What are the centuries-old customs of Chinese New Year?

Small year

Sacrifice of the God of the stove (16 pictures) Lunar month 23 or 24 is also known as the "small year", is the day of the folk festival of the stove. The folk song "23, sugar melon sticky" refers to the annual Lunar New Year's 23rd or 24th sacrificial stove. There is a saying that "the government three, the people four, the boat family five", that is, the government on the twenty-third day of the Lunar New Year, the general people on the twenty-fourth day of the month, the water family for the twenty-fifth day of the festival of the stove. Xiao Nian is the beginning of the Spring Festival celebrations, and there are two main activities: sweeping the New Year's Eve and sacrificing to the stove. In addition to this, there is the custom of eating Zao sugar, and in some places, there is also eating fire roast, sugar cake, oil cake, and tofu soup.　Zao Ceremony Zao Ceremony is a very influential and widely spread custom in Chinese folklore. In the old days, almost every house had a "Zao Wang" god in the stove. People called this god "Sifu Bodhisattva" or "Zaojun Sifu". Legend has it that he was appointed by the Jade Emperor as the "Zaowang Fujun, the Sifu of the East Kitchen in the Nine Heavens", who was responsible for controlling the fire of the stoves of each family, and was worshipped as the protector of the family. He is responsible for the management of each family's stove fire, and is worshipped as the protector god of a family. Most of the Zaowang niches are located in the north or east of the stove room, with the idol of Zaowang in the center. For those who don't have a Zaowang niche, there are also those who put the idol directly on the wall. In some cases, the idol depicts only one person, while in others, there are two persons, a man and a woman, and the goddess is called "Zaowang Granny".　The celebration of Zao on the 23rd day of the Lunar New Year is closely related to the New Year's Eve. On the night of the New Year's Eve, one week later, Zao Wang Wang comes to earth with other gods and goddesses to bring good fortune and misfortune to the family

Steaming Flower Buns (19 photos). Master Zao is believed to lead the way for the gods in heaven. While the other gods ascend to heaven again after the New Year, only Zao Wang Wang stays in people's kitchens for a long time. The ceremony of welcoming the gods is called "receiving the gods", and for Lord Zao it is called "receiving the stove". The ceremony is usually much simpler on New Year's Eve, when the new stove lamps are replaced and incense is burned in front of the stove niche, and that's the end of it.　As the saying goes, "men don't worship the moon, women don't sacrifice to the stove". In some places, women don't worship the stove. It is said that Zaowang master looks like a small white man, afraid of female sacrificial stove, there is "male and female suspicion".　Stove festival folk preaching eating dumplings, meaning "send off dumplings to meet the wind face". Mountainous areas eat cake and buckwheat. Southeast Jin, the popular custom of eating fried corn, folk proverb, "twenty-three, do not eat fried, the beginning of the year - a pot down," the saying, people like to fry the corn with maltose bonded together, frozen into a large block, eat crispy and sweet.　Steam steamed buns After Lunar New Year's Day 23, every family should steam steamed buns. They are divided into two types: those for honoring the gods and those for visiting relatives. The former is solemn and the latter is flowery. In particular, a large jujube mountain should be made for the worship of Zaojun. "When a family steams flower buns, the four neighbors come to help." This is often a great opportunity for folk women to show off their dexterity, and a flower bun is a handicraft.　Writing Spring Festival Couplets After the 23rd day of the Lunar New Year, every household has to write Spring Festival Couplets. Folklore is concerned that every god must be posted, every door must be posted, and every object must be posted, so the Spring Festival couplets are the most numerous and the most complete. The couplets in front of the deities are especially elaborate, mostly words of worship and prayers. The common god couplets are "heaven and earth god couplets", "heavenly grace is as deep as the sea,

