Lingnan customs and culture

Lingnan is Guangdong: Guangdong's Spring Festival customs are average.

New Year's Eve

The last day of the lunar new year is called the beginning of the year, and this night is called New Year's Eve, which is called "30 th Eve" in Guangdong custom.

Before New Year's Eve, people are busy preparing all kinds of new year's goods: buying chicken, duck and fish; Add new clothes; Newly purchased furniture and appliances; Buy New Year pictures, Spring Festival couplets, etc. I especially want to buy oranges, green olives and other fruits as auspicious symbols. Welcome friends and relatives. Before the Chinese New Year, men want a new haircut and women want to "pull their faces". Nowadays, most women have haircuts and beauty treatments.

Lunar calendar1February 24th is the day when "immortals" go to heaven to report their work. From that day on, every household was cleaning, packing things and bills, which was called "picking up".

One or two days before New Year's Eve, every household is making all kinds of new year's goods.

Families who go out on New Year's Eve have to rush home for reunion. On New Year's Eve, the whole family sat around the fire and had a reunion dinner. After dinner, adults give "lucky money" to children and their parents. At night, the farmer's water tank should be full of water, the rice tank should be full of rice, and the lights can't go out, which symbolizes the good omen of "more than one year old" and "more than one year old".

The custom of vigil on New Year's Eve is very common. Waiting for the arrival of the new year, the New Year bell rings and firecrackers sound in every household.

the Spring Festival; Chinese New Year

The first day of the first lunar month is called January Day, which is the head of the New Year and the beginning of spring. At the dawn of heaven, I heard guns. On the big table in the hall of every household, red plates are filled with good luck (oranges are bigger than oranges, so they are called good luck), green olives and various exquisite sweets. Decorated with lanterns in front of the door, the younger generation wishes the older generation tea. On this day, most families should be vegetarian, at least not eating meat for breakfast. After breakfast, adults and children go to relatives and friends' homes to pay New Year greetings with good luck, and the host and guest exchange blessings, congratulations on making a fortune and adding blessings. The host treats you with Daji, Betel nut (the ancient custom of honoring Betel nut is now changed to green olive) and * * * congou. The guest presents Daji to congratulate the host on his good luck, and the host wants to give it back with Daji, which is said to be a good wish.

On the morning of New Year's Day, many lion dance classes and English song teams beat gongs and drums to pay New Year greetings to every household in every village, and the host set off firecrackers to welcome them. There are also hand-cranked evergreen leaves (commonly known as cash cows) or books, and auspicious sentences such as "lucky money becomes treasure" posted on people's doors; Or those who play suona, knock on bamboo boards, sing songs, make four sentences and say auspicious words from door to door to pay New Year greetings are all asking for some money. On the second and third days of junior high school, rural towns organized many cultural activities to celebrate the Spring Festival. In addition to putting up a theater shed to perform Chaozhou Opera, Mountain Opera and Shadow Play, there are also gongs and drums, tigers and lions, English singers and dragon dancers marching in the villages along the street. There are also movies, ball games, calligraphy and painting exhibitions, lantern riddles and so on. During the day and night, people flock to visit and enjoy it, creating a lively and joyful atmosphere for the Spring Festival.

have a family reunion dinner

New Year's Eve is approaching after all the houses in every household are completely decorated. Therefore, housewives are busy preparing the most abundant and meaningful reunion dinner in a year. A family reunion dinner, as its name implies, is a family gathering for dinner during the Chinese New Year, and even the deceased ancestors will not forget it. Therefore, after a good reunion dinner, every household should first "worship their husbands" (worship their ancestors). 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 bowed down in turn, fully demonstrating the traditional virtues of the hipsters, being cautious to the end, pursuing the distance, and putting 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 gathered around. 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.

After dinner, housewives were busy clearing the table, so a cleaning activity began. This time, we don't have to care too much about cleaning, just for cleaning. Unlike the time at the end of the year, you have to brush pine grass. Then he lit a fire in the stove and began to prepare the offering to God tomorrow-vegetarian food. There are many kinds of vegetarian dishes, including taro, sweet potato, jujube, peanut, taro and sweet potato. All the ingredients of vegetarian dishes should be prepared and dried at noon. When frying vegetarian dishes, put the iron pot and inject a lot of peanut oil when the fire is good. When the oil boils, mix these materials with the slurry and put them into the pan, which will make squeaks and bubbles in the oil pan. Huang Chengcheng is especially attractive when cooking. At this time, if there are guests at home, the hostess will serve a plate of freshly fried vegetarian dishes, and then soak in mellow congou tea to let you taste delicious Chaoshan snacks.

