Some Chinese New Year customs

Eating Lapa congee on the 8th day of the Lunar New Year

Sacrificing Zao Wang on the 23rd day of the Lunar New Year

Sweeping the house on the 24th day of the Lunar New Year

Watching the year-end of the Lunar New Year on the 30th day of the Lunar New Year:

First of all, we should put up Spring Festival couplets. The second is to post the door god. Eat a reunion dinner, people should be all together, the table also say more auspicious words, heralding the future days and beautiful, reunion. According to the custom of the old Beijing, the New Year's Eve can not sleep, we have to play him a night of pain, which is called the "old age". There are two meanings of "keeping the New Year's Eve". For older people, the New Year's Eve vigil has the meaning of treasuring time; for young people, the vigil is to extend the life of their parents.

Customs of the Spring Festival of various ethnic groups or places in China:

I. Tibetans

Each ethnic group has its own unique culture and living habits, and the Tibetans are an ancient and passionate people who have also developed their own habits and taboos in life over their long history.

1, when two long-time friends greet or chat with each other, your hands can't be on each other's shoulders.

2, you can't cross or step on other people's clothes, or put your own clothes on other people's clothes, or cross over people.

3. Women drying their clothes, especially pants, and underwear must not be dried where everyone passes by.

4. You must not whistle or cry loudly in the house.

5. You can't sweep the floor or take out the garbage at noon or after sunset or on the first day of the Tibetan New Year when your family is out of town or when guests have just left.

6. Outsiders are not allowed to mention the name of a deceased person in front of his or her relatives.

7. Work that should be completed this year cannot be left until next year, such as twisting wool, weaving sweaters, carpets and so on.

8, dusk, can not just go to people's homes, especially when people will have a pregnant woman in labor and just gave birth to a woman in labor or a seriously ill person, strangers can not go.

9. After noon, one must not take out any of the family's possessions.

10. A stranger who goes to the big mountains and cliffs and canyons that you have never been to before cannot make a loud noise.

11, you can't cross or step on eating utensils, pots and pans, ladle and basin.

12. If two people go out at the same time and in opposite directions, they cannot leave the house at the same time, but must go out before and after and at different times.

13. Women are not allowed to comb and wash their hair at night, nor are they allowed to go out with their hair draped over their heads.

14. When using brooms and dustpans, they must not be passed directly from hand to hand, but must first be placed on the ground and then picked up from the ground by another person.

15, whenever friends and relatives come to your home to visit or visit you, will take some ghee tea or barley wine and other items as a gift to you, the guests before leaving to vacate the things, can not be all empty, you must leave a little in the inside or change a little of their own things loaded.

16, chipped or cracked bowls can not be used to eat, and can not pour tea for guests.

Two... Yi nationality

Yi torch festival, also known as the Yi year. In the eyes of the Yi people, fire symbolizes light, justice, prosperity, and a powerful force capable of destroying all evil. The Torch Festival is a festival of joy, love and happiness for the Yi people.

III. Hong Kong Chinese New Year

Lunar New Year is traditionally a grand festival in China, and I believe that no Chinese person is unaware of it. However, celebrating Lunar New Year in Hong Kong is very different from the traditional one in terms of customs and atmosphere.

In recent years, very few Hong Kong people have traditionally put up Chinese New Year couplets and paintings at home during the Lunar New Year. Instead, they put up spring scrolls in some stores or at home to wish for "prosperous business" and "peace in and out of the city". In spite of this, the original intention of sticking spring and sticking spring couplets and New Year's paintings, take its auspicious meaning, hope that the coming year everything goes well, peace and security.

Four. Macau New Year customs

Macau New Year's customs have a unique flavor. One of the most traditional Chinese New Year customs preserved in Macau is the "thank you to Zao" ceremony. On the 23rd day of the Lunar New Year, the Macau people send off the God of Stove, which is called "thanking the God of Stove". According to Chinese tradition, Macanese people also use Zao candies to give the god of Zao, saying that they use the candies to paste the mouth of the god of Zao, so as to prevent him from saying bad words to the Jade Emperor. I've seen a Santa Claus statue in a Macau family's stove in Macau's Flower Street, and strangely enough, the Santa Claus statue is plastered with "good things to say in heaven, good luck in the house".

