Collect 5 traditional festivals and customs of Putian Spring Festival.

Spring Festival; the Spring Festival; Chinese New Year

The Spring Festival is the most solemn traditional festival in custom. In Puxian area, the first day to the fifth day of the first month is called "five years old". On the first morning, the door was opened to set off firecrackers, and every family offered sacrifices to their ancestors, candles and cannons. After the ceremony, the whole family ate noodles, each with a bowl, wishing the whole family a long life. On the second day of the second year, we did not communicate with each other, did not visit each other, and did not pay New Year greetings to each other. Only people who have been here on the first day don't avoid it. On the third day of the third year, all families held "Welcome the New Year", which was a response to the example of "Sending the New Year" at the end of last year. On the fourth day of the fourth month of the lunar calendar, there is a custom of "begging for grass from the bodhisattva" along the way: children hold idols, surrounded by cars and drums, and collect firewood from households. In the afternoon, my mother invited flowers, hoping to protect her from having children early. At dusk, firewood was set up in front of the temple and a fire was lit. Every family holds a worship ceremony. When the firewood is completely burned, many people use long tongs to compete for the unburned firewood and return home quickly. "Mother Fire" wants wealth to be like fire.

The fourth day is past the New Year's Eve, but I am old [Xianyou area is the fifth day]

In the forty-first year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty (1562), Japanese invaders invaded Fujian, occupied Yuheng in Ningde, Tian Niu in Fuqing and Linton in Putian, set up strongholds and set about burning, killing and looting. Xinghua Fucheng (now Putian City) was captured by the Japanese army at midnight on November 29th of the lunar calendar and occupied for two months. Xinghua city was completely burned and more than 30,000 people were killed. At that time, Putian men, women and children rebelled, were cut off by the Japanese, or burned to death and crucified. It's terrible. The Japanese thieves' inhuman atrocities shocked the world. On the 25th day of the first month of the following year, due to the stench of dead bodies in the city, the Japanese army had to temporarily retreat to Pinghai until the arrival of Qi Jiguang, an anti-Japanese hero, and Xinghua City was recovered. At this time, people who fled to the mountains went home on the second day of February. On the one hand, we bury the bodies of relatives and friends, on the other hand, we clean up the broken homes. At this time, the New Year's Day has passed, people will visit each other on the second day of February, and then they will grow old on the fourth day of February.

Later, in order to commemorate this tragic day in Putian, Putian folks celebrated their birthdays on the evening of December 30 of the lunar calendar as usual, which lasted for too long. Therefore, Putian people agreed to change the fourth day of the second lunar month to the fourth day of the first lunar month (around the stove). Because the February of the lunar calendar is busy with farming, if it is done on the second day of the second lunar month, the 30th night of the lunar calendar will be changed to "younger" and the fourth night of the first lunar month will be called "older". At the same time, it is agreed that the second day of February is the second day of the first month, which is an ominous day to visit relatives and friends, commonly known as the taboo day. Up to now, Putian people don't visit each other or visit relatives and friends on this day every year.

The customs of Xianyou County, which is also in Putian City, are different from those of Putian City (formerly Putian County). Putian is the "old" on the fourth day of the first month, and Xianyou County is the "old" on the fifth day of the first month. This is because after the Japanese army captured Putian City, it invaded Xianyou County on a large scale the following winter, killing and looting everywhere. The people of Xianyou City fled everywhere and were displaced, unable to reunite for the New Year. It was not until Qi Jiguang arrived and the enemy fled that the people reunited. Since the 43rd year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty (1564), people in Xianyou customarily set the fifth day of the first month, and Wu, a resident of Wuzhai, died in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. In order to commemorate him, the villagers designated the fifth day of the first month as a mourning day. The custom of "getting old" on the fourth and fifth day of the first month in Puxian area has been passed down to this day.

Shen danchun JIU

The ninth day of the first month is said to be the birthday of the Jade Emperor. At midnight on the eighth day, families light candles, burn incense, bow to the sky and pray for good luck all the year round. On the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, believers from all over Putian flocked to Lingyun Temple in Tiger Mountain to worship the Jade Emperor, or went to the Jade Emperor Temple in Shishiyan, west of Pucheng. Both of them invited Puxian Opera that day, which was very lively. It is said that newlyweds can have boys by taking Jade Emperor Road on the ninth day of the first month.

On the tenth day, officials and gentry invited each other to drink, and the number was "Pass the wine." This used to be an old custom in Chang 'an, and later it was renamed "Spring Wine". One or two days before the ceremony, officials and gentry wrote down the names of the invitees with posts and sent people to sign from door to door. At that time, a big banquet was held, and many seats were attended on a high-status day. Inviting "spring wine" is an essential thing for officials and gentry to celebrate the New Year. Working people do not have this custom. They only take their children when visiting relatives and invite each other to eat some tea cakes, sweets or other snacks.

On the fifteenth night of the first lunar month; Lantern Festival; night of the 15th of the first lunar month；Lantern Festival；yuanxiao

Yuanxiao is called "Yuanxiao" from the sixth day to the twentieth day of the first month. Every village has different days. The fifteenth day of the first month is the first full moon night in a year, and it is the Lantern Festival, commonly known as "Yuanxiao Heart".

The Lantern Festival in Puxian is quite lively. Although the time, content and form of the Lantern Festival in Puxian County are not exactly the same, they all reflect the keynote of "God is the mainstay, and God and the people share happiness", especially in rural areas. Each village (called "Beijing" in the past) holds a lantern festival around its own village community, which usually lasts for three days, and some even jointly hold a lantern festival. In rural areas, to celebrate the Lantern Festival, people usually perform a performance to reward the gods and set off fireworks outside the "walk". In order to celebrate the Lantern Festival, married men in each commune take turns to be "blessing heads" every year, responsible for burning incense, cleaning, offering sacrifices to commune gods, collecting robes and sacrificial vessels of commune gods, etc. On the Lantern Festival, they will hold the communal stove and walk around with shrines to make every household burn incense.

When celebrating the Lantern Festival, various customs are also popular all over the country. Every household in Li Community who got married and gave birth to a boy the year before must present a gift to God or light 1 pairs of giant candles during the Lantern Festival snack, which is called "happiness candle". This is a special custom. The women who got married the year before dressed up at the Lantern Festival snacks and sat in front of the temples in their respective Li communities to let people know the charm of the bride.

There are many such shares on Putian New Town Online. You can go and have a look.