A century of immigration brought China traditional culture. Jinshan Overseas Chinese Association celebrates "People's Day"

Wu Zhuoming, an overseas Chinese journalist, reported in San Francisco on February 7: February 9 is the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, also called "People's Day", which means everyone's birthday. "Everyone's Day" has a long history, and the San Francisco Overseas Chinese Society still retains and inherits this traditional cultural custom of China. Every year on People's Day, Kun Zhong, the head of most overseas Chinese delegations, will get together to celebrate their birthdays, and some overseas Chinese delegations will also hold a spring banquet on this day to celebrate people's birthdays.

Historically, People's Day is also called People's Victory Day, People's Celebration Day, Population Day and People's Seventh Day. The origin of Man Day is related to the legendary story that Nu Wa creates a creature every day. According to the biography of Northern History Wei Shou, Dong Xun, a representative of the Jin Dynasty, said in the Customs of Answering Questions: "The first day of the first month is a chicken, the second day is a dog, the third day is a pig, the fourth day is a sheep, the fifth day is a cow, the sixth day is a horse, and the seventh day is a man." It is added that the eighth day is Valley Day, the ninth day is Sunlight, and the tenth day is Earth Day. So this day is the birthday of mankind. Some people began to observe daily customs in the Han dynasty, and they began to pay attention to it after the Wei and Jin Dynasties.

This traditional custom has been passed down in the overseas Chinese community in San Francisco. When people meet on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, many people will add "Happy Birthday to you" in addition to congratulating the New Year. Some people were shocked when they first heard such congratulations from others at the Jinshan Overseas Chinese Association on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. Only when they were told that the seventh day of the seventh lunar month is also called "People's Day", that is, everyone's birthday, did they know that there is still a saying of "People's Day" in China traditional culture.

When someone in the family has a birthday, most families will have a happy dinner to celebrate. Everyone has a birthday together, and the enthusiasm for celebrating can be imagined. Kun Zhong, the head of many traditional societies, offices and clan associations of Jinshan Overseas Chinese Society, will have dinner on this day, either in restaurants or at the venue; Eating out is convenient and casual, and eating at the venue is economical.

The tradition of American Traceability General Church is to hold a spring banquet on People's Day. The scale of the Spring Banquet held by this general museum can be said to be one of the best among Chinese ports in the United States. More than 65,438+020 seats are held in three restaurants in China, San Francisco every year. In addition to the heads of the San Francisco Traceability General Office and the former General Office, as well as the three surnames of Lei, Fang and Kuang Kunzhong, the heads of Traceability General Offices all over the United States will also attend the Spring Banquet. In addition, major organizations of Jinshan Overseas Chinese Society will be widely invited.

Because everyone cares about celebrating People's Day, it is difficult to hold other celebration dinners on this day. One of the difficulties is that most restaurants are fully booked, and it is difficult to find a suitable restaurant; The second difficulty is that even if you find a suitable restaurant, you may not be able to find quite a few people to participate in the celebration.

160 years ago, people from Guangdong coastal areas came to the United States, and they also brought China's traditional culture overseas. Today, the tradition of celebrating People's Day is still followed by overseas Chinese in Jinshan and passed down from generation to generation.