Five Taiwan Spring Festival customs to pick up interest

The Spring Festival, is the Chinese nation's long history, the most grand folk festival. In Taiwan and Fujian Province across the water, its history and culture, customs, living customs, relatives and so on are with the motherland, especially in Fujian Minnan region of the same lineage, and thus the island people's Spring Festival customs naturally and the motherland folk much the same.

Six. Interesting Jiangsu Spring Festival customs

The Spring Festival in Jiangsu folk, in addition to posting Spring Festival couplets, hanging New Year's paintings, the New Year's Eve, lion dance, the New Year's Eve and other customs and the country as a whole, there are some unique customs, is now recorded a number of them for the benefit of the readers.

Suzhou New Year's Eve in the rice into the cooked water chestnuts, digging out when you eat, called "digging treasure", friends and relatives to come and go, soak tea to be placed into two green olives, said to drink "treasure tea", congratulations on wealth.

Wujin people on the morning of the first day of the year, the ancestral portrait hanging in the center hall, for the tea fruit, rice cakes, a family of old and young people in order to perform New Year's rites, known as the "worship God shadow." They are not allowed to sweep the floor from home to sweep, for fear that the "wealth", "Ruyi" swept out, can only sweep from the outside to the inside. Jiangning people have the Spring Festival "playing the drums" custom, by the flag to open the way, drummers and gongs to beat the drums with all their strength, the third "playing the night drums", the seventh "on the seven drums", thirteen to fifteen to play the "shoulder drums", the atmosphere is very enthusiastic.

Nantong people have the custom of inserting sesame stalks, holly, and cypress branches in front of their homes or halls, meaning that life blossoms and grows higher and higher, and is verdant all year round.

Huaiyin people also have the sixth day of the child "baked head wind" custom. It is the night to take the child to the field open space lit torches, for the child to drive away the disease, baked while singing: "baked head, wake up the brain, baked feet, step corrective, baked belly is not diarrhea, full of body are baked all over, the disease never see."

Wuxi fishermen on the eighth day of the year by boat to the West Mountain to worship the custom of Yuwang Temple, praying for the blessing of the God of Water, sacrificing ao fine Buddha, called "on?"

This custom gradually faded after the demolition of the Yuwang Temple.

VII. Spring Festival Customs in Guilin

From the "New Year's Eve" to New Year's Eve

The Spring Festival walks into Guilin's cities and towns with the sound of the bell at zero hour on December 24th of the lunar calendar. This day is the "New Year's Eve" of Guilin people, also known as the "New Year's Eve". On this day, people slaughter dogs and ducks to celebrate the arrival of the Spring Festival. The sound of firecrackers on this day, with people to send Zaowang master "to the sky to say good things" wish crackling, sound transmission of the high world. People believe that the God of the stove is the master of the family, a family of good and evil merits and demerits are in charge of it, so the end of each year, we must send the God of the stove to the sky to the Jade Emperor, for the whole family to lower the blessing from disaster. The ceremony of sacrificing to the God of Zaos is mostly done by the elders of the family, who put candies on the head of the stove to sacrifice to the God of Zaos, praying that the God of Zaos "says good things in heaven and descends to the earth with good luck". The purpose of offering candies to Zaoshen is to make the candies "stick" to Zaoshen's mouth, so that his sweet mouth can say good things. After New Year's Eve, firecrackers are set off to bring the Zao Wang down to earth. This is the Guilin "small year" of the ancient custom, now even if the firecrackers, is only the ancient custom of the remaining rituals.

Eight. Daur: high year

The Daur people in the north also have the custom of New Year's Eve, the Spring Festival, people dressed in festive attire, visit each home, congratulate each other. Each family is equipped with steamed cake, the New Year's visitors into the door, the host with steamed cake hospitality. "Cake" in Chinese and "high" resonance, to cake hospitality, said each other in the new year, the standard of living further improved. During the festival, the Daur people also held songs and dances, sports activities, has lasted half a month.

9. Mongolia: meat and wine not exhausted

The Mongolian people in the north of the Spring Festival is another scene, before the festival, families are prepared for the year of the growth of the ram and a variety of dairy products and a few altars of wine. On New Year's Eve, people put on their beautiful Mongolian robes, and the whole family sits on the floor in the center of the yurt to welcome the arrival of the new year. Midnight began to drink and eat, according to the usual to eat and drink, the more meat and wine left over the better, so that the symbol of the new year of meat and wine, eat and drink no worries. The first morning, dressed in a variety of clothing, men and women, straddling the steed, in groups of three to five run to the "Haut" (village and town), one by one string of yurts. When stringing yurts, the first to kowtow to the elders to wish, and then the son-in-law of the host family came to string yurts for the guests to toast, people sing and dance.

