Henan New Year custom

"Twenty-three, the kitchen sacrifice officer; Twenty-four, sweeping the house; Twenty-five, grinding bean curd; Twenty-six, cut meat; Twenty-seven, kill a chicken; Twenty-eight, steamed jujube flowers ... This is a song that Henan people will sing in the New Year. Next, I collected the Chinese New Year customs in Henan. Let's have a look!

The 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month is an important folk festival before the Spring Festival, which is called "Festival of Sacrificing Kitchen Stove". At this time, people can't help but welcome the joy of the New Year, stop all kinds of work in their hands, and are busy with the sacrificial activities of offering sacrifices to the gods years ago.

In Henan, the typical food for offering sacrifices to stoves should be the first stove candy. Kitchen candy is a kind of maltose that sticks to the mouth and teeth. The reason for offering sugar to the stove is to stick the mouth of the stove owner. Legend has it that Lord Zao is a god sent by the Jade Emperor to supervise the good and evil on earth. He has the function of communicating with people, connecting the feelings between heaven and earth, and conveying the fairyland and the world.

In Henan, people regard the festival of offering sacrifices to stoves as a reunion festival after the Mid-Autumn Festival. Anyone who works, does business or goes to school in other places should try to get home before the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month. If you can eat the sacrificial stove cooked at home, you will be protected by the kitchen god and your family will be safe in the coming year.

Kaifeng folks call the Spring Festival "Chinese New Year". However, China New Year is not only the first day of the first lunar month, but also the end of a year and a year. From the eighth day of December in the old year to the fifth day of the first lunar month, it is the year. In the old days, there was a saying in Kaifeng: "Laba, offering sacrifices to the stove. During the Chinese New Year, girls want flowers and boys want guns." Therefore, when it comes to Laba, Kaifeng will have an "annual taste" in both urban and rural areas.

Linzhou folks call the Spring Festival Chinese New Year, but Chinese New Year does not refer to the first day of the first month, but includes the beginning and end of a year. As soon as you enter the twelfth lunar month, you will have a "taste of the year."

People eat "Laba porridge" for breakfast on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. Porridge is made of millet and persimmon. It tastes sweet and is commonly known as "persimmon dough soup". All peasant women should make porridge before the sun rises, put a pile of rice on the south wall and say, "Make Laba porridge early, put a pile of rice on the south wall, and the little wren will not push my house." Eating "Laba porridge" According to the literature, Linzhou began in the Song Dynasty. The original intention is that people use a year's harvest to sacrifice ancestors and gods to celebrate the harvest. Later, due to the frequent disasters in Linzhou, it gradually evolved into eating "Laba porridge" and wished Guliang a bumper harvest in the coming year. At present, there is a folk saying in Linzhou that "eating Laba porridge will have a good harvest in the coming year".

Related reading: Jiangsu Spring Festival customs

During the Spring Festival, in addition to posting Spring Festival couplets, hanging New Year pictures, observing the new year, dancing lions and paying New Year greetings, Jiangsu folks have some unique customs, just like the whole country. Now the number of collections is for readers to see.

Suzhou people cooked water chestnuts in New Year's Eve meals and dug them out when eating, which is called "digging ingots". When visiting relatives and friends, you should put two green olives in your tea, which is called "Yuanbao Tea". Congratulations on getting rich.

On the morning of the first day of the New Year, Wujin people hung up their ancestors' portraits in nave, presented tea fruits and rice cakes, and the whole family took turns to pay New Year greetings, which was called "the shadow of worship". Don't let them sweep the floor from home, for fear of sweeping out "wealth" and "wishful thinking", they can only sweep from the outside to the inside.

Jiangning people have the custom of "knocking on the drums" during the Spring Festival. The flag was won, and the gongs and drums team drummed everywhere. On the third day of the third year, night drums are played, and on the seventh day of the seventh year, bare-chested drums are played from 13th to 15th. The atmosphere is very warm.

Nantong people have the custom of planting sesame stalks, holly and cypress branches at home or in front of the church, which means that life is blooming every day and the seasons are evergreen.

Huaiyin people also have the custom of "roasting the head wind" for their children on the sixth day. In the evening, I took my children to the fields to light torches to drive away diseases. While roasting, I sang: "Roast my head, wake up, roast my feet, correct my steps, roast my stomach without diarrhea, and roast my whole body." This disease will never be seen. "

On the eighth day of this year, Wuxi fishermen took a boat to the Western Hills to worship the Wang Yu Temple, praying for the blessing of the water god and offering sacrifices to the Buddha, which was called "Shang". After the Wang Yu Temple was demolished, this custom gradually became indifferent.

