Folk customs call the Spring Festival New Year or New Year's Eve. This festival is the longest and grandest of all festivals. Generally speaking, it starts from the night of offering sacrifices to stoves on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, and it is not officially finished until the Spring Festival on the fifth day of the first month. ?
The 23rd of the twelfth lunar month is the day of offering sacrifices to stoves, also called off-year. Because according to folklore, Kitchen God is the head of the family, and he often secretly observes the good and evil in the family. On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, he will ascend to heaven and report rewards and punishments to the Jade Emperor. If it speaks ill of it, it will take away 100 to 300 days. Therefore, people worship the kitchen god on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, which is intended to make the kitchen god "speak well from heaven and bring good luck from the earth". In order to show the sincerity of Kitchen God, every household should clean up the kitchen table, chopping board, pots and pans, and remove the old statue of Kitchen God and replace it with a new one. Offerings are placed in front of the gods to please the kitchen god. After saying good things in heaven, the lower world will be "auspicious". Nanyang nursery rhymes say: "Twenty-three (sons), burning furnace wax (sons)". After dinner on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, every household takes a fat cock as the horse that the kitchen god rides to the Heavenly Palace, and takes baked wheat cakes (called "Huoshaoer" by people in Dengzhou area) as dry food, and pastes their mouths with kitchen candy to avoid speaking ill. Hay, beans and water are also placed in front of chickens as feed for horses. At this time, the male host faced the kitchen god, lit three incense sticks, poured three glasses of wine and bowed down to pray. Most of the prayers are "when you get to the Heavenly Palace, say more good things, don't mention bad things, and bring more grains to the lower world." At this time, firecrackers exploded outside the house to show off the kitchen god to heaven. If the head of the family dies young, the eldest son of the family will sacrifice the kitchen stove, and the woman will be the last, because there is a folk custom in Nanyang that "men don't Yue Bai, women don't sacrifice the kitchen stove". There is a folk song in Nanyang for the grand occasion of offering sacrifices to stoves on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month:
Every year every family is busy. Number 23, king of men. ?
Put two plates of fruit on both sides and a plate of sugar in the middle. ?
Black beans and hay, a bowl of water, a kitchen horse tied to the kitchen board. ?
The incense burner burns incense and candles to make the stove bright. ?
Master, kneel down and pray for master Zao's blessing.
Besides "Heaven speaks well, peace comes to earth", the couplets next to Kitchen God also include "Go on the 23rd, come back on the 15th of the first month" and "kowtow at dawn, a censer in the morning and evening". ? The folk worship of Kitchen God began in Han Dynasty. According to the biography of Han Yin Shi, there was a man named Yin Zifang. While cooking, the kitchen god appeared, and Zifang immediately bowed down and killed his beloved yellow dog as a sacrifice. The kitchen god lived up to Yin Zifang's good pleasure and blessed the Yin family, making them rich overnight, and their descendants also enjoyed high officials and rich salaries. Since then, the world has followed suit and sacrificed stoves on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month in order to get the blessing of the kitchen god. According to the draft of Qing history, Emperor Qianlong also offered sacrifices to the kitchen god, and went to Kunning Palace to offer sacrifices to the kitchen stove on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month every year, which has never stopped for 60 years. In the report on the kitchen sacrifice, the emperor is like this, and the people naturally don't have to list it in detail. The behavior of folk offering sacrifices to stoves clearly shows the ordinary people's desire for peace. ?
On the 30th night of the twelfth lunar month, commonly known as New Year's Eve, every family will have a reunion dinner, including jiaozi on the morning of the Spring Festival. After dinner, they should "endure the New Year" to keep the New Year. In order to welcome the new year and drive away evil spirits, people set off firecrackers in the early morning. ?
The custom of observing the age has a long history. The earliest record can be found in the local custom of the Western Jin Dynasty: "Stay up all night, wait until dawn to observe the age." Legend has it that in ancient times, there was a unicorn named Nian. This monster is very fierce. Every December 30th, it goes to harm people, but it is most afraid of fire, red and noise. In order not to be hurt by Nian, people wear red clothes, light red lights, stick red paper, set off firecrackers and fireworks, burn incense and pray, and stay up all night. This custom has been handed down from generation to generation and is called "Shounian".
"One night for two years, five hours for two years." Nanyang people attach great importance to this day. No matter adults or children, they should not say unlucky words, only auspicious words. After midnight, we will eat "jiaozi every year". Nanyang folk jiaozi, also known as flat food, is shaped as an ingot. People say that if we eat it when we grow up, we will be prosperous in the coming year. ?
