1. Introduction to the Spring Festival The Spring Festival, the Lunar New Year, is the beginning of a year and a traditional festival. Commonly known as Spring Festival, New Year, New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, New Year's Eve and so on. Verbally, it is also called New Year's Eve, Celebration, 30th, 30th. The Spring Festival has a long history, which evolved from praying for the New Year at the beginning of the year in ancient times. Everything is based on the sky, and people are based on their ancestors. It is also the opposite to pray for the ancestors who worship the sky. The origin of the Spring Festival contains profound cultural connotations, and it carries rich historical and cultural connotations in its inheritance and development. During the Spring Festival, various activities to celebrate the Spring Festival are held all over the country, with rich regional characteristics and active festive atmosphere. These activities are rich and colorful, which have condensed the essence of China traditional culture, mainly to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, exorcise evil spirits and disturb disasters, offer sacrifices to gods and ancestors, and pray for the New Year.
In ancient times, people began to have a "busy year" on the 23rd or 24th of a year, and the New Year didn't end until January19th. In modern times, people set the Spring Festival on the first day of the first lunar month, but generally it doesn't end until at least the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. Holiday greetings convey family ethics between relatives and friends. It is an important festival for people to deepen their feelings, and it is a traditional festival of joy, peace and gathering of relatives and friends.
Headed by Hundred Festivals, the Spring Festival is the most solemn traditional festival of the Chinese nation. It not only embodies the Chinese nation's ideological beliefs, ideals and ambitions, life, entertainment and cultural psychology, but also shows the carnival of blessing, eating and entertainment activities. Influenced by China culture, some countries and regions in the world also have the custom of celebrating the Spring Festival. According to incomplete statistics, nearly 20 countries and regions have designated the Spring Festival in China as a legal holiday in all or part of the cities under their jurisdiction. Spring Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival are also called the four traditional festivals in China. The folk custom of Spring Festival was approved by the State Council to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.
2. Spring Festival traditional customs to do new year's goods
China's annual custom culture has a long history, and various Chinese New Year customs originate from all parts of the country, with great differences between the north and the south, each with its own characteristics. Although customs vary from place to place, it is almost a "must-have" for Chinese New Year to prepare new year's goods and send new year's gifts all over the country. Buying new year's goods, including food, clothing, clothes, use, stickers (New Year's Eve) and gifts, are collectively called "New Year's Goods", and the process of buying new year's goods is called "Buying New Year's Goods". Celebrating the Spring Festival is an important activity for China people.
Sacrifice to the kitchen god
On December 23/24 of the lunar calendar, the stove is sacrificed. The folk sacrificial furnace originated from the ancient custom of worshipping fire. "Ming Shi": "Kitchen. Make it, create food. " Kitchen God's duty is to take charge of the kitchen fire and manage the diet. Later, it was expanded to investigate human good and evil to reduce good and evil. Sacrificing to the Kitchen God has a history of thousands of years in China, and the belief in the Kitchen God is a reflection of China people's dream of "adequate food and clothing".
sweep the dust
In the folk, there is a custom of "sweeping the house on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month" on New Year's Eve. The folk proverb says "Twenty-four, sweep the house". Folk call it "Dust Day". Dust removal is year-end cleaning. Every household should clean the environment, clean all kinds of appliances, remove bedding curtains, clean the courtyard in Liu Lu, dust off cobwebs and dredge culverts in open channels. Everywhere is filled with the joyful atmosphere of cleaning and welcoming the Spring Festival cleanly. According to the folk saying, because "dust" and "Chen" are homophonic, sweeping dust years ago means "getting rid of the old and not getting new". The purpose of sweeping dust is to sweep away all bad luck and bad luck, so as to pray for a clear and auspicious year in the coming year.
Post New Year's Red (swing spring)
On the 28th, 29th or 30th of each year, every household hangs "Year Red" (Year Red refers to the red festive elements such as Spring Festival couplets, door gods, banners, New Year pictures and blessings). Sticking New Year Red (waving spring) is a traditional Chinese New Year custom in China, which adds a festive atmosphere and places people's good expectations for the new year and new life.
Spring Festival couplets: According to literary works such as Jade Candle Collection and Yanjing Years, the original form of Spring Festival couplets is what people call "peach symbols". Another source of Spring Festival couplets is spring stickers. The ancients posted the word "Yichun" every day when they were in beginning of spring, and later they gradually developed into Spring Festival couplets. Sticking Spring Festival couplets is also called sticking couplets, Spring Festival couplets, couplets and peach symbols. It depicts the background of the times and expresses good wishes with neat, dual, concise and exquisite words, which is a unique literary form 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.
