An article on "One of China's traditional cultures-Spring Festival"

Spring Festival is an ancient festival in China, and it is also the most important festival in a year. How to celebrate this festival has formed some relatively fixed customs and habits in thousands of years of historical development, and many of them have been passed down to this day.

sweep the dust

"On the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, dust sweeps the house". According to Lv Chunqiu, 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 and 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. Whenever the Spring Festival comes, every household should clean the environment, clean all kinds of electrical appliances, remove and wash bedding curtains, sweep six yards, dust cobwebs and dredge culverts in open channels. Everywhere is filled with the joyful atmosphere of cleaning and welcoming the Spring Festival cleanly.

paste up Spring Festival couplets

Spring Festival couplets are also called door couplets, spring stickers, couplets, couplets and peach symbols. They depict the background of the times and express good wishes with neat, dual, concise and delicate words, which are unique literary forms in China. Every Spring Festival, no matter in urban or rural areas, every household should choose a pair of red Spring Festival couplets and stick them on the door to add festive atmosphere to the festival. This custom began in the Song Dynasty and was popular in the Ming Dynasty. By the Qing Dynasty, the ideological and artistic quality of Spring Festival couplets had been greatly improved. Liang Zhangju's monograph Poetry of Spring Festival couplets discusses the origin of couplets and the characteristics of various works.

There are many kinds of Spring Festival couplets, which can be divided into door heart, frame pair, cross string, spring strip and bucket square according to the place of use. The "door core" is attached to the center of the upper end of the door panel; The "door frame pair" is attached to the left and right door frames; "Cross-dressing" is posted on the crossbar of the door; "Spring strips" are posted in corresponding places according to different contents; "Dou Jin", also known as "door leaf", is a square diamond, often attached to furniture and screen walls.

Stick the window grilles and the word "fu" upside down.

In the folk, people also like to stick various paper-cuts on the windows-window grilles. Window grilles not only set off the festive atmosphere, but also integrate decoration, appreciation and practicality. Paper-cutting is a very popular folk art in China, which has been loved by people for thousands of years. Because it is often pasted on the window, it is also called "window grilles". With its unique generalization and exaggeration, window grilles show auspicious things and good wishes incisively and vividly, and decorate festivals with colorful colors.

While putting up Spring Festival couplets, some people have to put large and small "Fu" characters on doors, walls and lintels. Sticking the word "Fu" during the Spring Festival is a long-standing folk custom in China. The word "Fu" symbolizes good luck and wishes for a happy life and a bright future. In order to fully reflect this yearning and wish, some people simply put the word "Fu" upside down, indicating that "Fu has arrived" and "Fu has arrived". Others elaborate the word "Fu" into various patterns, such as longevity, longevity peach, carp yue longmen, abundant grains, dragons and phoenixes, and so on.

New Year picture

Hanging New Year pictures during the Spring Festival is also very common in urban and rural areas. Thick black and colorful New Year pictures add a lot of prosperity and festive atmosphere to thousands of families. New Year pictures are an ancient folk art in China, which reflects people's simple customs and beliefs and places their hopes on the future. New Year pictures, like Spring Festival couplets, originated from "door gods". With the rise of block printing, the content of New Year pictures is not limited to monotonous themes such as door gods, but has become rich and colorful. Some New Year pictures workshops have produced classic color New Year pictures, such as Fu Lushou's Samsung, God bless the people, abundant crops, prosperous livestock and welcoming the New Year, to meet people's good wishes of celebrating and praying for the New Year. There are three important producing areas of Chinese New Year pictures: Taohuawu in Suzhou, Yangliuqing in Tianjin and Weifang in Shandong; Three schools of New Year pictures have been formed, each with its own characteristics.

The earliest existing collection of New Year pictures in China is the woodcut New Year pictures of the Southern Song Dynasty, which depict four ancient beauties: Wang Zhaojun, Zhao, Ban Ji and Lvzhu. The most popular folk painting is the Year of Marrying the Rat. It depicts an interesting scene in which a mouse marries a bride according to human custom. In the early years of the Republic of China, Zheng of Shanghai combined the monthly calendar with the New Year pictures. This is a new form of New Year pictures. This new year's picture, which was combined into one, later developed into a calendar and has been popular all over the country.

