What are the customs of Chinese New Year?

The New Year, which is celebrated on the twenty-third or twenty-fourth day of the Lunar New Year, is the beginning of the Spring Festival celebrations, and is characterized by two main activities: sweeping the New Year's Eve and offering sacrifices to the stove. Sweeping, that is, sweeping the dust, in fact, is a big family environmental health. Northern people to Lunar New Year for the 23rd, called "sweeping"; Southern people to Lunar New Year for the 24th, called "dusting". On this day, every family will get up at dawn, sweeping and cleaning windows, washing clothes, scrubbing pots and pans, the implementation of clean and thorough health cleaning. According to "Gleanings" records this custom can be traced back to more than three thousand years ago, when it Han ancestors to drive away epidemics and ghosts, praying for the well-being of the religious ceremony. After the "dust" and "Chen" resonance, so sweeping the dust is also the old things swept away, which refers to both the courtyard of the old dirt, but also refers to the old year encountered in the unhappy.

Sacrificing the stove that is sacrificed to send the God of the stove to heaven. In ancient times, technology is not developed, people worship Zaoshen in charge of the family diet of the gods, that Zaoshen to the Jade Emperor on the night of the New Year to report to the Jade Emperor, the Jade Emperor's rewards and punishments for this family all in the Zaoshen report. The most folkloric of the offerings for Zaos is the "Sugar Melon", which is said to be sweet to make the God of Zaos speak only sweet words in front of the Jade Emperor, and is said to be sticky to stick to the teeth of the God of Zaos, so that he can't say bad things out of his mouth. During the festival, the image of the God of the Zaos, which has been worshipped for one year, will be removed and incinerated, which is considered to be a sacrifice to heaven. To this day, the folk still have "sugar melon sacrificial stove, the New Year came" said.

New Year's Eve is the last day of the lunar month (February 6 this year), which is the first and last day of the Spring Festival (the first day of the first month). The word "除" in "New Year's Eve" means "to go; to change; to alternate", and the meaning of New Year's Eve is "the old year is removed here, and the new year begins in the morning". "Therefore, the activities during this period are all centered on getting rid of the old and praying for good luck. There are three main activities on New Year's Eve: having a reunion dinner, making sacrifices, and observing the New Year's Eve. Among them, the most distinctive is the New Year's Eve celebration.

The New Year's Eve vigil is commonly known as "staying up all night", i.e., on New Year's Eve, staying up all night. Legend has it that in ancient times there was a ferocious monster called "Nian", which came out at night on the last day of the lunar month to devour people and animals and endanger the people. Later, people found that its weakness is afraid of fire, afraid of sound, so people will be in the night of New Year's Eve, sleepless all night, lit a fire, burning bamboo, so that it makes a bang, the monster will not dare to come out for wrongdoing. Since then, the custom of staying up all night and setting off firecrackers on New Year's Eve has been left behind. However, there is another important task in the New Year's Eve vigil: making dumplings, and they must be filled with vegetarian dumplings, in the hope that in the new year "vegetarian clean, safe and smooth". Some people put sugar and peanuts in the dumplings, which means a sweet life for those who eat the sugar and a long life for those who eat the peanuts.

Note, there are many taboos, such as the prohibition of sweeping, over the New Year, usually hard to reach the corners should be cleaned up, and into the New Year's Eve to the morning of the first day of the New Year, even if the ground is messy can not be swept, it is customary to believe that it will be "broken". Another example, the ban on scissors, forbidden to say "no more" All these are people looking forward to auspicious psychological reflection.

The Spring Festival

The first to the fifth day of the Lunar New Year is the main festival of the Spring Festival in the general sense, a variety of folk festivals and activities in these five days to fully manifest. We'll break it down into a few areas below. See what our country's grandest traditional festival looks like and what the evolution and palimpsests are.

Diet

The diet of the Spring Festival, however, is very elaborate, and the northern folk proverb says, "The first dumpling, the second noodle, the third Hezi, the fourth pancake rolled in eggs". Dumplings is one of the important food of the Spring Festival, in addition to New Year's Eve (the last day of the lunar month) to eat dumplings, the first day of the first month, the first five days to eat dumplings, but these three days to eat dumplings on the law is very different. The dumplings eaten on New Year's Eve must be filled with veggies to take the meaning of peace and security in the coming year, and the dumplings can't be boiled all at once; the dumplings eaten on the first day of the first month must be the ones left over from New Year's Eve (i.e., from last night), to take the meaning of auspiciousness and prosperity; and the dumplings eaten on the first day of the first five days of the first month must be made into a lace-shaped dumpling, which is commonly known as the "pinching of a small person's mouth", in order to prevent the dumpling from being eaten. "

The purpose of the dumplings is to prevent the next year, the villain to make right and wrong, to figure a good luck.

