The customs and habits of Han people celebrating the Spring Festival

The Spring Festival of the Han nationality is the most important festival in a year. Go to ancestral graves, visit flower markets, make social fires, prepare new year's goods, paste Spring Festival couplets, paste New Year's pictures, paste paper-cuts, paste blessings, light candles, light fires, set off firecrackers, celebrate the New Year, give lucky money, pay New Year's greetings and visit relatives.

The third day of the first month is the day when Nu Wa herded sheep, so it is called "Sheep Day". On this day, people cannot kill sheep. If the weather is good, it means that sheep will be raised well and sheep farmers will have a good harvest this year.

Burning door god paper

In the old society, on the third day, pine and cypress branches were burned together with the janitor's note hanging on the festival to show that the New Year had passed and it was time to start business. As the saying goes, "if you burn the janitor's paper, one will seek physiology."

Guzi birthday

People think that the third day of the first month is Xiaomi's birthday. On this day, people hope to sacrifice and pray for the new year. They don't eat rice.

Xiaonianchao

That is, tianqing festival. The court festival in the Song Dynasty, the first year of Song Zhenzong Dazhong Xiangfu, was spread all over the world because of the gobbledygook, so Zhenzong issued an imperial edict, which designated the third day of the first month as Tianqing Festival, and officials and others had five days off. Later, it was called Xiaonian Dynasty, which did not sweep the floor, beg for fire or draw water, just like the old dynasty.

Post "Red Mouth"

In the south of China, on the morning of the third day of New Year's Eve, a "red mouth" is posted. I think this day is easy to quarrel and not suitable for New Year's greetings. The so-called "red mouth" is usually made of a red note about seven or eight inches long and one inch wide, with some words about peace and good luck written on it (the content has a certain format, such as "1994, the front door of JOE was nailed to the front door of the gods, and the men and women who stole Mars were lucky"). These rubbish are all piled up on the second day of the first grade, and they should be cleaned up and dumped together by the third grade. Otherwise, it is equivalent to the outflow of gold and silver at home. In a word, sticking a "red mouth" is to make people feel that they can go in and out safely all year round, will not quarrel with others, and will not encounter all kinds of unfortunate disasters, and make more money at home and all the best.

"year of sending"

Generally speaking, the ceremony of sending gods and ancestors back to heaven is held at night.

The fifth day of the first month is commonly known as the fifth day of the first month. Many taboos can be broken after folklore tells them on this day. According to the old custom, you should eat "dumplings" for five days, which is called "boiled cakes" in the north. Now some families only eat for three or two days, and some eat every other day, but there is no one who doesn't eat. This is true from the royal residence to the small houses in the streets, even for entertaining guests. Women no longer taboo, began to visit each other and congratulate each other. Newly married women go home on this day. It is not appropriate to do things on the day of the break, otherwise something will happen this year. In addition to the above taboos, the custom of breaking Mayday is mainly to send the poor, welcome the god of wealth and open the market for trade. New Year pictures: God of Wealth

Sacrifice to the god of wealth

Southerners sacrifice to the god of wealth on the fifth day of the first month. According to folklore, the God of Wealth is the Five Gods. The so-called five roads refer to the east, west, north and south, which means that you can get money when you go out of five doors.

Lu Gu's Jia Qinglu in Qing Dynasty said: "The fifth day of the first month is Shen's birthday. Sacrificing the past golden gongs and firecrackers, eager to make a profit, must get up early to meet, called the end of the road. " He also said: "The road ahead today is the God who walks in the Five Sacrifices. The so-called five channels, namely the east, west, north and south middle ears. " Shanghai has the custom of grabbing the road head in the past years. On the fourth night of the first month, prepare sacrifices, cakes, incense sticks and other things, beat gongs and drums to burn incense and worship, and sincerely respect the god of wealth. The fifth day of the fifth lunar month is the birthday of the God of Wealth. In order to compete for the market, it is called "grabbing the road" or "grabbing the god of wealth" before April of the lunar calendar.

The five sacrifices are to worship the household gods, kitchen gods, land gods, door gods and walking gods. The so-called "road head" is the god of five sacrifices. Anyone who receives the God of Wealth will offer sheep-headed carp. Offering sheep's head means "auspiciousness", and offering carp is the homonym of "fish" and "profit", which makes a poem auspicious. People are convinced that as long as the god of wealth can show his spirit, he can make a fortune.

