Customs of Spring Festival in Ningxia: origin, legend, poetry, food, clothing, housing and transportation, etc.

The first day of the first lunar month is the Spring Festival, also known as the lunar year, commonly known as "Chinese New Year". This is the biggest and most lively ancient traditional festival among the people of China.

The Spring Festival is the most important festival of the Han nationality. However, China is a multi-ethnic country. Besides the Han nationality, there are more than a dozen ethnic minorities such as Manchu, Mongolian, Yao, Zhuang, Bai, Gaoshan, Hezhe, Hani, Daur, Dong and Li who also celebrate the Spring Festival.

The Spring Festival has a long history, which originated from the activities of offering sacrifices to gods and ancestors in the beginning and end of the Shang Dynasty. There are also many legends about this year. The ancient Spring Festival was called "January Festival", "New Year's Day" and "New Year's Day". After the Revolution of 1911, the first day of the first lunar month was officially named Spring Festival.

The long historical years have made the content of the annual custom activities extremely colorful. Among them, the superstitious content of offering sacrifices to heaven and gods has been gradually eliminated, while those interesting contents, such as posting Spring Festival couplets, New Year pictures, pasting the word "Fu", cutting window grilles, steaming rice cakes, wrapping jiaozi, setting off firecrackers, vigil on New Year's Eve and paying New Year's greetings, are still very popular today.

The earliest Spring Festival couplets in China were written on a mahogany board by Meng Chang in the Five Dynasties: "Qing Yu in the New Year, Changchun in the First Festival".

Writing Spring Festival couplets on red paper began in the Ming Dynasty. New Year pictures originated from the door gods in the Tang Dynasty. Like burning firecrackers, they were used to ward off evil spirits in ancient times, but now they have become a custom aimed at increasing the festive atmosphere. The word "Fu" was pasted before the Song Dynasty. People deliberately put the word "Fu" written on red paper upside down on doors, windows and furniture, meaning "Fu Dao (Fu)".

Keeping old age on New Year's Eve is the most important custom, which was recorded in Wei and Jin Dynasties. On New Year's Eve, the descendants of China people still attach great importance to staying up late with their families, getting together for drinking and enjoying family happiness, which is a custom. After the first cock crow, the new year began. Men, women and children wear holiday clothes. First, they celebrate the New Year's birthday for their elders. Then they visit their relatives and friends and congratulate each other. At this time, the land of China is shining everywhere. From the first day to the fifteenth day, people are immersed in a festive atmosphere of joy, peace and civilization.

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have a family reunion dinner

New Year's Eve is approaching after all the houses in every household are completely decorated. Therefore, housewives are busy preparing the most abundant and meaningful reunion dinner in a year. A family reunion dinner, as its name implies, is a family gathering for dinner during the Chinese New Year, and even the deceased ancestors will not forget it. Therefore, after a good reunion dinner, every household should first "worship their husbands" (worship their ancestors). When offering sacrifices to ancestors, the incense burner representing ancestors should be removed from the shrine, put on the altar, and then burn incense to pray and invite ancestors to dinner. Then the old and the young bowed down in turn, fully demonstrating the traditional virtues of the hipsters, being cautious to the end, pursuing the distance, and putting all virtues first. After the sacrifice, the food for ancestor worship was reheated, and a big table was set in the hall, and the whole family gathered around. This is a wonderful time for every family to get together. No matter how far apart the family is at ordinary times, or how many zits there are at ordinary times, we should talk and laugh at this time, and we should not say anything sad or make noise.

After dinner, housewives were busy clearing the table, so a cleaning activity began. This time, we don't have to care too much about cleaning, just for cleaning. Unlike the time at the end of the year, you have to brush pine grass. Then he lit a fire in the stove and began to prepare the offering to God tomorrow-vegetarian food. There are many kinds of vegetarian dishes, including taro, sweet potato, jujube, peanut, taro and sweet potato. All the ingredients of vegetarian dishes should be prepared and dried at noon. When frying vegetarian dishes, put the iron pot and inject a lot of peanut oil when the fire is good. When the oil boils, mix these materials with the slurry and put them into the pan, which will make squeaks and bubbles in the oil pan. Huang Chengcheng is especially attractive when cooking. At this time, if there are guests at home, the hostess will serve a plate of freshly fried vegetarian dishes, and then soak in mellow congou tea to let you taste delicious Chaoshan snacks.

