The customary process of the New Year's Eve

In the past, the hosting center of the New Year's Example was usually at a temple or a shrine or clan. It was organized by natural villages or clans, or by local authorities. Land God's "social realm" as a unit, the cost is generally by the clan or the village of respected elders to invite each family to contribute money to raise funds, according to the population charge (that is, a family *** how many people to collect how many shares, including infants and the elderly, before or now part of the village according to the number of men to collect money), commonly known as the "population money". "population money".

On the day of the New Year's Eve, most of the people who went out would return to their original villages to do the New Year's Eve, which usually lasts for three days, with the first day being called the "Start of the New Year's Eve", the second day being called the "Positive New Year's Eve", and the last day being called the "End of the New Year's Eve"; there are also some villages that collect money according to the number of men. The first day is called "Nianliu", the second day is called "Zhennianliu", and the last day is called "Nianliu Mei". At 6:00 a.m. on the first day of the New Year's Eve, three thunderbolts are set off and the Bodhisattva goes on a tour of the village, which is very lively: the thunderbolts are set off, the Bodhisattva's palanquin is carried, the gongs and drums are played and the oboe is blown, the flags are carried and the lanterns are carried and the umbrellas are played, the sacrificial vessels and paper boats are carried, and the Taoist priests and the hawkers who are doing small business are also behind them, and the procession goes out on a tour. If the village is very large, the team is very large, thousands of meters is not a problem, the bodhisattva will be from morning to night non-stop patrol, the Taoist priests to each place to draw a charm incantation, the ghosts received a paper boat, also known as "sealing the boat".

There will be many other programs on this day, such as puppet shows, lion dances, opera, fireworks and so on. The host also invites many friends and relatives to drink and be merry on this day.

After eating the New Year's Eve, there will be the afterglow of the program, "watching the New Year's Eve", also known as watching the opera. Traditionally, the biggest purpose of the New Year's Eve is to honor the gods, a variety of Han Chinese folk art performances to the best of their ability is to perform to the gods, in order to please the gods, in order to pray for the coming year of wind and rain, a good harvest. The "Dzongtai" is part of the Bodhisattva's parade. This is the most lively scene of the annual event. All the men and women of the village, young and old, carry offerings on their shoulders and bring them to the head of the village or to an open space in the middle of the village, where they set up an offering table. The most conspicuous offering is, of course, the chicken. Zhanjiang people do not have chicken, naturally, no chicken is not on the offerings. After the selection and cooking of a chicken, fat, bulging, oily, neck up a curve, look majestic. In its beak, the chicken always carries a leisai bag (equivalent to a money bag), ready to receive God's gifts. The heads of the chickens all face in one direction - the direction of God's coming. In addition to the chicken, wine, meat, fish, fruits, and all other things that people enjoy during the festival should be brought to God to enjoy. In some places, tall wax candles are inserted in the middle of the offerings, forming rows horizontally and vertically with flickering flames, adding a warm and mysterious atmosphere. Fireworks are indispensable. Along with other offerings, from all directions, a steady stream of them to the table, coiled with devotion to God, some almost as big as a millstone. The children unroll the disks of firecrackers and hang them together, linking them into dozens of yards of concentric knots for the whole village, and red arrays to drive away drought and welcome the gods.

"Bodhisattva parade" is also called "tour of God", to welcome the God's atmosphere is getting thicker and thicker, can be seen, can be heard, can be smelled. Suddenly, a drumbeat sounded, and people's faces immediately turned in awe, their eyes turned in one direction: the bodhisattva was walking towards them. The god was sitting majestically in a palanquin, being escorted by an honor guard. Naturally, there is the sound of Luo opening the way, there are drums and music, there are flags and banners ...... so beforehand even good firecrackers deafening sound, report people's infinite joy and respect; bundles of paper incense flickering fire, expressing people's infinite generosity and piety to the God; the smoke of a strong cover the sky and the sun, set off the God's kind eyes and smiling face. Only those offerings led by chickens remain motionless, waiting for the warmth of God's lips. The bodhisattva was carried around the offering table after three weeks, stopped, enjoy receiving people's sacrifice, so some people (mostly the elderly, women and children to join in the fun) began to bend down, can not stop kowtowing, praying ......

After the people and the god are satisfied, the god and began to get up and run to the other full of incense, The people who run to and from the place of public worship, full of incense, offerings and crowds of people, full of respect and piety, are called "Bodhisattvas". Bodhisattvas are invited from temples. They are the clay, wooden or gold bodies that people have molded.

The time for the parade of Bodhisattvas in each place is usually on the day of the New Year's Day, but in some places it is at noon or in the early hours of the morning, which varies from place to place. The procession for the parade of the god is formed by the villagers through various methods such as drawing lots before the annual ceremony. There are those who are responsible for carrying colorful flags, those who are responsible for carrying drums, those who are responsible for beating gongs and drums, and many children and adults in the village who follow the procession with homemade torches in their hands, while the villagers who are lucky enough to carry the Bodhisattva in the lottery are considered to be the lucky ones, as everyone believes that carrying the Bodhisattva in the coming year will get the blessing of the Bodhisattva. It is a spectacular sight to see such a huge procession of gods parading through the village and receiving the pilgrimage of the villagers. Feasting is the so-called "New Year's Eve", which is also the highlight of the New Year's Eve for western Cantonese people. Feasting is one of the most important events of the New Year's celebration. The sumptuous offerings prepared for the gods, in front of the gods, after a period of generosity, and without damage to the home, after some deep processing, put on the table, so that the guests eat a big meal of fish and meat.

Annual invitation is not like some people in order to ask for the kind of feast - with a clear purpose of going to the favor, annual invitation seems to invite and invite; to the guests do not have to be familiar with the owner, and even never heard of: with relatives or friends to come, all welcome, and even more good, the more guests the more the number of tables set up to prove that the more prosperous the family. The more guests come, the more tables are set up, which proves that the family is more prosperous. On the contrary, whoever has fewer guests will feel lonely. What is the purpose of this? Probably to celebrate the success of the old year and pray for good luck in the new year, for a kind of popularity. This is also apparently a legacy.