Therefore, every new year, people will open doors and windows, light incense and set off firecrackers to welcome the arrival of the god of wealth at 0: 00 on the fifth day of the first month. After receiving the god of wealth, everyone still has to eat road wine, often until dawn. Everyone is full of hope of getting rich. I hope the god of wealth can bring home gold and silver treasures in the new year and make a fortune. They say the sooner you meet the end of the road, the better. The first one you receive is the true god, which is particularly effective, so it is called "grabbing the road". In some places, the fourth day of January is really "grabbing the road" and it has become a custom. Since the road god is no longer the protector of the journey, people will no longer sacrifice it when traveling. In the north, there is the custom of eating jiaozi, which is a good sign of getting rich.

short for Shenyang/a surname

Reuters is the God of Wealth that Wu believes in. By convention, the fifth day of the fifth lunar month is his birthday, which is quite spectacular.

The road head is also called "Five Road Gods". It is said that there was a Five-way God at the end of Yuan Dynasty who died to resist foreign invasion, so people worshipped him as a god and called him "Five-way God". However, it seems that the five gods have nothing to do with who the God of Wealth is. Or the five-way god is actually the five-way god, or the five-way god. After Tang Bin banned Fang from going to Wu Tong Temple in the Kangxi period, the people dared not worship the Five-Road God, so they changed their names to Reuters. Generally, this kind of road head is regarded as absent-minded in the ancient five sacrifices, and the so-called five roads are also east, west, north and south; Wealth and goods follow the road, so people regard walking as a god of wealth and are willing to offer sacrifices, hoping that it can make money or make profits when traveling. It is the custom of "ancestral way" for the ancients to travel and sacrifice to the road gods for peace; When the Wu custom meets the Taoist head, it sacrifices the Taoist god, and this Taoist god becomes the god of wealth. Due to the development of commerce and the intensification of commodity circulation, the road god has become a god of wealth. Wealth and goods travel between land and water, and people intuitively think that roads dominate wealth and goods in the dark.

As for people who worship the Road God on the fifth day of January and take this day as their birthday, it is the reason why the "Five" of the Road God is related to the "Five" of the fifth day. The same is true for the North to offer sacrifices to the "five poor" on this day. In the first month, but not in other months, it is a new year's atmosphere. Auspicious, rich in financial resources, and wealth goes hand in hand.

Send the poor

On the fifth day of the first month, "seeing the poor off" is a unique custom among the ancient people in China. It means offering sacrifices to poor ghosts (poor gods). Poor guy, also known as "poor boy". According to Song Chen Yuanjing's Guang Ji at the Age of Years and Wen Zong Bei Wen, "When Zhuan Xu was in high spirits, a son was born in the palace, and he was called a poor son in the palace. Later, in the first month, he died and was buried in the palace, saying, "Today, I will send the poor. "According to legend, this poor man is the son of Zhuan Xu. He is weak and short, and likes to wear rags and drink porridge. Even if new clothes are given to him, he will tear them up or burn them out before wearing them, so the size of the palace is poor. "On this day, every household uses paper as a woman, which is called" sweeping woman ","five poor women "and" five poor mothers ". They carried paper bags on their backs, cleaned up the dirty soil in the bags and sent them to the door to burn them. This custom is also called "sending poor soil" and "sending poor daughter-in-law out". In hancheng city, Shaanxi Province, people should avoid going out on the fifth day, and roast fresh meat in a pot, and stir-fry beans to make them crack and make a sound. They think that they can break the poor and get rich. In addition, in the old New Year's Eve or the fifth day of the first month, you should eat very full, commonly known as "filling the poor pit". The popular custom of sending the poor reflects the traditional psychology of China people who generally hope to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new in the new year, send away the old poverty and hardships and welcome a better life.

open the market

During the old custom Spring Festival, large and small shops closed together from the beginning of the New Year, but opened on the fifth day of the first month. People are used to taking the fifth day of the first month as the holy day of the god of wealth, thinking that choosing this day to open the market will definitely make a fortune.