Ten. Zhuang: Welcoming the Heroes

The Zhuang, who live in southern China, call the Spring Festival "New Year's Day". On this day, people go out and congratulate each other no matter who they meet, believing that this will make the year auspicious. In the Zhuang folk there is also the custom of the late New Year, the Zhuang called "eat Li Festival". "Eat Li Festival" is on the 30th of this month, according to legend, more than 100 years ago, a peasant army of the Zhuang people in the fight against foreign invaders returned in triumph, when the Spring Festival has passed, the Zhuang people in order to welcome them, on the 30th of this month for them to repeat the Spring Festival.

XI. Buyei: girls rush to pick the first load of water

The Buyei, who live on China's southwestern border, keep watch all night on New Year's Eve every year. At dawn, the girls compete to go outside the house to pick water, who picks back the first water, who is the most diligent girl. The Jingpo people there like to hold target shooting activities before the Spring Festival, and the girls are the organizers and referees of this activity. They hang embroidered purses on bamboo poles with threads and swing them from side to side in the tips of trees, inviting young men to shoot. Whoever shoots down the purse first, the girls give the wine as a prize. The purse usually contains a coin, a few grains of grain and a few decorative beads as a symbol of happiness.

XII. Hani: Swinging

A few days before the Spring Festival, villages inhabited by the Hani ethnic group are already bustling with activity, with women busily pounding baba. Ba Ba is a cake made of glutinous rice. And the young men are busy going up the mountain to cut bamboo and prepare to set up swings. The swings there are more than ten meters high, and the Hani people, young and old, love to swing. During the festival, everyone wears their favorite clothes to swing, everywhere showing a lively, harmonious festival scene.

Thirteen. Dai: throwing chaff bag

The Dai young men and women love to throw chaff bag game, during the Spring Festival, the boys and girls throw each other chaff bag, to see who threw accurate, to see who caught. Play to a certain time, the girls will quietly snatch the young man's body to wear a belt knife, head cloth or tethered horse, ran home. If the young man is in love, he will follow. When the parents see their daughters return with their head cloths and horses, they hold a banquet.

In addition, April 13 every year is the Dai New Year, but also the Dai people's grandest festival - Water Splashing Festival, they see the splashing of water as a symbol to drive away evil spirits, good luck and good fortune, but also regard this day as the most beautiful, most auspicious day.

XIV. Alpine people: "around the stove"

The Alpine people, who live in Taiwan Province of China, have a different kind of fun when they celebrate the Spring Festival. On the evening of New Year's Eve, families sit around a round table with hot pots and have a meal, called a "hibachi". The women, who usually do not drink alcohol, will also take a symbolic sip of wine as a sign of good luck. "Vegetables are eaten without being cut with a knife, but are washed and boiled with their roots, as a sign of wishing long life to the parents. If someone in the family goes out, a seat should be left empty and the clothes of that person should be put on the empty seat to show that the whole family misses him.

Fifteen. Manchu: hanging the flag for the New Year

Manchu people divided into "red, yellow, blue, white" four flags. Spring Festival, the red flag people in the door posted red hanging flag, yellow flag people in the door posted yellow hanging flag, blue flag people in the door posted blue hanging flag, white flag people in the door posted white hanging flag. These hanging flags are beautifully patterned and colorful, symbolizing an auspicious start to the year.

During the festival, the boys ganged up to set off firecrackers, or ride the homemade wooden plows of various kinds, in the hillock, on the ice whooshing speed. Young girls and young daughters-in-law wearing newly made flowery clothes, in groups of three or five, split up into families to play Garaha (pig or cow's kneecap bone). From the first to the fifth night, people also voluntarily organized to twist rice-planting songs to pay homage to the New Year, a strong rice-planting team, not only in the village to twist, but also to the outside village to twist. Onlookers are often so happy that they forget about fatigue and cold. There are even enthusiastic spectators - straight along with the rice-planting team to the townships and households, until dawn to return.

