Tongan Yaotou's Spring Festival Customs

People in southern Fujian always celebrate the Spring Festival as "the first month of the year". "New Year's Eve" pays attention to eating, and "the first month" pays attention to playing. On New Year's Eve, the whole family gets together and has a family reunion dinner around the stove. Even relatives who go out for business or work will come back for the New Year. Some can't go home, and they have to put a pair of chopsticks and glasses on the table. In addition to eating good food and wine around the stove, there is also the custom of eating long dishes. Everyone should cook a spinach with a head and a tail, which means that the whole family will be safe and healthy for many years.

Eating pearl shells is also a meaningful custom in southern Fujian, and boiling nine-ripe pearl shells with clear water is delicious to drink. After eating pearl mussels, shell them. Wash the shell after the banquet, and then the elders at home will scatter the shell under the bed and say, "shell money, big money next year." According to legend, this custom is related to the ancient use of shells as currency. Therefore, locals also call it clam shell money.

On New Year's Eve, ordinary people will put a bowl of white rice in the hall with a red spring flower on it, which is called Spring Rice and New Year Rice. Because the spring in Minnan dialect is homophonic with the rest, it means that there is enough food for the Spring Festival every year.

There was a folk custom of jumping brazier in the early years. Now, some villages still have it. After the New Year's Eve, young people piled firewood and made a fire in the village open space, jumping over the fire one by one. Many spectators read beside them: "Jump into the brazier, jump into the brazier, and the male bears the gold and the female bears the silver;" Jumping into the brazier, a large flock of cattle and sheep. "Some people read:" Jump into the brazier and make a fortune last year; "Jumping out is carefree and carefree." "If you skip the east, the food will not be empty. If you skip the west, the money will be full."

After New Year's Eve is the first day of the first month. This day is mainly about playing or visiting relatives and friends, congratulating each other early in the morning and deepening the feelings of the neighborhood. Many families follow the custom of eating noodles and noodles on the morning of the first day of junior high school, indicating that the new year is healthy and long. However, there is a taboo, that is, you can't drink soup at the first bite. If you eat soup, you will often get caught in the rain when you go out this year. This is your wish, too.

During the Spring Festival, the customs in southern Fujian are not consistent. For example, on the third day, Hui 'an and other counties are called Home Returning Day. But Tongan rural area is different. In China, it is usually the second day of the first month, that is, "the son-in-law accompanies his wife back to her mother-in-law's house for dinner."

The traditional custom in southern Fujian is not to visit at home on the third day of the first month, but to worship the dead at home. There is a saying that "the first day is early, the second day is early, and the third day is full of food and clothing", which means that there are no guests at home on the third day, and it is okay to get up late. So how did this custom come from? According to legend, pirates occupied Wuyu, an outer island in southern Fujian, during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty. One year on New Year's Eve, officers and men were busy celebrating the New Year and neglected their defense. A large number of Japanese pirates seized the opportunity to attack the city, and the soldiers and civilians rose up against the enemy. After two days and three nights of fierce fighting, the Japanese army was defeated, but the soldiers and civilians in the city suffered heavy casualties. On the third day, people buried their relatives and friends, mourned the dead and cried loudly, so they didn't have time to go to other families to pay New Year greetings. On the third day of the second year, Minnan residents took this day as a taboo day, and over time, it became a routine.

There is an interesting story about the formation of the festival "Tiangong Sheng" on the ninth day of the first month. More than 300 years ago, the Qing army attacked Minnan, and in the case of weak strength, it abandoned the islands of Jin and Xia and retreated to Taiwan Province. Legend has it that in1February of that year, the Qing government issued two orders: First, the people of the whole country asked every household to light lanterns and tie ribbons at the first day of the first month; second, the "haircut order" changed the habit of keeping their hair. At that time, people all over the country were unwilling to change the habit of having full hair, thinking that cutting hair was a sign of treason and unfilial. As a result, a struggle against shaving quickly began. Due to strong opposition from the people, the order of lighting lanterns and tying colored ribbons on the first day of the first month was not carried out, so the Qing government had to announce the cancellation of the "haircut order" on the eighth day of the first month. People in southern Fujian and neighboring counties were very happy to hear this news. On the ninth day of the first month of the first month, they all slaughtered pigs and sheep, lit lanterns, made colorful decorations, burned incense and fired guns to celebrate the victory in the struggle against the "haircut order". When the officials of the Qing Dynasty knew this, they asked what festival it was, so people cleverly deceived them and said it was God's birthday. Celebrating every year, even the officials in southern Fujian are no exception, so the ninth day of the first month became "Tianshou".