Posting Spring Festival couplets (20), earth virtue is as heavy as the mountain"; land god couplets "earth from white jade, the earth out of gold"; god of wealth couplets "heavenly source of wealth Lord, earthly The God of Wealth is the God of Fortune in the sky and the God of Fortune on earth; the God of Wells is the God of Wells and the God of Fortune is the God of Fortune in the world. Face grain silos, corrals and other places in the Spring Festival couplets, are expressed warmly celebrate and hope, such as "grain harvest, six animals prosper"; "rice and noodles as thick as a mountain, oil and salt as deep as the sea"; "cattle like a tiger in the South Mountain, the horse as the North Sea Dragon "; "sheep year after year, lamb month after month," and so on. In addition, there are some single couplets, such as each indoor sticker "head up to see the joy", the door opposite sticker "go out to see the joy", the prosperous fire on the sticker "Wang Qi Chong Tian", the yard sticker "Full of gold in the yard", "deep roots" on the tree, "White Tiger" on the stone mill, and so on. The couplets on the main door are the face of a family, and are especially emphasized, either expressing emotions or writing scenes, with rich contents and wonderful phrases.　Eat Zao sugar Zao sugar is a kind of malt sugar, sticky, it is drawn as a long sugar stick called "Guandong sugar", pulled into a flat round type is called "sugar melon". Put it outside the house in winter, because of the cold weather, sugar melon solidified solid and some tiny bubbles inside, eat it crunchy, sweet and crispy, unique flavor. The real Guandong sugar hard, drop can not be broken, eat must be split with a kitchen knife, the material is very heavy and very fine. Slightly sour taste, no honeycomb in the middle, each piece weighs one or two, two or four, the price is also more expensive. Sugar melon with sesame and no sesame two kinds of sugar made into melon shape or melon shape, the center is empty, the skin is less than five points thick, although the size of the different, but the transaction is still calculated by the amount of large sugar melon weighing one or two pounds, but used as a front to buy very few people.　Dust Sweeping After the Zao Festival, preparations for the New Year officially begin. Sweeping the dust is the end-of-year cleaning, known in the north as "sweeping the room"

Posting New Year's paintings (19), and in the south as "dusting the dust". In the Spring Festival before the dust to engage in health, is the Chinese people have traditional habits. Outdoors, inside, in front of the house, thoroughly cleaned, clean to welcome the New Year. The custom of "dusting and sweeping the house on the twenty-fourth day of the Lunar New Year" has a long history, according to "Lv's Spring and Autumn Annals", there was a custom of sweeping the dust of the Spring Festival in the era of Yao and Shun in China. According to folklore, because of "dust" and "Chen" homophonic, dust sweeping in the New Year has "in addition to the meaning of Chen Bu Xin", the intention is to put all the "poor luck", "poor luck", "poor luck", "poor luck", "poor luck", "poor luck", "poor luck", "poor luck", "poor luck", "poor luck" and "poor luck". ", "bad luck" are swept out. This custom is the desire of the people to break the old, and the wish of the old and welcome the new prayers.

Lunar month 29, Lunar New Year's Eve

Every year, the evening of the last day of the lunar month, the last day of the lunar year (the month of the 30th, the month of the 29th), called "New Year's Eve". It and the Spring Festival (the first day of the first month) is the first and last, is the people of the old and welcome the new day. Because the lunar calendar has thirty days in the big month and only twenty-nine days in the small month, the date of New Year's Eve is also different from twenty-nine and thirty. However, this day is often referred to as "New Year's Eve" regardless of whether it is the 29th or 30th day of the lunar month. New Year's Eve night family reunion to eat the New Year's Eve dinner (the last meal of the year in the lunar calendar), New Year's Eve dinner after the New Year's money and stay up the New Year's Eve (vigil) custom, said from the last day of the current year of the lunar calendar to the first day of the next year.　Zhou, Qin period of the end of each year, the palace to hold a "large exorcism" ceremony, beat the drum to expel the plague of ghosts, known as "by the removal of", and later called the day before the New Year's Eve for the small in addition to the small New Year's Eve; New Year's Eve for the big in addition to the big New Year's Eve.　Placement of the Table of Heaven and Earth Legend has it that this is the night when the gods of heaven come down to the world, so there are folk customs to receive the gods. The Heaven and Earth Table is a temporary offering table, which is specially set up on New Year's Eve for the purpose of receiving the gods. It is especially important for families without a large Buddha Hall because they usually make fewer offerings to the Buddha, and at the end of the year when the year is over, they have to pay a big reward to the gods and the Buddha. The contents of the heaven and earth table and the permanent Buddha Hall is different, in addition to *** have hanging money, incense and candles, five for, big supply, the worship of the idol is mostly temporary, such as "100 percent", is a woodcut version of the picture book of the gods; "heaven and earth and the three worlds of the eighteen Buddhas and gods," a with a large yellow burlap woodcut watercolor. Large yellow burlap woodcut watercolor printing of the whole God code; three stars of fortune and longevity portraits and so on. Some of the above images are incinerated after receiving the gods, such as the "hundred percent", while others have to be incinerated only on the 5th day of the 5th month, or even on the Festival of Lights. The location of the table of heaven and earth is not uniform, such as a large place in the house, can be placed in the house; if there is no land in the house, it will be placed in the courtyard.　Eat New Year's Eve dinner

