What is the biggest and most traditional festival in China? What is the custom of China since ancient times?

Spring Festival is the biggest and traditional festival in China.

Legend has it that Nian animals are afraid of red, fire and explosion, and generally appear on the first day of the New Year. Therefore, on the first day of New Year's Day, people have activities and customs such as greeting New Year, posting Spring Festival couplets, stick grilles, setting off firecrackers, giving out red envelopes, wearing new clothes, eating jiaozi and observing the New Year. During the Spring Festival, we should bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, showing a new look of Vientiane.

The most solemn traditional folk festival in China is on the first day of the first month of the summer calendar, also known as the lunar calendar, commonly known as "Chinese New Year" and "Spring Festival".

The custom of the Spring Festival is divided into years before and years after. For details, please refer to:

Specific customs before the Spring Festival:

Little new year

The official celebrated the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, and the folk celebrated the 24th of the twelfth lunar month (also known as the 23rd of the northern twelfth lunar month and the 24th of the southern twelfth lunar month), while the government boat held a ceremony to worship the kitchen stove on the 25th. So there is a folk custom called "the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month". After holding the sacrificial stove, they officially began to prepare for the New Year.

Twenty-four twelfth lunar month

sweep the dust

sweep the dust

The folk proverb says, "On the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, dust and sweep the house". After holding the sacrificial stove, they officially began to prepare for the New Year. Dust removal is year-end cleaning, which is called "house cleaning" in the north and "dust removal" in the south. Cleaning the dust before the Spring Festival is a traditional habit of China people. On the day of dusting, the whole family began to clean the house and yard together, scrub the pots and pans, remove and wash the bedding, and greet the New Year cleanly. In fact, people use "dust"

It is homophonic with "Chen" and expresses the will to get rid of the old and innovate.

twelfth month of the lunar year

Make tofu

Push mill to make tofu

The folk proverb says, "On the 25th of the twelfth lunar month, grinding bean curd." In some places, there is also the custom of eating tofu residue before New Year's Eve. According to folklore, when the Kitchen God dies, the Jade Emperor will go to the lower bound to see if all the families are like the Kitchen God's performance, so all the families will eat tofu dregs to show their poverty and avoid the punishment of the Jade Emperor. Legend goes back to legend. In fact, eating tofu residue was actually inefficient in ancient times, and there was not so much delicious food (but sometimes people bought a big basket of tofu to satisfy their hunger and so on). ).

twelfth month of the lunar year

As the saying goes, "On the 26th day of the twelfth lunar month, the pig is killed and the meat is cut" or "On the 26th day of the twelfth lunar month, the head is cut", which means that this day is mainly for preparing meat for the Chinese New Year. The reason why "cutting the annual meat" is written into the annual festival ballad is because the agricultural society and economy are underdeveloped, and people often eat meat at the annual festival, so it is called "annual meat".

December 27th.

In traditional folk customs, intensive bathing and washing clothes are needed in these two days to get rid of the bad luck of the year and prepare for the Spring Festival next year.

The saying of "careless washing in the 28th". Taking a bath on the 27th of the twelfth lunar month is "washing Fulu".

the 28th of the twelfth lunar month

Kill the chicken to catch up with the New Year's party, saying "Twenty-eight of the twelfth lunar month, making cakes and buns with decals" or "Twenty-eight, making noodles". The so-called decals are new year pictures, Spring Festival couplets, window grilles and all kinds of things posted during the Spring Festival.

Among them, the custom of pasting Spring Festival couplets originated from the ancient "Fu Tao". The ancients used peach wood as a wood to ward off evil spirits. The Book of Arts said, "Peach is the essence of five trees, so it also suppresses evil spirits." In the Five Dynasties, Meng Changya, the monarch of the post-Shu Dynasty, was good at literature. Every year, he made people write inscriptions for Fu Tao, which became the origin of Spring Festival couplets in later generations. The inscription on the Fu Tao "New Year's Qing Yu, Spring Festival Changchun" became the first "Spring Festival couplets" in China's recorded history. Later, with the appearance of papermaking, the custom of pasting Spring Festival couplets with red paper instead of mahogany appeared.

the 29th of the twelfth lunar month

offer sacrifices to ancestors

Please ask your ancestors for help.

In the twelfth lunar month, it was said, "Please go to the grave and ask your ancestors for a big donation." Ancestor worship has a long history in China. Seeing death as death is not only an important symbol of filial piety, but also a virtue of respecting the elderly. The Spring Festival is a big festival, and the ceremony of paying homage to one's ancestors is particularly grand. In most areas, ancestors were invited on the morning of the 29th. According to Mao Cui's "Four-person Moon Order" in Han Dynasty, "On the first day of the first month, you should bow down to your wife and ancestors. On the day of worship, I drank wine, and my family, big or small, was humble, second only to my ancestors. My son-in-law's great-grandson presented Chili wine to my parents, saying that it was to celebrate their long life and happiness. " This shows that as early as the Han Dynasty, ancestor worship in China was already a very important activity in the Spring Festival.

