What are the traditions of Chinese New Year?

The busy year before the New Year is mainly about getting rid of the old and bringing in the new, and sweeping the dust is one of the customs of getting rid of the old and bringing in the new before the New Year. The proverb says, "On the twenty-fourth day of the Lunar New Year, dust and sweep the house". At the end of the year, on the twenty-third/twenty-fourth day of the lunar month, preparations for the New Year officially begin. Dusting is the year-end cleaning, known as "house sweeping" in the north and "house sweeping" in the south. Whenever the Spring Festival comes, every household has to clean up the environment, wash all kinds of utensils, dismantle and wash the bedding and curtains, sweep the six courtyards, dust and brush the cobwebs, dredge the nullahs and ditches. Everywhere overflowing with joy to engage in health, clean and welcome the new year's happy atmosphere.

According to folklore: because "dust" and "Chen" consonant, dust sweeping in the New Year has "in addition to the meaning of Chen Bu Xin". Sweeping the dust is intended to be all "poor luck", "bad luck" all sweep out the door to pray for the next year, auspicious; this custom is entrusted to the people to ward off evils and disasters, the old and the new, and welcome the prayers and aspirations of the blessing of the auspicious.

Sacrifice Zaoshen

The lunar calendar December 23 or 24 festival stove, is the day after the night to brush the stove clean, the old Zaojun removed and burned, to the morning of New Year's Eve to put the new image, a send a welcome to be set up wine, meat, candy, sugar cane, rice and other fruits, burning incense, candles, paper cannons, and so on. This folklore activity can be traced back to the pre-Qin period, but at the very beginning the day of the festival was not on the day of the small year. Zheng Xuan said in his commentary on the Book of Rites, "(Zao Shen) resides on earth, and is the one who observes minor faults and makes condemnations." Legend has it that from the twenty-third day of the Lunar New Year until New Year's Eve, these are the days when the god Zao returns to the palace. On the day of New Year's Eve, the Zao Shen is invited to descend again, and the people will put up the statue of Zao Wangzhi before starting to prepare the New Year's Eve dinner. According to China's Jin Dynasty celebrities Zhou Dishuo Lanjing invited by the local customs and traditions of the record, "Terroir Records" records: "the night of the 24th day of the waxing moon, sacrificing the stove, that the God of the Zao the next day up to the sky, the white a year of things, so first one day of the sacrifice."

Local customs:Jiangsu Suzhou village sage Song Dynasty poet Fan Chengda has "Zaosi words" has been passed down, vividly depicting the Song Dynasty Suzhou home to send Zao's customs, the poem said: "Ancient rumors of La Bundle Le the 24th of the month, Zaojun towards the sky want to talk about the matter, the clouds of the car wind and horses less to stay in love with the family has a cup and plate of abundant classic sacrifice. Pig's head rotten cooked double fish fresh, bean paste sweet pine powder bait round. Men offer their daughters to avoid it, and sprinkle wine and burn money to make Zaojun happy. Don't be angry when your servant girl fights with you, and don't be angry when your dog or cat touches you. Sending you to the gate of heaven drunk and full, the spoon is long and the spoon is short, don't repeat the clouds, and beg for the profit to come back to share." According to the memories of the old Suzhou people, the most important thing to send the stove in addition to the "sugar yuanbao", there are other offerings, such as the stove god paper horse, stove curtains, stove ingots, and so on.

The 25th day of the Chinese New Year

Making tofu

A folk proverb says, "On the 25th day of the Lunar New Year, we grind tofu." Some places also have the custom of eating tofu dregs before New Year's Eve. Individual regions have such a legend: Zao Wang begged the people shell story reported to heaven, the Jade Emperor will be down to visit the world to see whether the families as the Zao Wang played, so the families eat tofu dregs in order to show the hardship, to conceal the Jade Emperor's punishment.