Watch the Spring Festival Gala (6) children playing with firecrackers, but also the housewives in the kitchen the busiest moment, the annual dishes are done a few days before, and the New Year's Eve dinner always have to be in the kitchen on the day of the thirtieth day of the year to do it out. In the north, the dumplings on the first day of the New Year are also wrapped up on the evening of the thirtieth. At this time the cutting boards of the families are thumping and busy chopping meat and vegetables. At this time, the sound of cutting boards coming out of every house, the sound of firecrackers coming out of the streets and alleys, the sound of the abacus coming out of the stores and the sound of the accounts, and then mixed with the sound of jokes and laughter everywhere, one after another, the ocean is full of ears, interweaving into the New Year's Eve joyful music.　The New Year's Eve dinner is the most lively and enjoyable time of the Spring Festival for all families. On New Year's Eve, the sumptuous New Year's dishes on the table, the family reunion, sitting around the table, *** eat a reunion dinner, the heart of the fullness is really hard to describe. People are enjoying the table full of delicacies, but also to enjoy the happy atmosphere, the table has a big dish, cold pots, stir-fry, snacks, generally less two things, one is hot pot． One is fish. Hot pot boiling, steaming, warm and provocative, indicating a red-hot; "fish" and "Yu" consonance, is a symbol of "auspicious celebration of surplus", but also a metaphor for "year after year". It is also a metaphor for "having more than enough for every year". There are also turnips, commonly known as "choy tau" (菜头), which is a wish for good luck, and fried foods such as lobster and popping fish, which is a wish for good luck in the family, such as "blazing fire cooking oil". Finally, a sweet dish is served to wish for sweet days ahead. Even those who don't know how to drink on this day drink a little.　New Year's Eve dinner has a lot of names, different from the north and south, there are dumplings, wontons, long noodles, Lantern, and so on, and each has its own instructions. People in the north are used to eating dumplings on New Year's Eve (the custom of eating dumplings has been passed down from the Han Dynasty), which is taken to mean the change of the old and the new, "the change of the year, the change of the son". Because white dumplings are shaped like silver dollars, they are brought to the table in pots to symbolize "a prosperous New Year, and the dollars roll in". When some dumplings are wrapped, several coins sterilized in boiling water are wrapped into them, saying that whoever eats them first will earn more money. New Year eat wontons, is to take the beginning of its meaning. Legend has it that before the world was created, it was chaos, and it was only when Pangu opened up the sky and the earth that there was a four-sided universe. Long noodles, also known as longevity noodles, are eaten on New Year's Day to wish for longevity for a hundred years.　Watching the Spring Festival Gala Although this is not an ancient custom, after the 1980s, due to the popularity of television, the Spring Festival Gala has become an essential cultural "feast" for the Chinese

