Traditional Culture Encyclopedia - Traditional stories - Analysis of Spring Festival Culture and Folk Customs in Northern China
Analysis of Spring Festival Culture and Folk Customs in Northern China
Twenty-three and twenty-four of the twelfth lunar month
Xiaonian Kitchen God (16) The 23rd or 24th of the twelfth lunar month, also called Xiaonian, is the day when people worship the kitchen. The folk song "Twenty-three, Melon Stick" refers to the sacrificial stove on the 23rd or 24th of the twelfth lunar month every year. There is a saying that "officials, three people, four boatmen and five", that is, the government holds sacrifices on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, ordinary people hold them on the 24th, and government boats hold them on the 25th. Off-year is the beginning and foreshadowing of the whole Spring Festival celebration, and there are two main activities: sweeping the New Year and offering sacrifices to stoves. In addition, there is the custom of eating stove candy. In some places, we also eat fire, sugar cakes, oil cakes and tofu soup. Offering sacrifices to stoves is a very popular custom in China. In the past, almost every kitchen had a kitchen god. People call this god "the Bodhisattva who commands life" or "the stove commands life". It is said that he is the "Nine-day East Chef Commanding the Kitchen Palace" sealed by the Jade Emperor, who is responsible for managing the kitchen fires of various families and is worshipped as the patron saint of the family. Kitchen shrines are mostly located in the north or east of the kitchen, with the idol of Kitchen God in the middle. Some people who don't have the niche of the Kitchen King even put the idol directly on the wall. Some gods only draw a kitchen god, while others have two men and women. The goddess is called "Grandma Chef". The sacrificial furnace on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month is closely related to the New Year in China. Because, a week later, on New Year's Eve, Kitchen God came to the world with good or bad luck that the whole family should get, and steamed steamed steamed buns with other gods (19). Kitchen God is considered to guide the gods in the sky. Other gods have ascended to heaven after the Chinese New Year, and only Kitchen God will stay in other people's kitchens for a long time. The ceremony of welcoming God is called "receiving God", and the kitchen god is called "receiving kitchen". Generally, it is New Year's Eve to pick up the kitchen, and the ceremony is much simpler. At that time, just put on a new stove lamp and burn incense in front of the stove niche. As the saying goes, "Men don't Yue Bai, women don't sacrifice to the kitchen". In some places, women don't sacrifice stoves. It is said that the kitchen god looks like a small white face and is afraid of women offering sacrifices to the kitchen stove, which is "suspected of men and women." People pay attention to eating jiaozi on the Festival of Sacrificing Kitchen, which means "Look at the windward side of jiaozi". Eat more cakes and buckwheat noodles in mountainous areas. In the southeast of Shanxi, the custom of eating fried corn is popular. There is a saying in the folk proverb called "Twenty-three, don't eat fried corn, pour a pot at the beginning of the new year". People like to bond fried corn with maltose and freeze it into pieces, which tastes crisp and sweet. After the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, every household should steam steamed bread. Generally speaking, it can be divided into two types: worshipping God and visiting relatives. The former is solemn, while the latter is gorgeous. Especially to make a jujube hill for Kitchen God. "A steamed bread, neighbors to help". This is often a great opportunity for folk women to show their dexterity. Steamed bread is a handicraft. After writing Spring Festival couplets on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, every household should write Spring Festival couplets. People pay attention to it, and God will stick it, and doors will stick it, and things will stick it, so Spring Festival couplets have the largest number and the most complete content. The couplets in front of the statues are particularly particular, and they are mostly words of admiration and blessing. The vulgar god is the god of heaven and earth, "the grace of heaven is as deep as the sea, and the virtue of posting Spring Festival couplets (twenty pieces) is as heavy as a mountain"; Land god alliance "white jade is born in the soil, gold is born in the ground"; God of wealth "God of wealth in heaven, God of wealth on earth"; Jing Shenlian "The well can pass through the four seas, and the home can pass through the three rivers". The Spring Festival couplets in granaries and barns all express warm congratulations and hopes, such as "five crops are abundant and six livestock are prosperous"; "The rice surface is as thick as a mountain, and the oil and salt are as deep as the