night. On the night of "Mice Marry Women", mice should not be allowed to successfully hold a wedding by the lights in the house, otherwise the mice will fill the house with grandchildren and people will suffer easily. Therefore, the best way is to turn off the lights and go to bed early, so that the mouse wedding team can't catch up with the time and get married in the dark night.

Meaning:

(1) In the era when the garbage cleaning system was not perfect, every household had to clean their own garbage, throw it into the distant river or burn it for burial. However, the first day and the second day are the days when everyone is busy celebrating the Spring Festival and preparing to receive relatives and friends at home. Even professional garbage collectors have to celebrate the New Year and cannot serve the public.

Therefore, the second day can only collect the garbage at home, and the third day can only be dumped. So far, it has its reasonable background. As for the third day as "sending the poor", it is based on the New Year's Day from the first day to the second day, and it will definitely leave a lot of garbage. With the will of "sending the poor", encourage people to cultivate industrious character from today, and make up their minds to change the environment and start from the cleanliness of their homes.

2) Married women, on this day, stay at their parents' home to catch up and spend the night at their parents' home from morning till night, which is a custom to break the conventional norms through festivals, and it is also a "system" to cooperate with festivals and not to separate women from their relatives and friends.

In the era when men are superior to women, this custom also plays a role in maintaining the adjustment of women, suggesting that the husband-in-law says: your wife who went through the door or the daughter of the Yue family is not isolated. She also has parents to be caring and attentive, and some brothers and sisters send people to escort her back to her husband's house.

This custom reminds the husband's family not to be too hard on the woman who marries in the door. If on the third day, the wife's family finds that there is something wrong with her behavior, they will conduct an investigation on the fourth day, and the day of picking up the wife will become the "investigation day".

3) Don't hurt the crops on the third day, which also means reminding, in order to ensure that the crops in early spring will not be hurt when they sprout.

4) The legend of mice marrying women warns people to be careful about mice, but the greater significance is to ask people to turn off the lights as soon as possible and pay attention to rest. This legend contains the message that human beings should rest in their busy lives. Judging from its actual effect, this requirement is indeed a reasonable custom. People who are busy in the New Year, after the most important day of the year, the second day of the first year, will not be able to rest at home in the third day.

If you start from the Spring Festival, you will be exhausted, and this will really deal with the "poor ghost".

Activities:

The New Year has been busy for two days. On the third day, we should carefully clean up and clean up the by-product generated in the celebration activities-garbage.

Of course, modern people should pay attention to environmental protection. In the past, people's garbage was mostly organic, so when it was thrown into the river, it would rot automatically, which was also beneficial to the endless life of nature and had a good impact on agricultural society in the long run. Therefore, throwing garbage into the river really helps to recycle resources and "send it to the poor".

However, a lot of rubbish in today's society will cause pollution, and there is also a lot of rubbish that can be recycled. We can't throw rubbish into the river rashly to "give it to the poor".

In fact, people might as well take this day to have a good rest, start with the theme of "giving alms to the poor and attracting the rich" and think about how to help the whole planet save resources and recycle them from themselves and their families. If we can use the Poverty Alleviation Day to publicize the concept of saving and caring for the earth's resources and living a simple life, and not create unnecessary garbage and waste in our actions, then the New Year will be more meaningful.