The first day of the first month is the Spring Festival, and everyone puts on new clothes. Before dawn, light the door opener first, then light the incense sticks to offer sacrifices. The offerings are generally jujube hill steamed bread, sliced meat, fried fish, fruits, etc. Burn incense sticks to worship the gods and ancestors. In the morning, the whole family eats jiaozi, and then the younger generation pays New Year greetings to their elders, who give their children lucky money, which Nanyang folks call "waist-pressing money". Parents take boys to the cemetery to pay homage to their ancestors, pay New Year greetings to the deceased elders, and pay New Year greetings to each other between neighbors and relatives. From the second day of junior high school, relatives, friends and neighbors began to pay New Year greetings to each other. People carry gifts with them, especially when the new son-in-law visits his father-in-law's house for the first time. This New Year Festival lasts until the fourth and fifth days of grade four, and some families with many relatives and friends often last until the seventh and eighth days. In the old days, people thought that the fifth, thirteenth and twenty-second days of every month were "sunshine days" and Pepsi could not succeed. The fifth day of the first month is the first anniversary of a year, which is highly valued by the people. Therefore, there is a proverb called "when you are young, it will be broken." On this day, setting off firecrackers means that the "five-year plan" has been broken. That night, it is forbidden to dump all the garbage outside the hospital on the dung heap outside the hospital for five days, which is called "sending poor soil" He said a spell while leaning: "If you are poor, you will change your mind. You must make a fortune this year." ?
From the second day of the first month, Nanyang Customs arranged the schedule of visiting relatives and friends in the next few days: the next day, I went to my grandmother's house to pay New Year greetings to my grandparents, uncles and nephews; On the third day, I went to menstruation's or menstruation's to pay a New Year call to my uncle and aunt. On the fourth day, I went to my parents' house to pay a New Year call. After the fifth day, it is the day to go to the relatives of old friends. On the sixth day of the Sixth National Congress, the market opened and all walks of life opened. ?
Among the traditional customs in Nanyang, the most striking aspects of the Spring Festival customs are as follows:
The first is to post Spring Festival couplets. The appearance of Spring Festival couplets in China has a history of nearly a thousand years. According to records, the Spring Festival couplets were initiated by Meng Chang, the Emperor of Shu after the Five Dynasties. In the Spring Festival of 964, Meng Changjun personally wrote a couplet: "Happy New Year in Qing Yu. Changchun "(Songshi Xi Shu Montessori). ), the world feels novel, but from the court to the folk, they followed suit and became popular, which continues to this day. ?
Generally speaking, Nanyang folk Spring Festival couplets are mostly composed of congratulations and eulogies, which are subdivided into the following aspects: First, eulogize historical romantic figures. For example, Nanyang is the hometown of Fan Li, the general of the State of Yue, and Li Anyun "traced the pottery and bamboo industry in the five lakes and made friends with Yan Zifeng"; Wollongong is the land where Zhuge Liang, the prime minister of Shu, plowed the fields, saying that "the Western Han Dynasty was divided into two Sima chapters, and Nanyang's economy was one Wolong". Second, I love my hometown scenery. Nanyang City is backed by Dushan Mountain and faced with whitewater, so it is written as "backed by Qingshan Dragon and Tiger, and the door is facing the green water and phoenix pool"; "Luoyang peony is brilliant, Wancheng osmanthus fragrance" and so on. ?
The second is to hang New Year pictures. Hanging New Year pictures is to exorcise ghosts. It's the same as the janitor. In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Zong Mao, a native of Nieyang, Nanyang (now Dengzhou, Ge Dong), wrote in the book Chronicle of Jingchu: "On the first day of the first month, Er Shen was painted around the house, with Shen Tu on the left and Lei Yu on the right, commonly known as the door god." This door god is the origin of popular New Year pictures. In the Tang Dynasty, it was said that Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong, was ill, and he often felt that there was a spectre call sign inside and outside his dormitory, making it difficult to sleep. Li reported the matter to the ministers and asked about ways to exorcise ghosts. Qin Qiong told Jingde that he was willing to wear armor and keep a weapon at the door. Sure enough, there was no crime in autumn night. Although Qin Qiong respects virtue with superb martial arts, it is not the best policy for him to accompany him at night after a long time. So he ordered the painter to draw their portraits on the door to drive away ghosts. Since then, no ghosts have sounded. In addition, there is a portrait of Zhong Kui as a keeper posted on the door. Qin Qiong Jingde is regarded as the gatekeeper because they are dignified and upright, and Zhong Kui is regarded as the gatekeeper because he is ugly, daunting and good at catching ghosts. With the growth of people's age, generations will attack each other, and people will turn door gods into adult paintings, which carries forward the cultural connotation of eliminating disasters and harmonious seasons. Around the central theme of celebrating New Year and auspiciousness, Nanyang New Year Pictures have the following six themes: first, myths and legends, such as the story of the Eight Immortals crossing the sea, the Tang Priest learning from the scriptures, and the autumn Weng Huixian; Followed by Fu Rui auspicious, such as Xianweng birthday, Guanyin Songzi, goddess scattered flowers, carp yue longmen and so on; Third, farm life, such as bumper harvest, prosperous livestock, spring Niu Geng, farming and reading, etc. Fourth, the scenery of the four seasons, such as Chunlan Xiahe, Qiuju Dongmei and a full moon. Fifth, historical themes, such as Guan Gong's reading at night, Mulan's joining the army, Yue Fei's resistance to gold, Song Wu's killing tigers, Taibai's drunkenness and Qi Jiguang's Pingwo, and sixth, folk stories, such as the legend of the white snake, the fairy couple and Liang Zhu. The production technology of Nanyang New Year pictures is mostly woodcut watermark, which has the artistic characteristics of simple lines, rough and solid, vigorous and powerful. ?