The Spring Festival is another tradition is the rice cake, rice cake made of glutinous rice, North and South two kinds of rice cakes, northern rice cakes are steamed and fried two kinds of sweet, southern rice cakes in addition to steamed and fried, there are still pieces of fried, soup cooking and other methods, the taste is sweet and salty, due to the year and sticky resonance, high and cake resonance, so eat sticky cake that contains the year high, that is, the people's expectations of the new year, over time, sticky cake has also turned into a rice cake.

Room layout:

The Spring Festival room layout should be four stickers, stickers, stickers, stickers, stickers, stickers, stickers, stickers, stickers, stickers, stickers, stickers, stickers, stickers, stickers, stickers, stickers.

Spring Festival couplets:

Originally from the folk to drive away the ghosts and evil spirits in the door on both sides of the hanging peach planks, (the ancients believe that the peach wood has the effect of driving away the evil spirits), after the Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang unification of the whole world, the world's people in the Spring Festival to post couplets to praise the world's unity of the country and the people in peace, it is this custom. Song Shi * Shu Shijia" recorded the history of the earliest one of the Spring Festival couplets "New Year's Day, Jiajie No. Spring"

Posting of New Year's paintings:

From the content, catering to the masses of people seeking auspicious psychological, to a good harvest, more children, more blessings, more life as the subject matter of a common "Ma Gu Xianshou", "the heavenly maiden scattered flowers", "Kirin sends a son," "Zhong Kui Weifu," and so on. China's famous production of New Year's paintings are: Tianjin Yangliuqing, Suzhou Taohuayu, Hebei Wuqiang, Shandong Weifang and other places.

Pasted Fuzhi:

Commonly known as the spring pasted Fu, is to pray for the new year, the rain, life and prosperity, pasted Fuzhi also to Fuzhi inverted, the harmonic "Fu inverted (Road)". This custom is still alive and well today.

Window Decorations:

Window Decorations to decorate the room, the form is usually "window", "door paper", "wall flowers", "lamps", etc., in different shapes, the creation of free, and its subject matter is also very rich, common "fat pig arch" "mice marrying", "LianYuYouYu". But the materials used are very uniform, red paper with a small amount of gold and platinum, colored paper, this custom in the vast rural areas through the centuries, so far not bad ......

Chinese New Year's Day reunion activities:

According to the traditional habits of the Spring Festival reunion has a certain order, the first day of the New Year is usually between neighbors or relatives of their own family to pay tribute to each other, the second day of the wedding! Children with their husbands and sons-in-law back to their families to pay tribute to the New Year, the third is aunts and cousins below the children and nephews to pay tribute to each other, for those who are not in the local area or difficult to meet friends and relatives, you can also send a piece of New Year's greetings, the custom started in the Han Dynasty, to the Qing dynasty during the Kangxi custom, called "the year sticker, the year piece", on the written festive greetings, sent to friends and relatives to enhance friendship. When friends and relatives walk around each other, the long rely on underage and not working children but also to give the New Year's money, usually the New Year's money is every five and ten, in order to take the auspicious.

The United States

New Year's Day is the main holiday celebrated by all states in the United States. Americans celebrate New Year's Eve with the most excitement on the night of New Year's Eve. It is the night when people gather in churches, streets, or squares to sing, pray, bless, confess, and join in welcoming that moment of renewal. At 12:00 midnight, church bells across the country ring out and bands play the famous nostalgic song "Safe Journey". Amidst the music, excited people embraced, ushering in the new year together with the sadness of farewell and the desire for a new life***.

New Year's in the United States is not the most lively holiday, but there are still a lot of grand celebrations, the California Rose Festival is the largest New Year's Eve pageant in the United States, when the flowers, especially roses tied into the colorful car stretches for miles, the car full of flowers to do a variety of models, not only to attract the men and women of California, young and old people flocked to the streets, but also attracted millions of television viewers. In Philadelphia, there is a tradition of masquerade parades in which people dressed as clowns and women (according to an old custom, women are not allowed to participate in the parade) sing and dance along with the colorful cars, making it a lively event.

Americans also have an interesting habit of making New Year's resolutions, which they call "New Year's Resolutions". These resolutions are usually not grandiose, but rather simple and practical intentions, such as "I will quit smoking", "I will treat my neighbors well" and so on. They always speak frankly to everyone in order to be monitored and encouraged.