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

Keeping the Lunar New Year's Eve is one of the most important activities, and the custom of keeping the Lunar New Year's Eve has a long history. The earliest record can be found in the Local Records of the Western Jin Dynasty: on New Year's Eve, all parties give gifts to each other, which is called "the year of giving back"; Wine and food are invited, which is called "not old"; Young and old get together to drink and wish a complete song called "age division"; Everyone stays up all night, waiting for dawn. This is the so-called "shou sui".

On New Year's Eve, the whole family get together, eat New Year's Eve, light candles or oil lamps, sit around the stove and chat, wait for the time to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new year, and keep vigil all night, which symbolizes driving away all evil diseases and epidemics and expecting good luck in the new year. This custom gradually became popular. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong, wrote a poem "Shou Sui": "Cold words and winter snow, warm with spring breeze". To this day, people are used to celebrating the New Year's Eve.

In ancient times, observing the age has two meanings: the old man's observing the age means "resigning from the old", which means cherishing time; Young people keep their age in order to prolong the life of their parents. Since the Han Dynasty, the time for the alternation of the old and new years is generally at midnight.

firecracker

There is a folk saying in China that "open the door and set off firecrackers". That is, when the new year comes, the first thing for every household to open the door is to set off firecrackers to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. Firecracker is a specialty of China, also known as "Firecracker", "Firecracker" and "Firecracker". Its origin is very early, and it has a history of more than two thousand years. Setting off firecrackers can create a festive and lively atmosphere, which is a kind of entertainment in festivals and can bring happiness and good luck to people. With the passage of time, firecrackers are more and more widely used, and there are more and more varieties and colors. Every major festival and happy celebration, as well as marriage, building, opening, etc. We should set off firecrackers to celebrate and make good luck. At present, Liuyang, Hunan, Foshan and Dongyao, Yichun and Pingxiang, Jiangxi, Wenzhou, Zhejiang and other regions are famous fireworks towns in China. The firecrackers produced have many colors and high quality, which are not only sold well all over the country, but also exported to all parts of the world.

Pay new year's call

On the first day of the new year, people get up early, put on the most beautiful clothes, dress neatly, go out to visit relatives and friends, and wish each other good luck in the coming year. There are many ways to pay New Year's greetings, some of which are led by the same patriarch from door to door. Some colleagues invited several people to pay New Year greetings; Others get together to congratulate each other. This is called "group worship". Because it takes time and effort to pay New Year greetings at home, some elites and scholars later congratulated each other with stickers, thus developing the later "New Year cards".

When paying New Year greetings during the Spring Festival, the younger generation should first pay New Year greetings to their elders and wish them health and longevity. The elders can 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. Lucky money can be given in public after the younger generation pays New Year's greetings, or it can be secretly put under the child's pillow by parents when the child falls asleep on New Year's Eve. It is still very popular for elders to give lucky money to younger generations.

Eating custom in Spring Festival

In ancient agricultural society, housewives began to prepare food for the New Year from the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. Because curing bacon takes a long time, it must be prepared as soon as possible. Many provinces in China have the custom of curing bacon, among which Guangdong is the most famous.

Steamed rice cake, because of its homophonic "high year" and diverse tastes, has almost become a must-have food for every household. The styles of rice cakes are square yellow and white rice cakes, which symbolize gold and silver and express the meaning of making a fortune in the New Year.

The taste of rice cakes varies from place to place. Beijingers like to eat jujube rice cakes, 100-fruit rice cakes and white rice cakes made of glutinous rice or yellow rice. Hebei people like to add jujube, red beans and mung beans to rice cakes and steam them together. In northern Shanxi, Inner Mongolia and other places, it is customary to eat yellow wheat fried rice cakes during the New Year, and some people will also stuff them with bean paste and jujube paste, while Shandong people steam rice cakes with yellow rice and red dates. The rice cakes in the north are mainly sweet, steamed or fried, and some people simply eat them with sugar. There are sweet and salty rice cakes in the south, such as those in Suzhou and Ningbo, which are made of japonica rice and have a light taste. In addition to steaming and frying, you can also slice and fry or cook soup. Sweet rice cake is made of glutinous rice flour with sugar, lard, rose, osmanthus, mint, vegetable paste and other ingredients. They are fine in workmanship and can be steamed directly or fried with egg white.