Sixteen. Bai people: "put high up"

Yunnan Bai compatriots on New Year's Eve, there is a kind of celebration called "put high up". The so-called "put high rise" is to use the whole big bamboo, in the bamboo joints filled with gunpowder, after ignition can be the whole big bamboo collapsed into the sky hundreds of feet, to become a veritable "high rise". Some areas of the Bai compatriots and Miao, Zhuang, from the Spring Festival to the Lantern Festival, young men and women are "throwing the embroidered ball" activities. Where the catch can not catch the embroidered ball, to give each other souvenirs, many times lost the ball and redemption of souvenirs, is to say that accept each other's love.

XVII. Dong: Lusheng will

Guizhou, Hunan Dong compatriots, during the Spring Festival prevailed a "playing Dong New Year" (also known as the Lusheng will be) of mass activities. This activity is similar to the Han Chinese "reunion", but more joyful and enthusiastic than "reunion". This kind of activity is generally organized by two villages **** with the agreement. The two teams officially hold a Lusheng song and dance competition in the square. At this time, the audience of the two villages, accompanied by music, dance, and enjoy the fun.

Eighteen. Yi: jumping tiger

Shuangbai County, Yunnan Province, the Yi people have a New Year's Eve, "jumping tiger festival" special custom, the eighth day of the first month, the village of adult men gathered in the village behind the site of the land temple, kill the dog dedication "Mis" ("Mis" meaning "Mis"), "Mis" means "Mis", "Mis" means "Mis". "Mimi" means earth, "Division" means master, the fan Division that is the meaning of the Lord God of the earth), followed by the village "Bimo" sacrifices to the Lord God of the tiger. 8 villagers disguised as tigers dancing, "the tigers". The "tigers" have high ears, thick tails, tiger stripes all over their bodies, a Chinese character for "king" painted on their foreheads, and a big brass bell hanging on their necks, making them look majestic. After the "Bimo" reads out the sacrificial speech to invite the tiger god, the tiger king leads all the tigers into the village. Throughout the jumping tiger festival period, the whole village up and down men, women and children are immersed in the welcome tiger, send tiger, watch the tiger jumping and drive away the evil spirits and monsters in a joyful atmosphere, the local people are convinced that only through the annual tradition of jumping tigers, tiger god and pray for the blessing of the old ancestors, all the villagers in order to be fruitful and prosperous, more than one year more beautiful and happy.

Nineteen. Sani: food dumplings

New Year's Eve, the Sani language called "Si Rub period". New Year's Eve for ancestors, eat New Year's dinner, is very solemn. In the afternoon, in front of the door of every house inserted a green branch, hanging a straw hat on the branch. This is a silent notice: Do not enter! No talking! Even the people in the house are not allowed to raise their voices.

There is an interesting phenomenon in the Sani language: "dumplings" and "New Year's Eve" is the same word, called "Kaozima". Because the New Year must eat dumplings. The first half of the month from the first day of the first month of the new year, people indulge in joy.

Customs of the Spring Festival - firecrackers

Red live in the Spring Festival, lively reunion dinner, around the Spring Festival, thousands of years to form a lot of folk customs, not to mention, take firecrackers, lion dance, play dragon lanterns and so on all the customs, with the progress of science and culture are also varying degrees of given new content.

Launching firecrackers

"It is a brilliant jewel overflowing with color, it is a glittering petal colorful, I can not imagine ah, a small paper tube, there is such a beautiful soul - the fire is generally enthusiastic, flower-like fascinating, it is the rapid breath of life, dedicated to the New Year! ......"

This is a poem about cannon flowers. Whenever the night of New Year's Eve, whether it is a bustling city or a quiet mountain village, whether it is the neon lights shining downtown or deep in the alleys, "Boom Boom Bapa Bapa" "Beep Beep (Mouth Peeling) (Mouth Peeling)" firecrackers, one after another, competing with each other to scream with joy. The colorful sparks, to the deep night twilight cut a rainbow, adding endless fun to the people.

Playing firecrackers to celebrate the Spring Festival, in our country has more than two thousand years of history. The ancients burned bamboo sound, called "firecrackers". "Popular editorial haiku" said: "Ancient firecrackers, all for the real bamboo on fire, so the Tang poetry also known as popping rod. Later people rolled paper for it, called the firecracker." The original meaning of firecrackers is to scare and expel evil spirits. The Jing Chu chronicle of the year, "the first day of the first month, is the day of the three yuan, the rooster crows up, first in front of the courtyard firecrackers, in order to dispel the mandrill evil spirits." The Divine Anomaly Scripture" cloud: "Western mountains, there are people, more than a foot long, a foot, sex is not afraid of people; offenders are cold and hot, the name of the mandrill. To bamboo in the fire, beeping sound, and the mandrill scared.

