The traditional customs of the New Year, the traditional customs of the New Year

What are the usual customs of the Chinese New Year?

The customs of the Chinese New Year will vary depending on the region and ethnicity. In our place, entering the wax moon, there are several major time nodes of letter liquid imitation. Different days have different customs.

On the eighth day of the lunar month, drink Laba porridge and boil it into porridge with eight different ingredients to pray for a good harvest in the coming year. On the twenty-third day of the lunar month, that is, the small year, eat baked cakes, put small whips, and drink tofu soup. On the twenty-fourth day of the lunar month, it is necessary to clean and clean the house so that the new year is clean and tidy.

From the 25th to the 28th of the lunar month, the main purchase of New Year's goods is made. On the twenty-ninth day of the lunar month, paste couplets, Chinese New Year's Eve dumplings, boil Chinese New Year's Eve and bury slag, set off fireworks and firecrackers, and light sky lanterns.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, wear new clothes and say goodbye to the old and welcome the new. Except for entertainment, no work is allowed. There are also many taboos on this day, such as not using scissors, taking out garbage, going to a well to fetch water, and not saying unlucky things.

From the second day of the Lunar New Year to the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, the main thing is to go to relatives and friends.

On the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, it is called the big open market. On this day, the whip should be enlarged to pray for prosperity and wealth in the coming year. At this point, the normal work really begins.

The customs of the New Year include sweeping the dust in the New Year, pasting couplets, blessing characters, door gods, worshipping ancestors, worshipping gods, eating dumplings, eating rice balls, eating rice cakes, keeping the New Year, and giving New Year's money.

First, the New Year sweeping

According to the record of "Lü's Spring and Autumn Period", as early as the Yaoshun era, China already had the custom of sweeping dust during the Spring Festival. Because "dust" and "Chen" are homophonic, the New Year dust sweep has been given a new meaning, with the meaning of "removing Chen Buxin", hoping to sweep away all the bad luck and bad luck.

Second, paste couplets, blessing words, door gods

On the afternoon of the day before the Chinese New Year, the children would step on a stool, hold paste and brushes, and paste couplets on the door, and then let the adults below see if they were properly pasted. Some are also horizontally pasted on the horizontal head of the lintel, and the couplets are pasted on the left and right sides of the door.

There are also the blessing characters on the doors, walls, and lintels of the house to express people's yearning for a happy life. Others put a picture of the door god on the door panel to pray for a safe and prosperous year, adding to the festive atmosphere.

3. Worship ancestors and gods

The Spring Festival sacrifice to the gods is a custom that spreads throughout our country. The customs of worshipping the gods are similar all over the country, but the purpose is basically the same, which is to pray for good weather in the coming year, good harvest, good fortune and so on.

Ancestor worship is generally after the worship of the gods, the customs are not the same in various places, in our hometown is every day before the noon meal, each family sends a representative, serve food, offerings to the ancestral hall to pay tribute to the ancestors, until the fifteenth day of the first month, the ancestral hall will be closed.

Fourth, eat dumplings, eat glutinous rice balls, and eat rice cakes

In most parts of the north, there is a custom of eating dumplings in the morning during the Spring Festival, and a coin is often put in the dumplings. In Huai'an, Jiangsu, there is a custom of eating dumplings in the morning, and in Kaifeng, Henan, both dumplings and dumplings are eaten on the day of the Spring Festival. There is also the habit of eating rice cakes during the Spring Festival, and the taste of rice cakes varies from place to place.

Fifth, keep the New Year's and give New Year's money

Chinese New Year's Eve is also one of the most important Spring Festival activities, neighbors and friends get together, or a family together, some play cards, some watch the Spring Festival Gala, everyone sleeps all day, waiting for the dawn together, to welcome the arrival of the New Year.

New Year's money is a favorite custom of children and younger generations. After Chinese New Year's Eve Chinese New Year's Eve meal, the elders will give coins to the younger ones, and use red thread to weave copper coins into strings and hang them on the children's chests, saying that they can suppress evil spirits and drive away ghosts. This custom has been popular since the Han Dynasty, of course, there are no copper coins anymore, and it is generally a red package of cash.