New Year's Eve (5 photos), and every year more than a billion people around the world watch the Spring Festival Gala on TV or on the Internet.　Since the Han Dynasty, the moment of transition between the old and the new year is usually the middle of the night, New Year's Eve is one of the most important New Year's Eve activities. The custom of observing the New Year's Eve has a long history, and the earliest record of it can be found in the Western Jin Dynasty's Zhou Chu's "The Records of Wind and Land": on the night of the New Year's Eve, each of them gives gifts to each other, which is called "feeding the New Year's Eve"; inviting each other to have food and wine, which is called "parting with the New Year's Eve"; getting together to have drinks for the young and old, and wishing for the fulfillment of praises, which is called "sharing the New Year's Eve"; everyone ends up having to drink at the end of the night. The whole night, waiting for the dawn, is called "observing the new year".　"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, lit candles or oil lamps, sitting around the stove chatting, waiting for the time to say goodbye to the old and welcome the new, the all-night vigil, symbolizing all the evil plagues and epidemics according to the run away, looking forward to a new year of good luck and good fortune. This custom gradually prevailed, to the early Tang Dynasty, Tang Taizong Li Shimin wrote a "year-keeping" poem: "Cold resigned 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.　In ancient times, there were two meanings of keeping the New Year's Eve: the older people kept the New Year's Eve for "resigning from the old year", which had the meaning of cherishing the time; and the younger people kept the New Year's Eve for prolonging the life of their parents.　The gods of the old and new years were separated, but the time of the gods of the old and new years was not very uniform. In some cases, the ceremony starts as soon as it is midnight, in others, it starts at midnight, and in some cases, it starts after midnight. After the sacrifice of the stove, the gods are back to the Palace of Heaven, ignoring the ordinary affairs of the earth, to New Year's Eve, that is, after midnight, that is, when the new year comes, and then descended to the earth to govern. The ceremony of receiving the gods is held in front of the heaven and earth table, and is presided over by the eldest member of the family. Because the gods reside in different heavenly directions, the natural direction of the world to come is different, as to receive what God, God from where to come, to check in advance the "constitutional book", leading the family to raise incense in the courtyard according to the direction of receiving God. After kowtowing in accordance with the direction of the ceremony, stood at attention to be incense, and then kowtow, and finally the root of the incense, statues, such as ingots, put into the yard has been prepared for the money in the food bowl burned, with the burning of pine branches, sesame seed stalks, and so on. When receiving the god, firecrackers are fired, and the atmosphere is very strong.　Treading on Souls After receiving the gods, the sesame straw from the street door to the door of the house, people walking on it, crackling sound, known as "tread on the age", also known as "tread on Souls". As the "broken" and "Soun" homophonic, take the new spring began to drive away the meaning of evil spirits.　Receiving the God of Fortune In the old days, from the night of the Spring Festival, there was a God of Fortune, holding a piece of paper printed by the God of Fortune outside the door yelling: "Send the God of Fortune to come!" At this time, the master of the house to show welcome the God of Fortune to come, they will take the reward money to the people. The god of wealth sender will say some auspicious words, such as "Gold, silver and treasure roll in!" "The left side of the golden lion, the right side of the golden phoenix," and so on.　In addition, there are dressed in red robes, wearing a hat, hanging on the mouth of the beard, the body of the back of the yellow bag, dressed in the likeness of the God of Wealth, followed by a few gongs and drums, door-to-door distribution of the God of Wealth like to ask for reward money. Each to the door of people, singing "the left side of the pile full of gold and silver bank, the right side of the treasure full of house pile" and a bunch of auspicious words, until the master joyfully received the God of Wealth like to give them some money, these people thank you, more vigorously knocking for a while. In the sound of the gongs and drums, they moved on to other households.

