Changsha Spring Festival custom

Spring Festival is the most important festival in a year, so there are many taboos, such as not eating porridge and eating dry rice during the New Year. Do you think it's weird?

■ twelfth lunar month

After the winter solstice, we enter the twelfth lunar month, commonly known as the twelfth lunar month. On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, we eat Laba porridge. Laba porridge is made of glutinous rice, red beans, longan, jujube, chestnuts, peanuts, hazelnuts, ginkgo and pine nuts. It is said that Laba porridge originated in India. After sitting alone under the bodhi tree for six years, Buddha Sakyamuni finally became a Buddha on the night of August in the lunar calendar. For the sake of enlightenment,

Tail teeth (December 16th of the lunar calendar)

Tail teeth are made to thank the Land Bureau for blessing the believers with a bumper harvest in agriculture and smooth business, so it will be more grand than usual. The bosses of the company number will reward their employees in the company, at home or in restaurants as a reward for their hard work over the past year.

Send to the gods (December 24, lunar calendar)

"God-sending Day" is also an important day for Kitchen God and other gods. They are used to observing people's words and deeds, returning to heaven once a year, and telling the Jade Emperor the good and evil between gods, thus determining the good and bad of people in the coming year.

▲ Kitchen God

The porridge is reserved as a souvenir. After Laba, I also began to do year-end cleaning. The twelfth lunar month is the tail tooth. On this day, people worship the earth god, and merchants entertain employees on this day. In the past, when the boss wanted to fire his employees, it was tacit to point the boiled chicken at the employees. On this day, food should be "cut" On the 23rd or 24th of the twelfth lunar month, it is said that the kitchen god descended from the sky and lived in every household. At the end of the year, I went back to heaven to report the family's good and evil for one year, and the Emperor of Heaven gave them good and ill luck respectively. In order to make Kitchen God speak well, people will bribe him with rich sacrifices and stick his mouth shut to prevent him from gossiping.

■ New Year's Eve

On this day, all the families who traveled away from home went back to their hometown for a reunion night and ate New Year's Eve around the stove. The most important thing about New Year's Eve is a big fish, but it can't be finished, which symbolizes "more than one year". After the New Year's Eve, the oldest elder in the family sits in the main hall, and the younger generation pays New Year greetings in turn. Usually, after New Year's greetings, people are allowed to start gambling on small money. Whether they gamble or not, they usually keep vigil until midnight, when firecrackers are set off and the New Year officially begins. In the middle of the night, I will go to a famous temple nearby to worship God and prepare to "grab incense".

■ The first day

Set the time according to the dry branches, set off firecrackers at the right time, offer sweets-red dates, wax gourd, white sugar, peanut candy and other sweets in front of the gods, and burn gold paper to worship together. At dawn, paste Spring Festival couplets on the door, light candles and burn incense to make tea, sweet tea, peanut candy and honey.

▲ Ancestor worship

Oranges, rice, steamed bread, sweet buns, chicken, duck and fish were sacrificed to the first memorial tablet of the Buddha. After setting off firecrackers, the whole family worships together, which is called spring. On New Year's Day, in addition to worshipping God and Buddha at home, you can also worship Buddha in your own temple. In addition, the first day of the year is the beginning of the year. In order to get off to a good start, family members should not say unlucky things, reprimand, declare a break, or beat. , also can't use a knife and fork, more won't destroy things. The whole family, men, women and children, put on new clothes, or visit relatives and friends, or go for an outing in the suburbs, or participate in various games and gambling.

□ No vegetable soup and sweet glutinous rice on the first day.

Eat vegetarian dishes in the morning of the first day, and don't eat meat or cook. Instead of vegetable soup, you can only drink rock sugar tea. People in Taiwan Province Province believe that drinking vegetable soup will lead to heavy rain when traveling abroad. Some people live this life from grade one to grade three. You don't eat sweet cakes in the New Year. You can't eat it until the second day of the second year. You should fry oil in the pan. There is a saying in Taiwan Province Province: "Stir-fry the red", which means poverty.

□ Domestic garbage disposal

From the first day to the fifth day, don't throw the garbage outside the door, but concentrate it. This means that taking out the things at home means taking out the blessings at home. So even garbage should stay at home.

■ The next day

The married daughter could have gone back to her parents' home any day, but it is said that going back to her parents' home for the first time will lead to poverty, so she will go back the next day. On the other hand, it is a compulsory social norm to go back to parents' home on the second day of junior high school, because women's status was not high before, and they were worried that if they got married, they might never be able to go home for the rest of their lives, so this custom came into being. On the second day of junior high school, married women, together with their husbands and children, bring some gifts back to their parents' home to pay New Year greetings. When I return to my parents' home, I will pay New Year greetings to my grandparents and parents first, and then give them red envelopes. These elders also give red envelopes to grandchildren brought back by their daughters. If you have siblings at home, of course, you should give them red envelopes. Therefore, on the second day of the first month of each year, the bride's home is full of joy and excitement.

