Hainan Wenchang Chinese New Year custom
The custom of New Year in China varies from region to region, but no matter what kind of custom, it revolves around one word-Ji, whether it's cooking chicken, steaming fish, wrapping jiaozi, eating rice cakes and setting off firecrackers, it's all for good luck and prosperity in the coming year. Wenchang people: Wenchang people don't raise chickens during the New Year, and they have retained the customs and habits that have lasted for thousands of years. Wenchang people can't grow up without chickens. After the Mid-Autumn Festival, every household began to keep Wenchang chicken in captivity, because from the first day to the fifteenth day, boiled chicken is definitely indispensable on the table of every household. On New Year's Eve, many people will put a square table in the yard, with the fattest "castrated chicken" raised at home this year in the middle, pork, "salted fish", "red eggs" and rice balls on both sides, and then the elders at home will hold a ceremony to worship their ancestors. After the ceremony, after burning paper money and setting off firecrackers, the whole family will sit around for dinner. From New Year's Eve, every household lights up, and the lights in the house will not go out day and night until dawn on the fourth day of April. This move is commonly known as "lighting a lamp" (Hainan dialect "lamp" is homophonic with "Ding"), which means "adding Ding to make a fortune". Watching "Doll Play" and listening to Qiong Opera are also entertainment programs that Wenchang people can't live without. From the second day of the Lunar New Year, every village will chip in to invite a troupe to perform several plays in front of the village's "public temple".