The first day of the first month of the year

Firecrackers (11 pictures)The first day of the first month of the year was originally called "New Year's Day", and the original meaning of the word "yuan" was "head", which was later extended to mean "beginning". "start". This day is the first day of the year, the first day of spring, the first day of the first month, so it is called "three yuan"; because this day is still the age of the dynasty, the month of the dynasty, the day of the dynasty, so it is also known as the "three dynasty"; and because it is the first day of the solstice, so it is also called 　Open Door Cannonball On the morning of the Spring Festival, the door is opened for good luck, first set off firecrackers, called "open door cannonball". After the sound of firecrackers, broken red all over the ground, brilliant as a cloud of brocade, known as the "full red". At this time, the street is full of auspicious, joyful.　New Year's Day on the first day of the New Year, men are up early, put on the most beautiful clothes, dressed neatly, go out to visit friends and relatives, pay respects to each other, wishing good luck in the coming year. Worship a variety of ways, some are the same patriarch led a number of people to go door to door to pay tribute to the New Year; some colleagues invited a few people to pay tribute to the New Year; there are also get together to congratulate each other, known as the "reunion worship". Because of the time-consuming and labor-intensive door-to-door New Year's greetings, some upper-class people and scholars later used name stickers to congratulate each other, which led to the development of the "New Year's greetings tablets".　Spring Festival to pay tribute to the New Year, the younger generation should first pay tribute to the elders, wishing the elders a long life and well-being, the elders can be prepared in advance to share the New Year's money to the younger generation, it is said that the New Year's money can be pressed to stop the evil spirits, because the "age" and the "Soun" harmonic, the younger generation to get New Year's money can be peaceful and safe! The new year's money is said to keep evil spirits at bay. There are two kinds of New Year's money, one is to colorful rope threaded braided into the shape of a dragon, placed at the foot of the bed, this record is found 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.　The old folk idiom of the new year

Pressing the new year's money (17 pictures) in the old days to enter the new first few days of the weather cloudy and clear to account for the year into the current year. It began with the Han Dongfang Shuo's "year occupation," which said that after eight days of the year, one day is the day of the chicken, the second is the dog, the third is the pig, the fourth is the goat, the fifth is the cow, the sixth is the horse, the seventh is the man, and the eighth is the grain. If the day is sunny, then the main thing is prosperous, when the day is cloudy, the main day is not prosperous. Later generations followed their custom, that the first day to the tenth, the weather is clear, no wind and no snow for good luck. In later generations, the practice developed into a series of rituals and celebrations.　Drinking Tusu Wine Tusu wine is a kind of medicinal wine. In ancient times, it was customary for the whole family to drink tusu wine on New Year's Day in order to get rid of unhealthy qi. The method of making tusu wine is: use rhubarb one money, Chinese bellflower, Sichuan pepper, each one and a half cent, gui heart one money eight points, cornelian cherry one money two points, one or two winds, with a reddish-red capsule hanging in a well, to the yuan day chen time take up, to the wine decoction four or five boiled. In ancient times, the method of drinking tusu wine was very unique. Generally speaking, people always start drinking from the oldest person; however, drinking Tusu Wine is just the opposite, starting from the youngest person. Presumably, the young ones grew up day by day and drank it first as a sign of congratulations, while the old ones drank it later as a sign of retention after one year. Song Dynasty writer Su Zhe's poem "New Year's Day," which reads, "Drinking tusu at the end of the year, I don't realize that I'm over seventy years old," is a reference to this custom. This kind of unique drinking order, in ancient times, often produce a variety of feelings, so people have left a deep impression.　Gathering of wealth It is said that the first day of the first month of the broom for the birthday, this day can not move the broom, otherwise it will sweep away the luck, broke the fortune, and the "broom star" to attract, incurring bad luck. If you have to sweep the floor can not be, must be swept from the outside to the inside. This day also can not pour water out of the garbage, for fear that it will break the wealth. Today, many places are still preserved a custom, the New Year's Eve clean sweep, the first day of the year, not out of the broom, not pouring garbage, prepare a large bucket to Sheng wastewater, the day is not outside the splash.

The second day of the first month

The second day of the first month (the third day of the first month in the northern region), married out of the daughters have taken their husbands, children back to their parents' homes to pay tribute to the New Year

