What's the difference between December in ancient China and now?

December of the lunar calendar is called "twelfth lunar month", and it was also called "twelfth lunar month" in ancient times. This title has little to do with natural seasons, but mainly with the 20-year-old sacrifice. The so-called "wax" was originally the name of sacrifice at the end of the year. Han Yingshao's "Customs" says that "Jia Ping, Qing Si, Zhou uses big wax, and Han changes big wax. Those who wax and hunt say that they hunt animals in the fields to sacrifice to their ancestors. " Or: "Those who wax, accept it, hand over the old and the new, so it is a big sacrifice." What is said here is that whether animals are sacrificed to ancestors after hunting or to gods because of the alternation of old and new, they are all engaged in sacrificial activities anyway, so the twelfth lunar month is a "sacrificial month".

The twelfth lunar month is the end of the year, and it is in the cold winter. As the folk proverb says, "Lazy, Bala, freeze your chin" is exactly what it says. At this time, the winter field has passed, so there is a saying of "winter leisure" and "leisure" in farming, but the pace of people's life has not slowed down, and people have accelerated the pace of marching into the Spring Festival with a cheerful and eager mood. Spring Festival is the most grand of the three traditional festivals in China. The twelfth lunar month is the prelude to the Spring Festival, which is rich in content. First of all, it starts with drinking Laba porridge, and then people have to clean the house, invite incense, offer sacrifices to the stove, seal the stove, write Spring Festival couplets and make new year's goods until New Year's Eve. Broadly speaking, the Chinese New Year begins on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, even after drinking Laba porridge, and ends on the 15th day of the first month of the first month. In the past, some official families even postponed the Spring Festival to February 2, when the dragon looked up, which can be seen from the classic Dream of Red Mansions.

China New Year is very attractive to China people. In order to have a good year, China people have to spend nearly a month making a lot of preparations. People should be busy explaining to the gods and ancestors who bless them; There must be a current account settlement in the past year; We should send holiday condolences to relatives, neighbors and colleagues so that we can get along better in the future. Summarize the family affairs and private affairs of the past year, so that individuals can make more progress and prosper in the new year.

The custom of twelfth lunar month

Layuege

Twenty-three, honeydew melon is sticky;

Twenty-four, sweeping the house;

Twenty-five, grinding bean curd;

Twenty-six, to cut meat (stew);

Twenty-seven, killing chickens (killing stove chickens);

Twenty-eight, send face;

Twenty-nine, steamed bread;

Stay awake for 30 nights in a row,

On the first day of the new year.

The eighth day of the twelfth lunar month

In memory of Sakyamuni

The origin of Laba porridge

On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, people in China have the custom of eating Laba porridge. It is said that Laba porridge comes from India.

The founder of Buddhism, Sakyamuni, was originally the son of Sudoku king in northern India (now Nepal). He saw that all beings were suffering physically and mentally, dissatisfied with the theocratic rule of Brahmins at that time, and gave up the throne and became a monk. After six years of asceticism, he became a Buddha under the bodhi tree on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. In the past six years, I have only eaten one hemp and one meter a day. Later generations did not forget his sufferings and ate porridge as a souvenir on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month every year. "Laba" became "Buddha's Day". "Laba" is a grand festival of Buddhism. Before liberation, Buddhist temples all over the country held Buddhist baths and chanted scriptures, and imitated the legend that a herder offered chyle before Sakyamuni became a monk, and cooked fragrant cereal porridge to offer sacrifices to the Buddha, which was called "Laba porridge". Laba porridge was presented to disciples and kind men and women, and later became a folk custom. It is said that in some monasteries, before the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, monks would hold alms bowls along the street and cook the collected rice, chestnuts, dates, nuts and other materials into Laba porridge and distribute it to the poor. Legend has it that eating it can get the blessing of Buddha, so the poor call it "Buddha porridge". The poem of Lu You in the Southern Song Dynasty said: "Today, Buddha porridge is more mutually beneficial, and the opposite is Jiangcun Village." It is said that Tianning Temple, a famous temple in Hangzhou, has a "rice stack building" for storing leftovers. Usually, monks in the temple dry leftovers every day, accumulate a year's surplus grain, and cook laba porridge for believers on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. It is called "Fushou porridge" and "Fude porridge", which means that they can increase their happiness and longevity after eating them. It can be seen that the monks at that time cherished the virtue of food.