Picking up the Jade Emperor

Folklore has it that after the Zaoshen went up to heaven, the Jade Emperor himself came down on the 25th day of the 12th month of the Chinese lunar calendar to check on the good and evil on earth, and to decide on the coming year's misfortunes and misfortunes, and so every family sacrificed to pray for blessings, which is known as the "picking up of the Jade Emperor". On this day, people should be careful in their living and speaking, and strive for good performance in order to win the Jade Emperor's favor and bring down blessings in the coming year.

Shining the field silkworms

Shining the field silkworms, also known as "burning field silkworms", "burning field wealth", is popular in the south of the Yangtze River belt of folk praying for the New Year's custom. On the 25th day of the Lunar New Year, the torch will be tied to a long pole standing in the field, with the flame to divine the New Year, the flame is a good omen of a good harvest in the coming year. In some places, the event is held on the 30th day of the Lunar New Year.

Catch messy years

Send the God of the stove to heaven until New Year's Eve to welcome back, during which the earth without God's jurisdiction, no taboos, the folk store Fu Sheng more marriage, known as "catch messy years". Messy year is the people designed for themselves to regulate the social life of a specific period of time. At the end of the year, people have leisure and savings, for people who usually have the rare energy to organize a big event, this is a good time for leisure and entertainment.

The end of the year 26

On the twenty-sixth day of the lunar month, the folk also circulated "the twenty-sixth day of the lunar month to cut the meat" said: said "the twenty-sixth day of the lunar month, kill pigs and cut meat" or "twenty-sixth day, cut the knife head," said the day of the main preparations for the New Year's meat. Therefore, it is called "New Year's meat".

In some parts of the countryside, this day is a big market day, the market around the village people have to go to the market to buy New Year's goods, cigarettes, wine, fish, meat, firecrackers and go to relatives with the gift can not be less, the flavor of the year has gradually thick up. In the past, the ordinary key foot Huan old people chafing people plow days are relatively poor, and the family is more people, so often eat the next meal, the conditions are slightly better, but also can eat a little bit of nest and vegetables and whatnot, it is not easy to look forward to the New Year's Eve, the family's laborers have begun to kill the pig, do not have a pig's family, go to the market to cut a piece of meat to go home, therefore, the twenty-sixth of Lunar New Year stewed pork is also known as "Lunar New Year". Pork is also known as "Lunar month twenty-six, kill the pig cut New Year's meat".

The end of the year 27

Traditional folklore in these two days to focus on bathing, laundry, remove the bad luck of the year, ready to meet the next year's New Year, proverb: Lunar New Year 26 bath for the "wash of blessing and fortune", "27, wash the guilt".

Twenty-eight at the end of the year

Some places in the north, there are annual ballads: "Lunar New Year's Day 28, steamed buns steamed sticker flowers" or "28, the surface hair". The so-called sticker flowers, is to post New Year's paintings, Spring Festival couplets, window and all kinds of Chinese New Year posting things. There is a saying in Guangdong, "the 28th of the year, wash the dirt", meaning that on the 28th day of the 12th month of the lunar calendar, the whole family should stay at home to clean up, paste the red (spring), to welcome the New Year.

New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve

The last day of the year is called "New Year's Eve", and the night of that day is called "New Year's Eve". It is connected with the end of the New Year, so it is called "the end of the year, the end of the year, the end of the month", is the eve of the new year, is an important time to get rid of the old and welcome the new junction." New Year's Eve" is the year in addition to the meaning of the night, also known as New Year's Eve, New Year's Eve, New Year's Eve, etc., when the end of the last night of the year. This is the last night of the year. During this period, the theme of the activities is to get rid of the old and bring in the new, and since ancient times, there have been customs such as posting the New Year's red, offering sacrifices to ancestors, having a reunion dinner, and observing the New Year's Eve. New Year's Eve is to get rid of the old cloth new, family reunion, ancestor worship days, with the Qingming Festival, July 30th, Chung Yeung Festival and known as the Chinese folk four traditional ancestor worship festival.