Back to the mother's home (15). When a daughter returns to her mother's home, she must bring a large bag of cookies and candies, which her mother distributes to her neighbors, just as she does at New Year's Eve. If the family has more than one daughter, and these daughters do not return on the same day, then, to come to a sub once, the gift is quite thin, four cookies only. However, it reflects the sentiment is very strong, the real "gift is light and heavy", it expresses the girl to the townspeople of the cut longing. The girl returned home, if there are nephews at home, when the aunt must be again out of pocket, although the first day of the new year's money to the new year's money has been sent, but this time the significance is different. This custom, the Chaoshan people called "eating day day". As the name suggests, it is just a midday meal, and the daughter must return to her in-laws' home before dinner.　Sacrifice to the God of Wealth (North) In the North, the God of Wealth is sacrificed on the second day of the first month of the lunar calendar, which is a day when both commercial stores and ordinary families hold sacrifices to the God of Wealth. Each family makes a sacrifice to the God of Wealth that they received on New Year's Eve. In fact, they incinerate the rough prints they bought. On this day, wontons are eaten at noon, commonly known as "Yuanbao soup". Fish and mutton were used as offerings. Old Beijing's big business firms, this day are large-scale sacrificial activities, offerings to be "five big for", that is, the whole pig, the whole sheep, the whole chicken, the whole duck, red live carp, etc., and hope that this year to make a fortune.

The third day of the first month

The third day of the first month of the first month of the year is the day when Nuwa made the sheep, so it is called "Sheep Day". On this day, people can't kill sheep, and if the weather is good, it means that the sheep will be raised well during the year, and the people who raise them will have a good harvest.　Burning the door god paper In the old days, the third day and night of the New Year's Day and Festival of the pine and cypress branches and festivals hung door god door paper and other incineration, to show that the year has been over, and to start camping. The proverb says, "If you burn the door god's paper, you'll be able to find a way to make a living."　Valley Birthday Folk think the third day of the first month for the Valley Birthday, this day to pray for the year, and forbidden to eat rice.　The day of the festival is the day of the celebration. Song dynasty court festival, Song Zhenzong Dazhong Xiangfu first year, because of rumors of heavenly books down to earth, Zhenzong issued an imperial decree, the first three days of the first month of the day for the day of the festival, officials and other leave for five days. Later, it was called the Small New Year's Day, which is the same as the New Year's Day without sweeping the ground, begging for fire, or drawing water.　In southern China, on the morning of the third day of the Lunar New Year, "Chikou" (forbidden mouth) is put up, which is considered to be a day of easy quarrels and not suitable for New Year's worship. The so-called "red mouth", generally about seven or eight inches long and one inch wide strip of red paper, written on some of the top in and out of the peace and good luck words (format: "A.D. 1994 years of age A Hundred and eleven days of the first month of the third day of the first year of the God when the front of the incense and fire in front of the nail off the four sides of the men and women of the red mouth, thieves, robbers, and Mars all the evils of God to the day of the great good luck! "), pasted on the top of the front and back doors, and another one was placed on top of the garbage to be picked out and dumped outside. These garbage is the first two days of the first two days of the accumulation down, must be to the third only together to clean up and pour out, otherwise, it is equal to the home of the gold and silver to the same outflow. In short, the sticker "red mouth", is to make people psychologically feel safe in and out all year round, do not have quarrels with people or all kinds of unfortunate disasters, home more wealth into the treasure, all the best.　　"Sending the New Year" Generally held at night, the ceremony is to send the gods and ancestors back to heaven.

