Who knows the historical allusions of Putian?

"New Year's Eve is a year, and the fourth day of the first month is another year. The custom of Putian passing two years in five days is unique in Fujian Province. " Lin Jindai, director of Putian Local Records Committee, said proudly. In addition to New Year's Eve and the first day of the first month, the fourth day of Putian is also the first day of the New Year. The "Year" of this day is called "Big Year" in Putian, and its excitement and scale are the same as the "Year" of New Year's Eve. On the fourth day, Putian people who stick to the tradition will eat longevity noodles and "red balls". On the morning of the fifth day, every household in Putian will set off firecrackers like the first day of the New Year, immersed in the festive atmosphere. Lin Jindai said that there are two major festivals mainly because the historical experience of Japanese invaders invading Putian changed the custom of the Spring Festival.

■ White Spring Festival couplets

It is precisely because of this history that the custom of pasting white couplets is also very popular in Putian. It turned out that every household in Putian posted white couplets on the second day of the first month, but by the fourth day of April, they were used to posting red Spring Festival couplets. In the contradiction between mourning for relatives and auspicious festivals, people choose a compromise, that is, cover the red Spring Festival couplets on the newly posted ones, revealing a white Spring Festival couplets to show their grief. Since then, every Spring Festival in Putian area, it is popular to paste white couplets. Lin Jindai said that the folk custom of the Spring Festival contains the unique emotional memory of Putian people.

Hong Tuan Shang Zhuo Xie Xia Wei Rd

The fireplace is the best in Putian for the New Year. Puxian villagers, especially in rural areas, should prepare fried tofu, fried sweet potatoes, pancakes, red oranges, chickens, ducks, pigs and sheep, and indispensable "red balls" before the 30th anniversary. "Red Ball" is made of glutinous rice flour and wrapped with mung bean or cooked glutinous rice. It tastes sweet but not greasy. Huang Xiufeng, a folklore expert in Putian, said that for Putian people, the "red group" has profound implications, red is a festive color, the circle symbolizes family reunion, and the sweetness of the "red group" also symbolizes the sweetness of life in the new year.

On New Year's Eve, every household began to bid farewell to the New Year, firecrackers exploded in the countryside and children cheered to welcome the New Year. Then on New Year's Eve, the halls of various households in Puxian are brightly lit, and the whole family, men, women and children, drink at the same table, and everyone gets together to enjoy family happiness. In some villages in Puxian, it is more important to put charcoal under the oven and dining table to show the affection, reunion and prosperity of the whole family.

When the immortals in Putian gather around the stove, most of the dishes on the table have auspicious meanings, such as crucian carp (the common name of the mother of crucian carp, homophonic), crab (meaning perfect), shrimp (pronounced "harmony" in Putian dialect, meaning a family is harmonious and makes money) and sweet meatballs (meaning sweet and beautiful life). In rural areas and some suburbs of Putian, Putian people have to raise several live crucian carp in the kitchen tank during the New Year, which means more than a year. Puxian people attach great importance to family relations. On weekdays, everyone is busy outside, but in the New Year, we must do everything possible to get home for reunion. New Year's Eve is a time for relatives to get together. Therefore, in order to show my thoughts for my loved ones, if someone really can't go home, put a pair of chopsticks on the dining table.

Lantern Festival "Candle Mountain"

Puxian Lantern Festival has strong regional characteristics. On the fifteenth night of the first month of every year, every household in Puxian area is decorated with lights from the streets and alleys of the city to the farmhouses. People set off firecrackers and fireworks, beat gongs and drums, perform songs and dances, walk on stilts and light Youlong. All societies, altars, palaces and temples hold games to welcome the gods. Thousands of people go out in huge teams. People are holding five-color flags, carrying boys, running ten policemen, loading stories, beating gongs and drums, playing ten notes and eight music, putting guns and shooting spears. Every township has an open-air Puxian opera, as well as lanterns, dragon dances and lion dances, which are almost all night.

On the night of the fifteenth day of the first month, every household in Puxian area is covered with lanterns and colorful decorations. Many villages and towns also hold lantern parades, commonly known as "big lanterns". Among lanterns, all kinds of colored lights compete with each other, including dragon lanterns, phoenix lanterns, lotus lanterns, unicorn lanterns, moon rabbit lanterns, fish lanterns, jade beads lanterns and glass lanterns. Lanterns are painted with figures, stories, flowers, insects and fish, birds and animals, pavilions and other landscapes. The Judas lanterns in Xianyou Fengting Town are the most spectacular. There are lanterns, solve riddles on the lanterns, tower lights, hexagonal lights, centipede lights, colorful blue lights and vegetable headlights. In Gao Xia Village, Huating, Putian, every household has to install lanterns on wooden boards about 3 cm long and 6 cm wide every year, and organize a big lantern tour of 3,000 to 4,000 people. Swim from Gao Xia Village to Guanghua Temple in the city.

Mazu Lantern Festival. In Puxian coastal islands, especially Meizhou Island, there is a custom of holding Mazu Lantern Festival. The tenth day of the first month is Mazu Lantern Festival. In addition to the ancestral temple, dozens of other Mazu temples inside and outside the island hold Lantern Festival on the eighth to eighteenth day of the first month, that is, Mazu in each temple is moved to the temple, where ten tones and eight music are played and Taoist priests are invited to entertain. Then, according to the activities of each palace, Mazu was moved back to the palace. Mazu Tempel (Palace) has the custom of "Candle Mountain" in the Lantern Festival. Candle Mountain is a wooden frame with thousands of candle nails on it. Good men and women brought pairs of candles from home and put them on the wooden frame to burn. From a distance, they look like Candle Mountain. People will put the candle in a place only five or six centimeters before putting it out, and take it home to continue to light it, indicating good luck and peace. In Wenfeng Palace (Mazu Palace) in the urban area, Candle Mountain is also lit in Lantern Festival Palace. Every year on the Lantern Festival night, many citizens rush to see the candlelight mountain in Wenfeng Palace. The scene is quite spectacular.