Subsequent people then like its shape, with gunpowder for the. "This is, of course, superstition. Today, we set off firecrackers, although there is the old and welcome the new, to take a good omen, but there is no superstitious color.

According to legend, to the early Tang Dynasty, some local natural disasters for years, the plague rose, a man called Li Tian, will be in a small bamboo tube loaded with nitrogen, lead to the explosion, to the nitrous smoke to disperse the mountain miasma, to reduce the prevalence of epidemics, which is the earliest prototype of the nitrous firecrackers. Later, due to the invention of gunpowder, people made of paper instead of bamboo tubes, and hemp stems to braid the bamboo into strings, known as "braided gun", because the sound as crisp as a whip, also known as "firecrackers". Song Dynasty, there has been the New Year's Eve sale of firecrackers in the streets of Kaifengfu records ("Tokyo Meng Hua Records"). All over the country also has a workshop specializing in the production of firecrackers. The initial paper roll firecrackers, ringing once and then finished, and later developed into a variety of flowers and cannons.

Firecrackers, which is a Chinese specialty, is not available in foreign countries. From ancient times to the present, as people continue to process, improve, firecrackers varieties, styles more and more, the color also jumped out of a single fire red. In addition to the traditional hundreds of firecrackers, single loud, double loud firecrackers, there are many more firecrackers, and take an elegant, poetic name. Such as: "golden chrysanthemum", "snow to welcome the spring"

, "fairy scattered flowers", "snow red plums "

," the fairy scattered flowers "," snow, red plum "," golden monkey "and so on, and a hundred, thousand, ten thousand, and even up to 100,000 head of giant firecrackers, really everything, a variety of things.

Customs of the Spring Festival--Lion Dance

Whenever the "firecrackers sound to get rid of the old year", in the vast land of our country, the traditional lion dance is accompanied by the warm spring winds and joyful gongs and drums, appearing in the towns and villages. For the annual Spring Festival, adding a rich atmosphere of joy.

Lion dance is a traditional folk sports activity in China, originated in the era of the North and South Dynasties.

According to legend, in May of the 23rd year of Yuanjia, Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty (466 A.D.), the assassin of Jiazhou in the Song Dynasty was ordered to invade Linyi, and Fan Yang, the king of Linyi, used an elephant army to participate in the battle. This army of elephants made it difficult for the enemy, who possessed only short weapons, to even approach it because the soldiers were armed with spears and rode on the backs of tall and large elephants, and the Song soldiers began to suffer great losses. Later, the vanguard officer, General Zhenwu Zongcourt, thought of a solution. He said that all beasts are afraid of lions, and elephants are probably no exception. So, overnight with the noodles, hemp, etc. made a lot of fake lions, painted in colorful, and special open mouth. Each "lion" by two warriors draped, hidden in the bushes. He also dug a lot of deep and big traps around the intended battlefield. When the elephant army was attacked by the enemy, Zongcourt released fake lions with his bow, and each of these "lions" flipped its big bloody mouth and ran straight to the elephants with claws and tusks.

The elephants were scared to turn their heads, Zongcourt took the opportunity to command the soldiers ten thousand crossbows, the frightened elephants were running around, a lot of them fell into the trap, people and elephants were captured alive. ...... From then on, the lion dance was first popular in the army, and then spread to the people. Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi's "West Liang Envoy" in the "masked Hu people masked lion, carved wood for the head of the silk for the tail; gold-plated eyes and silver posting teeth, rise up the sweater swinging ears ...... ". Visible, in the Tang Dynasty has a similar modern lion dance.

Why do people like to dance lions during the Spring Festival? It is said that the early years of the Ming Dynasty, Guangdong Foshan region appeared a monster, every year will be over, it appears in the suburbs of Foshan, trampling crops everywhere, mutilation of people and animals, rural farmers do not win their suffering people will be bamboo grates tied into a number of lion model, and painted a variety of mottled colors, beforehand, when the beast appeared, drums and gongs ringing, the group of lions dance, all towards the beast, the beast was terrified, turned his head and ran, and then the local townspeople think that the lion dance is a good idea, but it's not the only thing. Afterwards, the local villagers think that the lion has the power to drive away evil spirits and suppress demons, and has auspicious omens. So, every year in the Spring Festival to play drums and gongs, door to door, lion dance to pay tribute to the New Year, in order to show that the elimination of harm, the forecast of good luck.