sea"; "Nanshan cattle are like tigers, Beihai Ma Rulong"; "Big sheep flourish every year, and little sheep increase every month" and so on. There are also some single couplets, such as "Looking up to see happiness" in each room, "Going out to see happiness" across the door, "Prosperity is soaring to the sky" on the fire, "The courtyard is full of gold" on the tree, and "Deep-rooted foliage" on the stone mill. The couplets on the gate are the facade of a family, which are particularly exquisite, lyrical or picturesque, rich in content and witty. Eating stove candy is a kind of maltose, which is very sticky. The candy that is drawn into a long strip is called "Guandong Sugar", and the candy that is drawn into a flat circle is called "Tanggua". When it is put outside in winter, because of the cold weather, the honeydew melon is solidified firmly, and there are some tiny bubbles in it, which tastes crisp and sweet and has a special flavor. The real kwantung candy is too hard to break. Be sure to split it with a kitchen knife when eating. The material is very heavy and fine. The taste is slightly sour, there is no honeycomb in the middle, each piece weighs one or two, two or four, and the price is relatively expensive. Sugar, sesame sugar and non-sesame sugar. Sugar is made into melon shape or north melon shape. The center is empty and the skin thickness is less than five points. Although the size is different, the transaction is still calculated by weight. The big honeydew melon weighs one or two Jin, but few people buy it as a cover. After sweeping the dust and holding the stove festival, we officially began to prepare for the New Year. Dust removal is year-end cleaning, which is called "house cleaning" in the north and "dust removal" in the south. It is a traditional habit of China people to paste New Year pictures (19) before the Spring Festival. Clean thoroughly outside, in front of and behind the house to welcome the Spring Festival. The custom of "sweeping the house with dust on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month" has a long history. According to Lu Chunqiu, China had the custom of sweeping dust during the Spring Festival in the Yao and Shun era. According to the folk saying, because of the homonym of "dust" and "Chen", sweeping dust in the Spring Festival means "getting rid of the old and not being new", and its original intention is to sweep away all "bad luck". This custom has placed people's desire to break the old and create new ones and their prayers to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new.
1February 29th, New Year's Eve
The night on the last day of the twelfth lunar month, that is, the last day of the lunar year (30 days old and 29 days old) is called "New Year's Eve". It is connected with the Spring Festival (the first day of the first month), which is the day when people bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. Because the big moon has 30 days and the small moon has only 29 days, the date of New Year's Eve is different. But this day, whether it is 29 or 30, is customarily called "New Year's Eve". On New Year's Eve, the whole family get together to have a New Year's Eve dinner (the last meal of the Lunar New Year). After New Year's Eve, there is a custom of giving lucky money and staying up on New Year's Eve, which means staying up from the last day of the lunar new year to the first day of the following year. During the Zhou and Qin Dynasties, a ceremony of "exorcism" was held in the palace at the end of each year to beat drums to drive away epidemic ghosts, which was called "banishment". Later, the day before New Year's Eve was called "small exorcism". New Year's Eve is New Year's Eve, that is, New Year's Eve. Legend has it that this night is the time when the gods in heaven are in the lower world, so there is a custom of receiving gods among the people. Heaven and earth table is a temporary offering table, specially designed for New Year's Eve, mainly used to receive gods. Generally, there is no big Buddhist temple house to pay special attention to, because there are few sacrifices to the Buddha at ordinary times, and a large reward should be given to the Buddha at the end of the year. The content of Heaven and Earth Table is different from that of perennial Buddhist temples. Except for some hanging money, incense sticks, five sacrifices and big sacrifices, most of the idols worshipped are temporary, such as Percentage, which is a woodcut idol album. "Eighteen Buddhas and Gods in the Three Realms of Heaven and Earth", a complete book of color printing, and woodcut on rhubarb fringed paper; Fu Lushou Samsung photo, etc. Some of the above images will be incinerated after receiving the gods, such as "percentage", and some will not be incinerated until the evening shift or even the Lantern Festival. The position of the table is not uniform. For example, the room is spacious and can be put in the house. If there is no land at home, put it in the