Send lucky money

Giving lucky money is an important part of Chaoshan Spring Festival custom. The elders should give money to the younger generation, and those who can earn money should also send money to the elders. Money can't be sent directly to wait for a while, but it should be packed in a profit bag or a red paper bag. This is commonly known as "pressing the abdomen and waist", which means that from the beginning of the year to the end of the year, the pockets will be full of reality and wealth. What is particularly interesting is that when a child sleeps, his parents will put a large bill in his belly pocket and bring it back after waking up.

Happy new year, send big oranges.

New Year greetings, also known as "worship". In the early morning of the first day of junior high school, people get up and put on new clothes. The first thing they do is to pay homage to themselves. It is often the younger generation who wishes the elders first, and then the elders give their expectations to the younger generation. After breakfast, each of them pays a New Year call to relatives and friends. As the Chaoshan saying goes, "the first day and the second day have the meaning of New Year's greetings, and the third day and the fourth day have no intention of New Year's greetings." It is said that the sooner you pay a New Year call, the more you can see its sincerity. Therefore, some people go to pay New Year greetings to relatives and friends immediately after getting up, and then eat after coming back.

No matter how many gifts people bring, oranges (Chaozhou oranges) are indispensable. Big orange takes its homonym "Daji". It doesn't matter if you take more and less, but it can't be odd. People who pay New Year greetings enter the doors of relatives and friends, and they should look at different people and say different greetings. Say "Happy New Year" and "Longevity is better than Nanshan" to the old people, and they will grin. For those who have jobs, saying "smooth work" and "progress in the new year" will make the listeners very happy; If you are a business person, what you hear most is "making a big profit in the New Year" and "making a fortune and benefiting the market"; If children are studying, what they want most is to make progress in their studies and achieve excellent results in the new year. Send this greeting to them, and they will be very friendly to you. After being seated, the host will make famous Chaoshan congou tea to entertain the guests. Before leaving, the host will leave two oranges in the gift of the recipient, and then exchange his oranges in order to bring good luck to the other party. Humorous people often only put two oranges in their trouser pockets when they go out to pay New Year's greetings. After the New Year call, the two oranges are still in his trouser pocket. Therefore, good-hearted people call the New Year's greetings at the beginning of the year "orange-changing movement".

(of a person) return to one's place of origin or unit.

On the second and third day of the first month, the married daughters go back to their parents' homes to celebrate the New Year with their husbands and children. When a daughter returns to her mother's house, there must be a big bag of biscuits and sweets distributed by her mother to her neighbors, just like the scene of the New Year. If there are many daughters at home, and these daughters don't come back on the same day, then we must share one at a time. The gift is quite thin, just four biscuits. But it reflects the deep affection, the real "courtesy is light and affection is heavy", and expresses the girl's miss for the villagers. When the girl goes home, if there is a nephew at home, menstruation has to pay again. Although she gave lucky money on New Year's Day, this time it had a different meaning. This custom is called "eating midnight snack" by Chaoshan people. As the name implies, it's just lunch, and the daughter must get back to her husband's house before dinner.

Find your own poem couplets, it's very simple!

The earliest Spring Festival: According to legend, China's primitive society has the saying of "La Worship". After the establishment of the Xia Dynasty, this custom was handed down. The book Erya says the Spring Festival: "Summer is the year, business is the New Year, and week is the year".

The earliest New Year's Eve: The last night of the Chinese New Year in China is called "New Year's Eve". "New Year's Eve" originated from "banishment" in the pre-Qin period. According to Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals, on the day before the New Year, the ancients beat drums to drive away "epidemic ghosts", which is the origin of "New Year's Eve". The earliest mention of the name "New Year's Eve" was "Local Customs" written in the early Zhou Dynasty in the Western Jin Dynasty.

The earliest Spring Festival couplets: According to the History of Song Dynasty, on the New Year's Eve (AD 964) one year before the Song Dynasty destroyed Shu, Meng Hammer, the master of Houshu, wrote "Spring Festival, Changchun is Jia Festival", which is recognized as the earliest Spring Festival couplets.

The earliest New Year pictures: The predecessor of New Year pictures is called door pictures. The earliest form of New Year pictures was the door gods, who painted the mythical tea and Lei Yu. Some people painted tigers or ancient warriors on the doors. In the Song Dynasty, it evolved into woodcut New Year pictures.

The earliest New Year cards: As early as the Song Dynasty, the custom of giving New Year cards appeared. According to "Notes of Officials", Zhang Shinan, a native of Southern Song Dynasty, had ink in his home to congratulate Zheng Dan in Yuan You period of Northern Song Dynasty. "Zheng Dan" means the first day of the first month, and "Congratulations to Zheng Dan" means "Congratulations to the New Year" printed on the New Year card.