The night before the real Chinese New Year is called Reunion Night. A wanderer who has left his hometown has to go home from thousands of miles away. During the Spring Festival, the whole family will sit around and wrap jiaozi. Jiaozi's practice is to use flour to make dumpling wrappers first, and then use leather bags to fill them. The contents of stuffing are varied, and all kinds of meat, eggs, seafood and seasonal vegetables can be stuffed. The orthodox practice in jiaozi is to cook it with clear water, remove it and mix it with vinegar, minced garlic and vegetables. There are also methods of frying jiaozi and baking jiaozi (fried dumpling). Because the word "he" in dough mixing means "he"; Jiaozi's "jiao" and "glue" are homophonic, and "harmony" and "glue" have the meaning of reunion, so jiaozi is used to symbolize the reunion of acacia; It is very auspicious to make friends with older people; In addition, jiaozi, which is shaped like an ingot, has the auspicious meaning of "making a fortune" when eating jiaozi in the New Year. All the families get together to pack jiaozi, so it's fun to celebrate the Spring Festival.

New Year's Eve refers to the night on the last day of the twelfth lunar month, which is connected with the Spring Festival (the first day of the first month). The word "except" in "New Year's Eve" is "go"; Easy; "Alternating" means that New Year's Eve means "the month is poor and the old year is exhausted". People want to get rid of the old department and the old year, and the coming year means getting a new year. This is the last night of the Lunar New Year. Therefore, the activities during this period are all around changing the old for the new, eliminating disasters and praying for blessings.

During the Zhou and Qin Dynasties, an exorcism ceremony was held in the palace at the end of each year, and drumming was called exorcism, and then it was called exorcism on the day before New Year's Eve, that is, New Year's Eve. New Year's Eve is New Year's Eve, that is, New Year's Eve.

New Year's Eve is the most unforgettable night of the year. New Year's Eve is the most lively and noisy night. As soon as it was smeared, children or young men had already set off firecrackers with incense, ringing in the east and ringing in the west, boldly amplifying firecrackers. The young one put his hand over his ear and leaned out from a distance, while the other children put their hands over their ears and waited nervously and anxiously. This scene can be remembered even when people are old.

There are three main activities on New Year's Eve: having a reunion dinner, offering sacrifices and observing the New Year.

In our country, people have the habit of keeping watch on New Year's Eve. Watching the new year begins with eating New Year's Eve dinner. This New Year's Eve dinner should be eaten slowly, starting with lighting lanterns, and some families have to eat it until late at night. According to Zonggu's records of Jingchu's age, there was a custom of New Year's Eve dinner at least in the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

The custom of observing the old age not only includes the feeling of farewell and nostalgia for the fleeting time, but also expresses the good hope for the coming New Year. The ancients wrote in the poem "Shousui": "Invite Shousui Arong's family to spread red candles to green gauze; Thirty-six years have passed, and I am more willing to cherish my youth from this night. "It is human nature to cherish the years, so the great poet Su Shi wrote a famous sentence:" There will be no years next year, and I am worried about waste; "Do your best tonight, young people can still boast!" This shows the positive significance of keeping old on New Year's Eve.

Keep your age at 30, commonly known as "endure the year." Why is it called "Endure the Year"? There is an interesting story from generation to generation among the people: It is said that there was a fierce monster in the ancient wild times, and people called it "Nian". Every New Year's Eve, Nian beast will climb out of the sea to kill people and animals, destroy the countryside and bring disaster to people who have worked hard for a year. In order to avoid the Nian beast, people close the door early on the 30th night of the twelfth lunar month, dare not sleep, wait until dawn, and drink to kill time and courage. On the first morning of the new year, you dare not go out until the Nian beast comes out. When people saw it, they bowed to each other, congratulated each other, and were glad that they had not been eaten by Nian beast. After many years, nothing happened, and people relaxed their vigilance against Nian beast. On the evening of 30th one year, Nian beast suddenly fled to a village in the south of the Yangtze River. A village was almost eaten up by Nian beast, and only a pair of newly-married couples in red curtains were safe and sound. There are also a few childish people who lit a pile of bamboo in the yard and were playing. The fire is red. Bamboo exploded after burning. Nian beast turned here and saw the fire turn and flee. From then on, people know that Nian beast is afraid of red, light and noise. At the end of each year, every household sticks red paper, wears red robes, hangs red lights, beats gongs and drums, and sets off firecrackers, so that Nian Beasts dare not come again. In The Book of Songs Xiaoya Tingliao, there is a record of "the light of Tingliao". The so-called "pavilion" is a torch made of bamboo poles. After the bamboo pole burns, the air in the bamboo joint expands, and the bamboo cavity bursts, making a crackling sound, which is the origin of "firecrackers". However, villagers in some places don't know that Nian beast is afraid of red and is often eaten by Nian beast. This story later spread to Zixing in the sky. In order to save people, he is determined to destroy Nian beast. One year the beast came out, knocked it down with a fireball and chained it to a stone pillar with a thick chain. From then on, every New Year, people always burn incense and ask Zixing to come down to keep safe.