The fifth day of the first month

The God of Fortune

The fifth day of the first month of the first month of the first year, commonly known as the broken five.　Folk have the custom of eating dumplings, symbolizing the attraction of wealth and prosperity. In accordance with the old custom to eat "water dumplings" (the north called "boiled meat and potatoes") for five days, nowadays some people only eat three or two days, some every other day to eat, however, no not eat, ancient times from the princes and dacha to the streets and alleys of the small households are such, even to treat the guests so. Women are no longer jealous of the door, began to visit each other to pay tribute to the New Year, congratulations. Newly married women in this day to return to peace. Folklore said that many taboos before the break five over this day can be broken. A said broken five this day should not do things, or this year in the event of failure. Broken five customs in addition to the above taboos, mainly to send poor, welcome the God of Fortune, the opening of the market trade.　Offerings to the God of Fortune (South) Southern people in the first five days of the first month of sacrifice to the God of Fortune. Folklore, the God of Fortune, that is, five-way God. The so-called five road, refers to the east and west, north and south, meaning that out of the five roads, all can get wealth. Every New Year's Eve, people are in the first five zero hours zero minutes, open the door and windows, burning incense and firecrackers, fireworks, to the God of Fortune to welcome. Received the God of Fortune, we also have to eat road head wine, often eat until dawn. Everyone is full of hope for wealth, hope that the God of Wealth will bring home the gold and silver treasure, in the new year, a great deal of wealth. Commonly thought to receive the road head, the earlier the better, the earliest received is the true God, especially spiritual, so called "grab the road head". Some places, really in the first four days of the New Year will "rush to grab the head of the road", and has become a custom.　Send poor The fifth day of the first month of the year "send poor", is a very distinctive ancient Chinese folk custom of the year. Its meaning is to sacrifice the poor ghost (poor God). The poor ghost, also known as the "poor son", is said to be the son of Zhuan Xu. He was weak and short, and liked to wear rags and drink rice. Shaanxi Hancheng area, broken five this day, avoid going out, and will be fresh meat in the pot roast, but also fried beans, so that the collapse of the sound, that can collapse away from the poor gas, and seek wealth. In addition, the old New Year's Eve or the fifth day of the first month to eat especially full, commonly known as "fill poor pit". Widely popular folk customs to send poor, reflecting the Chinese people generally hope that the old and welcome the new, to send away the old poverty and hardship, to meet the new year's good life of the traditional psychology.　The old custom during the Spring Festival stores of all sizes from the first day of the year closed, and in the first five days of the market. Commonly, the fifth day of the first month for the sacred day of wealth, it is believed that the choice of this day to open the market will attract wealth and treasure. The stock market is also open on this day.

The seventh day of the first month of the year

The seventh day of the first month of the year is the Day of the People, also known as the "People's Victory Festival", "People's Celebration Festival", "Population Day", "People's seventh day" and so on. Legend

Send Fire God (20 pictures) Nuwa first created the world, in the creation of chickens, dogs, pigs, cows, horses and other animals, in the seventh day of the creation of human beings, so this day is the birthday of mankind. The Han Dynasty began to have a human day festival custom, after the Wei and Jin Dynasties began to pay attention. Ancient human day has to wear "people win" custom, people win is a kind of headdress, also known as color win, Hua Sheng. From the Jin Dynasty onwards, there are cut color for flowers, cut color for people, or openwork gold foil for people to paste the screen, also worn in the hair. In addition, there is also the custom of climbing high and writing poems. After the Tang Dynasty, pay more attention to this festival, every human day, the emperor gave qunchen color wisps people win, and high feast qunchen. If the weather is clear on the seventh day of the first month, the main year's population is safe, smooth entry and exit.　"smoked day" folk this day to eat spring pancakes rolled "box vegetables" (a cooked meat food), and in the courtyard spread pancakes "smoked day".　Eat Seven Treasures Soup Seven Treasures Soup is a soup made of seven kinds of vegetables, eaten on the day of the people, in order to take good omen, and said that this thing can remove the evil, cure all diseases. The meaning of the soup varies according to the different products of different places and the fruits and vegetables used. Guangdong Chaoshan with mustard, kale, leeks, spring vegetables, celery, garlic, thick petals; Hakka people with celery, garlic, green onions, coriander, leeks with fish, meat, etc.; Taiwan, Fujian with spinach, celery, green onions and garlic, leeks, mustard, water chestnuts, cabbages and so on. Among them, celery and green onion signify cleverness, garlic signifies calculating, and mustard makes people live longer.　Sending Fire God On the Shandong Peninsula, the seventh day of the first month of the year, but also "send the fire god", the children choose a two-meter stick, with wheat straw to tie it, which is said to be the "fire god". At dusk, one end of the "fire god" is lit in front of the house, and the children hold the other end of the "fire god" and run to a place far away from the house until it burns out. This event is meant to send the "fire god" out of the house, so that there will be no fire in the house for a year and the house will be safe and secure.