Send lucky money

Giving lucky money is an important part of Guangdong's Spring Festival custom. The elders should give money to the younger generation, and those who can earn money should also give money to the elders. Money can't be sent directly to wait for a while, but it should be packed in a profit bag or a red paper bag. This is commonly known as "pressing the abdomen and waist", which means that from the beginning of the year to the end of the year, the pockets will be full of reality and wealth. What is particularly interesting is that when a child sleeps, his parents will put a large bill in his belly pocket and bring it back after waking up.

Happy new year, send big oranges.

New Year greetings, also known as "worship". In the early morning of the first day of junior high school, people get up and put on new clothes. The first thing they do is to pay homage to themselves. It is often the younger generation who wishes the elders first, and then the elders give their expectations to the younger generation. After breakfast, each of them pays a New Year call to relatives and friends. As the Chaoshan saying goes, "the first day and the second day have the meaning of New Year's greetings, and the third day and the fourth day have no intention of New Year's greetings." It is said that the sooner you pay a New Year call, the more you can see its sincerity. Therefore, some people go to pay New Year greetings to relatives and friends immediately after getting up, and then eat after coming back.

No matter how many gifts people bring, oranges are indispensable. Big orange takes its homonym "Daji". It doesn't matter if you take more and less, but it can't be odd. People who pay New Year greetings enter the doors of relatives and friends, and they should look at different people and say different greetings. Say "Happy New Year" and "Longevity is better than Nanshan" to the old people, and they will grin. For those who have jobs, saying "smooth work" and "progress in the new year" will make the listeners very happy; If you are a business person, what you hear most is "making a big profit in the New Year" and "making a fortune and benefiting the market"; If children are studying, what they want most is to make progress in their studies and achieve excellent results in the new year. Send this greeting to them, and they will be very friendly to you. After being seated, the host will make famous Chaoshan congou tea to entertain the guests. Before leaving, the host will leave two oranges in the gift of the recipient, and then exchange his oranges in order to bring good luck to the other party. Humorous people often only put two oranges in their trouser pockets when they go out to pay New Year's greetings. After the New Year call, the two oranges are still in his trouser pocket. Therefore, good-hearted people call the New Year's greetings at the beginning of the year "orange-changing movement".

(of a person) return to one's place of origin or unit.

On the second and third day of the first month, the married daughters go back to their parents' homes to celebrate the New Year with their husbands and children. When a daughter returns to her mother's house, there must be a big bag of biscuits and sweets distributed by her mother to her neighbors, just like the scene of the New Year. If there are many daughters at home, and these daughters don't come back on the same day, then we must share one at a time. The gift is quite thin, just four biscuits. But it reflects the deep affection, the real "courtesy is light and affection is heavy", and expresses the girl's miss for the villagers. When the girl goes home, if there is a nephew at home, menstruation has to pay again. Although she gave lucky money on New Year's Day, this time it had a different meaning. This custom is called "eating midnight snack" by Chaoshan people. As the name implies, it's just lunch, and the daughter must get back to her husband's house before dinner.

Spring Festival in other places:

Spring Festival Taboos in Chaoshan Area

Because the first month is the beginning of a year, Chaoshan people often regard it as a sign of good or bad luck in the New Year, so there are many "taboos" during the New Year. In terms of language, all unlucky words such as "broken", "bad", "nothing", "death", "light", "ghost", "killing", "illness", "pain" and "poverty" are taboo. It is also necessary to avoid crying of babies, because crying is "not winning the first prize", which indicates illness and disaster. Therefore, even if the child is in trouble on this day, don't fight or reprimand him, lest he cry endlessly. Behavior, end cup, end plate, end bowl, end plate should be extra careful not to break. When you accidentally break them, taking water is just a form. The custom of prohibiting sweeping the floor is gradually being eliminated, because firecrackers are set off during the Spring Festival, people come and go, and there are a lot of scraps of paper and garbage on the ground. It's really harmful not to clean. Therefore, starting from paying attention to hygiene, many young people are not very particular about these traditional taboo customs.

Creditors are not allowed to collect debts on this day, because it is considered unlucky for both borrowers and borrowers. Also avoid taking things from other people's pockets. People think that pulling out a pocket on the first day of the first month may lead to the danger of being "hollowed out" for one year.

