Folk custom of the first tooth

During the Spring Festival in Shandong and other parts of China, smoke from stoves is used to draw a dragon on the ground, commonly known as lucky dragon. Folk beliefs attract dragons for two purposes: one is to invite them back, spread sex and rain, and pray for a bumper harvest in agriculture; The other is that the dragon is the god of all kinds of insects. When the dragon comes, all kinds of insects hide, which is beneficial to human health and crop growth. People in Nantong, Jiangsu Province make birthday peaches and livestock out of flour, steam them and insert them on bamboo sticks, and then insert them in the fields at night. They think this is food for the insect god and ancestors, and pray that the ancestors will drive away the pests and hope that the insect god will not hurt the crops.

On that day, the name of "dragon" was generally added to the names of foods in various places. Eating jiaozi is called eating dragon ears, eating spring cakes is called eating dragon forest, eating noodles is called eating dragon beard meat, eating rice is called eating dragon seeds, eating wonton is called eating longan and so on.

Women can't do needlework on this day, because the black dragon will look up at the world on this day, and using a needle will hurt the dragon's eyes. Before getting up, the woman said, "On February 2nd, the dragon looks up, and if the dragon doesn't look up, I will look up.". After getting up, I will light the beams with lanterns and read "February 2nd, light the beams, scorpions and centipedes have nowhere to hide". In some places, women stop washing clothes because they are afraid of hurting Longpi, and so on.

The third day of February is Wenchang's birthday. Japanese scholars worship Wenchang and seek the first place in the imperial examination. According to the old custom, children began to study formally on February 2. In the past, scholars had to perform four ceremonies, namely the opening ceremony, the advanced ceremony, the gratitude ceremony and the champion ceremony, among which the opening ceremony was the first gift of life. When you start writing, you start writing articles. The ceremony mainly includes the worship of Confucius, the teaching of the most basic principles of life, and the presentation of Four Treasures of the Study. Beijing folk food, a kind of pancake, is also called pancake. In early spring every year, Beijingers eat Yuanxiao.

Dragon Head Raising Day (Dragon Head Raising Festival)

Spring cakes are called "biting spring". The second day of the second lunar month is the day when dragons look up ("On February 2nd, dragons look up"). There is an old saying in China. On this day, Beijingers also want to eat spring cakes, which is called "eating Longlin". Spring cakes are bigger than roast duck pancakes, and they are tough (Beijingers call them "strong gluten") because they have to roll a lot of dishes before they can be eaten. In the past, when eating spring cakes, we paid attention to going to a box restaurant called "Pan Su" (also called box lunch). Box hotel is a sauce meat shop, and the store sends people to deliver food to your door. Beijingers pay attention to several side dishes in spring cakes: cold bean sprouts, scrambled eggs and Tianfu's sauce elbow.

There are smoked pot belly, pine nut pot belly, oven meat (a kind of roast pork), sauce meat, smoked elbow, sauce elbow, sauce mouth strip, smoked chicken, sauce duck and so on in the box. Be put in a picture frame. When eating, you should change the knife and cut it into filaments, such as several home-cooked dishes (generally fried pork with leeks, fried pork with spinach, vinegar with mung bean sprouts, fried noodles with vegetarian ingredients, and spread eggs). ) Here we go. Seasonings include shredded onion and sesame oil yellow sauce (roast duck with sweet noodle sauce).

When eating spring cakes, the family sits around and puts the baked spring cakes in a steamer, taking them with them while eating, in order to have a hot meal. If you eat spring cakes on February 2, Beijingers also pay attention to taking married girls home.

spring pancake

In Beijing, there is also a kind of bean flour cake, Beijing Muslim snack. Knead steamed yellow rice (or glutinous rice) into a ball, sprinkle with fried soybeans, add red bean stuffing, roll into strips, sprinkle with sesame seeds, osmanthus fragrans and sugar. Because the food stalls in the Qing Dynasty were made and sold now, the bean noodles were sprinkled as they were made, just like the donkeys in the country rolling on the spot, covered with loess, so they got the name of humor. According to the custom of old Beijing, people always like to buy "snowballing usury" to taste in February of the lunar calendar, so there are many vendors and pushers who manage this kind of food, among which the white food stall in Tianqiao market and the "rice cake tiger" (tiger takes the blessing) are the most famous. Dragon Head Raising Day (Dragon Head Raising Festival)

