Folk composition

Spring Festival; the Spring Festival; Chinese New Year

Folk custom The traditional festival in China-Spring Festival is the first day of the first lunar month every year, which is the New Year of the China lunar calendar. Among the traditional festivals in China, this is the most important and lively one. Because the Lunar New Year is celebrated in late winter and early spring, people also call this festival "Spring Festival". China people have many traditional customs to celebrate the Spring Festival. People have been preparing for the Spring Festival since the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month. During this period, every household should clean up, buy new year's goods, stick grilles, hang New Year pictures, write Spring Festival couplets, steam rice cakes, prepare all kinds of food, and prepare to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. The eve of the Spring Festival is called "New Year's Eve". New Year's Eve is a time for family reunion. The family sat around, ate a big dinner, and talked and laughed until dawn. It's called shou sui. When the bell rings at 0: 00 on New Year's Eve, people will eat jiaozi. In ancient times, it was called "Zishi", and the Zishi on New Year's Eve was the time when the old and new years alternated. People eat jiaozi at this time, which means "making friends when they are young". This is also the origin of the name "jiaozi". New Year's Eve is the first day of New Year's Day. From the first day of junior high school, people will visit relatives and friends and pay New Year greetings to each other. Paying New Year greetings is an important custom in the Spring Festival. During the New Year, everyone should say some auspicious words to wish happiness and health. The custom of the Spring Festival-setting off firecrackers at midnight, the New Year bell rings, and firecrackers shake the earth and resound through the land of China. In this "three yuan" moment of "year yuan, month yuan, time yuan", some places still set up "Wang Huo" in the courtyard to show that the spirit is soaring and prosperous. Around the blazing fire, the children set off firecrackers and danced happily. At this time, the bright lights in the house, the sparks in front of the court and the deafening noise outside the house pushed the lively atmosphere of New Year's Eve to a climax. Firecrackers are a sign of saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new, and also an expression of festive atmosphere. Business people. Setting off firecrackers has another meaning: they set off firecrackers on New Year's Eve to make a fortune in the new year. But according to the old custom, respecting the god of wealth should be the first, and setting off firecrackers should be the last. Legend has it that if you want to get rich, firecrackers will ring at the end. In the past, since the opening of the financial door 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: "The God of Wealth is coming!" " At this time, in order to meet the God of Wealth, the owner of the house gave a reward to the bearer and sent it to the mouth of the God of Wealth. Of course, it is inevitable to say something auspicious. For example, "the treasure is rolling"! On the left is a pair of golden lions, and on the right is a pair of golden phoenix! And so on. There is also a man dressed as a god of wealth, wearing a red robe, a gauze hat, a fake beard on his mouth and a yellow cloth bag to collect money, followed by several drummers, who distributed the god of wealth from door to door in order to ask for a reward. Every time people go to the door, they sing, "The left compartment is full of gold and silver, and the right compartment is full of treasure." A lot of good luck words went on until the owner happily took over the red paper statue of the god of wealth and gave them some money. After thanking them, they knocked on the door for a while and went to another house with the sound of gongs and drums. After setting off firecrackers and returning home, the first thing everyone does is to worship heaven and earth, god and ancestors. In ancient times, this custom was very popular. Due to different local customs and habits, the forms of ancestor worship are also different. Some go to the wild to sweep graves, and some go to the ancestral temple to worship their ancestors. Most of them put their ancestral tablets in the main hall in turn at home to show their worship, and then worshippers worship them in order of age. After paying homage to their ancestors, southerners look up this year's auspicious direction in the almanac, lighting lanterns and torches, holding pots and holding wine, burning incense and setting off firecrackers, and opening doors to meet the western gods, which is called "going out to the Arabian Nights" or "going out", which is called "going out to seek happiness" in Zhejiang and "going out to seek happiness" in Shanghai. This custom is to get good luck and pray to God for a smooth year. On New Year's Eve, you stay up all night. That night, housewives were busy hanging lanterns, making colorful decorations, putting up Spring Festival couplets, cutting window grilles and putting up New Year pictures, decorating their homes in red, green and green, adding a rich atmosphere to the festival. Perhaps what children expect most is lucky money. Lucky money is given to the younger generation by the elders. In some families, everyone is not allowed to leave the table after the New Year's Eve. After everyone has finished eating, the elders give it to the younger generation to encourage their children and grandchildren to learn and improve in the new year. In some families, parents put their children under pillows after they fall asleep at night, and in more families, children gather in the main hall, shouting Happy New Year to grandparents and parents, and queuing up to bow down; Then reach for the red envelope. They even took back their grandparents' bedrooms and ran to the bed together, shouting "lucky money, lucky money!" " "The old man is not busy enough, so he is stingy. From bargaining to siege, he finally dug up the red envelope of his ancestors. Everyone took them and roared away. The old man was overjoyed to see this scene and thought it was a good sign for all the best in the new year. People's traditional ideas always like to get more good luck during the Spring Festival, and hope everything goes well. There are many old customs among them. If there is a custom of prohibiting the use of brooms everywhere, it is considered that using brooms in the New Year will sweep away luck and wealth, and it is difficult to make good luck in the new year. If you must sweep the floor, you must sweep it from the outside to the inside. In order to make this custom popular, the first day of the first month is also designated as "broom birthday". Don't scold children during the Chinese New Year, and you must pay special attention to what you say. If a child accidentally breaks his rice bowl, people will never scold him, but say that he is "safe all the year round", because the homonym of "broken" and "old" has washed away an ominous atmosphere. Chinese New Year is coming, and adults are most afraid of children saying something unlucky. In some places, in addition to looking horizontally and vertically, you will wipe your mouth with a piece of red cloth or toilet paper, which means that even if you say something unlucky, it is equivalent to farting. Others put oranges and lychees on pillows and call them "year-old fruits". Oranges and lychees are homophonic, representing good luck in the coming year. In some areas, there is also the custom of stealing the statue of the god of wealth, and hiding it in the crotch after stealing, in order to take the meaning of the idiom "the god of wealth is put in the warehouse (pants)" Among these whimsical tastes and customs, there are many people who have worked hard in the past dynasties to flatter the god of fate. When the door is opened in the morning of the Spring Festival, firecrackers are set off first, which is called "opening the door to set off firecrackers". At this time, the streets were full of anger and joy.