Laba porridge was cooked with adzuki beans and glutinous rice in ancient times, and then the materials were gradually increased. People in the Southern Song Dynasty carefully compiled "Old Wulin Stories" and said, "Cooking porridge with walnuts, pine nuts, milk mushrooms, persimmon mushrooms and persimmon chestnuts is called Laba porridge." Up to now, people in Jiangnan, Northeast and Northwest China still have the custom of eating Laba porridge, which is rare in Guangdong. With different materials, glutinous rice, red beans, jujube, chestnuts, peanuts, ginkgo, lotus seeds, lilies and so on are commonly used to cook sweet porridge. Longan, longan and candied fruit are all ripe. Eating a steaming bowl of Laba porridge in winter is delicious and nutritious, which can really increase happiness and prolong life.

December 23 rd

Continue to eat

The 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, also called "off-year", is the day when people worship the kitchen. There is a folk custom that "men don't Yue Bai, women don't offer sacrifices to stoves", so the owner of offering sacrifices to stoves is limited to men. Among the folk gods in China, the qualification of Kitchen God has a long history. Kitchen God, in the Xia Dynasty, has become a respected god. Starting from the Zhou Dynasty, the imperial palace also included sacrificial stoves in sacrificial ceremonies, and established rules for sacrificial stoves throughout the country, which became a fixed ceremony.

December 24th

Clean the house.

After the Stove Festival, preparations for the Chinese New Year officially began.

The word "broom" has been found in Oracle Bone Inscriptions. The Shang and Zhou bronzes unearthed in Shaanxi have the inscription "Sweep with a broom". It can be seen that people swept the floor with brooms thousands of years ago. There is a note in The Book of Rites that "everywhere inside and outside, chickens crow at first, ... sweeping the court". This shows that people have long known that pollution and dust bubbles are related to the spread of diseases. Zhou Shu's Secret Building Classics records that "the ditches are clear, the houses are clean, and there is no foul smell or plague".

"Rufalan" said: "It is difficult to beat drums to drive away epidemic ghosts at the end of the year." Later it gradually evolved into a year-end cleaning. In the Tang Dynasty, "Sweeping the Year Wind" prevailed. Song and Wu Meng recorded: "At the end of December, the old days are poor, that is, except at night, all the scholars, big and small, sweep the door, clean up the housework, change the door gods, hang up Zhong Kui, nail peaches and stick spring cards to pray for peace in the new year." Qing Lu Gu's Ting Anne Lu. December. "Dust of Ai": "The wax will be broken, so it is advisable to choose a constitutional book (referring to the almanac) to sweep the dust on the house, or hit the dust of Ai on the 23rd, 24th and 27th, which is vulgar." Qing * Cai Yun's poem "Wu Yuqian" said: "Everything in the thatched cottage is happy in spring, and the dust in the house is cleared away." "Trivia at the Age of Years" said: "December 24th, sweeping the house, whoever does something, does not choose constitutional documents, and marries more, is called silk throwing day."