yard. Eating New Year's Eve and watching the Spring Festival Gala (Figure 6) are also the time when children play and set off firecrackers, and housewives are the busiest time in the kitchen. All the dishes on the New Year's Eve were cooked a few days ago, and the chef always cooked the New Year's Eve. In the north, jiaozi on the first day of New Year's Day will also be wrapped up on the evening of 30th. At this time, everyone's chopping boards are busy chopping meat and vegetables. At this time, the sound of chopping boards in every household, firecrackers in streets and alleys, abacus and accounting sounds in small shops are full of laughter and laughter, one after another, echoing, interwoven into a cheerful movement on New Year's Eve. Eating New Year's Eve is the most lively and enjoyable time for every household in the Spring Festival. On New Year's Eve, there was a big dinner, and the whole family got together, sat around the table and had a reunion dinner. The sense of accomplishment in my heart is beyond words. People not only enjoy the delicious food on the table, but also enjoy the happy atmosphere. There are big dishes, cold dishes, stir-fried dishes and snacks on the table. Generally, two things are indispensable, one is hot pot and the other is fish. The hot pot is boiling, steaming, warm and sultry, which indicates that it is thriving; "Fish" and "fish" are homophonic, symbolizing "more happiness and more celebration" and also meaning "more than one year". There are also radishes, commonly known as vegetable heads. Good luck. Lobster, fried fish and other fried foods, wish your family prosperity, such as "cooking oil with fire." Finally, dessert, I wish the future sweet. Even if you can't drink on this day, you can drink a little. There are many kinds of New Year's Eve dinners, including jiaozi, wonton, long noodles and Yuanxiao. , and each has its own emphasis. Northerners are used to eating jiaozi during Chinese New Year (the custom of eating jiaozi was handed down from the Han Dynasty), which means "making friends when young". Because the white flour jiaozi is shaped like a silver ingot, the pots on the table symbolize the meaning of "getting rich in the New Year, and the ingots are rolling in". Some wrapped jiaozi and some coins sterilized with boiling water, saying that whoever ate first would make more money. Eating wonton in the New Year is based on its original meaning. Legend has it that the world was in chaos before it was created, and Pangu began to create the universe. Long noodles, also known as longevity noodles, eat noodles in the New Year and wish you a long life. Watching the Spring Festival Gala is not an ancient custom, but since 1980s, due to the popularity of television, it has become an indispensable cultural feast for China people. Every year, more than/kloc-0.0 billion people around the world watch the Spring Festival Gala on TV or the Internet. Since the Han Dynasty, the alternation between the old and the new year is usually at midnight, and celebrating the New Year's Eve is one of the most important custom activities every year. The custom of observing the old age has a long history, which was first seen in the local chronicles of the Western Jin Dynasty: on New Year's Eve, all parties give gifts to each other, which is called "giving back the old age"; Wine and food are invited, which is called "not old"; Young and old get together to drink and wish a complete song called "age division"; Everyone stays up all night, waiting for dawn. This is the so-called "shou sui". On New Year's Eve, the whole family get together, eat New Year's Eve, light candles or oil lamps, sit around the stove and chat, wait for the time to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new year, and keep vigil all night, which symbolizes driving away all evil diseases and epidemics and looking forward to good luck in the new year. This custom gradually became popular. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong, wrote a poem "Shou Sui": "Cold words and winter snow, warm with spring breeze". To this day, people are used to celebrating the New Year's Eve. In ancient times, observing the age has two meanings: the old man's observing the age means "resigning from the old", which means cherishing time; Young people keep their age in order to prolong the life of their parents. Receiving God means dividing the old year into the new year, but the time of receiving God is not uniform. Some people begin to hold ceremonies as soon as their children arrive, some people begin to receive gods at midnight when their children are "right", and some people do so after their children are "right". After the sacrifice, the immortals from all walks of life returned to the Heavenly Palace, ignoring worldly affairs, and after New Year's Eve, that is, when the New Year came, they came to the world for deliberation. The ceremony of receiving gods was held at the table of heaven and earth, presided over by