The above is the origin of the legendary New Year's Eve.

On the night of "two years old in one night, two years old in class five", families get together and get together. The family sat together and the table was full of tea and fruit. In the new year, a large plate of apples is indispensable, which is called "Ping An". In the north, some families still have to provide a pot of rice, which was cooked before the New Year. It's called "annual meal", which means that there are leftovers every year, which can't be eaten all year round, and this year we still eat the grain of the previous year. This new year's rice bowl is usually cooked with rice and millet. As the saying goes in Beijing, for the sake of yellow and white, it is called "two rice". This is called "golden rice with gold and silver, gold and silver everywhere". In many places, cakes, melons and fruits are prepared to win a lucky one: eating dates (spring comes early), persimmons (all the best), almonds (gratifying), longevity fruit (immortal) and rice cakes (getting higher every year). On New Year's Eve, the family ate happily, talking and laughing. Some vulgar families push pai gow, roll dice, bet on stud and play mahjong, and the noise of laughter and laughter has become the climax of New Year's Eve.

The custom of exchanging oranges during the Spring Festival is popular in Guangdong, China, which is closely related to the culture of the Chinese nation. In the folk, people are used to writing orange characters, which are very similar to auspicious characters. In the Spring Festival, people give oranges to each other for good luck, hoping that in the new year, small oranges can become people's amulets.

Usually, when a woman visits relatives and friends for New Year's greetings, she will prepare some oranges and carry them in a basket as New Year's gifts, and these are the gifts she gives back.

In Haifeng, Guangdong, the younger generation kowtows to their elders when they pay New Year greetings, while the elders wrap money in red paper or give them oranges. Like the customs all over China, young people pay tribute to their elders when they pay New Year greetings. As for what food to eat for young people, it is natural to choose items that children love and have auspicious significance. So choose oranges as this kind of food with special significance. As for giving red envelopes, it is to let children buy what they like to eat and play, and later it was changed to simplify the procedures. Although the meaning is the same, it is still not as meaningful as traditional oranges.

In Chaozhou, people call oranges "big oranges", and its homonym is "good luck". Therefore, people should bring oranges to relatives' homes to pay New Year greetings, and the host will exchange his big oranges with those brought by the guests, so as to be friendly to each other and have good luck. If the children of family A beat and scold the children of family B during the Spring Festival, family A must send a pair of oranges to make amends, and parents of family A don't blame their children. The second family accepted oranges and forgave the children of the first family. This shows that family B has suffered an unlucky struggle. If family A is lucky enough to give it to family B, nothing unlucky will happen to the children of family B and family B this year.

Spring Festival couplets originated in Fu Tao. "Fu Tao" is a rectangular red wooden board hanging on both sides of the door in the Zhou Dynasty. According to the Book of Rites, the peach symbol is six inches long and three inches wide, and the words "Shen Tu", "Lei Yu" and "Ershen" are written on the mahogany board. "On the first day of the first month, a peach symbol was made for this family, which was called immortal wood. All ghosts were afraid of it." Therefore, the Qing Dynasty's "Yanjing Shi Sui Ji" said: "Spring Festival couplets, that is, Fu Tao."