30 December

New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve refers to the night on the last day of the twelfth lunar month, which is connected with the first day of the first month. The word "except" in "New Year's Eve" is "go; Easy; "Alternate" means "the end of the poor month, the end of the old year". People should get rid of the old year and welcome the new year. Therefore, the activities during the period are centered on resigning the old and welcoming the new, eliminating disasters and praying for blessings.

At the end of every year in the Zhou and Qin Dynasties, a ceremony of "dancing Zhong Kui" and "exorcising evil spirits" was held in the palace, and drumming was called "exorcism", and then it was called "exorcism" on the day before New Year's Eve, that is, New Year's Eve. New Year's Eve is New Year's Eve, that is, New Year's Eve.

doorman

There is a custom of putting up doors for the New Year in all parts of China. At first, the janitor carved mahogany into a human shape and hung it by the door. Later, it was painted as a janitor and posted on the door …

paste up Spring Festival couplets

Spring Festival couplets, also known as "door couplets", "couplets" and "peach symbols", are a kind of couplets, named after being posted during the Spring Festival. It depicts the background of the times and expresses good wishes with neat, dual, concise and exquisite words, which is a unique literary form in China. Every Spring Festival, no matter in urban or rural areas, every household should choose a pair of red Spring Festival couplets and stick them on the door to add festive atmosphere to the festival. This custom began in the Song Dynasty and was popular in the Ming Dynasty. By the Qing Dynasty, the ideological and artistic quality of Spring Festival couplets had been greatly improved. Liang Zhangju's monograph Poetry of Spring Festival couplets discusses the origin of couplets and the characteristics of various works. There are many kinds of Spring Festival couplets, which can be divided into door heart, frame pair, cross string, spring strip and bucket square according to the place of use. The "door core" is attached to the center of the upper end of the door panel; The "door frame pair" is attached to the left and right door frames; "Cross-dressing" is posted on the crossbar of the door; "Spring strips" are posted in corresponding places according to different contents; "Dou Jin", also known as "door leaf", is a square diamond, often attached to furniture and screen walls.

New Year picture

Hanging New Year pictures during the Spring Festival is also very common in urban and rural areas. Thick black and colorful New Year pictures add a lot of prosperity and festive atmosphere to thousands of families. These all have folk functions of praying and decorating the residence. New Year pictures are an ancient folk art in China, which reflects people's customs and beliefs and places their hopes for the future.

Like Spring Festival couplets, it originated from the "door god".

With the rise of block printing, the content of New Year pictures is not limited to monotonous themes such as door gods, but has become rich and colorful. Some New Year pictures workshops have produced classic color New Year pictures, such as Fu Lushou's Samsung, God bless the people, abundant crops, prosperous livestock and welcoming the New Year, to meet people's good wishes of celebrating and praying for the New Year.

There are three important producing areas of Chinese New Year pictures: Taohuawu in Suzhou, Yangliuqing in Tianjin and Weifang in Shandong; Three schools of New Year pictures have been formed, each with its own characteristics.

The earliest existing collection of New Year pictures in China is the woodcut New Year pictures of the Southern Song Dynasty, which depict four ancient beauties: Wang Zhaojun, Zhao, Ban Ji and Lvzhu. The most popular folk painting is the Year of Marrying the Rat. It depicts an interesting scene in which a mouse marries a bride according to human custom. In the early years of the Republic of China, Zheng of Shanghai combined the monthly calendar with the New Year pictures. This is a new form of New Year pictures. This new year's picture, which was combined into one, later developed into a calendar and has been popular all over the country.

stay up late or all night on New Year's Eve

China people had the habit of New Year's Eve, commonly known as "endure the New Year". Watching the new year begins with eating New Year's Eve dinner. This New Year's Eve dinner should be eaten slowly, starting with lighting lanterns, and some families have to eat it until late at night.

Keeping the Lunar New Year's Eve is one of the most important activities, and the custom of keeping the Lunar New Year's Eve has a long history. The earliest record can be found in the Local Records of the Western Jin Dynasty: on New Year's Eve, all parties give gifts to each other, which is called "the year of giving back"; Wine and food are invited, which is called "not old"; Young and old get together to drink and wish a complete song called "age division"; Everyone stays up all night, waiting for dawn. This is the so-called "shou sui".

Since the Han Dynasty, the time for the alternation of the old and new years is generally at midnight.

For the customs after the Spring Festival, please refer to:/view/614410.htm.