It is said that American Indians also have a unique New Year's custom. On New Year's Eve, they held a characteristic bonfire party, where families gathered around the bonfire and sang and danced. When the morning dew, they will put the old clothes to the torch, as a symbol of the old and the new.

Britain

In Britain, New Year's Day on the Gregorian calendar is not as grand as Christmas, but on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, it is still based on local customs to carry out a variety of celebratory activities to show that the old and welcome the new. British people in the late night of New Year's Eve, often with pastries and wine out to visit, they do not knock on the door, went straight into the home of friends and relatives. According to the British custom, after New Year's Eve, the first person to step into the house, heralding the luck of the new year. If the first guest is a dark-haired man, or a happy, happy and wealthy person, the host will be lucky all year round. If the first guest is a woman with light yellow hair, or a sad, poor, unfortunate person, the host will have bad luck in the new year, and will encounter difficulties and disasters. New Year's Eve in the home of friends and relatives as guests, before talking to the fireplace fire, to rattle, bless the host "open the door to good luck". Most of the New Year celebrations in Britain are held on New Year's Eve, and the "New Year's Eve Banquet" is one of them, which is divided into two categories: "Family Banquet" and "Group Banquet". The banquet usually starts at 8:00 p.m. on New Year's Eve and ends at midnight on New Year's Day. Various kinds of wine, food and snacks are provided for people to drink all night long. At midnight, people turn on their radios and listen to the New Year's bells from the church bells, which ring out with a great deal of joy, toasts and cheers, and sing "Daylight of the Past".

The "New Year's Eve Ball" is another celebration. By local inns and dances, night falls. People dressed in festive costumes, from all directions to these decorated lights brilliant dance floor, dancing in the beautiful music, thousands of people, but also gathered to the various squares, around the center of the plaza fountains and Eros elephant, singing and dancing, and enjoy the carnival. Television stations also do live broadcasts in the square, so that the people in the home "to observe the New Year" also **** enjoy the joy.

New Year's well water is the countryside of the British Midlands has long been a custom, it is said that the first to hit the well water is the new year's blessed people, hit the water is auspicious water, so early on New Year's Day, people are scrambling to carry buckets, to the well to go.

Germany

Celebrate New Year's Eve at the Albrecht Palace, a German countryside hotel, and then head outside to take in the natural beauty of the former Hanseatic League cities of Stendhal, Salzwedel, Garderagen, Osterberg, Tangemünde, Wilpen and the center of Havelberg.

Or start the New Year off right in the Potsdam countryside, starting with an indulgent breakfast buffet.

Or take a cruise on the Rhine on one of the Cologne-Düsseldorf Cruise Line's boat trips for those who like to take a boat trip on the Rhine, watch the fireworks, have a fun New Year's Eve party on the water, drink German beer, and dance to a disco.

After Christmas comes the New Year. Germans attach great importance to New Year's Eve, and they believe that a good New Year's Eve is directly related to the fate of the year. On New Year's Eve, people use fireworks, lights, and loud noises to quell evil spirits and welcome the new year.

Some small villages in the Black Forest mountains of Germany have the custom of holding a New Year's Eve parade on New Year's Eve. The villagers, after the New Year's Eve Mass, hold lanterns in their hands and start the New Year's Eve parade with the accompaniment of the church bells in a joyful manner. People sing songs and thank God for his blessings on earth. At this time, the priest and the mayor or mayor of the village make speeches, wishing everyone a happy New Year and all the best. At exactly 12:00 midnight, the newlyweds ring the bell in the belfry, and the sound of the bells signals the arrival of the New Year.

In the original border region, people rang in their gardens at dawn on New Year's Day so that fruit trees would be fruitful. In the Alps, on the other hand, people announced the arrival of the new year by cracking whips. This custom is reminiscent of the Germanic custom of warding off evil spirits with sound. In North Germany, on New Year's Day, children walk through the streets with "ringing pots" and sing songs. In Baden, there's an unusual New Year's song: children ring their neighbors' doorbells and recite short, popular poems to wish them a happy new year, often accompanied by a riddle.

The Germans also have the custom of wearing new clothes on New Year's Day, and they believe that wearing new clothes on New Year's Day is good for everything, and wearing new clothes on New Year's Day is bad for the year. They believe that wearing new clothes on New Year's Day is a good idea, and that wearing new clothes on New Year's Day is a bad idea. This custom is similar to the Chinese New Year in China. Auspicious objects in the German New Year include "lucky pig", "fish scale roe", "horseshoe" and so on. "Auspicious pig" recalls the Germanic gods in the totem boar, which is a symbol of sacredness and good luck. "Fish scales and roe are used to bring in wealth, and placing a few fish scales in a wallet is a sign of prosperity in the New Year. It is also customary to nail a horseshoe to the door in the New Year, which is said to have the effect of driving away evil spirits and suppressing demons.

