Customs and habits of New Year in Changsha

It takes Changsha people more than half a month to celebrate the New Year, that is, from the 24th of the twelfth lunar month in the first year to the Lantern Festival on the 15th of the first month in the second year. On the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, commonly known as "off-year", the family has a rest and dinner. According to legend, the kitchen god returned to the sky to report on his work, named kitchen. In order to make him stop talking nonsense and play the jade emperor with good words, people will do a general cleaning the day before, which is called "sweeping the dust". On the evening of 23rd or 24th, housewives lit candles around the stove and offered sacrifices to them to "see them off". At the end of the year, it is called New Year's Eve, or New Year's Eve. Every household cuts the ribbon and sticks the Spring Festival couplets, and the whole family gets together to drink, and all the dishes are left, which is called having a reunion dinner. Light lanterns, burn incense and set off firecrackers, and worship the ancestors' home gods, calling the Year of Resignation and offering sacrifices to the kitchen gods. The children went to their neighbors in small groups with lanterns and said, "Please resign." . Every family stood up to welcome them, took out snacks and dry tea, and stuffed the children's pockets full. Some children went home to unload their pockets and quickly joined the resignation team. There are one or two bowls of food in one night, and they are happy from ear to ear. On new year's eve, a maple tree (or pine tree, chestnut tree, etc. ) At that time, it was burning in every stove in rural Changsha. Men, women and children were called "Niancailao" around the stove. The elders gave their children lucky money, and the whole family ate stewed radish with pig's trotters, which was called "Shousui". On the first day of the lunar new year, every family crows, men, women and children put on new clothes, and the male owner with the highest generation burns incense and opens the door to set off firecrackers, which is called "going out of the sky" or lucky. Then people in the hall worship their ancestors by candlelight, and then worship the gods of heaven and earth to the outside world. When choosing an auspicious day, they bow to Jisan or to the quartet to pray for the interests of all parties in the new year. Then the children and grandchildren pay New Year greetings to their elders in turn, and first take the first load of water by the well, light incense and join the gods. Eating leftovers for breakfast is called eating every other year, which means having enough food and clothing. Vegetarian dishes, such as vegetables, taro, tofu, etc. It means that people are clean and auspicious, everything is fine and innocent. After dinner, the younger generation pays New Year greetings to the elders at home. In the Qing Dynasty, New Year greetings were paid with a bow ceremony, and people generally did not go out to pay New Year greetings on the first day of the New Year. After the Republic of China, it changed from bowing to bowing, and after the family paid New Year greetings, neighbors paid New Year greetings to each other, and the atmosphere was warm. But if people haven't got up yet, don't pay New Year's greetings before going to bed. When someone came into the house to pay New Year's greetings, the host stood up and handed in his hand: "Please pay New Year's greetings" and warmly treated him with dry tea.

On the second day, the son-in-law went to Yuejia to pay a New Year call. The so-called "the first son, Jiro, the third day and the fourth day". The habit of inviting spring guests in the four townships of Changsha is to arrange several generations of uncles and nephews and other relatives and friends to get together for a drink on a certain day. After the eighth day, acquaintances met and said to each other, "Please pay a late year!" " 15, generally not mentioned in New Year's greetings. On the fifteenth day of the first month, it was called Shangyuan Festival in ancient times, also called Lantern Festival. There is a saying in Changsha: "The fire of thirty nights is the light of midnight snack". Lantern viewing was very popular in the Tang Dynasty, especially in the Song Dynasty. Wen Tianyang once described the grand occasion of arranging lanterns in Shangyuan, Hengzhou: "Ladies and gentlemen in the city are lingering", "The audience is blocked", "You are so tired that you can't see the difference between the lines". In Changsha Lantern Market, there are many kinds of lanterns made of paper or hung on houses or streets. On this day, every household lights candles, cooks Yuanxiao, and urchins play with lanterns. In addition to lighting candles in the dark corners of chickens in pigsty and kennel, farmers also light fires on the edge of fields to kill insects and pray for a bumper harvest. Children like to light Song Ming in the corner, while burning and singing: "On the fifteenth day of the first month, burn insects and ants, rest in heaven". Those close to the ancestral graves also send candles to the graves, so that the ancestors can share the light of the world.

Changsha's custom of "going out of heaven when you are young"

The first day of the first lunar month is the Spring Festival, commonly known as the Spring Festival in Changsha. Changsha people spend more than half a month in the Spring Festival, that is, from the 24th of the twelfth lunar month of the previous year. .........

When guests come to pay a New Year call, Changsha has the custom of setting off firecrackers. After taking a seat, send two betel nuts, called Yuanbao, and wish them a fortune.