In ancient times, the Spring Festival cleaning was called "Sweeping the Year Festival", which originated from a religious ceremony of the ancient people to drive away the epidemic. Later it gradually evolved into a year-end cleaning. This is the traditional habit of our people. The north is called "house cleaning" and the south is called "dust removal". Every household should clean the environment, clean all kinds of appliances, remove and wash bedding curtains, sweep six yards, dust cobwebs and dredge culverts in open channels. For the north, sweeping the house in the twelfth month of winter is only dust removal, while in the south, tables, chairs and even big shed beds are often carried to the river and wells for scrubbing. After cleaning the house, the whole family began to prepare new year's goods, please code incense wax paper, present gifts, write couplets, cut window grilles, buy hanging money, New Year pictures, firecrackers ... The whole country is filled with a happy, hygienic and clean atmosphere to welcome the New Year.

The custom of "sweeping the house with dust on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month" has a long history. Also known as "dust sweeping, dust removal, slag removal and dust removal". According to "Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals", China had the custom of sweeping dust during the Spring Festival in the Yao and Shun era. According to the folk saying, because of the homonym of "dust" and "Chen", sweeping dust in the Spring Festival means "getting rid of the old and not being new", and its original intention is to sweep away all "bad luck". This custom has placed people's desire to break the old and create new ones and their prayers to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new.

Interestingly, there is a strange story about the origin of ancient dust sweeping.

Legend has it that the ancients believed that everyone was attached to a three-corpse god. Like a shadow, he followed people's whereabouts and was inseparable. Three dead gods are a guy who likes flattery and gossip. He often tells stories in front of the Jade Emperor and describes the world as ugly. Over time, in the jade emperor's impression, this world is simply a dirty world full of evil. Once. The secret report of the three dead gods tells us that the world is cursing the Emperor of Heaven and wants to rebel against him. The jade emperor was furious and made an imperial edict to quickly find out what happened in the world. Anyone who hates gods and insults them writes their crimes under the eaves. Then let the spider cover it with a net and mark it. The Jade Emperor ordered Wang Lingguan to go down on New Year's Eve, and all the marked families were beheaded, not one left. Seeing that the plan was about to succeed, three resin gods took advantage of the gap and flew down to earth. They indiscriminately and viciously marked the eaves and corners of every household so that Wang Lingguan could kill them all.

Just as the Three Corpses God was doing evil, the Chef God discovered his whereabouts and was frightened to disgrace, so he quickly sought out various Chefs to discuss countermeasures. So, I came up with a good idea. From the day when the kitchen is delivered on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month to the time when the kitchen is closed on New Year's Eve, every household should clean up the house. If any household is not clean, Kitchen God will refuse to enter the house. According to the instructions of the kitchen god before he ascended to heaven, everyone cleaned the dust, dusted the cobwebs, cleaned the doors and windows, and thoroughly cleaned their houses. When Wang Lingguan visited the lower bound on New Year's Eve, he found that every household had bright windows and bright lights, people were reunited and happy, and the world was beautiful. Wang Lingguan was surprised that he could not find a sign indicating bad behavior. He rushed back to heaven, told the Jade Emperor that there was peace and happiness on earth, and prayed for a happy New Year. The Jade Emperor was greatly shocked after hearing this. He made a decree to detain the Three Corpses God, ordered him to be slapped for 300 mouths, and put him in prison forever. Thanks to the help of Kitchen God, this human disaster was spared. In order to thank the Kitchen God for helping people to solve disasters and bless Zhang Xiang, the folk dust-sweeping always starts from the kitchen and is busy until the New Year's Eve.

"Three-body God" is called "God" in human body by Taoism. According to the "Taishang Three Corpses", "The name of the corpse is Peng Shu, in the head; The name of China's body is Peng, which is in the abdomen; The name of this body is Jiao Peng, which is in the human foot. " He also said that on the day of Gengshen, they went to heaven to tell Emperor Chen about human sins. But as long as people stay up late, it can be avoided. This is the so-called "keeping Geng Shen"

Dust removal is also of great benefit to people's living environment. According to scientific research, there are millions of bacteria per cubic meter of air in places with high dust content. In this environment, the incidence of pneumonia, pharyngitis, lung cancer, emphysema, bronchitis and bronchial asthma is high. Dust can absorb and refract ultraviolet rays in sunlight. When the dust is air per cubic meter 1 mg, the ultraviolet ray will be reduced by about 2/3. Living in this environment for a long time will obviously increase the chances of children suffering from rickets.