Lion dance, in addition to the Spring Festival, in the days of celebration, also often with a lion dance. Folk general lion dance by two people cooperate to pretend a big lion (some areas called too lion), a person pretending to be a small lion (some areas called less lion), another person pretending to be a samurai, holding an embroidered ball as a guide, and the first open fist kicking, in order to induce the lion to dance. The lion with the drum beat of fast, slow, light, heavy, and suddenly look up, and suddenly back to look down, and suddenly back to prostrate, and suddenly wagging his head and tail, a thousand different, interesting, in imitation of the action, there are licking the hair, wipe the feet, scratching the head, wash the ears, worship, rolling and other actions; in the skills, there are on the platform, over the footbridge, across the three mountains, out of the cave, down the mountain, rolling, spitting and picking up the green, and so on.

Customs of the Spring Festival--Juggling Dragon Lanterns

The Spring Festival, in the majority of towns and cities in our country, there is the custom of "juggling dragon lanterns".

"Juggling dragon lanterns" is also called "dragon dance", also known as "dragon lantern dance", is a popular folk dance in China.

China's ancient people created the image of the dragon to send good wishes. According to legend, the ancients called the dragon, the phoenix, the unicorn and the tortoise the four spirits. Beautifully modeled, gorgeous and colorful, with rigid and flexible lines. In the history of the river shines a unique artistic luster. As early as in the Shang-Yin era, bronze and bone carving on the dragon pattern; Zhou Dynasty bronze dragon pattern has become more and more complete. "Playing dragon lanterns" in the Han Dynasty folk has been quite common. In the Tang and Song dynasties, "social fire" and "dance team" performances, "playing dragon lanterns" was a common form of performance. Song Dynasty Wu Zimu "Dream Liang Records" recorded: the Southern Song Dynasty line capital Lin'an (now Hangzhou) "the night of the Lantern Festival ...... grass bound into a dragon, with a green screen cover grass, densely placed lamps and candles ten thousand lamps, look at the winding as the shape of the two dragons."

In ancient times, people took the "dragon" as the embodiment of good luck, representing the wish for good weather, therefore, the dragon dance to pray for the blessing of the dragon, in order to get good weather and a good harvest in all seasons. People dance with bamboo, iron knotting, outside with silk or cloth made of colorful dragons for fun, express cheerful mood, after folk artists continue to process manufacturing, to now "play dragon lantern" has developed into a form of perfect, with considerable performance skills and with the romanticism of the folk dance art, deep for the masses of the joy of seeing.

The performance of "Juggling Dragon Lanterns" has two kinds: "Single Dragon Playing with Pearls" and "Double Dragons Playing with Pearls"

. The dragon body consists of many sections, each section is about five feet apart, the first section is called a file. Composition of the dragon body of the "section", generally are singular. (Such as nine, eleven and thirteen sections). The dragon's head part is also divided into light and heavy, generally weighing about thirty pounds. The dragon bead inside the candle is called "dragon lamp", do not point is called "cloth dragon".

In the method of playing, the style of each place is different, each with its own characteristics. Juggling nine sections of the main focus on tricks, the more common movements are: dragon roaming, dragon head drill crotch (through the flower), head and tail drill, dragon swinging tail and the snake back skin and so on. No matter what kind of tricks are performed, the performer has to start with a broken step. Play eleven, thirteen sections of the dragon, the main performance of the dragon's movements, that is, the dragon chasing the red pearl flying jumps, suddenly high, like the clouds; suddenly low, like the sea breaking waves, meandering, very nice to see.

There is also a habit of playing dragon lanterns in rural areas, that is, not only in the village to play, but also to perform outside the village, to the town or the city's wide streets, squares to "race". Whenever the New Year to the Lantern Festival period, in a succession of gongs and drums, firecrackers, each folk "dragon dance" team to show their skills, attracting thousands of people in the streets.

All over the

Customs of the Spring Festival

The Spring Festival is an ancient festival in China, and one of the most important festivals of the year, how to celebrate this festival, in the development of thousands of years of history, the formation of a number of more fixed customs, many of which are still passed down to the present day.