New Year pictures: Hanging New Year pictures during the Spring Festival is also common in urban and rural areas. Thick black and colorful New Year pictures add a lot of prosperous and happy holiday 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. 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.
Window grilles and the word "Fu": 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. At the same time, some people have to write "Fu" on doors, walls and lintels. Others elaborate the word "Fu" into various patterns, such as longevity, longevity peach, carp yue longmen, abundant grains, dragons and phoenixes, and so on.
Family reunion dinner on New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve, also known as New Year's Eve, reunion dinner, reunion dinner and so on. , especially the family dinner on New Year's Eve at the end of the year. The New Year's Eve dinner originated from the ancient ritual vessels at the end of the year, and it is a reunion dinner after offering sacrifices to the gods and ancestors. New Year's Eve is the highlight of the year, which is not only colorful, but also very interesting. Worship the gods and ancestors before the reunion dinner, and eat after the worship ceremony. Generally, there are chicken (meaning to have a plan), fish (meaning to have more than one year), oyster sauce (meaning to have a good market), Nostoc flagelliforme (meaning to get rich), yuba (meaning to get rich), lotus root (meaning to be smart), lettuce (meaning to make money), raw garlic (meaning to be able to count) and sausage (meaning to be long-lasting) for good luck. China people's New Year's Eve dinner is a family reunion dinner, which is the most abundant and important dinner in a year.
stay up late or all night on New Year's Eve
Keeping the new year's eve is one of the activities of the old customs, and the custom of keeping the old age has a long history. The folk custom of observing the new year is mainly manifested in that every household lights a New Year's fire and gets together to keep the "New Year's fire" from going out and wait for the moment to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new year. On New Year's Eve, the lights were on all night. It is said that all houses light candles, especially under the bed, which is called "wasting light". It is said that after such lighting, the family's wealth will be more abundant in the coming year. In ancient times, the north and the south had different customs. In some places in ancient times, the custom of keeping the old age was mainly to stay up on New Year's Eve. For example, in the "Local Records" written at the beginning of the Jin Dynasty, it is said that everyone gives gifts to each other on New Year's Eve, which is called "giving the old"; Young and old get together and wish a complete song called "age division"; Sleeping all the year round, waiting for dawn, is called "guarding the age". On New Year's Eve, the whole family get together, eat New Year's Eve, light candles or oil lamps, sit around the fire and chat, and keep vigil all night, which symbolizes driving away all evil diseases and expecting good luck in the new year.
lucky money
Lucky money is one of the ancient customs. After dinner in 2008, the elders should distribute the lucky money prepared in advance to the younger generation. It is said that lucky money can kill evil spirits, and the younger generation can spend the first year safely when they get lucky money. Lucky money has the meaning of exorcising evil spirits and keeping peace in folk culture. The original intention of lucky money is to suppress evil and drive away evil. Because people think that children are easy to be invisible, they use lucky money to suppress evil spirits.
There are many kinds of lucky money in history, which are usually distributed to the younger generation by the elders during the countdown to the New Year, indicating that the lucky money contains the care and sincere wishes of the elders to the younger generation; The other is given to the elderly by the younger generation. The "year" of this lucky money refers to the age, which is intended to expect the elderly to live longer. The earliest lucky money written in the Han dynasty, also known as winning money, is not circulated in the market, but cast as an ornamental in the form of coins, which has the function of avoiding evil spirits.
Wandering spirit
Vagrancy is one of the traditional New Year customs. Visiting the gods, also known as the holy procession, the tour master, the camp master, the tour bodhisattva, the contest of visiting the gods, the annual regulations, welcoming the gods, the spring outing, walking incense, visiting the hometown of bodhisattva, carrying idols, and taking idol tours. , refers to people in the New Year or other festive festivals, or the Christmas of the gods, to the temple to invite the distracted gods to the sedan chair, and then carried out of the temple for sightseeing. The main purpose is to repay God, eliminate disasters and pray. Along the way, there will be a variety of artistic performances such as gongs and drums, suona, dolls, lion dances, dragon dances, colorful flags, lanterns, octaves, acrobatics and band performances. It is a traditional folk activity integrating sacrifice, prayer, celebration and banquet.
