Chinese New Year Customs in Shanghai

The Spring Festival, often called "New Year's Day", which means the end of the old year and the beginning of the new year, is the biggest festival of the year. According to the custom of the New Year festival in old Shanghai, it starts from the lunar month of the old year and goes back to the winter solstice. Because the winter solstice, it is close to the end of the year.

Shanghai Spring Festival customs are as follows:

Yuyuan Garden

1, eat "winter solstice dinner", winter solstice night ancestor worship:

Winter Solstice In the old calendar in the middle and late November. Proverb "winter solstice is as big as the year", and there is "winter fat year thin" said, meaning that this festival is just like the New Year. Before the Republic of China, stores, workshops, village library school winter solstice day are on vacation. The day before the winter solstice, called "Winter Eve", the family ate "winter solstice night meal". Farmers also drink home-brewed old white wine. The morning of the winter solstice, congratulations to friends and relatives, gifts, called sending "winter solstice plate". Cai Yong in the Han Dynasty, "Dictator" in the winter solstice has been the record of worship and congratulations. Since the Song and Yuan, there is also "a Yang He winter" said. On this day, but also worship ancestors, winter solstice night ancestor worship, grinding glutinous rice flour steamed cake, do "winter solstice group", to vegetable meat, bean paste or radish as filling, and used to worship stove.

2, eat "Lapa congee":

In the month of Lunar New Year, the year began to busy. First of all, the eighth day of December to eat "Lahai congee" (also known as "Buddha congee", "five flavors of congee" or "seven treasures congee"). Legend has it that this day is the Buddha Shakyamuni became the day, the temple monks and nuns will be raised to the white rice, mixed with jujube, chestnut, diamond, beans, walnuts, water chestnuts, taro, carrots, cilantro, cilantro, greens, carrots, etc. Cooked into Laha congee, used to supply the Buddha outside the main is sent to the sandalwood (i.e., the Lord of the alms), to express the blessing of the large temples are also used to give to the poor people. After that, people also follow this cooking. Lu Fangweng of the Song Dynasty wrote in a poem: "The Buddha's congee is given to each other today, and the festival is new in the Jiangcun village."

3, send the god of the stove:

December 24 to send the god of the stove "towards the sky", called "thank the stove". The first one or two days, the street sells paper to send the stove sedan chair. Twenty-fourth night, the folk will be in the niche of the stove God please in the hall, with wine, fruit, livestock sweet, dumplings, Yuanbao sugar sacrificial stove, after the sacrifice, the god horse into the paper sedan chair incineration, even if "on the sky". Yuanbao sugar is to malt boiled into sugar, thought the god of the stove in the sky, inevitably talk too much, will say bad things about the folk, with sticky teeth of Yuanbao sugar to seal his mouth. Send stove the next day is dusting soot, wipe wash windows and doors, remove the rags, to do a cleaning, ready to clean and comfortable over the Spring Festival.

Traditional "send stove day" scene

4, eat "mouth number porridge":

December 25, the family eat " Mouth number porridge", this is a sugar and bean porridge, with red beans, cinnamon, ginger, sugar porridge, said to be immune to the plague. Interestingly, even cats and dogs were included in the "mouth count". Family members who have guests outside also have to leave a lamp.

5, thanks to the year:

In order to thank a year of peace, in the three or four days before New Year's Eve, choose a day "thanks to the year". A few days earlier has been busy grinding flour, cake, making dumplings, ready for the New Year's Day to worship the gods, ancestors and gifts to friends and relatives. Shanghai people's favorite New Year cake is the square sugar New Year cake of the Soviet style, and the round rice flour muffin. On the night of New Year's thanksgiving, the gods are worshipped with fragrant flowers, wine and tea, three animals, fresh fruits and cakes, but two plates of rice cakes and a pair of sweetened rice cakes in the shape of a Yuanbao must be offered. When the festival is held, the gongs and drums of the year are beaten, and firecrackers are also set off to send off the gods, which is a very dramatic event.

6, eat "New Year's Eve dinner":

New Year's Eve, families are more lively. In the evening, the remains of the ancestors (i.e., portraits, also known as "real") are hung out for worship. Then they have a "New Year's Eve dinner", called "Family Fun". Although there is no lack of delicacies on the table, two local specialties are put on the table: fried collapsed vegetables and sweet and sour silver mustard. In addition, there are also Ruyi (soybean sprouts) and sprouted beans, which means "rising hair". If a family member is traveling, a set of chopsticks and cups must be added to the meal as a sign of unity.

