What are the folk customs of New Year’s Day?

1. Eating dumplings

Eating dumplings on New Year’s Day flourished in the north during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. For example, "Miscellaneous Notes of Wanshu" written by Shen Bang during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty said that Wanping County in the suburbs of Beijing "made flat food to celebrate New Year's Day and pray for longevity." Eating rice cakes on New Year's Day became popular in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, especially in the south. Volume 2 of the "Scenery of the Imperial Capital" in the late Ming Dynasty records that on the New Year's Day of the first lunar month, "we eat jujube cakes and rice cakes every day". "Wei County Chronicle" during the Jiajing period in Hebei Province in the north said that "steamed sheep cake" was eaten locally.

2. Drinking pepper and cypress wine

Already appeared in the "Four People's Monthly Order" of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Jiao refers to Zanthoxylum bungeanum. The ancients said that Jiaojiao is the essence of the Yuheng star. It has a fragrant smell and makes people feel light and resistant to aging. Cypress refers to cypress leaves. The ancients regarded it as a fairy medicine that can prevent all kinds of diseases. Peppers and cypress can be soaked in wine separately, or they can be put into wine together for drinking. Drinking pepper and cypress wine can cure diseases and live longer. Drinking pepper and cypress wine has been handed down among the people. This custom was practiced in Licheng, Shandong and Jiaxing, Zhejiang during the Ming Dynasty.

3. Drink peach soup

That is, boil the leaves, branches, and stems of peach and drink it. The ancients regarded peaches as the essence of the five elements, which can suppress evil spirits. To control hundreds of ghosts, drink it. Eating soup cakes: In ancient times, wheat flour products were boiled in water. Soup cakes are noodles. In the Song Dynasty, it was popular to eat noodles and other foods on New Year's Day.

Related explanation:

New Year's Day is the first day of the "Gregorian year". In ancient times, it referred to the first day of the first lunar month of the lunar calendar. "Yuan" means the beginning, and the beginning of the number is "Yuan"; "Dan" is a pictographic character, "日" means the sun, "一" means the horizon, and "Dan" means the sun rising from the horizon, which represents the beginning of the day, which is the first day of the New Year.

Of course, the word "New Year's Day" existed in ancient China. It originated from the "Book of Jin", but to facilitate the people's farming, March of each year was designated as "New Year's Day", which is when farming began. when. During the Yao and Shun periods, "New Year's Day" became a day to worship the two emperors Yao and Shun, and people regarded the day of their death as the beginning of the year.