The eighth day of the first month

The eighth day of the first month, according to legend, is the birthday of Guzi. If the weather is sunny on this day, there will be a good harvest of rice for the year, while a cloudy day will result in a bad year.　Shunxing Shunxing is also known as the Star Festival. On the night of the eighth day of the first month, people, whether or not they go to the temple incense worship star (i.e., Shunxing), such as the stars in the sky

Chinese knot (16) Qi, each family will hold a Shunxing sacrificial ceremony. Star festival, to put a "golden lamp" (yellow lamp) and lighted in the desk, stove, threshold, pots and other places, called "scattered lamps and flowers", there is to avoid the meaning of ominous. After the star festival, the whole family gathered together to eat a meal of Lantern Festival.　Life Release and Prayer On the eighth day of the first month of the lunar calendar, there is a "life release" activity, which is to take some of the fish and birds raised at home outside and release them into the wild.　Liu Dong in the Ming Dynasty in the "Imperial Capital Scenery" recorded that: "the eighth day of the first month, stone stone Deng Lane release, cage birds, pots of fish and shrimp, baskets of snails and mussels, Luo Hall in front of the monks to do the Sanskrit, thousands of each other, the vertical feather air flight, the sins of the fall on the house, move when it is to go, the water and so on, casting the Imperial City of the Jinshui River in the net bamboo shoots baited with the Hsi to."　The eighth release, not only reflects the ancients respect for nature, harmony with the virtues, but also expresses the beginning of the new spring, looking forward to the world of all kinds of creatures to prosper and develop the good wishes.

The ninth day of the first month

The ninth day of the first month of the first month is the day of the sky, and legend has it that this day is the birthday of the highest deity in the sky, the Jade Emperor, and it is commonly known as the "Birthday of the Heavenly Emperor". The "God of Heaven" is the "Jade Emperor", which Taoism calls the "First Heavenly Father", is the highest god in the universe, he is the highest god in charge of the gods of the three realms and the ten directions as well as all the souls on earth, representing the "supreme god" of the universe, the "supreme god" of the world. He is the supreme god in charge of all the gods in the three realms and all the spirits on earth, and represents the supreme "heaven". The main customs are sacrificed to the Jade Emperor, Taoist temple fasting, etc., some places, the day of the day when women prepared incense and candles, fasting bowls, set up in the Tianjing alleyway in the open air to worship the heavens, and ask for blessings from the God of Heaven.

The first ten

Ten, harmonic "stone", so the first ten for the stone birthday. This day where the mill, mill and other stone tools can not be moved, and even set up sacrifices to enjoy the stone, for fear of injury to crops. Also known as the "stone does not move" "ten does not move". Henan custom this day to the stone family incense to pay tribute. Lunch must eat bun cake, that eating cake within a year will be prosperous. In Shandong Yuncheng and other places to lift the stone God's move. The first nine nights, people will be a jar frozen in a smooth stone, the morning of the tenth, the rope tied jar nose, by ten young men to take turns carrying the jar away. If the stone does not fall to the ground, it is a sign of a good harvest that year.

The eleventh day of the first month

"Son-in-law day", this day is the father-in-law feast son-in-law day. In addition to the food left over from the first nine days of celebrating the birth of Tian Gong, there is still a lot of food left over from the first ten days of celebrating the birth of Tian Gong, so the mother's family doesn't have to spend any more money, so they utilize this leftover food to entertain their son-in-laws and their daughters, which is referred to as the "Eleventh Day of the Son-in-Law" in the folk song. There is a nursery rhyme: "eleven yells, twelve build lantern shed, thirteen people turn on the light, fourteen light is bright, fifteen line half of the moon, sixteen people finish the light."

New Year's Eve

Lantern Festival (20 photos) Lantern Festival The Lantern Festival is very distinctive in its festivities. The period of the festival and festival activities, but also with the development of history and extend the expansion. In terms of the length of the festival, the Han Dynasty is only one day, to the Tang Dynasty has been three days, the Song Dynasty is up to five days, the Ming Dynasty is from the eighth light, until the night of the seventeenth day of the first month of the lamp. The whole ten days. Day for the city, bustling; night lights, spectacular. Especially the delicate, colorful lights, making it the climax of the entertainment activities during the New Year. (Hope to adopt, thank you)