Traditional customs in Shanghai

Shanghai traditional customs include New Year's Eve, Shanghai Peach Blossom Festival, Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, Buddha Bathing Festival and so on.

1. New Year's Eve: After the New Year's Eve, many family elders don't go to bed and stay around the stove to watch the new year. Keep until the first crow of the rooster and the dawn, and all the men, women and children put on new clothes, hats and shoes. In the hall where the offerings have already been arranged, worship heaven and earth and worship ancestors first. At midnight, some people will go to the temple in the city to burn the "head incense" and bump the "head bell".

2. Shanghai Peach Blossom Festival is held from March to April every year. Shanghai people have a long-standing habit of enjoying peach blossoms. Nanhui is a good place to enjoy flowers. There are many peach trees planted in Nanhui District of Shanghai. Since 1991, Shanghai Peach Blossom Festival has been held when peach blossoms are in full bloom, in order to further promote peach culture and promote the development of tourism.

3. Spring Festival: Since the first day of junior high school, it is a time for relatives and friends to return home and pay New Year greetings. When guests come to bring more gifts, they must be invited to drink "Yuanbao Tea", which is to put olives in the tea or put a olive on the top of the tea cover, and they must be invited to eat wine and rice. Shanghainese must visit the Chenghuang Temple and take a walk on the zigzag bridge when they arrive for the Spring Festival. On the fifth day of the first month, for the birthday of the God of Wealth (commonly known as the "Road God"), there are moves to pick up the God of Wealth everywhere.

4. Yuanxiao: Every family must eat Yuanxiao, that is, glutinous rice balls, which also means reunion and good luck. However, the prosperity of Lantern Festival lies in "lights", so it is also called "Lantern Festival". In front of hanging lanterns in every household and shop, temples, gardens, squares and other public places, there are even more big lanterns. At that time, men, women and children will appear in groups. The Town God Temple and the West Garden are also the center of an activity.

5. Buddha Bathing Festival: In Shanghai, Buddha Bathing Festival (Sakyamuni's birthday) is held on the eighth day of April. On this day, temples will dust off the Buddha statues and recite scriptures. There are grand temple fairs in large temples inside and outside the city, such as Jing 'an Temple and Guangfu Temple on Fangbang Road. During the temple fair, department stores outside the mountain gate will gather to exchange local products.