Preparing for the New Year's Eve dinner, delicacies piled high

7, posting Spring Festival couplets, posting the door god, posting New Year's paintings:

Spring Festival couplets, on New Year's Eve, also known as the "Spring Festival Poster", is the evolution of the ancient "Peach Symbol", the couplets, and the "Peach Symbol".

The second is to paste the color printing of the "God of the Door", the picture is the Tang Dynasty Qin Qiong and Yuchigong, instead of the ancient peach board painted on the Shentan, Yubi, in order to suppress the evil evil. In addition, the character "福" written on red paper is also pasted on the walls of the house and the stove. Nowadays, sticking the door god and "Fu" word is no longer popular, only the spring couplets are still preserved, only the content has been changed to fit the times of the new couplets.

Hanging and pasting New Year's paintings is also of interest to every family. In the old days, Shanghai's old school there are a lot of color printing woodblock prints and God mold of the workshop, but the output is not as exquisite as Yang Liuqing, Weixian and Suzhou Peach Blossom Dock and so on. After the opium wars, Shanghai has appeared in the stone prints. After the Republic of China, the prevalence of fashionable ladies and storytelling known as the "month card", a change in style, quite popular.

8, the New Year's Eve:

New Year's Eve, people stay up all night, known as the "New Year's Eve". Hall of red candles burning high, full of spring, a family reunion around the stove, wine and laughter, to celebrate the good night. On New Year's Eve, after the New Year's Eve dinner, the elders also give "New Year's money" to the younger generation. The old custom, with a red rope decorated with dozens of copper coins placed under the pillow of the child, wishing it a long life. After the Republic of China, the silver yuan wrapped in red paper, in the year of the children to pay tribute to them.

Shanghai in 1946, the elders of the New Year's Eve to the children to pay the New Year's Eve money

9, pay respects to the New Year, eat "three official vegetarian":

The first morning of the first day of the first month of the Spring Festival, the people ushered in the sound of the firecrackers in the morning. On this day, no matter men and women, young and old, freshly dressed, in front of the hall lit red candles, tea fruit, flour round, rice cakes to worship God, in order to pray for a year of peace and prosperity. Worship ancestors, to the elders to pay tribute to the New Year, the elders to give a candy dish, filled with "New Year's Eve fruit", which are red oranges, Li Gan, sugar cane, and so on, "orange Lai" resonance of good luck, sugar cane means "higher and higher", all for good luck! ", all take the meaning of good luck. For breakfast, we eat soup dumplings, rice cakes or spring rolls. Lunch is a ready-made feast. Some older people do not touch meat on the first day of the year, to vegetarian, called to eat "Sanguan Su".

In the afternoon, visit friends and relatives to celebrate the New Year (or to the second and third walk). Sometimes only send a paper to the friend's door, and then forget about it, this is called cast "New Year's invitation". To reply to a friend's visit, it was called "flying post". Zhang Chunhua's "Shanghai New Year's Qu Song" wrote: "The city is full of skirts and clogs in such a hurry that the guests and hosts circulate in the same way; going out in the middle of the afternoon and returning home late, I went around the steps to pick up the plum red on the name paper." Ming Wen Zhengming also has a poem: "do not seek to meet but visit, famous paper towards the full my hut, I also cast a number of paper with others, the world suspects that simple not suspected of false." Written also quite interesting. The hospitality of the guests are served with Yuanbao tea ("Yuanbao" refers to the green fruit), candy, peanuts, melon seeds, and soup dumplings or rice cakes.

On the first day of the year, do not sweep the floor, do not draw water, do not beg for fire, do not sip porridge, do not move the needle and thread. All of these rules have long since been broken. From the first to the fifth day of the month, stores and factories are closed.

The late Qing and early Republic of China, the younger generation in the first day of the first month to the elders of the family kowtow to pay tribute to the New Year

10, sacrifices to the God of Mang, playing the earth cow, to receive the God of Fortune:

The first of the year in the spring, the old Shanghai also has a ceremony to welcome the spring: sacrifices to the God of Mang, playing the earth cow, to the red and green silk knotted color hanging on the body of the earth cow. Ceremony by the local officials and gentry line in the eastern suburbs, the public tend to watch. Also set up a spring feast, "recommended Xin plate", eat spring pancakes, lettuce. After the Republic of this wind does not exist, but every year on the calendar always draw a picture of the herd boy whip spring cattle.