The earliest firecrackers: the custom of setting off firecrackers in the Spring Festival began in the Han Dynasty, when there was no gunpowder paper. The so-called firecrackers are the crackling sound when bamboo burns.

The earliest lucky money: According to the ancient book "The Legacy of Kaiyuan Tianbao", the lucky money first appeared in Tianbao period of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty, and concubines would play a game of throwing money together on the third day of the Spring Festival, so the court Qian Ku gave them some money. This style was very popular in the court at that time.

What year? Year is the image of drooping ears of grain and a symbol of bumper harvest. The so-called "bumper harvest year".

What year? Nian is a monster. It stays in the deep sea all year round and only climbs ashore on New Year's Eve. As soon as it landed, there were floods everywhere. Later, people put red paper on their doorsteps, lit firewood in the yard, and chopped vegetables and meat with kitchen knives, making a thunderous sound. Scared nian back and fled back to the sea. So on New Year's Eve, there are couplets, lanterns, new clothes, jiaozi and jiaozi, bonfires and firewood at night-this is the New Year.

So how did the ancients celebrate the New Year? Let's listen to this "festival song" first—

23 days of furnace sacrifice,

Twenty-four couplets,

25 make tofu,

Twenty-six years of cutting meat,

…………

The second day kowtows,

Play ball in grade three and grade four,

Jumping monkeys on the fifth and sixth days,

…………

"New Year, and busy for half a year". The ancients were busy celebrating the Year from the twelfth lunar month until Yuan Xiao passed, and the year passed. Then we can trace back to the "year step" of the ancients, and come to worship the stove first-

Kitchen God is the most exposed one among the gods who worship on New Year's Day. The custom of offering sacrifices to stoves has a long history, and it is an expression of ancestors' gratitude and reverence for fire and stoves. According to legend, Huangdi, Yan Di and Zhu Rong are all kitchen gods. The list of popular kitchen god Zhang looks like a beautiful woman. He has a wife named "Qing Ji", six daughters named "Chucky" and several soldiers. In addition to being in charge of fire, he should also examine the actions of the world and report to God. People also use distiller's grains, maltose and sticky cakes to "bribe" the kitchen god. At the same time, they murmured prayers and begged him to speak in heaven. This custom has been passed down to this day, but the time is the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, and the sacrificial food is simplified as "stove candy stove cake". But if you pay attention, you will certainly hear grandma and mom saying to the kitchen god: Heaven is easy to talk about, don't speak ill of it. ...

Besides firecrackers, the spring breeze also brings warmth to Tu Su.

Thousands of families always trade new peaches for old ones.

-Wang Anshi

Firecrackers were originally a tool of witchcraft, used to drive away monsters. Unlike today's firecrackers, the original firecrackers are real bamboo, that is, burning bamboo, making a crackling sound and scaring ghosts. Tu Su is Tu Su wine, which means to kill something congenial and awaken people's souls. It is said that drinking this wine in the morning of January can keep you from getting sick for a year, and then the wine you drink during the Spring Festival will be collectively called "Tu Su wine".

Fu Tao, also known as "pottery board", is the predecessor of Spring Festival couplets. The ancients thought that peach wood was the essence of five trees, which could make a hundred ghosts. Therefore, since the Han Dynasty, peach wood has been used as a tool to ward off evil spirits, such as peach man, peach seal, peach board, peach symbol and so on. It is said that Fu Tao became the Spring Festival couplets because of Meng Chang, the master of Shu after the Five Dynasties. Paper Spring Festival couplets were only popular in Ming and Qing Dynasties. Today's Spring Festival couplets are intended to highlight the atmosphere of the New Year. Good luck. They have lost the driving role of the old Spring Festival couplets, which are rich in content and diverse in forms.

I wrote couplets, and then it's time to prepare food for the New Year. There are many foods in the New Year, such as rice cakes, New Year's Eve dinners and jiaozi. There are also diets with strong witchcraft flavor, such as peach soup, cypress wine, pepper wine, five coriander and so on. Peach soup is made of peaches, white wine is made of cypress leaves, and cellar wine is made of pepper seeds. The ancients drank it on the first day of the first month, meaning to ward off evil spirits and pray for blessings. Spiced board is made of five kinds of spicy food, such as onion and ginger, also called spring board. It is said that it can eliminate evil spirits, plague, and enlighten the five internal organs, and it also means to congratulate the new students.

The cold light in the hotel stayed alone and didn't sleep, and the guest turned sad.

My hometown is thinking thousands of miles tonight, and it is another year of the Ming Dynasty.

