About the custom of the Spring Festival.

Spring Festival is the biggest and most meaningful traditional festival in China, with a long history. It evolved from ancient times, when people prayed for a new year at the beginning of the new year.

1, dust removal

In the folk, there is a custom of "sweeping the house on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month" on New Year's Eve. The folk proverb says "Twenty-four, sweep the house". Folk call it "Dust Day". Dust removal is year-end cleaning. Every household should clean the environment, clean all kinds of appliances, remove bedding curtains, clean the courtyard in Liu Lu, dust off cobwebs and dredge culverts in open channels. Everywhere is filled with the joyful atmosphere of cleaning and welcoming the Spring Festival cleanly. According to the folk saying, because "dust" and "Chen" are homophonic, sweeping dust years ago means "getting rid of the old and not getting new". The purpose of sweeping dust is to sweep away all bad luck and bad luck, so as to pray for a clear and auspicious year in the coming year.

2. Post Spring Festival couplets

Spring Festival couplets are also called door couplets, spring stickers, couplets, couplets and peach symbols. They depict the background of the times and express good wishes with neat, dual, concise and delicate words, which are unique literary forms in China. During the Spring Festival, every household will put up couplets to celebrate the arrival of the New Year.

3, do new year's goods

China's annual custom culture has a long history, and all kinds of Chinese New Year customs originate from all parts of the country, and the north and the south have their own characteristics. Although customs vary from place to place, it is almost a "must-have" for Chinese New Year to prepare new year's goods and send new year's gifts all over the country. Buying new year's goods, including food, clothing, clothes, use, stickers (New Year's Eve) and gifts, are collectively called "New Year's Goods", and the process of buying new year's goods is called "Buying New Year's Goods". Celebrating the Spring Festival is an important activity for China people.

4. ancestor worship

The most important thing in the New Year is to worship ancestors, which is also a traditional custom of China people. Because China has a vast territory and rich natural resources, there are different forms of ancestor worship in every place. Some of them went to the wild to sweep graves, and some went to the ancestral temple to worship. No matter what form, I miss my old friends.

5. New Year's Eve dinner

New Year's Eve, also known as New Year's Eve, reunion dinner, reunion dinner and so on. , especially the family dinner on New Year's Eve at the end of the year. The New Year's Eve dinner originated from the ancient ritual vessels at the end of the year, and it is a reunion dinner after offering sacrifices to the gods and ancestors. New Year's Eve is the highlight of the year, which is not only colorful, but also very interesting. Worship the gods and ancestors before the reunion dinner, and eat after the worship ceremony. Generally, there are chicken (meaning to have a plan), fish (meaning to have more than one year), oyster sauce (meaning to have a good market), Nostoc flagelliforme (meaning to get rich), yuba (meaning to get rich), lotus root (meaning to be smart), lettuce (meaning to make money), raw garlic (meaning to be able to count) and sausage (meaning to be long-lasting) for good luck. China people's New Year's Eve dinner is a family reunion dinner, which is the most abundant and important dinner in a year.

6, shou sui

On New Year's Eve, some places (western Henan) are called "Shounian", which is also one of the most important Spring Festival activities. There are two meanings of observing the old age: the old man's observing the old age means "resigning from the old age", which means cherishing time; Young people keep their age in order to prolong the life of their parents. The earliest record can be found in the Local Records of the Western Jin Dynasty: on New Year's Eve, all parties give gifts to each other, which is called "Feeding the Year"; Wine and food are invited, and the name is "Don't be old"; Young and old gather to drink and wish a complete blessing, which is called "age division"; Everyone stays up all night, waiting for the dawn. This is called "Shounian". This custom gradually became popular. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong, wrote the poem "Shousui": "The twilight scene is oblique and fragrant, and the years are gorgeous. At the end of the year, winter snow and winter snow melt, and it seems that a warm spring breeze blows in the warm palace. Huge red candles are lit and look like a bunch of flowers. * * * New Year, welcome the new year all night. " To this day, people are used to celebrating the New Year's Eve. In most parts of the country, women keep vigils, such as packing jiaozi, washing vegetables, preparing meals on the first day of the New Year, or preparing new clothes for the whole family, while men play cards and mahjong, or drink and entertain themselves until dawn, or watch the Spring Festival Gala together.

7. Give lucky money

Lucky money is a great event that the younger generation and children dream of before the Spring Festival. Lucky money is also called "lucky money", "lucky money", "lucky money" and "waist-pressing money". After the New Year's Eve dinner, the elders or the head of the family distributed coins to the younger generation and hung copper coins on the child's chest with red lines, saying that it could ward off evil spirits and exorcise ghosts. In the Qing Dynasty, Fu Cha Dunchong's "Yanjing Years" said: "It is called lucky money to thread money with colored ropes, weave it into a dragon shape and put it at the foot of the bed. The elders give their children lucky money. " This custom has been popular since the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties. It is recorded in the catalogue of Xuanhe Bo Gu: "Money is a rectangle, and there are dragons and horses on it. It is said that Pei can exorcise evil spirits and charm. " Because "old" and "expensive" are homophonic, "pressing the age" means "lucky money", so it is called "lucky money" It is also called "longevity money" because it is given on the birthday.