■ Third grade

▲ Mice Marry Women (Paper-cutting Art in Northern Shaanxi Plateau)

On the third day of the first month, the folk belief is Red Dog Day, and the Taiwanese pronunciation of the word "red" is the same as that of extreme poverty. The weather is not good today, so it is not suitable for going out or entertaining guests. According to another folklore, the third night is the day when mice get married. In the middle of the night, avoid turning on the light. Everyone should go to bed early and sprinkle some food in the corner of the house to show that the harvest of the year is shared with the mice. Early farmers also believed that attachment to mice on this day could reduce the losses caused by mice.

■ Day 4

God Harvest Day (the fourth day of the first lunar month)

The gods report to heaven and the good and evil on earth, and then return to earth on the fourth day of the first month to continue to accept worship and monitor the good and evil on earth. Therefore, we must be very cautious in welcoming the gods to earth, so it is called "receiving God Day".

The fourth day of the first month is the day to welcome God, and December 24th is the day to send God away. When sending the gods, all the deities descended to heaven to pay New Year greetings to the Jade Emperor and report the good and evil of human behavior, and then descended to earth again on the fourth day of the first month. As the saying goes, "Send God early, and receive God later. Therefore, it is necessary to send gifts to the gods early in the morning, but around four o'clock in the afternoon, every household prepares sacrifices, fruits and vegetables, burns incense, gold paper and sets off firecrackers to show their welcome. It is said that during the period from the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month to the 4th day of the first lunar month, the immortals of the Heaven Sect visited the lower world, watched everything, and then beat the immortals.

■ Day 5

Welcome to the god of wealth (opening)

Because this day is also the birthday of the "five-way god of wealth", it is more auspicious to receive God on the fifth day of the fifth day, and I hope that business will be more prosperous and financial resources will be abundant in the coming year. On the fifth day of the first month, businessmen usually start business to meet the god of wealth, which is called opening or opening. Pick a lucky time first, open the gate and set off firecrackers. In addition, sacrificial activities were held to worship Master Guan, who was called by businessmen. The fifth day of the fifth year of separation is the New Year holiday. From the opening of the Spring Festival holiday to the fifth day of junior high school, everything returned to normal.

■ Day 6

The sixth day of the first month is the day of construction, cleaning up the water and fertilizer at home and irrigating the crops in the field. Although there is no need to fatten up now, industry and commerce are still starting today, which is a traditional evolution. In addition, the sixth day of the first month is the birthday of the founder of Qingshuiyan. On this day, all the ancestral halls should be decorated with lanterns and decorations to prepare for sacrificial ceremonies or conduct ceremonies.

■ Day 7

The first day of the first month is the Year of the Rooster, the second day is the Year of the Dog, the third day is the Year of the Pig, the fourth day is the Year of the Sheep, the fifth day is the Year of the Ox, the sixth day is the Year of the Horse, the seventh day is the Year of the Man, and the eighth day is the Year of the Valley. Legend has it that the creator created human beings today, and people eat seven kinds of vegetables every day. In order to drive away evil spirits and diseases, Japan learned from China and ate seven kinds of dishes on the seventh day of the first month, which led to seven grass on the seventh day of the first month, but there is no such trend in Taiwan Province Province now.

■ Day 9

Born in the sky (the ninth day of the first lunar month)

There is a folk saying that "God is the mother in the sky and uncle in the ground", which shows the nobility of God's deity.

The ninth day of the first month is the birthday of the Jade Emperor, which is called Tiangong Sheng in Taiwanese. The Jade Emperor is called "Emperor Shi" in Buddhism, "Yuan Shen" in Taoism, "God" in Confucianism and "God" in folk beliefs. He is regarded as the creator of all things and the greatest god. The ceremony is held from midnight to four in the morning. When worshipping God, Tianjin, commonly known as Taiji Gold, is a very noble gold paper used to worship God and the Three Realms.

■ XV

Lantern Festival (Shangyuan)

Lantern Festival, also known as Shangyuan Festival, is a festival that continues the lively atmosphere of the Lunar New Year in ancient times, so it is also called "off-year".

Worship heaven and earth (fifteenth day of the first lunar month)

Because the position of Emperor Tianguan is as respected as that of the Heavenly Palace, the way of worship and the offerings prepared are similar to those when worshiping the Heavenly Palace.

The fifteenth day of the first month is Shangyuan, also known as Yuanxiao, and it is also the birth day of Emperor Tianguan. Tianguan Emperor is one of san huang. The three official emperors refer to Wei Zi who blessed Tianguan in Shangyuan, Qingxu Emperor who pardoned sins in Zhongyuan and Dongyin Emperor who saved water in Xia Yuan. The family got together to eat glutinous rice balls and midnight snack, indicating that the New Year holiday has passed. Tangyuan, also known as Yuanxiao, is usually shaken in shops because of its large quantity, and is called Yaoyuanxiao. On the evening of 15, there was an activity in solve riddles on the lanterns, which was an aristocratic game in ancient Taiwan Province province. It is very popular among scholars and students, but now it is popular everywhere. Besides solve riddles on the lanterns, there are activities to welcome the lights.

▲ lanterns

In the early agricultural society, the activity of making Yuanxiao was stealing onions. In ancient times, people often said, "steal onions and marry a good man." Steal vegetables and marry a good husband. Therefore, it is a good sign that unmarried girls can steal onions or vegetables grown by others at midnight. Other traditional activities include wearing lamp feet and listening to incense.

I like the custom of Spring Festival in China.