In the Five Dynasties, in the court of West Shu, someone wrote couplets on peach symbols. According to the Book History of Shu Family in Song Dynasty, Meng Chang, a master of the later Shu Dynasty, ordered Zhang Xun, a bachelor, to write a poem on the mahogany board, saying, "It's not a matter, so he wrote a poem on this topic under the pretence:' New Year's Day, Spring Festival'". This is China's first Spring Festival couplets. Until the Song Dynasty, Spring Festival couplets were still called "Fu Tao". In Wang Anshi's poems, there is a saying that "every family has the narrowest day, and new peaches always change for old ones". In the Song Dynasty, the peach symbol was changed from red board to paper, which was called "Spring Sticker".

In the Ming Dynasty, Fu Tao changed its name to "Spring Festival couplets". In the Ming Dynasty, Chen wrote in Miscellaneous Paintings of Mao Yunlou: "The establishment of Spring Festival couplets began" before New Year's Eve, the imperial capital Jinling suddenly issued a decree to add a pair of Spring Festival couplets at the entrance of the official school, and the emperor would appear when he walked. Zhu Yuanzhang not only went out of town incognito to see the laughter in person, but also wrote Spring Festival couplets himself. He passed a house and saw that the Spring Festival couplets had not been posted on the door. He went to ask, knowing that it was a castrated pig, and had not asked anyone to write it for him. Zhu Yuanzhang specially wrote Spring Festival couplets for the castrated pig man, which read "Split the road of life and death with both hands and cut off the root of right and wrong with one knife". Relevance and humor. After Ming Taizu's advocacy, Spring Festival couplets have since become a custom, which has been passed down to this day.

At the beginning of the new year, the first thing is to paste the door gods and couplets. On New Year's Eve (or 29th), every household goes to the streets to buy Spring Festival couplets, and those who are interested also spread paper and splash ink in the spring to decorate the portal.

The doorman is said to be a magic tea that can catch ghosts. The Book of the Yellow Emperor quoted in Ying Shao's Custom Pass in the Eastern Han Dynasty said: In ancient times, two brothers Nash and Lei Yu lived on Dushuo Mountain. There is a peach tree on the mountain, and the shade is like a cover. Every morning, they will review the ghosts under the tree. If an evil spirit harms the world, tie it up and feed it to the tiger. Later, people painted portraits of God Tea and Lei Yu with two red wooden boards and hung them on both sides of the door.

Used to ward off ghosts and evil spirits. In the Chronicle of Jingchu Age written by Liang in the Southern Dynasties, it is recorded that on the first day of the first month, "making a peach board to touch a household is called fairy wood, painting two gods to stick to a household, and the left god naphthalene and the right dragon are called door gods." However, the door god recorded in real history books is not a dragon, but an ancient warrior named Cheng qin. According to the biography of Han Guang written by Ban Gu, the portrait of Cheng qin, an ancient warrior, was painted on the gate of King Guang Chuan (Quping), wearing shorts and holding a sword. In the Tang dynasty, the position of the door god was replaced by Qin's harmony.

The Journey to the West's account is even more detailed: The King of Jinghe committed a crime in order to bet with a Mr. Corn and should be punished. The Jade Emperor appointed Wei Zhi as the supervisor. King Jinghe begged Emperor Taizong to spare his life. Emperor Taizong agreed, and when it was time to kill the dragon, he summoned Wei Zhi to play chess with him. Unexpectedly, Wei Zhi went down and punched a chest, and his soul ascended to heaven and beheaded the Dragon King. The Dragon King complained that Taizong had broken his word and cried outside the palace day and night for his life. Emperor Taizong told his ministers that General Qin Baoshu said, "I would like to stand outside with Wei Chijingde in uniform." . Emperor Taizong agreed. There was really nothing that night. Emperor Taizong couldn't bear the hardships of the two generals, and ordered Dan Qing, a highly skilled painter, to draw the true faces of the two generals and stick them on the door. Later generations followed suit, so the two generals became gatekeepers of thousands of families. On the two gates of some old-fashioned gatehouses in Chaoshan today, we can also see Shencha, Lei Yu or two fierce generals. Their images seem to be the same, but after careful observation, one of them holds Strafe and the other holds an iron mace. Wei Chijingde is the whip bearer, and Qin Qiong is the scepter bearer.