New Year's Eve is a night of reunion, and it is difficult for China people to have a happy knot. Even if people are in the end of the world, they should go home for New Year's Eve dinner and New Year's Eve dinner. The home on New Year's Eve is a particularly warm and sweet space. Historically, even prisoners in prisons have been released and reunited. The family sat around the table and began the process of "group year" and "keeping the age". The first is the "reunion dinner", and then the whole family will sit together and watch the New Year.

At this time, the younger generation saluted their parents and resigned, and the old people had to share the lucky money. Lucky money, also known as "lucky money", "lucky money" and "lucky money", was originally used to ward off evil spirits and help children celebrate the New Year, but later generations used it to express affection and love. After the reunion dinner, we will also eat "midnight snack", and the whole family will eat snacks together, or laugh and play, or talk about everything and wait for dawn. This is shou sui. In addition, on New Year's Eve, there are customs such as listening to a mirror, raising silkworms, selling dementia, making ash piles, etc., so as to predict the good or bad of the year and pray for children's wisdom and all the best in the new year.

"In the rural New Year, from the twelfth lunar month to the first half of the first month, the sound of gongs and drums lasted for one and a half months. The monotonous voice touched the hearts of every one of us in China. Just then, ... I found that the winter jasmine was in bloom. "

Yes, the winter jasmine is in bloom, and the new year has come!

The ancients compared the first eight days of the new rectification with six kinds of animals, people and valleys respectively. The first day of the first month is the Year of the Rooster, which is an auspicious day. The ancients used chickens to ward off evil spirits by killing chickens or sticking them on doors. People have been busy celebrating the New Year since New Year's Day. In the Han Dynasty, it was popular to pay New Year greetings. On the first day of the first month, the ministers went to the palace to worship, and the monarch and the minister enjoyed each other. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the official New Year greeting developed into an empty etiquette, which was often "stabbing at the door", whether you know it or not. There are poems as evidence:

I don't want to meet, but I want to talk about it. The famous papers are all us.

I also throw some paper at people. The world is too simple and empty.

In folk beliefs, the first day to the fourth day is the carnival day of the New Year, and it is not until the fifth day that normal life is resumed. The fifth day is also called "breaking the fifth day". The custom activity on this day is to "send the poor", but for businesses, businesses open their doors on the fifth day. The first month's activities did not gradually calm down until 15. ...

Spring Festival couplets originated in Fu Tao. "Fu Tao" is a rectangular red wooden board hanging on both sides of the door in the Zhou Dynasty. According to the Book of Etiquette in the Later Han Dynasty, the peach symbol is six inches long and three inches wide, and the words "Shen Tu" and "Lei Yu" are written on the mahogany board. "On the first day of the first month, I made a peach symbol for this family and named it Xianmu. All ghosts are afraid of it." Therefore, the Qing Dynasty's "Yanjing Shi Sui Ji" said: "Spring Festival couplets, that is, Fu Tao."

In the Five Dynasties, in the court of West Shu, someone wrote couplets on peach symbols. According to the Records of History of Song Dynasty and Family of Shu Kingdom, Meng Chang, the master of the latter Shu Dynasty, ordered Zhang Xun, a bachelor, to write a poem on the mahogany board, saying, "It's not a matter, so he wrote a poem on the pretence:' Spring Festival, Changqing Festival'". This is China's first Spring Festival couplets. Until the Song Dynasty, Spring Festival couplets were still called "Fu Tao". There is a saying in Wang Anshi's poem that "thousands of households are the narrowest, and new peaches are always replaced with old ones". In the Song Dynasty, the peach symbol was changed from mahogany board to paper, which was called "Spring Sticker".

In the Ming Dynasty, Fu Tao changed its name to "Spring Festival couplets". In the Ming Dynasty, Chen wrote in Mao Yunlou's Miscellaneous Paintings: "The creation of Spring Festival couplets began with. Jinling, the imperial capital, suddenly issued a decree before New Year's Eve: Spring Festival couplets must be posted at the gates of public officials and scholars' homes. "Zhu Yuanzhang not only went out of the city incognito to see the laughter in person, but also personally wrote Spring Festival couplets. He passed a house and saw that the Spring Festival couplets had not been posted on the door. He went to ask, knowing that it was a castrated pig, and had not asked anyone to write it for him. Zhu Yuanzhang specially wrote Spring Festival couplets for the castrated pig man, which read "Split the road of life and death with both hands and cut off the root of right and wrong with one knife". Relevance and humor. After Ming Taizu's advocacy, Spring Festival couplets have since become a custom, which has been passed down to this day.