What are the traditional customs of southern families?

Wear new clothes and shoes in the New Year.

Many places have different customs, but we don't eat jiaozi. Our hometown will make tea eggs (commonly known as ingots) and eat ingots on the first morning of the first day.

Drinking tea in South China and other places is very particular, especially during the Spring Festival. Visiting relatives and friends in the first month, especially those with elders, must come to pay a New Year call. Guests come in, wish each other the Spring Festival, greet their elders, and then sit down for tea.

First course: sweet tea. I wish the guests a sweet year. Sweet tea is made of glutinous rice skin and sugar. Glutinous rice is cooked into rice, and the rice is put on a hot iron pot and sintered into pieces of rice crust. Sweet tea is fragrant and glutinous, very delicious.

The second kind of tea: smoked bean tea. There are six kinds of condiments in smoked bean tea, and the configuration is very suitable.

1. Smoked green beans are rich in protein.

2. carrots and carrots.

3. Pickled orange peel silk can be quickly divided in the middle, which can lead to stagnation and phlegm.

4. Perilla frutescens can broaden the chest, reduce qi, moisten the lungs and relieve depression.

5. Sesame can benefit the stomach, moisten dryness, replenish lung and clear heat.

6. A small amount of bud tea. This kind of tea is delicious and nutritious.

The third way: a cup of green tea. Drinking after meals can clean up greasy intestines and stomach. Therefore, this year's Spring Festival in Sanqing tea not only conforms to etiquette, but also conforms to the principle of health care.

At the beginning of the Spring Festival, in the south of our country, the first thing is to paste the door gods and couplets.

The gatekeeper, it is said that Shen Tu and Lei Yu can catch ghosts. Huangdi Neijing is quoted from Ying Shao's Custom Pass in the Eastern Han Dynasty: In ancient times, two brothers, Shencha and Lei Yu, lived on Dushuo Mountain. There is a peach tree on the mountain, and the shade is like a cover. Every morning, they will review the ghosts under the tree. If an evil spirit harms the world, tie it up and feed it to the tiger. Later, people painted the portraits of Shen Tu and Lei Yu on two mahogany boards and hung them on both sides of the door to ward off evil spirits. According to the Chronicle of Jingchu Years in the Southern Dynasties, on the first day of the first month, "making a peach board to touch the door, called immortal wood, painting two gods to stick to the door, leaving Shen Tu on the left and Lei Yu on the right, commonly known as the door god". However, the real guardian recorded in the history books is not Shen Tu and Lei Yu, but an ancient warrior named Cheng qin. Ban Gu's biography of Han Guang Chuan records that the temple gate of King Guang Chuan (King Qu Bing) is painted with the portrait of Cheng qin, an ancient warrior, wearing shorts and holding a long sword. In the Tang dynasty, the position of the door god was replaced by Qin's harmony.

Door couplets are also developed from peach symbols. At first, people painted the portraits of Shen Tu and Lei Yu on mahogany boards and hung them on two doors. Later, the portrait was changed to "door" only. But two words were written on both sides of the door, and the expression content was limited. People felt dissatisfied, so they hung two more red boards (later changed to paper) on both sides of the door and wrote more pairs of words that fully reflected their wishes. According to Song Shi Shu Family, Xu Meng, the queen of Shu, named her bachelor after a peach symbol, claiming that she was doing nothing, and wrote a poem: "Qing Yu in the New Year, Jia Jienuo. Changchun. " It is said that this is the earliest Spring Festival couplets in China. In the Ming Dynasty, after Zhu Yuanzhang made Nanjing his capital, he ordered all families to paste couplets, renamed Spring Festival couplets, all written in red paper. Legend has it that on one occasion, Zhu Yuanzhang personally visited the people, and only one family did not post Spring Festival couplets. When asked, it turns out that this family is a castrated pig and can't read, so I personally wrote a couplet for him: "Split the road of life and death with both hands and cut off the root of right and wrong with one knife." Thanks to the vigorous advocacy of past dynasties, Spring Festival couplets have become a special folk art form in China with a long history.

