What is the custom of New Year's Day?

New Year's Day is a festival that people set up to celebrate the first day of the New Year. The Gregorian calendar date is 1. 1. According to legend, the word "New Year's Day" comes from Zhuan Xu, one of the earliest emperors in China. He stipulated that the first month of the lunar calendar is Yuan and the first day is Dan. Until the Western Han Dynasty re-established the calendar, the first day of the first month of each year was the first day of the New Year's Day, and it has not changed since then. Now New Year's Day is after the success of the Revolution of 1911. It is decided to adopt the internationally accepted Gregorian calendar, and change the first day of the Lunar New Year to the Spring Festival, with Gregorian calendar 1 day as the first day of the Lunar New Year.

The customs of New Year's Day include: offering sacrifices to ancestors, offering sacrifices to deities and buddhas, setting off firecrackers, having a reunion dinner, drinking peach soup, eating eggs, drinking pepper and cypress wine, drinking Tu Su wine, chewing gum and changing peach symbols. I think among many customs of New Year's Day, five are the most worth mentioning. Let's take a look:

? One of the New Year's Day customs: changing peach symbols?

Since ancient times, the legend of changing peach symbols on New Year's Day has formed a cultural heritage. China has a cultural heritage of peach wood to ward off evil spirits. In the pre-Qin period, the peach broom with peach handle was said to have magical power to ward off evil spirits. The predecessor of peach symbol is peach stalk and peach branch. "Zhuangzi" records: "Put peach branches at home, even the ash. Boys are afraid to enter, but ghosts are afraid. " Peach branches have the same effect after processing. There are many such legends, indicating that the ancients had a special belief in peach wood.

On Yuan Zhengri, every household used to hang portraits of peach shrines and reed ropes at the top of the gate and draw a tiger on the second door to avoid the intrusion of monsters. Later, people thought wood carving was troublesome, so they drew two statues directly on the mahogany, engraved with the names of Shen Tu and Lei Yu, and hung them on both sides of the door the day before Jacky to ward off evil spirits. This is the original symbol of peach. In the Five Dynasties, couplets began to appear on the symbols of peaches, replacing the names of Shen Tu and Lei Yu, and people usually wrote some auspicious words on them. In the second year of Song Taizu's reign, Meng Chang, the monarch of the later Shu Dynasty, gave the bachelor a lucky inscription on Fu Tao Xi Zhi on New Year's Eve. The master of Shu was dissatisfied with the bachelor's inscription, that is, he wrote "New Year, Jiaxu Festival is long". Meng Chang's inscription changed the content and nature of the legendary Fu Tao, and changed Fu Tao from the original mahogany card to a special style of expressing some thoughts-couplets. Now some experts believe that Meng Chang's inscription is China's first Spring Festival couplets.

In modern times, the custom of changing peach symbols was postponed until the first day of the first lunar month, that is, around the Spring Festival. But at first this custom was made on New Year's Day.

? The second custom of New Year's Day: Setting off firecrackers?

Speaking of setting off firecrackers, many people now know that this is to scare away a monster named Nian. But in the Han dynasty, people set off firecrackers in the yard as soon as they got up on New Year's Day, in order to scare away a ghost named "Shan Sao". When people camp in the wild deep in the forest, they will light bonfires. In order to prevent the invasion of hawthorn, people lit bamboo in the bonfire and scared it away with the crack of bamboo.

According to legend, during the Han Dynasty, Mrs. Shan lived in a deep mountain in the west, which was one foot high, making people feel cold and suffering from cold and heat diseases. Using firecrackers to scare away mountains is to drive away evil spirits, so as to get good luck and peace. Later, with the appearance of gunpowder, people began to burn saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal in bamboo tubes, so the "deflagration war" came into being. Since the Song Dynasty, people have replaced bamboo tubes with paper tubes and hemp sticks wrapped in gunpowder, which has become "firecrackers".

"Jing Chu Ji nian" records: "the first day of the first month, the day of three yuan. It is said that at the end of the month, chickens crow and firecrackers are burned in front of the court to eliminate mountain evils. " This is also the origin of people setting off firecrackers on New Year's Day.

? The third custom of new year's day: eat rice cakes on the first day of the new year's day?

It is a good wish for the New Year that the rice cake grows taller every year. Eating rice cakes on New Year's Day prevailed in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, especially in the south. Rice cakes can be fried, roasted, fried, steamed and ready to eat.