the oldest person in the family. Because the immortals live in different directions in heaven, the lower bound naturally comes in different directions. As for who to meet and where to come from, we should check the "constitution book" in advance, lead the whole family to hold incense in the yard, and follow their instructions to meet the gods. For example, Xin Weinian's "Constitution Book" states that "God of Wealth is due east, God of Wealth is due south, you God is northeast, West God is southwest, and Tai Sui God is southwest". After kowtowing according to the position, stand still until the incense is exhausted, and then kowtow. Finally, take down the fragrant roots, idols and ingots, put them into the money and grain pots already prepared in the yard, and burn them with pine branches and sesame stalks. When the gods were closed, firecrackers exploded and the atmosphere was extremely strong. After stepping on God, sesame stalks are spread from the street gate to the door of the house, and people walk on them and make a noise, which is called "stepping on the age" or "stepping on God". Because "broken" and "treasure" are homophonic, it means that the new year begins to exorcise evil spirits. In the old society, since the financial door was opened at midnight during the Spring Festival, people have sent the God of Wealth. The god of wealth shouted outside the door with a piece of paper in his hand, "Here comes the man who sent the god of wealth!" " At this time, the owner of the house welcomed the arrival of the god of wealth and gave the reward to the bearer. Say something auspicious when sending the god of wealth, such as "gold and silver treasures are rolling in!" There are a pair of golden lions on the left and a pair of golden phoenix on the right. In addition, some people dressed in red robes, gauze hats, beards on their mouths, yellow cloth bags on their backs, dressed as the god of wealth, followed by several drummers, and distributed statues of the god of wealth from door to door as a reward. Every time I go to someone's door, I will sing a bunch of auspicious words, such as "the left compartment is full of gold and silver, and the right compartment is full of treasure", until the owner happily takes over the statue of the god of wealth and gives them some money. These talents thank each other and fight harder later. In the sound of gongs and drums, go to another house.
The first day of the lunar new year
Setting off firecrackers (1 1) was originally called "New Year's Day", and the original meaning of "yuan" was "head", and later it was extended to "start". This day is the first day of the year, the first day of spring and the first day of the first month, so it is called "Sanyuan". Because this day is still the old dynasty, the moon dynasty and the Japanese dynasty, it is also called the "three dynasties"; Because it is the first Shuori, it is also called "Yuanshuo". On the first day of the first month, there are other nicknames, such as Shangri-La, Zheng Chao, Sanshuo and Shisan, which means the beginning of a year, January and a day. In the morning of the Spring Festival, firecrackers are set off first, which is called "setting off firecrackers". After the firecrackers, the ground is broken red, which is the so-called "full house". At this time, the streets are full of anger and joy. On the first day of the new year, men get up early, put on their most beautiful clothes, dress neatly, go out to visit relatives and friends, and wish each other a happy New Year. There are many ways to pay New Year's greetings, some of which are led by the same patriarch from door to door. Some colleagues invited several people to pay New Year greetings; Others get together to congratulate each other. This is called "group worship". Because it takes time and effort to pay New Year greetings at home, some elites and scholars later congratulated each other with famous cards, thus developing the later "New Year cards". When paying New Year greetings during the Spring Festival, the younger generation should first pay New Year greetings to their elders and wish them health and longevity. The elders can distribute the lucky money prepared in advance to the younger generation. It is said that lucky money can kill evil spirits, because "old" and "special" are homophonic, and the younger generation can spend a year safely with lucky money. There are two kinds of lucky money, one is to put colored rope in the shape of Jackie Chan at the foot of the bed, which was recorded in Yanjing year; The other is the most common, that is, parents wrap the money distributed to their children in red paper. Lucky money can be given in public after the younger generation pays New Year's greetings, or it can be secretly put under the child's pillow by parents when the child falls asleep on New Year's Eve. It is still very popular for elders to give lucky money to younger generations. Zhansui
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