Spring Festival couplets in China generally like to express people's wishes for prosperity, happiness and disaster relief in the coming year with auspicious words. The most striking place of Spring Festival couplets is on their own doors, which is the face of a family. Be sure to choose auspicious content and language in line with the actual situation of the family to express good wishes for future life. Most farmers will put up couplets to express their hope that the weather will be good, the food will be bumper and the whole family will be healthy in the coming year. People who do business want to be rich and make a fortune. Those teachers in rural areas all want their families to be safe, their children to be successful in their studies and their careers. The official family, of course, shows a different will from ordinary people, trying to honor their ancestors, prominent family background and prosperous official career. In the yard, some people simply put a word "Fu", "Shou" and "Lu" on the wall of a gate, and sometimes they read the word "Fu" upside down, which is harmonious and auspicious. In the nests and pens of pigs, sheep, chickens and ducks, it is necessary to write "pigs and sheep are full of circles", and in the cowshed and stable, it is necessary to post Spring Festival couplets of "Six Livestock Flourishing". Every spring festival, every household puts up new couplets. The red Spring Festival couplets have set off the festive atmosphere of the Spring Festival. Coupled with the content of expressing good wishes, the implication is profound, which further excavates and expresses people's pursuit and yearning for a better life in the future.

New Year pictures and window grilles

New Year pictures are folk painting art in China, and they are a popular form. It is accompanied by China Lunar New Year's activities to send the old and welcome the new.

New Year pictures, originated from ancient door god paintings. During the Northern Song Dynasty, with the development of woodcut technology, woodcut New Year pictures appeared, called "paper". The earliest existing woodcut New Year pictures are the Song version of the Sui Dynasty, depicting Wang Zhaojun, Zhao, Ban Ji and Lvzhu, which are known as the Four Secret Pictures. These are all popular themes of New Year pictures in the Song Dynasty. In addition, the image of Qin He often appears in New Year pictures. In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, the themes of New Year pictures became more and more extensive. There are many New Year pictures that reflect the ideals, wishes and interests of ordinary people, such as "More than one year", "Welcome to the Spring", "Harvest", "Good weather" and "Colorful", as well as new year pictures of operas, stories, legends, scenery and flowers. At that time, there were three kinds of folk woodcut New Year pictures: Yangliuqing in Tianjin, Taohuawu in Suzhou and Yangjiabu in Huaifang, Shandong. Traditional New Year pictures are mostly woodcut watermarks with simple lines, bright colors and warm pictures. There are two kinds of colors: color and color matching.

New Year pictures in different parts of China have various forms, a wide range of themes and different styles. There are dozens of forms such as strips, screen strips, window tops, kitchen paintings and straight banners. Topics include folk customs, opera characters, landscape flowers and birds, etc. As far as artistic style is concerned, the "Yangliuqing" New Year pictures in Tianjin are famous for their exquisiteness and elegance, while the "Yangjiabu" New Year pictures in Huaifang, Shandong Province and the "Taohuawu" New Year pictures in Suzhou are famous for their vigor and simplicity. New Year pictures in northwest Beijing are famous for their roughness and vitality. New Year pictures in Zhangzhou, Foshan and Shanghai are colorful, vivid and unique. New Year pictures in Mianzhu, Sichuan and Liuzhou, Guangxi have their own characteristics and unique styles.

In addition, people in many areas also like to stick various paper-cuts on the windows-window grilles. Window grilles can not only set off the festive atmosphere, but also bring people beautiful enjoyment, integrating decoration, appreciation and practicality. Paper-cutting is a very popular folk art, which has been deeply loved by people for thousands of years. Because it is often pasted on windows, people generally call it "window grilles". Window grilles are rich in content and wide in subject matter. Because the buyers are mostly farmers, quite a lot of content shows the life of farmers, such as farming, textile, fishing, herding sheep, raising pigs and chickens. In addition, there are myths and legends, drama stories and other themes. In addition, the images of flowers, birds, fish and insects and the zodiac are also common. With its unique generalization and exaggeration, window grilles show auspicious things and good wishes incisively and vividly, and decorate festivals with prosperity and celebration.

have dinner

A family reunion dinner, as its name implies, is a family gathering for dinner during the Chinese New Year, and even the deceased ancestors can't be forgotten. Therefore, every family should first pay homage to their ancestors after preparing the reunion dinner. When offering sacrifices to ancestors, the incense burner representing ancestors should be removed from the shrine, put on the altar, and then burn incense to pray and invite ancestors to dinner. Then the old and the young bow down in turn, showing the traditional virtues of being cautious and pursuing the distance, and putting the filial piety of all virtues first. After the sacrifice, the food for ancestor worship was reheated, and a big table was set in the hall, and the whole family sat together. This is a wonderful time for every family to get together. No matter how far apart the family is at ordinary times, or how many zits there are at ordinary times, we should talk and laugh at this time, and we should not say anything sad or make noise.

stay up late or all night on New Year's Eve

On New Year's Eve, our people have the habit of celebrating the New Year. People stayed up all night, catching up with the old and talking about the new, waiting for dawn.