Third, set off firecrackers. "Firecrackers say goodbye to the old year, and Golden Rooster sings three songs to welcome the new year." In Nanyang folk, whenever the rooster wakes up at midnight, it will set off firecrackers, which will drive away evil spirits and eliminate the epidemic, and secondly increase the joyful and warm atmosphere. ?
In addition to the above, there is another important activity, that is, New Year greetings. The custom of greeting New Year has a causal relationship with the celebration of New Year's Eve. After a night's vigil and setting off firecrackers at midnight, people eliminated the intrusion and harm of Nian beast. On the morning of New Year's Day, people open the door to congratulate each other on their safety. "On the first day of the first month, scholars congratulated each other, and the men and women of Bo Min also put on new clothes to pay homage." (Wu: Dream Liang Lu. In the past, people paid more attention to relatives, friends, teachers and relatives. During the New Year, people wish each other auspicious words, such as congratulations, wealth, good luck and longevity. Nanyang people pay New Year greetings to each other. In the past, wealthy families in Nanyang didn't care about the gift. They thought it was time-consuming and laborious to exchange gifts during New Year greetings, so they congratulated each other with famous cards. Famous stickers, that is, New Year cards, are called "famous thorns" in the Han Dynasty, "gate-shaped thorns" in the Tang Dynasty, "red slips" in the Song Dynasty and "red slips" in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It is popular to worship pots, that is, to put New Year cards in pots and give them to each other to show solemnity. New Year cards generally write auspicious words such as Happy New Year, all the best, abundant financial resources, health and longevity. Wen Zhiming, a painter and calligrapher in Qing Dynasty, wrote a poem "Happy New Year", saying, "I won't meet you, but only talk to you, so please come to my house. I also throw a few pieces of paper at people. The world is too simple and not too empty. " The custom of greeting New Year cards has been followed to this day, but among Nanyang people, the custom of greeting New Year at home is still valued. ?
The fifth day of the first month is commonly known as "breaking the fifth", which is called "breaking the fifth" in order to avoid the poor god. "Three days of drama, five days of years." The broad masses of the people regard "Breaking Five" as an important day after the Spring Festival. Because this day is the birthday of the God of Wealth, people often hold banquets and set off firecrackers to welcome the arrival of the God of Wealth with joy. On this day, there is more than one God of Wealth, including God of Wealth, God of Wealth, God of Wealth and Wu Caishen. Zhao Xuantan, the real god of wealth, is the most admired by people, and its gods are found in many shops and houses. Zhao Xuantan on the statue is as black as the bottom of a pot, holding Strafe and riding Hei Hu, with two generals standing around. Zhao Xuantan was shot by Jiang Ziya and made a marshal. Chen Jiugong and Yao Shaosi, who were killed by Nezha, were assigned to Tan Xuan as followers. When people regard it as, Chen and Yao become "lucky". The Wu brothers, who were partial to the god of wealth, liked to kill the rich and help the poor before their death, but they still made money for the poor after their death. People call them "Five Immortals" and worship them very much. They often burn incense and pray silently. Xing Jun, the god of wealth, has a white face and long hair, which is different from others. People associate his idol with "luck", "wealth", "longevity", "wealth" and "happiness". He holds a cornucopia in his hand, which embodies the meaning of "the way to make money". Wu Caishen Guan Yunchang didn't love money all his life, but he could help people become rich. Because Guan got a reward from Cao Cao, he accumulated a lot of wealth. Because he doesn't love money, he is charitable and gives his wealth to the kind poor. Therefore, the world respects him as a god and sacrifices to him on the fifth day of the fifth month, begging him to make a fortune. At noon on the fifth day, the whole family will eat jiaozi, commonly known as "eating gold ingots". This custom, like the purpose of receiving the god of wealth, reflects the desire of ordinary people to stay away from poverty and enjoy prosperity. After the "Five-Year Plan", this year is completely over, and a series of production activities can be carried out.