How did the older generation celebrate the New Year when they were young?

When the older generation was young, the Chinese New Year was basically these procedures:

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

It was recorded in the Wei and Jin Dynasties that the whole family stayed up all year round and drank together.

On New Year's Eve, the whole family get together for dinner, which is a common custom in China. According to historical records, this custom first appeared in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and then gradually became popular. In the early Tang Dynasty, Emperor Taizong Li Shimin wrote a poem "Shousui".

: "Cold words winter snow, warm with spring breeze." To this day, people in China are used to setting off firecrackers on New Year's Eve, sitting indoors watching TV and laughing.

Eat dumplings

During the Spring Festival, jiaozi has become an indispensable delicacy. According to "Guangya" written by Zhang Yi, wei ren of the Three Kingdoms, there was a crescent-shaped food called "Wonton" at that time, which was basically similar to the shape of jiaozi now. By the time of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, wonton was "shaped like a crescent moon, and it was delicious all over the world." Presumably, when jiaozi cooked it, he didn't take it out and eat it alone, but put it in a bowl with the soup, so people called jiaozi "wonton" at that time. This way of eating is still popular in some areas of our country. For example, when people from Henan and Shaanxi eat jiaozi, they should put some small ingredients such as coriander, chopped green onion, shrimp skin and leek in the soup. By about the Tang Dynasty, jiaozi had become exactly the same as jiaozi now, so it was fished out and put on a plate to eat by itself.

The folk custom of eating jiaozi during the Spring Festival was quite popular in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Generally, jiaozi should wrap it up before New Year's Eve 12, and eat it at midnight. At this time, it is the beginning of the first day of the first lunar month. Eating jiaozi means "making friends when you are young", and "Zi" is homophonic with "jiaozi", which means "reunion" and "good luck".

There are many legends about eating jiaozi in the New Year. One is to commemorate Pangu's creation of the world, and the other is to take its homonym "chaos", which means "five grains are abundant" In addition, it is said that eating jiaozi's folk language is related to Nu Wa's making people.

Jiaozi has become an indispensable program food for the Spring Festival. The reasons are as follows: First, jiaozi is shaped like an ingot, and eating jiaozi during the Spring Festival means "making money into treasure"; Secondly, there are stuffing in jiaozi, which is convenient for people to put all kinds of auspicious things into stuffing and place their hopes for the new year. In some areas, when people eat jiaozi, they have to match some non-staple food to show their good luck. If you eat tofu, it symbolizes the happiness of the whole family; Eating persimmons symbolizes all the best; Eating three fresh vegetables symbolizes the prosperity of Sanyang. People in Taiwan Province Province eat fish balls, meatballs and seaweed, symbolizing reunion and wealth.

Stick the word "fu"

Sticking the word "Fu" during the Spring Festival is a long-standing folk custom in China. According to Liang Lu's Dream, "When I was young, I would visit department stores, draw door gods and spend the Spring Festival ..."; "Scholars, big or small, should sweep the floor, remove dust, clean the family, change the door gods, nail peach charms, paste Spring Festival couplets and worship their ancestors." The "spring card" in this article is the word "fu" written on red paper.

The word "fu" is now interpreted as "happiness", but in the past it meant "good luck" and "good luck". Whether it is now or in the past, people's yearning for a happy life and their wishes for a better future are pinned. In order to fully reflect this yearning and wish, the people simply turn the word "blessing" upside down, indicating that "blessing has fallen" and "blessing has arrived"

There is also a legend that the word "fu" is posted upside down among the people. Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming emperor, used the word "fu" as a code word to prepare for murder. In order to eliminate this disaster, kind Ma Huanghou asked all the families in the city to put "Fu" on their doors before dawn. Naturally, no one dares to go against Ma Huanghou's will, so the word "Fu" is posted on every door. If one of the families can't read, turn the word "fu" upside down. The next day, the emperor sent people to the streets to check and found that every family had posted the word "Fu", and another family had posted the word "Fu" upside down. When the emperor heard the news, he was furious and immediately ordered the body guard to cut down the house. When Ma Huanghou saw that things were not good, he quickly said to Zhu Yuanzhang, "The family knew that you were visiting today, and deliberately turned the word" Fu "upside down. Isn't this what' Fudao' means? " When the emperor heard the truth, he ordered his release, and a great disaster was finally eliminated. Since then, people have turned the word "Fu" upside down for good luck and in memory of Ma Huanghou.

Stick paper-cuts on the windows.

During the Spring Festival, people in many areas like to stick various paper-cuts on their 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 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 of window grilles are mostly farmers, window grilles have quite a lot of content to express farmers' lives, such as farming, weaving, 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 and birds, insects and fish, and the zodiac are also very common.

Setting off firecrackers

There is a folk saying in China that "open the door and set off firecrackers". The first thing in the new year is to set off firecrackers to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new year.

Firecrackers are a specialty of China with a long history of more than 2,000 years. Now, most of us think that setting off firecrackers can create a festive atmosphere, is a kind of entertainment in festivals, and can bring happiness and good luck to people.

