Hebei Hengshui area on the twelfth of the first month of the rat to marry the tradition, please try to describe in detail, thank you!

The twelfth day of the first month, the legend is that the rat married, some places also said it is the rat's birthday, every family to wrap dumplings, dumplings to pinch, commonly known as pinch the rat's mouth. Some old people often also pack some rats (in fact, it is the rat-like dumplings), the night also knocked the "rat's eye".

The rat marriage was also once one of the main New Year's festivals, the date of which there are two ways of saying, some places is the first ten days of the first month, while some places is the first twelve days. The rat marrying a daughter-in-law expresses the ancient idea of the unity of man and nature: even the rats are rich enough to get a daughter-in-law, not to mention the farmers' harvest. On the day of the rat's marriage, many villagers would dance, some pretending to be rats and others pretending to be rats' daughters-in-law to celebrate.

Bundle up scissors and hide them: On that day, the daughter-in-laws of each family should bundle up the scissors they usually use with red ropes or red silks, and hide them in drawers and under mattresses. The villagers said, the rat festival this day can not make the scissors, as long as you can not hear the scissors "click" sound, the family will not hear a year "click click click click" the sound of rats high things.

Collecting old shoes with a basket on their backs: in the morning, children from every household collected old shoes from door to door with a basket on their backs, and the village people were happy to send the "evil" (shoes) out. Usually, the village people will wear out the old shoes are not sold as scrap, but specifically reserved for the Rat Festival this day to put to great use. This year, 66-year-old villager Han Dawei said, in addition to the rat hole, but also used to hide in people do not wear the old shoes nest, under the mouse.

Wrapping dumplings, "pinch the mouth of the mouse": at noon, families are wrapped dumplings, the reporter saw, the villagers are pinched dumplings into a mouse-like, with a mouth, ears, tail, but also with a green bean as the eyes, simply a mouse, just like a piece of face painting art. Villagers said, dumplings is "pinching the mouth of the mouse", the mouth of the mouse pinched to death, the mouse can not bite things, home a year there will be no rats.