1. dust sweeping

"Lunar month 24, dust sweeping the house", according to "Lv's Spring and Autumn Annals", China in the era of Yao and Shun on the Spring Festival dust sweeping custom. According to folklore: because the "dust" and "Chen" consonant, dust sweeping in the New Year has "in addition to the meaning of Chen Bu Xin", the intention is to all the poor luck, bad luck, swept out the door. This custom is a symbol of people's desire to break away from the old and bring in the new and their prayers for the old and the new. Whenever the Spring Festival comes, every household has to clean up the environment, wash all kinds of appliances, dismantle and wash the bedding curtains, sprinkle the six capitals of the courtyard, dusting dust cobwebs, dredge the nullahs and ditches. Everywhere overflowing with joyful health, clean and welcome the new year's atmosphere of joy.

2. Posting Spring Festival couplets

Spring Festival couplets, also known as door-to-door, spring stickers, couplets, couplets, peach symbols, etc., it is neat, couplets, concise, sophisticated text depicting the background of the times, expressing the best wishes, is unique to China's form of literature. Every Spring Festival, whether urban or rural, every family should select a large red Spring Festival couplets pasted on the door, for the festival to increase the festive atmosphere. This custom began in the Song Dynasty, began to prevail in the Ming Dynasty, to the Qing Dynasty, the Spring Festival couplets of ideology and artistry have been greatly improved, Liang Zhangzhu prepared the Spring Festival couplets monograph "Threshold Lian series of words" on the origins of the couplets and various types of works of the characteristics of the discourse.

There are many types of spring couplets, which, according to their place of use, can be divided into door centers, frame pairs, horizontal phi, spring strips, and doufang. "Door" in the upper center of the door panel; "frame" on the left and right door frame; "Phi" on the horizontal wood of the door winks; "Chunzhi "According to different contents, posted in the corresponding place;" bucket catty "also called" door leaf "for the square diamond-shaped, mostly posted in the furniture, shadow wall.

3. window decals and upside down "Fu" character

In folklore, people also like to put all kinds of paper cuttings on the window - window flowers. Window flowers not only set a festive atmosphere, but also decorative, appreciative and practical in one. Paper cutting in China is a very popular folk art, for thousands of years by the people's favorite, because it is mostly affixed to the window, so it is also known as "window flowers". Window flowers with its unique generalization and exaggeration of the auspicious events, good wishes expressed in the best possible way, will be decorated with festivals red hot and rich.

At the same time as the Spring Festival couplets, some people have to put large and small "Fu" characters on the doors, walls and lintels of their houses. The Spring Festival sticker "Fu" character, is China's folk custom from a long time. The character "福" refers to good fortune and good luck, and it expresses people's desire for a happy life and their wish for a better future. In order to more fully reflect this yearning and wishes, some people simply stick the word "Fu" upside down, indicating that "happiness has arrived" and "good fortune has arrived". Folk will also be "Fu" word fine as a variety of patterns, patterns have the star, longevity, carp jump Dragon Gate, the five valleys, the dragon and phoenix, and so on.

4. Stickers

The Spring Festival hanging stickers in urban and rural areas is also very common, thick black colorful paintings to thousands of families added a lot of prosperity and joy of the festive atmosphere. New Year's paintings are an ancient folk art in China, reflecting the people's simple customs and beliefs, and holding their hopes for the future. New Year's paintings, like spring scrolls, originated as "door gods". With the rise of woodblock printing, the content of the New Year's paintings has not only limited to monotonous themes such as the God of the Door, become colorful, in some of the New Year's paintings in the workshop produced the "Three Stars of Fortune and Longevity," "Heavenly Officials Provide Blessings," "Five Grains and a Plentiful Harvest," "Six Animals Prosperity," "Welcoming the Spring to receive the blessings of" and other classic colorful New Year's paintings, in order to satisfy people's joyful prayers for the New Year's good wishes. There are three important production areas of Chinese New Year paintings in China: Taohuayu in Suzhou, Yangliuqing in Tianjin and Weifang in Shandong Province; three major schools of Chinese New Year paintings have been formed, each with its own characteristics.

