What are the customs of the Spring Festival?

Customs of the Spring Festival include welcoming spring, gluing spring oxen, playing spring oxen, biting spring, and trekking in spring. In addition, in ancient times, a ceremony was held on the first day of spring, which included prayers to the mother of the earth. The ceremony of gathering and drinking after the ceremony was a prototype of the later rituals of "reunion" and "New Year's greetings".

1, welcome spring

Lichun is the beginning of spring, the time sequence into the spring. At this time, although the spring is still cold, but the cold winter is over, spring back to the earth, everything is revived, nature is full of vigor. Therefore, the ancients attached importance to the spring, the ritual of welcoming spring. Welcome spring is an important activity of spring, must be prepared in advance, preview, commonly known as acting spring. Then only on the day of spring officially welcome spring.

Welcoming spring is carried out on the day before the first day of spring, the purpose is to bring back the spring and the god Jumang. In the past, there were pictures of the Jurmang god and the spring bull on the annual calendar, as well as "the turtle announcing the spring" and "the bronze drum repelling epidemics," which were important activities on the day of the first day of spring at that time.

Jumang is the god of spring, i.e. the god of grass and trees and the god of life. The image of Jumang is a human face and bird body, the rules, the main spring. In Zhejiang region, there is an act of welcoming spring on the day before the spring. The day before the first day of spring carried the Jumang God out of the city to the mountains, and at the same time sacrificed to the year of the year. Tai Sui for the value of the god of the year, sitting in charge of the year, in charge of the year of the blame, so the folk are also more sacrifices.

Welcome to the god held more than a large class of drums and blowing, lifting the cabinet, the ground theater, playing cattle and other activities. Some other areas are posted "spring breeze" and other New Year's paintings. Guangzhou area in the spring before and after, beat the drums to drive away the epidemic, pray for peace.

2, paste the spring cow

Paste the spring cow this customary activity is in the spring before the start, according to the traditional way, by the county government (county office) to hire the good craftsmen of paper, in the spring before the party to the county, elaborate spring cow images.

Generally tied with bamboo gimlets into the skeleton of the cow, with the spring wood for the legs, and then paste the paper, paint, an image of the cow on the production of success. It is said that the paste on the red and yellow paper more, that year on the "grain harvest"; paste on the black paper, the year the harvest is not good. So the governor arranged to use more red and yellow paper to win the hearts of the people. After the spring bull paste, held a ceremony to open the eyes, that is, the establishment of incense, worship.

3, playing spring cattle

Playing spring cattle, also known as whip spring cattle, whip cattle, the origins of the earlier, and then has been preserved, but changed in the spring, prevalent in the Tang and Song dynasties, especially the Song Renzong promulgated the "earth cow scripture" to make the whip cattle custom spread more widely, as an important element of folk culture. The significance of whipping the spring bull is not limited to sending cold air and promoting spring plowing, but also has a certain witchcraft significance.

Different regions have their own characteristics to welcome the spring cattle. When welcoming the spring cow, kowtow to the spring cow in turn. After worship, the people swarmed up, the spring cow broken, grab the spring cow soil home, scattered in the cattle pen. It can be seen that the spring bull whip is also a kind of reproduction witchcraft, that is, after welcoming the spring bull soil, sprinkled in the cattle pen can promote the reproduction of cattle.

4, bite spring

Spring seasonal diet is to make spring cake, spring plate, food spring vegetables and other dietary customs, to welcome spring, celebrate spring. Spring cake is a typical spring seasonal food, from the Wei, Jin and Southern Dynasties era, people welcome spring food spring cake. Jing Chu chronicle of the year: "spring day, family and friends will feast, new Qin cake, lettuce, post 'Yichun' two words." Spring cake is a kind of thin cake, take lettuce, fruit, cake, sugar, etc. in the plate, to welcome the new meaning, then called "spring plate", can also be given to friends and relatives to taste.

5, spring

After the spring, people in the days of spring, like to go out in spring, commonly known as the city to explore the spring, spring, which is also the main form of spring tour.

The above reference? Baidu Encyclopedia - Spring Rising