Investigation on Spring Festival customs

The main theme before the busy year is to take off the old cloth, and sweeping dust is one of the new customs of taking off the old cloth on New Year's Day. The folk proverb says, "On the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, dust and sweep the house". 23/24 ended, and officially began to prepare for the New Year. Sweeping dust means year-end cleaning, which is called "house sweeping" in the north and "house sweeping" in the south.

Cleaning the dust before the Spring Festival is a traditional habit of China people. This custom has placed people's desire to break the old and create new ones and their prayers to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. Whenever the Spring Festival comes, every household should clean the environment, clean all kinds of electrical appliances, remove and wash bedding curtains, sweep six yards, dust cobwebs and dredge culverts in open channels. Everywhere is filled with the joyful atmosphere of cleaning and welcoming the Spring Festival cleanly.

On the 23rd or 24th of the twelfth lunar month, the kitchen stove should be cleaned after dark, and the old kitchen stove should be removed and burned. In addition to posting new pictures in the morning and evening, there are also wine, meat, candy, sugar cane and rice fruit. To put incense, light candles and light paper cannons. The folk activities of offering sacrifices to stoves can be traced back to the pre-Qin period.

As the saying goes, "On the 26th day of the twelfth lunar month, the pig is killed and the meat is cut" or "On the 26th day of the twelfth lunar month, the head is cut", which means that this day is mainly for preparing meat for the Chinese New Year. The reason why "cutting the annual meat" is written into the annual festival ballad is because the agricultural society and economy are underdeveloped, and people often eat meat at the annual festival, so it is called "annual meat".

"On the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, cakes and buns with decals are made" or "On the 28th, noodles are made". The so-called decals are new year pictures, Spring Festival couplets, window grilles and all kinds of things posted during the Spring Festival. Among them, the custom of pasting Spring Festival couplets originated from the ancient "Fu Tao". The ancients used peach wood as a wood to ward off evil spirits. The Book of Arts said, "Peach is the essence of five trees, so it also suppresses evil spirits."

Except New Year, it is on the last day of the year, usually on the 29th or 30th of the lunar calendar. The last day of the year is called the beginning of the year, and that night is called New Year's Eve. New Year's Eve means "New Year's Eve", which is also called New Year's Eve, New Year's Eve, New Year's Eve and so on. , which is the last night of the twelfth lunar month (December) every year. In addition, it means to remove; Night means night. New Year's Eve means "the month is poor and the year is over". People should bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new year.