Visiting gods in Chaoshan area, also known as "Touring God Race" and "Hosting", is a traditional folk activity in Chaoshan area. Every Spring Festival, in chronological order, towns and villages take turns to hold folk soul wandering activities, and the scene is very lively. In western Guangdong, it is also called "Master You", "Bodhisattva You" or "Miss the World". The so-called chronology is "tracing back to the source and giving examples every year". In Beiliu area, it is also known as the "annual example". In the Pearl River Delta region, it is also known as the "hometown of bodhisattvas". People marched in the village with statues and received blessings. In Fuzhou, it is also called "Meeting God". The third day to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the time to wander around and become one of the important activities of "running the year" in rural areas. Wandering gods often take the village as the unit, and sometimes several villages unite to March around the village in groups with gongs, drums and firecrackers as the unit. People lined up in the street to watch and gather, and the scene was warm.
Worship the elderly
Paying New Year's greetings is one of the traditional activities. Welcome the new year on the morning of the first day of the year and worship the "Year God". "Sui", also known as "country" and "Tai Sui", is an ancient star name. Tai sui is also a god of folk beliefs. At the age of 60, with the chronology of cadres and branches of 60 Jiazi as the running cycle, there are 60 people. There are old gods on duty every year. In those days, the traditional duty was called "traditional duty", which was the master of the year and was in charge of good and bad luck in the world. For example, in the Three Commandments, it is said that "the man who is too old, the one-year-old Lord, and the head of the gods". Paying New Year greetings is the oldest traditional Chinese New Year custom, which is still popular in Guangdong, especially Wuchuan. On the first day of the new year, the traditional customs of greeting the new year, offering sacrifices to God and receiving blessings have been passed down from generation to generation.
temple fair
Visiting temple fairs is one of the folk activities during the Spring Festival. Guangfu Temple Fair and Beijing ditan temple fair are also called the two major temple fairs in China. Covers the puppet show, China stunt, Wulin Congress, Lantern Festival and other theme activities. It contains rich contents such as blessing culture, folk culture, food culture, business and leisure culture.
Pay new year's call
Paying New Year greetings during the Spring Festival is one of the traditional customs of New Year's festivals, and it is a way for people to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new and express their best wishes to each other. On the third day of the second day of junior high school, I began to visit relatives and friends, pay New Year greetings to each other, congratulate each other, bless each other, and say something like congratulations on getting rich and happy New Year. The significance of New Year's greetings lies in visiting relatives and friends, congratulating each other on the New Year, expressing feelings for relatives and friends and good wishes for the new year's life.
With the development of the times, the custom of New Year greetings is constantly adding new contents and forms. New Year greeting cards, which are popular in modern society, have been implemented in ancient China. As early as the Song Dynasty, New Year cards were called "famous thorns" or "famous stickers", which were used between families and relatives of royalty, nobles and literati.
Perry is.
Exclusion is one of the long-standing customs, and "profit" also includes writing "profit market" or "profit thing". Right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right. The word "benefiting the market" has existed since ancient times, and it was recorded as early as the Book of Changes, which means to benefit more with less. In the Yuan Dynasty, the textual research on proverbs also mentioned that "it is a good omen to seek benefits from the master", which shows that seeking benefits also means auspiciousness. According to Yi Za Zhu, "Doing business for profit, doing things for profit", businessmen call it profit, which means doing everything is beneficial.
Setting off firecrackers
There is a folk saying in China that "there are firecrackers when you open the door". That is to say, 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. Fireworks are a specialty of China, also known as "firecrackers", "firecrackers", "firecrackers" and "firecrackers". Its origin is very early. Regarding the evolution of firecrackers, Excellent Popular Arrangement records: "Ancient firecrackers. They are all popular with real bamboo, so Tang poetry is also called explosive pole. Later people roll paper for it. It's called firecrackers.
The original purpose of firecrackers is to meet the gods and drive away ghosts. Later, with its strong festive color, it developed into a symbol to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. 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.
3. What did the ancients play during the New Year? It seems to be a marathon carnival, from the beginning of the year (the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month) to the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month.
Off-year is to prepare for the New Year, and the theme is to worship the kitchen god, clean up and buy new year's goods. Kitchen gods in each dynasty have different tastes. Mutton, fish, pork, distiller's grains, maltose, beans and cakes are all eaten by kitchen gods.
Sacrificing the kitchen god is a man's job, and cleaning is a woman's job. In A Dream of Red Mansions, it was Mrs. Wang and Wang Xifeng who led the servants to do the cleaning years ago. There was no 84 disinfectant in ancient times, and disinfection depended entirely on salt. Especially the ancestral hall, must be cleaned up.