Step 8 set off firecrackers

"In addition to firecrackers at the age of one, the spring breeze warmed Tu Su. Thousands of families always change new peaches for old ones every day. " This poem by Wang Anshi, a politician in the Song Dynasty, also mentioned setting off firecrackers in the Spring Festival, which shows that the custom of setting off firecrackers in the Spring Festival has a long history. On the occasion of the Spring Festival, the first thing for every household to open the door is to set off firecrackers, and to say goodbye to the old and welcome the new with the sound of firecrackers. Firecrackers are also called firecrackers, firecrackers and cannons.

9. Happy New Year

On the first morning of the new year, adults and children go out to visit relatives and friends in festive costumes and wish each other a happy New Year. New Year greetings usually begin at home. After getting up in the morning of the first day, I wish my elders a long and healthy life and all the best. After spending the New Year at home, people should greet the New Year with a smile when they meet outside and say something nice to each other, such as "Congratulations on getting rich", "Happy New Year" and "Peace in the Four Seasons".

10, visit the temple fair

When it comes to visiting temple fairs, people will think of temple fairs in Beijing during the Spring Festival, such as Changdian Temple Fair, Baiyunguan Temple Fair and Lianhuachi Temple Fair. People flocked to the temple fair, traffic jams were everywhere, and traffic control was implemented in downtown areas. Temple Fair is also called "Temple Fair", "Shi Miao" or "Festival". The early temple fair was just a grand ritual activity. With the development of economy and the need of people's communication, temple fairs are gradually integrated into market trading activities while maintaining sacrificial activities. With the demand of people, colorful activities are added to the temple fair. Therefore, visiting temple fairs in the New Year has become an indispensable entertainment activity for people. In some areas, the religious color of temple fairs is getting weaker year by year, and only entertainment imitates sacrificial performances, and more is "there will be no temples". Parks, gymnasiums, shopping malls and so on have all become venues for temple fairs. Temple fair has gradually evolved into a folk activity integrating entertainment and short-term market transactions.

1 1, dragon dance

Dragon dance is also called dragon dance, dragon lantern dance and dragon lantern dance. Dragon is a legendary magical animal, which can call the wind and rain in the sky, and can also help the world to thrive and solve problems. As early as the Han Dynasty, there were dragon dances and prayers for rain. At that time, the four seasons prayed for rain. spring dance Qinglong danced red dragon or yellow dragon in summer, white dragon in autumn and black dragon in winter. During the dragon dance, gongs and drums were loud, firecrackers were ringing, and the scene was very warm. Every action has a name, such as "Two Dragons Playing with Beads", "Two Dragons Out of the Water", "Huanglong Crossing the River", "White Dragon Out of the Cave", "Dragon Bridge Crossing", "Golden Dragon Falling into the Sea" and "Fishing for the Moon on the Sea Bottom". If the two dragon dance teams meet, they will make great strides and strive for good results. In some places, the loser should beat gongs and drums and set off firecrackers for the winner. Miao people in Yunnan and Guizhou perform dragon dances from the first day of the first month to the fifteenth day of the first month every year. At the same time, glutinous rice, wine and meat are placed on the table in the lobby of each family, and incense paper candles are lit to worship the "Jinjiao Old Dragon", which means celebrating the harvest and praying for good luck.

12, lion dance

Lion dance is called lion beating in the west of Henan Province. The classic movements of lion-playing activities are: the lion jumps on the high platform, the lion crosses the wooden bridge and the lion somersaults. Guangdong Haifeng popular Spring Festival "listen to drummers, watch lion dances and listen to songs". There are mainly four kinds of lion dances: Kirin lion, Kezai lion and Waijiang lion. The singing areas mainly include Western Qin Opera, Bai Zi Opera and Chaozhou Opera. Drummers are suona, also called big flute or blowpipe. In each class, two people play the big flute, one plays the brass cymbal and the other plays the small drum. Generally, it starts to blow in shops in the afternoon of New Year's Eve, and it doesn't stop until the third and fourth days. The first day and the second day are the most lively. The lion dance team said "congratulations" from door to door and started to play until the host took out a red envelope and the leader got it, and then went to the lion dance next door.

13, walking on stilts

Walking on stilts has a long history. Performers use their feet to tie wooden 1 ~ 3-foot-high seesaw sticks to act as various strange movements of funny people. Walking on stilts, Beijing is called stilt or stilt club, and Shaanxi, Gansu, Henan and other Yellow River basins are called "sticking high feet". Walking on stilts can be divided into two activities: literary stilts and martial stilts. Wenqiao mainly sings while walking, mixed with simple dance and waist twisting movements, while Wuqiao performs such difficult movements as handstand, high platform jumping, stacked arhats and splits.