During New Year's Day, many areas in China pay attention to eating rice cakes. The rice cake, also known as "rice cake", is homophonic with "high year by year", which means that people's work and life are improving year by year. A poem by predecessors said: "The rice cake has a little meaning, as white as silver and as yellow as gold. I hope that when I get old, I will be profitable, and I sincerely hope that my wealth will come. " There is also a saying that if you don't drink rice cake soup during the New Year, you won't grow up this year. Rice cakes have a long history. Rice cakes in Han Dynasty are called rice cakes, cakes, bait and cakes.

There is a recipe of "white cocoon sugar" in the cooking book Historical Records, and the method of grinding rice into powder to make cakes is recorded in the book of Qi Yaomin in the Northern Dynasty. Eating rice cakes on New Year's Day was very popular in Ming and Qing Dynasties, especially in the south. There are three colors of rice cakes: red, yellow and white, which symbolize gold and silver. Eating rice cakes on New Year's Day is of great significance. Some areas in Zhejiang will also eat rice cakes, which are homophonic "high", representing a step-by-step promotion and a wide range of financial resources.

? New Year's Day custom: Eat jiaozi on New Year's Day?

"heavenly stems and earthly branches's annual rotation, Jiazi replaces the years." Eat jiaozi in the New Year, because "jiaozi" and "jiaozi" are homophonic. Eating jiaozi means happiness, reunion and good luck, and it also means good luck for a year. Eating jiaozi on New Year's Day expresses people's good wishes for life in the new year.

Jiaozi is a traditional food in China, and it also has far-reaching significance. On New Year's Day, jiaozi pays attention to keeping the old year's bags and eating them at the end of the year, which means to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new year. Childhood is the turn of two years, which has special significance. Jiaozi is homophonic, and children represent children's time, so eating jiaozi on New Year's Day means celebration, reunion and good luck, which means good things in the new year. Furthermore, jiaozi is shaped like an ingot, which means that there will be a lot of money in the new year.

In fact, jiaozi was a kind of food after the Chinese New Year sacrifice in ancient times. Later, it became more and more popular with people, and now it has become an indispensable food for every household. There are guests at home who eat jiaozi; There is delicious food in jiaozi at home; Get married and eat jiaozi; Eat jiaozi on holidays. Therefore, jiaozi is an indispensable delicacy for every household in China. Eating jiaozi on New Year's Day also expresses people's expectation and yearning for a better life in the new year.

? New Year's Day custom: eat five spicy foods?

After the Wei and Jin Dynasties, there was a custom of eating spiced food on the first day of New Year's Day. Intended to try new things. Lettuce originated from the beginning of spring solar eclipse in Han Dynasty. The Spring Festival already existed in the Jin Dynasty, and it was called "Five Pan Xin" at that time. Five spices in a broad sense refer to five kinds of spicy dishes made of vegetables (onion, garlic, pepper, ginger and mustard). Taking five spices can sterilize and drive away cold.

As the food of Yuan Dynasty, it was first recorded in the local customs of Zhou Dynasty between Wu and Jin Dynasties. It is said that eating five parsley in the morning of the Yuan Dynasty "helps to create the qi of the five internal organs" (Volume I of Jade Candle Collection). Five kinds of coriander are five kinds of spicy dishes. The Chronicle of Jingchu Age notes garlic, garlic, leek, Yuntai and coriander. For example, it is mentioned in local customs that you can move the five internal organs and pray for health.

For emperors, the amount and variety of food they eat every day are naturally indescribable, especially some emperors who only know pleasure. For example, today's protagonist, Emperor Yang Di Yang Guang, every New Year's Day, Emperor Yang Di's table concentrates on delicious food from all over the country, such as seafood in coastal areas and game in mountainous areas. However, among these delicacies, Emperor Yang Di Yang Guang's favorite is "spiced board". Before New Year's Day, chefs will prepare five spicy dishes in advance. At that time, all they had to do was say "Serve" and they would know that Emperor Yang Di would eat five spicy dishes. Emperor Yang Di won't stop eating until after the Spring Festival or even the Lantern Festival, which shows how much Emperor Yang Di loves spiced dishes, and the tradition of eating spiced dishes in Yuan Dynasty has a long history.

After all, New Year's Day is not a traditional festival in China. Although it has followed some traditional ways of celebration, such as setting off firecrackers, killing Sansheng, worshipping ghosts and gods, and offering sacrifices to ancestors, it has not been seen in people's minds how important it will be. In modern times, the custom of Chinese New Year is even simpler.