During the Spring Festival, there are still many taboos in the old customs of Jiangsu, such as not moving scissors on the first day of the New Year to avoid disputes with each other; Don't move the kitchen knife to avoid being killed; Do not eat porridge, afraid of going out in the rain; Don't sweep the floor, afraid of sweeping away wealth and so on. With the popularization of scientific knowledge, many unscientific customs are gradually forgotten; Healthy and beneficial entertainment and leisure activities continue.

Wuxi

It is an old custom in Wuxi to open the door on the morning of New Year's Day and explode after opening it three times. Eating shredded pork cake, jiaozi and noodles for breakfast means reunion, promotion, longevity and Changchun. On this day, we only eat leftovers on New Year's Eve, which means "more than enough". When eating, you can't cook soup and pour rice, and you can't eat porridge for fear of going out in the rain. We should also avoid asking for fire and water from our neighbors, warning against swearing, getting angry and saying unlucky things, and praying for peace and good luck all the year round.

During the Spring Festival, the younger generation pays New Year greetings to their elders first, and then visits relatives and friends. When relatives and friends meet for the first time, they will say something like "Congratulations on your happy wedding", "Congratulations on getting rich" and "Congratulations on getting rich" to congratulate each other. The new son-in-law pays a New Year call to his parents-in-law's house, usually on the third day of the Lunar New Year. Old people have been celebrating the Spring Festival every 10 years since they were 60 years old.

Apart from putting up peach charms, mending doors and Spring Festival couplets, Wuxi also hangs Zhong Kui elephants in the New Year to avoid sneaking around for a year. Legend has it that Zhong Kui is good at catching ghosts. This custom probably began in the Tang Dynasty. Many folk families in Wuxi also have the custom of hanging red couplets with auspicious sentences on the lintel and paper-cut doormats. On the morning of New Year's Day, cakes and zongzi are popular in Wuxi, which means reunion and promotion. Besides, we should eat noodles, which means longevity and Changchun. Wuxi custom: When the children come in the New Year, the host will treat them with snacks and sweets. Children from relatives and friends who come to pay New Year's greetings will get lucky money. The new son-in-law goes to his mother-in-law's house to pay New Year's greetings, usually on the third day of the New Year's Eve. The third day is called Xiao Nian Chao. You can't sweep the floor, beg for fire or draw water, just like the custom on the first day of New Year's Day. There is another custom in Wuxi that is slightly different from other places, that is, the 60th, 70th and 80th birthdays are in the Spring Festival, not birthdays. On New Year's Day, many places have the custom of not sweeping the floor, and so does Wuxi. I think sweeping the floor should sweep away wealth. Even if you sweep the floor on the second day of the lunar new year, you can't dump the garbage outside the house, but pile it in the corner until the first day of the first month. This is called "gathering money". In the old dynasty, it was forbidden to beg for fire and water from others, to use knives and scissors, and to dump sewage and feces. You have to close the door two or three times to explode when you sleep in the New Year. I went to bed early that night in Wuxi. If children are too busy to sleep, parents often coax their children into saying, "Go to bed early and listen to old bugs tonight." Wuxi old customs attach great importance to the climate on New Year's Day, and often use this day's weather to predict the next year's harvest.

Jiangning county

During the Spring Festival in Jiangning County, a rooster was posted at your door. On New Year's Day, there were more believers in Wuxian than in Tong Yuan Temple. Suzhou custom: On New Year's Day, three firecrackers should be set off to open the door, which is called "promotion to the third level". When you go out in the morning, you should follow the direction specified in the yellow calendar, which is called "Happy God". In order to burn incense in temples such as the City God Temple and the Land Temple, you must go through ten temples, which is the so-called "ten temples to burn incense". From New Year's Day to Lantern Festival, huge coal is burning in the stove, which is called "Happy Group". Legend has it that people in Zhuan 'an eat jiaozi, so they eat jiaozi every day from the early morning of the New Year's Day to the Lantern Festival. Women in Wujin County cut off pine and cypress branches on New Year's Day, wrapped them in red silk and put them on a bun. It is said that they can live longer.