The German New Year is celebrated for a week. During this period, every family should be set up a fir tree and horizontal tree, between the leaves of the tree tied full of silk flowers, said the flowers like brocade, spring full of people. The Germans climb onto chairs at midnight on New Year's Eve, a moment before the New Year's Eve, and when the bell rings, they jump off the chairs and throw a heavy object behind the backs of the chairs to show that they are throwing off the evils and jumping into the New Year. Children form bands, dress up in new clothes, carry harmoniums and accordions, and parade through the streets playing. Adults follow with colored flags, shouting and singing to celebrate the New Year. German women perform improvised comedy sketches on family themes in the New Year. In Germany, there is a New Year's custom in the countryside - "Tree Climbing Competition", in which young men compete to climb up a bare tree, and the first place winner is called the "New Year's Hero" to show that he has risen high in the world. The first place is called "New Year's Hero" to show that they will rise higher and higher in the future.

Japan

The Japanese attach special importance to New Year's Day, which is celebrated from December 29 to January 3 every year as a national vacation. The Japanese call December 31st "Daikoi Day", which is also known as New Year's Eve. On the night of New Year's Eve, the Japanese call it "New Year's Eve", when they pray to the gods for blessings to send away the old year of trouble and usher in a beautiful new year, called "Hatsu Atsu".

On New Year's Eve, at midnight, temples in cities and towns ring 108 bells to drive away evil, while Japanese people sit quietly and listen to the "New Year's Eve bells", the bells stop ringing to signal the arrival of the New Year. People then leave their seats and go to bed, hoping to get a good dream. On the morning of New Year's Day, family members sit together and tell each other the dreams they had on New Year's Eve, in order to measure the good and bad luck. The Japanese call the first day of New Year's Day "Shoichi", and the 1st - 3rd days "Sangaichi". On the first day of New Year's Day, the younger generation must first go to their parents to pay respects to their parents, and then go to the home of friends and relatives to pay respects to New Year's Day. New Year's Day is also a "food" festival, and people of all countries eat their own national food to pray for good luck. In Japan, on the day of the "main day", breakfast is very rich, eating sugar carrots, buckwheat noodles, etc., and drinking tsukudani. Thereafter, for three days in a row, they eat vegetarian, as a sign of piety, and pray for good luck in the coming year. Now most of the Japanese city people have given up the New Year's vegetarian uniform habit, instead of "New Year's Eve" to eat a meal of hollow noodles, in order to wish in the new year, health and longevity.

Canada

Canadians celebrate New Year's in a variety of ways, from champagne drinking, polar bear swimming, indoor bungee jumping and snowboarding.

The city of Halifax celebrates New Year's Eve with a wild concert in front of City Hall. Local musicians are planning an all-night funfair, while organizers claim to set off the most elaborate fireworks in Canada. Bus and ferry service in the city was free Saturday night.

Outside Halifax, swimmers prepared to ring in the New Year by braving the freezing ocean Sunday morning.

In Northern Newfoundland and Southeastern Labrador, some families were forced to ring in 2006 in the dark. Power was out in some areas due to a snowstorm. Spokeswoman Dawn Dalley said workers were unable to get to utility poles to make repairs because there was so much snow on them.

Also, 15 Manticoke suburbs plan to celebrate the arrival of the New Year as cities. Four years ago, those areas were forced to become part of Manticore along with 13 others, much to the chagrin of some residents. After a long battle and a referendum, the 15 districts finally regained their city status starting Jan. 1, the city said.

In Toronto, thousands of people were expected to descend on City Hall Plaza to celebrate the holiday, which included three musical performances. Toronto's public ****transit system is not free, but it is working extended hours.

Alberta and Shaskatchewan are preparing to celebrate the New Year with parties. Meanwhile sports enthusiasts will hold an inner-city bungee jump to enjoy the joy of free fall. Enjoy elegant nostalgic tunes at a big jazz concert in Calgary.

Fireworks will be set off at the Whistler Vacation Sanctuary in British Columbia. The Vancouver Polar Bears Swimming Association, the largest association in North America, will celebrate New Year's Day by hosting its 86th annual Winter Swim, with thousands of people jumping into English Bay for a swim today.