Twenty-three/twenty-four sacrificial stoves in twelfth lunar month

Take a bath on the 27th/28th of the twelfth lunar month.

Lunar New Year's Eve on the 29th.

Sacrifice to the god of wealth on the second day of the first month

On the third day of the first month, the door god paper/millet birthday/off-year dynasty was burned.

The fifth day of the first month, commonly known as the folk custom of breaking five.

On the seventh day of the first month, people are also called "People's Victory Day", "People's Celebration Day", "Population Day" and "People's Seventh Day".

On the eighth day of the first month, the lower bound of the stars along the line is also called "offering stars" and "receiving stars"

On the tenth day of the first month, the stone's birthday "the stone does not move" and "ten does not move" mice marry women.

Attachment: New Year's Day songs

On New Year's Day, I felt the sun shining on the east window, so I got up and changed. The family hall is very sweet, and the ancestors are like the main hall. Nine bowls are neatly packed for guests to come and go at any time; Now, the servants are told not to sweep the floor, and the children eat and drink Mo Tao soup.

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, children are happier. They stayed at home for the first day yesterday, and today they will pay a New Year call to their relatives. Brothers are in love, the host stays for dinner, and western people arrange feasts; Come and go, and there are 200 lucky money.

On the third day of the Lunar New Year, I went to visit my mother-in-law. Children and girls-come together and people get the door. Smile. Congratulations on visiting Wen Ren Road. Visit my mother-in-law and say that she will get rich. Tea is good, wine is good, the aunt next door asked the girl with a smile. What time? Step on the moon and raise a baby.

The fourth day of the year. Sleepless at night, every family picks up the god of wealth and puts auspicious whips everywhere. The fifth way sits in the middle of God, and the lucky market is divided into two sides. The golden candles are bright, all for silver carp. Go home, get down on your knees, get busy and do it wholeheartedly. Wow, there are thousands of God of Wealth. Go to your store in two places at the same time.

On the fifth day of the lunar new year, friends want to eat open wine. Drunk, guess quickly; Five pairs of eight horses never leave their mouths. A friend is chatting and a friend is breaking up. To do your own thing. People who come are happy, but those who go are sad. I advise you not to be sad. You need to marry Barbara to win a good face for the future.

The sixth day of the year. Wearing new clothes is still poor. The sound of gongs and drums was deafening. Borrow Yuanxiao to practice in advance. Lantern Festival lanterns have customs everywhere. The dragon lantern is curled up, and the rainbow lantern is at home; Tell the children not to buy sugar. Save money for candles. Old nouns for champion and brother. In * * * said five.

The seventh day of the year. birthday Weigh the most uniform weight with a scale after breakfast. My brother weighs 60 Jin and my brother Lang is 47. He said to my brother, "Don't be proud." . My brother will eat more meat next year. Send a big guy to overtake you.

The eighth day of the lunar new year. On Mai's birthday, farmers prayed for a bumper harvest. There is no wheat in the world for a day. Nothing can satisfy hunger. In Qiu Cheng, a wheat was planted in the field until September. I wonder how much effort it took to throw rice and eat new rice.

On the ninth day, Amanome. Everyone depends on the sky. Ask for help in advance. Mother-in-law worships Buddha and is good at practicing. Xinhua has nothing to do with chanting, and it has been no problem for a hundred years; Good luck, good luck and kindness.

On the tenth day of the new year, it's my birthday. There will be room one day. There is little difference between parents, and people and animals have houses close to the ground; Mimai Cooper is the birthplace. The smell of vegetables was used as a sacrifice to celebrate his birthday. Loyalty, filial piety and righteousness in life depend on it; Keep your feet on the ground.

On the 25th of the twelfth lunar month, I met the Jade Emperor.

According to the ancient custom, when the Kitchen God goes to heaven, the Jade Emperor will personally descend to earth 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. Therefore, every household offered his blessing, calling it "Meeting 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.

have a bath

In traditional folk customs, we should concentrate on bathing and washing clothes these two days to get rid of the bad luck of the year and prepare for the Spring Festival next year. There is a saying in Beijing that "twenty-seven washes away the root of the disease, and twenty-eight washes away the mess." Taking a bath on the 26th of the twelfth lunar month is "washing Fulu". (According to the above self-writing)