Fourth night or the first five children, businessmen to receive "five-way God of Wealth", the sacrificial wine, there must be a pair of live carp, "carp" and "Li" homophonic, take the meaning of wealth. Sacrifice will be released after the carp. It is the night to eat "God of Fortune wine".

City God Temple Lantern Festival

11, Lantern Appreciation, Lantern Festival:

The Lantern Appreciation is a great event on the 15th day of the first month of the first Yuan Festival. Thirteen on the lamp (also known as the test lamp), eighteen off the lamp, enough to make six days. "On the lamp rounds fall lamp cake", over the Lantern Festival at noon to eat wontons or noodles, and at night to eat dumplings or small rounds (commonly known as pearl rounds).

Soup dumplings on the streets of old Shanghai

The late Qing Dynasty, the early Republic of China, Shandong Zichuan peasants on the 15th day of the first month of the fire, the Lantern Festival

Two days before the Lantern Festival, the stove hall has been lighted up the "stove lights", which is the old custom from Wuzhong. The Lantern Festival is a feast of lights, the door of each house and house are hung up all kinds of lanterns, such as Yuanbao lamp, carp lamp, elephant lamp, flower basket lamp, lotus lamp, caper lamp, toad lamp, Ao Shan lamp, boat lamp, horse lamp, double dragon to grab the pearl lamp, etc., brilliant and eye-catching. Children often play with rabbit lanterns inside and outside the house. In the city downtown and bridges are built lamp shed, layers of hanging lights. Monasteries use bamboo poles to tie "tower lights". Huangpu River and the ship's masts are also hung with lights, such as stars in the distance. Outside the countryside, the fields between the carcasses hung up "looking at the field lights". The Qing season also prevails "wear horse lanterns", lights for the peasant women homemade, teams of strong farmers holding lights strung to each village, wishing a good year. "Dragon lanterns" is also a lively scene of the Lantern Festival in the countryside, dozens of huge dragon lanterns from all over the world will gather to dance and perform to snatch the dragon pearl, with drums and music following each other, the sound of joy, especially prevalent in the outskirts of Shanghai and the area of Nanxiang, Jiading. Zhang Chunhua's "Shanghai Yearly Qu Song" vividly depicts this: "Yan said that the year is full of grains, the dragon coiled nine sections of colorful clouds steam; glimpses such as the sound of the surging waves boiling, fire trees, thousands of rolling dragon lanterns."

12, burning incense, temple market:

Shanghai City God Temple and the Spring Festival customs also have a close connection. In the old days, people rushed to the City God Temple to "burn the first incense" at midnight on the first day of the new year. After a few days of incense, but more is to visit the temple market. Temple shops, department stores; tea house, bookstore also has a few, food store stalls are more; plus open-air stalls, with New Year's paintings, Spring Festival couplets, tugging bells, wind harriers and a variety of toys, as well as monkey games, juggling, and so on, attracted a large number of tourists, and forget to go back and forth. From the first to the fifth, the women and men gathered, the flow of people like a tide. The end of the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, Yuyuan Garden places by the various sectors of management, usually not open, only in the Spring Festival, CuiXiuTang, point spring hall and the inner garden only discretionary open, for people to visit.

The Lantern Festival Scenery

Every year on the third day of the first month, the inner garden routinely held plum blossom, the fourth from the various industries in the temple theater building for several days in the "New Year's Eve play", the sixth money industry in the garden of the city god. The night of the Lantern Festival, the temple lights market is the most lively, there are lamps for sale, there are ornamental lamps, hustle and bustle. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Wang Tao's "Ying under water edge miscellany" has a description of the night of the lanterns in the Temple: "On the night of the Lantern Festival, there were a group of Luoqi, and the strings of the pipes were like a boil, and the fire trees and the silver flowers were unusually brilliant. In the garden, Mingliao was open to the public, and all the tourists gathered. At that time, the moon was as bright as day, mincing in front of the street, the only thing I could see was the weaving of people going back and forth, the dust following the horses, the shadow chasing the people, which is not enough to describe it."

With the opening of Shanghai's commercial ports, people from other provinces have come to settle in Shanghai, the five parties mixed, customs and habits from all parts of the world have been introduced to Shanghai, a variety of the old Shanghai Spring Festival customs, many of which have also been reformed, renewed and modernized.