1, prepare before the new year.
In traditional society, Chinese New Year begins on the 16th day of the twelfth lunar month, which some people call "annual leave". Shi Yilong said that in the past, the Tail Tooth Banquet had the function of determining the whereabouts of employees. At the banquet, if you want a whole chicken, whose head the boss aims at, you will have to pack up and leave next year. Now, the tail tooth banquet has basically lost the tension of unemployment, and it has been changed into a bonus for employees to prepare to go home for the New Year.
People in southern Fujian usually give gifts to the gods (including the "Kitchen God") on the 23rd and 24th of the twelfth lunar month, indicating that the gods have been busy on earth for a year, and it is time to take a holiday.
After sending away the "Kitchen God" and other gods worshipped at home, people began to "clean up", which is undoubtedly the most important cleaning in a year. When cleaning the cellar, first use "spring flowers" (paper flowers with leaves made of gold paper, red paper and green paper), green branches and red paper rings to make brooms.
On the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month, as the saying goes, "God descended", Minnan people need to file a case in front of God to worship. This is because after the gods stationed at home temporarily returned to heaven, the Jade Emperor sent the gods down to earth to inspect the good and evil on earth. Therefore, every household should put incense tables to meet God.
At this stage, people will begin to prepare several delicious foods to eat during the Spring Festival, such as red turtle shells, fried, fried dates and so on. Shi Yilong said that in the past, most of the annual income was in kind, so most of the Chinese New Year food was made by myself. Now most people choose to buy it outside in order to save trouble.
2. Minnan New Year's Eve dinner
Minnan people call New Year's Eve "February 29th" and "Year Fight". On New Year's Eve, in addition to posting Spring Festival couplets, two sugarcane trees wrapped in red paper are placed on both sides of the door, which are called "door sugarcane". On that day, the elders will urge the younger generation to take a bath and change clothes early, and wash and dry the clothes before evening, so as not to spend the New Year wet.
Minnan people have always attached great importance to New Year's Eve. In the old society, the whole family sat around a small red stove, so they called the reunion dinner on New Year's Eve "around the stove".
How to make this New Year's Eve dinner meaningful is a crucial thing in a year. In old Xiamen, the necessary foods are meatballs (meaning reunion), white radish (meaning auspiciousness), blood stasis (Minnan dialect says "shell money makes a lot of money", because shells were used as money in ancient times, and eating blood stasis means making a lot of money in the coming year), and so on. At home, we should also steam rice cakes (meaning to be promoted step by step) and send cakes (meaning to get rich).
After the kitchen, the elders will give the younger generation lucky money, and then some people will stay up all night until dawn, which is called "keeping the old age".
Customs of the first month in southern Fujian
On the first day of the New Year, Xiamen people call it "Ryan". On this day, it is forbidden to call other people's names to remind people to get up, because this will make them be urged to do things all year round; Garbage and feces are not dumped outdoors, which means storing wealth and prospering in the new year. Going out to pay New Year's greetings is also exquisite, first the immortals in the temple, then the ancestors in the ancestral hall, and finally the relatives and friends.
On the second day of the first month, it is called "son-in-law's day", and the daughter will go back to her mother's house with her husband. On the third day of the first month, Minnan people in Xiamen generally don't go home to pay New Year's greetings, because on this day, if there is no deceased relative for a year, a memorial ceremony will be held at home. On the fourth day of the first month, it is the day to welcome the gods home from heaven, and they must be rewarded.
The fifth day of the first month is commonly known as "opening the festival" and "breaking the fifth day". After the fifth day, all kinds of taboos were lifted in the New Year, and all walks of life began to work. There is a folk custom of "sending the poor", which is mainly to offer sacrifices to poor ghosts or poor gods-people get up at dawn, and every household sets off firecrackers, leaving them outside and going outside, indicating that all unlucky things will be blown out.