Avoid dead people and funerals, because it will bring bad luck to the family. At the same time, don't have a haircut on this day, because people always associate a haircut with a funeral on this day. On this day, even killing is forbidden. Killing is considered to lead to disasters such as knife disaster, soldier disaster and blood disaster. However, now people's living standards have improved, and they have no scruples about eating fresh food for quick appetite.

In terms of diet, taking medicine is strictly prohibited on this day. Otherwise, I think it will lead to illness all the year round and take medicine constantly. There are several ways to avoid eating meat for breakfast on the first day of junior high school: one is to eat this meal quickly, and the effect is equal to one year; Another metaphor is frugality, not extravagance and waste.

Xijiang boathouse Spring Festival custom

On the surface of the "Little Three Gorges" in Zhaoqing section of Xijiang River in northwest Guangdong, there are still some "boatmen" who take boats as their home. Some of these fishermen have lived on boats for generations. Most of them cook on the boat and most of them burn firewood. Fishermen also like to grow sweet potatoes, rape, onions and garlic seedlings. Subsidize their lives in the open space on the river bank.

After the Spring Festival, fishermen hung red banners with auspicious wishes in their homes. They like to put "Bon voyage" on the bow, "All the best" and "Peace through the year" on the cabin, and "red money" with unique money paper-cut patterns. In addition, they will set off firecrackers at the bow, worship their ancestors first, and worship the gods on the shore to bless peace and happiness. Sacrifices mainly include yuba (Fulu), celery (diligence), green onions (cleverness), lettuce (wealth), oranges (auspiciousness), apples (peace), horseshoes, arrows (all bearing children) and so on.

Spring Festival in Zhanjiang

Like other parts of the country, the Spring Festival is the most grand and rich traditional festival among the people, but the Spring Festival in Zhanjiang also has local characteristics. Generally speaking, it takes about one month from the preparation to the end of the Spring Festival in rural areas, starting from the middle of December of the lunar calendar, including decorating houses, purchasing furniture, purchasing new clothes and purchasing various new year's goods. New year's goods include cane sugar, glutinous rice, New Year pictures, couplets, candy, biscuits and firecrackers. Most of the money earned in one year is used for the New Year.

On the 29th or 30th of 2008, the most lively scenes were killing pigs, catching fish in ponds, catching New Year's Eve, and sending out men, women and children together. In the evening, every household posted "Year Red", including both New Year pictures and traditional "door gods". Most couplets are related to wealth and so on. Families of military martyrs posted couplets issued by the civil affairs department at the gate, and posted "Eat enough" and "Six Livestock Flourish" in kitchens, pigs and chicken stalls. After the reunion dinner, it is lucky money. 12: 00, every household set off firecrackers to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new.

On the first day of New Year's Day, three taboos are popular in rural areas: no killing, no pouring water and no sweeping the floor. Some rural areas are still accustomed to fasting. On the second day of the Lunar New Year, I began to visit relatives and friends. You come, I'll leave. During this period, most villages and towns had lion dances, wandering souls, parades, dramas, martial arts performances and ball games, and various folk activities lasted for more than half a month.

During the Spring Festival, residents in old Shenzhen, especially in Baoan County, will hold various folk dances, including lion dance, unicorn dance, dragon dance and fish lantern dance.

Lion dancing and unicorn dancing are endowed with the desire to bring good luck and drive away evil spirits. The performance team is huge, with big gongs and drums and martial arts scenes with swords and halberds. On Chinese New Year holidays and auspicious days, the Lion Dance Team and the Kirin Team will transfer their ownership through the village, or perform in the open space, or go door to door to invite people to dance and sacrifice in the village. Lion dance is divided into "Wen lion" and "Wu lion" in performance. Shi Wen mainly shows the gentle demeanor of the lion, including sleeping, licking, shaking, scratching and rolling. "Wushi" shows the brave character of the lion, including jumping, falling, walking plum blossom piles, picking green, stepping on the ball and other difficult movements, which are similar in form and spirit and lifelike.

The performance of unicorn dance is very similar to that of lion dance. According to the traditional dance method, in the process of going down the mountain, picking green flowers and lying in the garden, all actions such as sleeping, waking up, scratching, shaking hair, licking hair, prancing, falling, climbing poles and playing are adopted, and the expression is vivid and realistic.

"Bulong" is more than 4 feet long and is made of cloth and wire. It has a stick in its abdomen. Generally, 8 to 12 people hold staff and perform various dragon dance movements such as prancing, tumbling and lying down, which are vivid. This kind of dragon dance is considered to bring good luck, so it is often performed during the Spring Festival. The heroism of the dragon dancers and the enthusiasm of the dancers constitute a grand and jubilant picture.