In addition, pay attention to wearing masks, hats and glasses when cleaning. Change clothes in time after sweeping the dust. Chinese medicine believes that after the spring, the climate warms, everything recovers, and pests begin to die. Therefore, cleaning before the Spring Festival is helpful to prevent infectious diseases and epidemics. It is not only beneficial to health, but also adds a festive atmosphere of saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new.

December 25

Jieyu yellow

According to the ancient custom, when the kitchen god goes to heaven (the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month), the jade emperor in the sky will personally descend to the lower bound on the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month to investigate the good and evil on earth and decide the fortunes of the coming year, so every household should offer a blessing to him, which is called "receiving the jade emperor". On this day, we should be careful in our daily life and words, strive for good performance, win the favor of the Jade Emperor and bring good luck for the coming year.

Rush out of chaos

It was not until New Year's Eve that Kitchen God was sent to welcome him back. During this period, there is no God's jurisdiction on the earth, and at all times, many people get married, which is called "expelling chaos". Luannian is a special period designed by people to adjust their social life. At the end of the year, people have leisure and savings, which is a good opportunity for those who have little energy to do great things. Therefore, people invented this special time folk custom according to the needs of real life. It can be seen that in traditional society, people's life order is regulated by folk customs.

Zhao Tiancan

Also known as "burning field silkworms", "burning field silkworms" and "burning field wealth", it is a popular folk custom of praying for the New Year in Jiangnan area. On the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month, a long pole tied with a torch will stand in the field, indicating the new year with the flame, and the thriving flame indicates the bumper harvest in the coming year. This activity is held in some places on New Year's Eve.

Thousand Lantern Festival

This is a religious festival of Mongolian and Daur. Mongolian is called "Ganming Zhuola", which means Thousand Lantern Festival. On the 25th of the twelfth lunar month, I made "Ganming Zhuola" and lit it in the temple, thinking that the more I ordered, the more auspicious it would be. This festival custom is the most popular among Mongolians in Vilat, Xinjiang. On this day, local people eat roast beef and mutton and hold traditional sports and entertainment activities.

28 December

La yue Shi ba noodles

In most places, steamed noodles are made on this day to celebrate the New Year. Taiyuan people want to steam "two cakes and two steamed buns"; Hebei people are preparing to offer sacrifices to their ancestors on New Year's Eve by steaming jujube flowers. Henan people are also "28 th, steaming buns and frying pagodas." Only Beijingers are slow to make moves. Only on this day can they "hit their faces" and wait until the 29th to "steam steamed buns". (Excerpted from Customs Daily)

A nursery rhyme about the Spring Festival in old Beijing;

On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, honeydew melons are sticky;

On the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, sweep the house;

Twenty-five of the twelfth lunar month, fried tofu;

On the 26th of the twelfth lunar month, boiled white meat;

On the 27 th of the twelfth lunar month, kill chickens;

On the 28 th of the twelfth lunar month, send face;

Twenty-nine of the twelfth lunar month, steamed stuffed bun;

Stay up for 30 nights;

New year's day, twist it.

When I teach my children to read, I can't help wondering, why is it from the 23rd to the first day of the twelfth lunar month instead of the 1st to 15th? Perhaps the expectation of the festival is more interesting than the festival itself. ! After the first day of junior high school, the free festival is missing one day. From the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month to the first day of junior high school, the festive atmosphere is getting warmer every day. So the days before New Year's Eve can't be ignored.

December 29th

Little new year's eve

The day before New Year's Eve is called "New Year's Eve", and people call it "Don't be old" when greeting each other. Burning incense outdoors is called "Tianxiang", which usually takes three days.

1February 30th is New Year's Eve.