China's earliest collection of Chinese New Year paintings is the Southern Song Dynasty "with the fairness of the country's face" woodcut New Year paintings, the painting is Wang Zhaojun, Zhao Feiyan, Banji and green beads of the four ancient beauties. The most widely circulated folk painting is the one of "The Mouse Marrying Her Marriage". It depicts an interesting scene of a mouse marrying a bride in accordance with the customs of the earth. In the early years of the Republic of China, Zheng Mantuo of Shanghai combined the lunar calendar and New Year's paintings. This is a new form of New Year's paintings. This combination of two and one of the New Year's paintings, later developed into a wall calendar, and is still popular throughout the country.

5. Year-keeping

New Year's Eve year-keeping is one of the most important New Year's activities, and the custom of year-keeping has a long history. The earliest record is found in the Western Jin Dynasty Zhou Chu's "Land and Customs": on New Year's Eve, each with the gift, known as "feed the year"; wine and food invited, known as "don't year"; young and old get together to drink, wishing to complete, known as "share the year"; all night long, we all have a good time. "

The first time I saw this is when I was a young man and I had to wait for the day to dawn, so I called it the "New Year's Eve".

"One night even double the year, five nights divided into two days", New Year's Eve, the whole family gathered together, ate the New Year's Eve dinner, light up candles or oil lamps, sitting around the fireplace chatting, waiting for the time to say goodbye to the old and welcome the new, the all-night vigil, symbolizing all the evil plague and epidemic according to the run drive away, looking forward to a new year of good luck. This custom gradually prevailed, to the early Tang Dynasty, Tang Taizong Li Shimin wrote a "year-keeping" poem: "cold resignation from the winter snow, the warmth of the spring wind". Until today, people are still accustomed to the New Year's Eve to welcome the new year.

Anciently, there are two meanings of year-end vigil: the elderly year-end vigil for the "resignation of the old year", there is the meaning of the treasure of time and light; young people year-end vigil is to extend the life of their parents. Since the Han Dynasty, the time of the transition between the old and new year is usually the middle of the night.

6. Firecrackers

Chinese folk "open door firecrackers". That is, the arrival of the new year, the first thing that families open the door is to set off firecrackers, to beeping and blazing firecrackers to get rid of the old and welcome the new. Firecrackers is a Chinese specialty, also known as "firecrackers", "cannonballs", "firecrackers". Its origin is very early, so far has a history of more than two thousand years. Firecrackers can create a festive and lively atmosphere, is a kind of festival entertainment, can bring people joy and good luck. With the passage of time, the application of firecrackers is more and more widely used, varieties and colors are also increasingly numerous, every major holiday and festivals, and marriage, building, opening, etc., are to set off firecrackers in order to show the celebration, figure a good luck. Now, Hunan Liuyang, Guangdong Foshan and Dongyao, Jiangxi Yichun and Pingxiang, Wenzhou, Zhejiang and other areas is China's famous hometown of firecrackers, the production of firecrackers colorful, high-quality, not only sells well across the country, but also exported to the world.

7. New Year's Day

The first day of the New Year, people get up early, put on the most beautiful clothes, dressed neatly, go out to visit friends and relatives, each other, wishing good luck for the coming year. Worship a variety of ways, some of them are the same patriarch led a number of people to go door to door to pay tribute to the New Year; there are colleagues invited a few people to pay tribute to the New Year; there are also get together to congratulate each other, known as the "group worship". Because of the time-consuming and labor-intensive door-to-door New Year's greetings, some of the upper-class people and the scholarly community used the posters to congratulate each other, which developed into the later "New Year's card".

The Chinese New Year, the late generation should first pay tribute to the elders, wishing the elders a long life and well-being, the elders can be prepared beforehand the New Year's money to the elders, it is said that the New Year's money can be pressed to stop the evil spirits, because the "age" and the "spirit" consonant, the elders get the New Year's money can be a year of peace and security. It is said that New Year's money can keep evil spirits at bay, because "year" and "spirit" sound alike. There are two kinds of New Year's money, one is a colorful rope threaded and braided into the shape of a dragon, placed at the foot of the bed, which is recorded in the "Yanjing Yearly Record"; the other is the most common, that is, wrapped in red paper by the parents of the money given to the children. New Year's money can be rewarded in the evening after the New Year's greetings in public, can also be in the New Year's Eve when the child is asleep, by the parents secretly placed under the child's pillow. Now the elders for the younger generation to send the custom of New Year's money is still prevalent.