After the cleaning, it is the most popular activity for women in buy buy-buying, and the new year market is even more popular than the Double Eleven!
Clothes, headwear, Spring Festival couplets, peach symbols, door gods, New Year pictures, New Year wine, colored silk, candy, charcoal brazier, broom, calendar ... As long as they are sold together with the New Year, the courier brothers are collectively exhausted.
Three or five days before New Year's Eve, people began to send New Year's gifts among colleagues, relatives, friends and neighbors. People send something to eat, and the official annual ceremony is varied. In A Dream of Red Mansions, Wu Zhuangtou gives Jia a gift worth 2,500 taels of silver every year, equivalent to 500,000 yuan.
The annual ceremony is often the weather vane of the workplace: I am optimistic about you, and the annual ceremony will rise by 30%; I think you will decline, and the annual gift will be reduced by 20%.
Wang Anshi, a great writer in the Northern Song Dynasty, wrote a poem years ago: "In the sound of firecrackers, except for one year old, the spring breeze sends warmth into Tu Su. Thousands of families always change new peaches for old ones every day. "
Hanging peach charms is to ward off evil spirits and avoid ghosts; Posting Spring Festival couplets is to welcome the New Year and receive blessings. It is said that Tu Su wine can prevent the plague. There are peppers in the wine, and the taste is unforgettable.
Before the Southern Song Dynasty, ancient people set off firecrackers in the New Year, not firecrackers. First light a fire in the yard, and then throw the bamboo into the fire. After the fire, bamboo will make a crackling sound.
People not only throw bamboo into the fire, but also throw broken brooms, idle small objects and so on. Isn't that a breakup?
There was no Spring Festival party in ancient times, but it was quite lively. For example, in the Tang Dynasty, there were exorcism activities on New Year's Eve, and men, women and children wore masks and organized groups to dance with the gods. Isn't it burning
Of course, there are regular items such as eating New Year's Eve, keeping New Year's Eve, eating jiaozi, and paying New Year's greetings. In addition, in the Tang and Song Dynasties, on New Year's Eve, people also played with ash piles and beat them with wooden sticks and bamboo poles to pray for all the best in the new year.
On the first day of the ancient New Year in China, the most important thing was to worship ancestors. At 3 o'clock in the morning, the men, women and children at home put on new clothes and lined up to worship their ancestors. Worship your ancestors before kowtowing to your elders. After dawn, organize a group to pay New Year greetings to relatives and friends and invite them to drink New Year's wine.
The next day, the married woman returned to the door, and the son-in-law paid a New Year call to his parents-in-law.
On the third day, the ancestor's sacrifice was removed. On the fourth day, I met the kitchen god.
The fifth day, breaking the fifth day, making five poor. Send away the "five poor" who are poor in intelligence, learning, literature, life and friends, and welcome the "Five Blessingg" who has a long life, wealth, corning, virtue and a good death. ...
Continue to treat guests, pay New Year's greetings and have New Year's wine. People with wide connections can eat new year's wine until the fifteenth day of the first month.
Sounds tired, doesn't it?
In fact, there were many entertainment programs in ancient times. For example, the stunning illusion in the movie "The Legend of the Demon Cat" can be seen in the acrobatic performance of the first day of Han Dynasty!
In addition, the rich will invite the troupe to sing at home, which is better than watching 3D images to maximize and absolutely customize. We can also laugh and play cards together.
Of course, the most interesting thing is the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first month. Lantern Festival has always been a Valentine's Day for unmarried men and women to have a romantic tryst.
In the TV series "Da Gong Ming Ci", Princess Taiping and Xue Shao met at the Lantern Festival! On the Lantern Festival, men, women and children enjoy lanterns together. solve riddles on the lanterns, eating Yuanxiao, setting off fireworks, watching lion dance and monkey show ... are simply exciting.
It is said that there was a Lantern Festival in the Song Dynasty, and the program list was very rich, including opera, acrobatics, talk shows, storytelling, sumo wrestling, magic, dancing, football matches and movies ... It seemed more interesting than the modern Lantern Festival!
After eating, drinking and having fun, you can also make an appointment for fitness.
On the night of Lantern Festival, women go hand in hand to "walk through all kinds of diseases", and every time they go to a bridge, they should take a trip to get rid of all kinds of diseases, pray for good health and eliminate all kinds of diseases. Well, it can consume a lot of calories and is absolutely healthy!
Do you think it is more interesting for ancient people to celebrate the New Year? We modern people can only envy and hate!