According to Nerve, in ancient times, people camped through deep mountains and lit bonfires at night, one for cooking and keeping warm, and the other for preventing wild animals from invading. But there is an animal in the mountains called "Mountain Sister", which is not afraid of people or fire, and often steals food while people are unprepared. In order to deal with it, people thought of setting off firecrackers in the fire and using the crackling sound of bamboo to drive it away. In the early Tang Dynasty, plagues were everywhere. A man named Li Tian put saltpeter in a bamboo tube and lit it to make it emit louder sound and stronger smoke. And it broke up? Why don't you tell me what you are doing? Hey? Wei Rui hospital is stunned? Heir wall? Hey? ⒘ 347 Forgive ammonia? Does the otter lose weight and stir up a grudge? Do you want to talk about it? What's this story? Umbrella ammonia, huh? A mound? Well, I'm a widow. I'm tired of climbing mountains and running. Only points? Step on it? Double your shallowness? Shunqiang? A sailboat that squeezes malaria Hey? What's the matter with you? ⒍⒍⒍⒅ ⒅ ⒅ ⒅ ⒅ ⒅ ⒅ ⒅ ⒅ ⒅ ⒅ ⒅ ⒅ ⒅ ⒅ ⒅ ⒅ ⒅ ⒅ ⒅ Hey? Squeeze malaria? Chu yunjing?

Pay new year's call

In ancient times, the original meaning of the word "Happy New Year" was to pay New Year greetings to the elderly. On the first morning, the younger generation should first pay New Year greetings to the elders. After the elders worship, they will distribute the "lucky money" prepared in advance to the younger generation. When people go out to meet each other, they should also exchange auspicious words such as "Congratulations on getting rich" and "Happy New Year". In ancient times, the literati in the upper class used the custom of greeting each other with famous cards. At that time, the scholar-officials had a wide circle of friends, and it took time and energy to pay New Year greetings everywhere. Therefore, some close friends did not go in person, but sent their servants to take a card cut with plum blossom stationery, two inches wide and three inches long, with the recipient's name, address and congratulations written on it. In the Ming dynasty, people visited instead of paying New Year's greetings. "Famous thorn" and "famous divination" are the origins of today's greeting cards. Since the Qing Dynasty, New Year greetings have joined the form of "group worship".

With the development of the times, the custom of New Year greetings is constantly adding new contents and forms. Nowadays, people not only follow the old way of paying New Year greetings, but also begin to pay New Year greetings by courtesy telegram, telephone and SMS, online QQ, etc.

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.

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: "The hundred-yuan colored thread is long, and then it is collected from the pillow. On the price of firecrackers, Joule has been busy all night." At present, the custom of elders giving lucky money to younger generations is still prevalent. Most of these lucky money are used by children to buy books, school supplies and daily necessities. The new fashion has given new content to the lucky money.

Pick up the god of wealth

According to folklore, the fifth day of the first month is the birthday of the God of Wealth, and every household holds a banquet to celebrate the God of Wealth.

There are many folk legends about the God of Wealth: Cai Jing in the Song Dynasty was very rich. According to folklore, he was born as a god of wealth and happened to be born on the fifth day of the first month, so people regard him as a god of wealth. After Cai Jing was demoted, people converted to the God of Wealth. At that time, the national surname of the Song Dynasty was Zhao, and this mysterious word was an integral part of the word "Lan", so he gave a new name to show his worship.

On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, Zhao Xuantan is the most respected. In addition to Zhao Xuantan being honored as "God of Wealth", there are also folk sayings that "God of Wealth is partial", "God of Wealth" and "Wu Caishen" are heavenly emperors. The belief in the God of Wealth is popular in Yuan Qiu, Dexing, Jiangxi. There are five temples of God of Wealth outside Andingmen in Beijing. The "literary god of wealth" is also called the "god of wealth". His paintings are often juxtaposed with "Fu", "Lu", "Shou" Samsung and XiShen. Together, they are Fu, Lu, Shou, Cai and Fu. The rich star gentleman has long white hair and a cornucopia in his hand, from which the word "lucky money becomes treasure" comes.

Guan Jun is Guan Yunchang. It is said that Guan Yunchang managed the military horse post station and was good at counting, which made his invention increasingly thin and focused on credit and loyalty, so he was worshipped by merchants. Generally speaking, businessmen regard Guan Gong as their patron saint, and Guan Gong is also regarded as the god of wealth. On the fifth day of the first month, the shops opened for business. In the early morning, golden gongs, firecrackers and sacrifices rang in unison to welcome the arrival of the God of Wealth. Gu Tieqing, a poet in A Qing, quoted a poem by Cai Yun Zhuzhi in Jia Qinglu, describing the scene of Suzhou people welcoming the god of wealth on the fifth day of May: "Seek financial resources for five days, and be willing to give a reward for one year; Beware of meeting God early elsewhere and rushing to hold the road all night. " "Holding the road" means "welcoming the God of Wealth".

Eat rice cake

It is said that the earliest rice cakes were used to worship gods and ancestors on New Year's Eve, and later became food for the Spring Festival.

In the Book of Qi Yaomin written by Jia Sixie in the Northern Wei Dynasty, there is a method of making cakes with rice flour: after sieving glutinous rice flour with silk, add water and honey to make hard dough, stick dates and chestnuts on the dough, wrap them with bamboo leaves and steam them. This glutinous rice cake has the characteristics of the Central Plains. Rice cakes are mostly made of glutinous rice flour, which is a specialty of Jiangnan. There are sticky grains such as glutinous rice in the north, and sticky millet (commonly known as millet) was first introduced in ancient times. This kind of shelled millet noodles, after steamed with water, is yellow, sticky and sweet, and it is a delicious food for people in the Yellow River valley to celebrate the harvest. There are many kinds of rice cakes with different flavors in the north and south. Typical ones are white cakes in the north, yellow rice cakes from farmers in Saibei, rice cakes from water mills, rice cakes from the south of the Yangtze River and red turtle cakes from Taiwan Province Province.

There are some differences in customs and habits in different places, and what is said here is only typical customs and habits.