According to the local customs of the Jin and Zhou Dynasties, on New Year's Eve, "all parties give gifts, which is called' Feed the Year', and wine and food are invited, which is called' Don't be old'. Young and old people are very happy with drinking and taxes are complete. It's called' sub-year', and everyone stays up all night, waiting for dawn, and it's called' keeping the year'. " Meng Yuan's Dream of Tokyo in the Song Dynasty said: "On New Year's Eve, ordinary people sit around the stove, which is called' Shounian'."

Keeping the old age is not only a nostalgia for the dying old year, but also a hope for the coming new year. After having a reunion dinner on New Year's Eve, people light firecrackers and spend the new and old days in a festive atmosphere. People believe that if you stay up late on New Year's Eve, you will be full of energy in the coming year.

lucky money

When visiting the New Year during the Spring Festival, the elders should distribute the lucky money prepared in advance to the younger generation. It is said that lucky money can kill evil spirits, because "old" and "special" are homophonic, and the younger generation can spend a year safely with lucky money. There are two kinds of lucky money, one is to put colored rope in the shape of Jackie Chan at the foot of the bed, which was recorded in Yanjing year; The other is the most common, that is, parents wrap the money distributed to their children in red paper. Lucky money can be given in public after the younger generation pays New Year's greetings, or it can be put under the child's pillow by parents when the child is asleep on New Year's Eve.

Folks believe that giving children lucky money, when evil spirits or "Nian" hurt children, children can use the money to bribe them and turn evil into good luck. A Qing Wu Manyun's poem "Lucky Money" said: "A hundred dollars is a long colored thread, and then it is collected from the pillow. Talking about firecrackers and talking about the price of Xiao made me busy all night. " From this point of view, lucky money is tied in children's hearts, and children's lucky money is mainly used to buy firecrackers, toys and candy and other things needed for holidays.

At present, the custom of elders giving lucky money to younger generations is still prevalent, and the amount ranges from tens to hundreds. Most of these lucky money are used by children to buy books and school supplies, and the new fashion has given new content to the lucky money.

Setting off firecrackers

The custom of setting off firecrackers to celebrate the Spring Festival in China has a long history. The ancients burned bamboo and made a sound, which was called "firecrackers". "Excellent popular arrangement" said: "In ancient times, firecrackers were popular because of their bamboo, so the poems in the Tang Dynasty were also called firecrackers. Later generations rolled paper and called it firecrackers. " The original intention of firecrackers is to scare and drive away evil spirits. "Jing Chu sui Shi Ji" describes: "the first day of the first month. On the Three-Yuan Festival, chickens crow and firecrackers are set off in front of the court to eliminate mountain evils. " In the Song Dynasty, with the invention of gunpowder, firecrackers made of gunpowder began to appear. At that time, people used paper tubes instead of bamboo, and made firecrackers into strings with hemp poles, which was called "weaving guns". Because the sound was as clear as a whip, it was also called "firecrackers". Meng Yuan's Dream in Tokyo records that on New Year's Eve in Kaifeng, "firecrackers were heard at night." At this time, firecrackers not only expelled ghosts, but also added a new meaning, that is, to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. Wang Anshi, a politician and writer in the Northern Song Dynasty, wrote in the poem "New Year's Day": "The firecrackers are one year old, and the spring breeze warms people in Tu Su", which vividly describes the joy and relaxed mood of people at that time.

Pay new year's call

According to the Miscellaneous Notes of Lu Rongyuan in Ming Dynasty, the custom of welcoming the New Year was first implemented in Kyoto in Ming Dynasty. When dealing with officials, whether you know them or not, you should worship each other, while the people worship their relatives and friends. In the Qing Dynasty, it was popular to send "worship boxes" during the Spring Festival, that is, to send New Year cards to relatives and friends in exquisite and beautiful decorative boxes to show solemnity. Nowadays, "Happy New Year" has become a traditional custom. Friends and colleagues visit and greet each other.