The Spring Festival is a folk festival that integrates removing the old and clothing the new, worshiping gods and ancestors, praying for blessings and warding off evil spirits, family and friend reunions, celebrations, entertainment and food. The Spring Festival has a long history, originating from the primitive beliefs and nature worship of early humans, and evolved from the first New Year's prayer sacrifice in ancient times, carrying a rich historical and cultural heritage in the inheritance and development.

The Spring Festival is the most solemn traditional festival of the Chinese nation. The New Year activities revolve around the sacrifice and prayer for the New Year, in the form of removing the old cloth and the new, worshiping the gods and ancestors, driving away evil spirits and disasters, praying for a good year, etc., the content is rich and colorful, lively and festive, and the New Year's flavor is strong, condensing the essence of the traditional culture of Chinese civilization. During the Spring Festival, various New Year activities are held throughout the country, and there are differences in the content or details of customs due to different regional cultures.

China has a long history of celebrating the New Year, and some relatively fixed customs have been formed in the inheritance and development, many of which are still passed down to this day, such as buying New Year's goods, sweeping dust, sticking New Year's red, eating Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, keeping the New Year, worshiping the New Year, greeting the New Year, dragon and lion dance, worshipping the gods and ancestors, praying for blessings and disasters, traveling gods, holding boats, temple fairs, traveling gongs and drums, vernier flags, lighting wine, and so on. Traditional festival ceremonies and related customs are an important part of the festival elements, carrying a rich and colorful festival cultural heritage.

The Spring Festival is one of the most important festivals of the Chinese nation, and the people of all dynasties have attached great importance to the Spring Festival, so with the changes of the times, many folk customs of the Spring Festival have also been derived. However, with the continuous development of people's understanding of the natural world and the continuous progress of science and technology, some folk customs have become incompatible with the times. Spring Festival folk customs should be carried out and developed in inheritance, abandonment and innovation.

Outdated feudal folk customs should be discarded.

First of all, we must abandon the old rule that "married daughters cannot go back to their parents' homes for the New Year and sacrifice and sweep". Now the post-80s generation is an only child, and they have all started a family, if the daughter is not allowed to go back to her parents' house for the New Year and sacrifice sweeping, then in the future, the family that raises the daughter will only have the two elders at home to celebrate the New Year, and there will be no descendants to sacrifice and sweep after death.

Second, we must abandon the old customs of not sweeping the floor (sweeping away the wealth) in the first month, not getting a haircut ("shaving your head in the first month, your uncle will die"), not washing your hair (washing away the joy and setting sail), not taking out the garbage (pouring out your own wealth), and not eating noodles (you will be verbose if you are late for a year), and so on.

Third, we must abandon the old concept that only when we return home in the thirtieth day of the Chinese New Year's Eve can we go home for the New Year. Because people are working in different positions, and each post needs to be manned on the Chinese New Year's Eve, as long as they return home during the Spring Festival, they should be regarded as going home for the New Year, and parents and families should not complain.

Fourth, it is necessary to abandon the old custom of "eating for a year and a half for a year". In the past, in order to show the wealth and prosperity of the family, the old custom of Chinese New Year's Eve meals was based on a large amount of surplus rice, and the more dishes the better, which not only caused a lot of waste, but also sometimes caused intestinal diseases, so this concept should also be abandoned.

New Year's customs should keep pace with the times and be innovative.

First of all, it is necessary to allow the daughter to go back to her parents' home for the New Year, or to celebrate the New Year together with the two families who have a marriage relationship, so as to avoid the parents of the daughter from feeling lonely, and to enhance the relationship between the two parties and increase the festive atmosphere.

Second, it is to sacrifice and sweep the incense beams, clear the candles, paper money, and do not set off fireworks, but instead offer flowers, place offerings, weeding and cultivating soil, and other sacrifices.

Third, you can not pay New Year's money or pay less money, which is conducive to the healthy growth of children's psychology and can also reduce the burden on adults.

Fourth, the Spring Festival is a good time to plant trees in the south, you can change the Bodhisattva who respects the land to plant trees, and each person plants a tree every year to keep a commemoration, which not only greens the hometown, but also improves the environment.

Folk customs are a direct reflection of the national spirit and national quality, and I hope that everyone will carry forward the fine traditions of the Chinese nation in the Spring Festival folk customs in the process of inheritance, abandonment and innovation.