In some places in northwest Shanxi, Qianlong chose a big tree or a big stone and sprinkled it with gray lines. Tie a copper coin with a red line. First, put the copper coin in the gray coil, pull it home by hand and cover it with a container. There is also a traditional custom of February 2 in Zhuang areas in central and northern Guangxi. There is a saying in Zhuang areas in central and northern Guangxi: "On February 2, worship the village community; The dragon looked up and prayed for a bumper harvest; August 2, village hall; The dragon is over. Send the dragon home. The laws passed on February 2nd and August 2nd are of the same nature. prepare

Before the festival, the purchasing team will be appointed as the leader of the celebration in advance, and the leader will take turns in groups, with 5 people in each group. Whenever the festival comes, the "leaders" who take turns to collect money and rice from house to house. On the day of the festival, the "chief" is responsible for all the work such as buying food and cooking. "Blood sausage" is an indispensable sacrifice for the dragon to look up and complete. "Blood sausage is called" bong "in Zhuang language, which means that the seedlings grow fast and the grains are plentiful. After the worship ceremony, a representative from every household went to the village to have a reunion dinner. After the group meal, the "leader" is responsible for the evaluation and gives each villager a blood sausage and pork buckle. Eat pig's head meat on the second day of February

Since ancient times, pigs, cows and sheep have been used to worship the gods, and later it was simplified to the head of the three animals, and the pig head is one of them. According to a story recorded in Qiu Chi's Notes in the Song Dynasty, Wang Zhongling was very hungry after pacifying Bashu, so he broke into a temple in a small village, but he met a drunken monk. Wang Zhongling was furious and wanted to cut it, but he didn't know that the monk was afraid. Wang Zhongling was very surprised and asked him for food. Soon the monk presented a plate of "steamed pig's head" and wrote a poem for it: "The monk said that when steaming, the banana leaves were wrapped and watered with apricot paddles when cooked. Red, fresh and elegant, called Jin panting, ripe and soft, really like jade. If there is no comparison between hairy roots, felt roots will eat vines. " Wang Zhongling ate steamed pig's head, and was very happy to hear the funny and unique "pig's head poem", so he named the monk "Master of Purple Clothes". It seems that the pig's head is really delicious, and it is also an auspicious symbol of turning the corner and making rapid progress. Now there is a famous dish called "roast pork face", which can be served after twelve steps, such as selecting ingredients, cleaning, spraying, soaking, making sauce and cooking for more than ten hours. There are three kinds of "roast pig face", one is the original taste; The second is to dip in the sauce; The third is to roll pancakes to eat. Every way of eating has a different taste. "Roasted pig's face" is fat but not greasy, the meat and bones are separated, and it tastes delicious, which brings beauty and brain-strengthening effects to modern people. Eating modern "pork noodles" on February 2 nd and recalling the history of ancient catering is really a perfect experience of blending contemporary and history. In the past, after the Qinglong Festival, the whole "New Year" ended.

Qian' an area of Tangshan

The custom in Qian 'an area is mountaineering. Folklorists believe that "shaving one's head to death" was originally an act of Han people against the Qing Dynasty. After more than 300 years of word of mouth, it has evolved into another meaning, which is now more reflected in the Chinese nation's character and cultural tradition of paying attention to blood relationship. "Society is progressing and folk customs are developing. People should pay more attention to the cultural inheritance of folk customs. The second day of February is also called the day when dragons look up. Manchu people who live in Xinbin, Manxiang, attach great importance to this folk festival, just like Chinese New Year or a big festival. Women are busy preparing things on the first festival. The first thing is "grass" (also called barnyard grass), as well as various pieces of cloth and colorful wool. On the first day of February, we began to string the dragon head, the dragon body and the dragon tail. They removed the leaves of gables, cut the straw into joints more than two inches wide and one finger wide, and then cut all kinds of flowers into round cloth the size of index finger nails. First, string a two-inch long gable straw into a curtain no larger than the palm of your hand, and cut it into an oval curtain with scissors. This is the "faucet". Red, green, yellow, blue and small round cloths of various colors are strung together, and the middle of each piece is connected in series with grass seams to make a big dragon and a small dragon. Then cut all kinds of cloth into small strips four or two inches long and string all kinds of cloth together to make two dragon tails. String the tails and bodies of these two dragons on the curtain faucet with colorful threads, and the whole dragon will be finished. The big dragon is the mountain black dragon mentioned by the Manchu old man, and the little dragon symbolizes the snake. Adults put it on children's skirts and pray that children will not be scared when it thunders and rains in summer; Picking vegetables, fungus, hazelnuts and mushrooms on the mountain is the blessing of Longgang Mountain Black Dragon. It is said that all kinds of cloth dragons and five-color lines ward off evil spirits, and children can't stand disasters. Everyone is strong and everyone is safe.