In ancient times, it was popular for literati to pay New Year greetings to each other. The New Year drill is today's New Year card, which evolved from ancient business cards. According to Zhao Yi's research in the Qing Dynasty, there was no paper in the Western Han Dynasty, so bamboo was cut into thorns, and the book was named "Ming Thorn". Later, people embroidered the words "business card" on the brocade with red wool. After the Eastern Han Dynasty, wood was replaced by paper, which was called "famous paper". In the Six Dynasties, it was called "Ming" for short, and in the Tang Dynasty it was called "door-shaped". Song dynasty was also called "hand stab" and "door stab". It was called "Inch Chu" and "Red Sheet" in Ming and Qing Dynasties.

dragon dance and lion dance

Dragon dance, also known as "playing with dragon lanterns" and "dragon lantern dance", is a popular folk dance in China.

Dragon is a symbol of the Chinese nation and occupies a very important position in China culture. The ancients called dragons, phoenixes, unicorns and turtles four spirits and honored them as mascots. As early as the Han Dynasty, there were dragon dances. The Han Dynasty stone reliefs unearthed in Yinan, Shandong Province have figures playing and dancing dragons. In the performances of "Shehuo" and "Dance Team" in the Tang and Song Dynasties, "playing with dragon lanterns" has become a common form of performance.

The custom of "playing with dragon lanterns" has been passed down from generation to generation, and now it has developed into a folk dance art with perfect form, exquisite performance skills and romantic colors. Playing dragon lanterns can be divided into two forms: "single dragon playing pearls" and "double dragon playing pearls". In terms of gameplay, local styles are different and each has its own characteristics. The main ways to play Duan Long are tricks, and the common moves are: dragon roaming, dragon tap drilling, dragon wagging its tail and snake peeling. Playing 11 or 13 dragons, mainly performing dragon movements, jumping in the air, ready to go.

Lion dance, also known as "lion beating" and "lion dancing", is a traditional folk sports activity in China, which originated in the Southern and Northern Dynasties (the era of the rise of Buddhism). With the popularity of Buddhism, the exotic lion image was introduced into the Central Plains from outside the Great Wall. In the Tang dynasty, there was a folk game called lion dance. Lion dance can be divided into two areas: north and south. The northern lion dance looks like a real lion, and it is covered with a lion's cloak. Lion dancers (usually two people dance together to form a big lion) only show their feet and see no one. Lion dances in the north include female lions and male lions, as well as literary lions, martial lions, adult lions and young lions. The southern lion dance is mainly popular in Guangdong, and the shape, style and color of the lion are different from those of the northern lion. Lion dancers wear all kinds of knickerbockers and Tang-style lantern sleeves or close-fitting vests to show the whole body of lion dancers. You must try your best to dance.

Greet God and receive blessings.

The fourth day of the first month is the day of "welcoming God". It turns out that the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month is the "God-sending" day, and all the gods in the underworld have to ascend to heaven to report their work to the Jade Emperor, and report the good and evil of the human behavior in the underworld in the past year. On the fourth day of the first month, the gods returned to the lower world to continue to supervise people, so every family welcomed God on the fourth day. When worshipping God, the rich people offer three sacrifices-chicken, fish and pig's head. If the economy does not allow, they can also be exempted, but a plate of rice and a plate of brown sugar are indispensable. Because offering a plate of white rice means a bumper harvest in the new year; A plate of brown sugar symbolizes the sweetness of life. After the incense burning ceremony, firecrackers will be set off, and then all the immortals will take their places.

temple fair

Temple Fair, commonly known as Temple Fair, is a unique folk activity in China. Temple fairs are generally located inside and outside religious temples. When the temple is open, good men and women go to burn incense and worship Buddha, vendors set up stalls outside the temple to sell snacks and small commodities such as needles, threads and brains, and folk artists also come to the temple fair to perform. People buy some daily necessities while praying for incense. Over time, this temple fair has formed a special urban and rural market.

There are temple fairs all over China, such as the Chenghuang Temple Fair in Shanghai, the Confucius Temple Fair in Nanjing, the Qingyang Palace Temple Fair in Chengdu and the Long Fu Temple Fair in Beijing, all of which are famous big temple fairs. The flower market in Guangdong Province has always been famous. This flower market, which Guangzhou people call Flower Street, also developed from the temple fair.