Shamanism believes that everything has gods. According to shamanism, there have been various fairy activities since February 2. Manchu people ground yellow wheat a few days before February 2, and poured adzuki bean stuffing on February 1. On February 2, they got up early to fry cakes and make bean noodles. The pigs slaughtered in the twelfth lunar month of the first year were left to the ancestors first, and then presented at the age of 30. After the sixth day, the pig's head was put in the barn, and it was not eaten until February 2 nd, which was called "the dragon looked up" On this day, the Manchu people also have the custom of "drawing dragons", using plant ash to scatter them into the well from the water tank, and the gray road bends like a dragon, which is called "drawing dragons". Then a ceremony was held to pray for good weather. The whole family will eat "Longxu Noodles" and "Longlin cake". Women can't do needlework on this day. [8]

Manchu people don't shave their heads in the first month, and most of them wait until February 2, which is called the "head-shaving faucet". In the past, there was a folk saying that people had to shave their heads before New Year's Eve, because shaving their heads was not allowed in the first month. Why? It is said that "my uncle died in the first month", since it is related to her family's life, it is a big deal and can't be sloppy. Therefore, in Beijing, in the first month, the business of barber shops was very light. Everyone is looking forward to the day of "February 2, the dragon looks up".

In fact, my uncle's death in the first month was misinformed. Not cutting your hair is "nostalgia" rather than "death", which is a custom that has been passed down from the late Ming Dynasty to the early Qing Dynasty. [8]

It is understood that due to the different hairstyles of the Ming and Qing dynasties, in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, the Qing Dynasty ordered all citizens to have their hair cut. At that time, in order to miss the Ming Dynasty, some people did not cut their hair in the first month to show their "nostalgia", but they could not openly confront the Qing government, so there was a saying that "my uncle died in the first month", which has been passed down to this day.

Shaving the dragon's head every year will definitely make a big difference in to beno. 1 when you grow up. The old Manchu people worship all kinds of dragons, thinking that the whole family eats pigs and prays for the black dragon, and their children shave the dragon's head to make the dragon look up early. In particular, children are playing games with dragon heads and tails, swinging the whole body of the dragon. This is a prayer for the black dragon to fly thousands of miles and soar in the sky.

Yin and spleen on February 2

Women get up at dawn every day. They draw all kinds of circles in the yard and on the ground outside the gate, and draw a cross in the circle. At eight o'clock, they untied the child's front abdomen, let the child lie in the middle of the cross, and printed the spleen on his stomach. The child's mother prayed beside the circle: "the cross of the spleen, the dragon circle formed inside, took away abdominal diseases and never hurt the stomach." This kind of prayer is not for everyone. The prayer of ordinary women is: "Dragon King and Snake Fairy, please protect my children from water sickness. Please ask the Dragon King and the Snake Fairy to walk along the circle painted by the Dragon Roar and walk a few more times to take away the accumulated food of the children and eliminate it. "

This behavior of "printing the spleen" is to remind women to raise their children, eat moderately, and don't eat cold snacks from confidantes, so as to avoid children suffering from "food accumulation", which is also commonly known as "drinking water", that is, there are symptoms such as lumps in their stomachs. Doctors also call this disease "acute disease", which is a digestive system disease.

Er yue er Xiang

On February 2nd, Manchu flag bearers got up early and put incense in the granary of the barn. Twelve gold ingots or green incense were inserted in a granary. Because the incense is inserted in the grain, it will go out by itself when it burns to the root, and there can be no accidental fire.

Women put incense everywhere, and incense is put in the gap of Fangshan wall battlements. If there are cracks, insert them according to local conditions. They put the remaining incense heads or semi-incense in the cracks in the walls, and even put incense in the cracks in the cornerstone of the house. They also pay great attention to safety. Incense inserted in cracks in walls and stones can be ignored, while incense heads inserted in cracks in windowsills and pillars can be checked for a while until the incense is burned out, leaving only incense ashes.

Burning incense on February 2, from all parts of the yard to indoors, inserted when there is a seam, this day is called fumigation day. Because most insects are moving since February 2, these grain insects and moths are pests, and all of them were smoked before the spring epidemic. Women think that this fumigation can keep the house free of pests for a year.