The folk customs of the Spring Festival are diverse and rich in content, which is a concentrated display of the essence of China people's life and culture. All kinds of New Year celebrations are held all over the country. Due to different regional cultures, there are differences in the content or details of customs, which have strong regional characteristics.
Introduction to customs 1, offering sacrifices to stoves
The folk sacrificial furnace originated from the ancient custom of worshipping fire. For example, Ming Shi said, "The 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".
2. Post Spring Festival couplets
According to the records of Yu Zhu Ji, Yanjing Chronicle and other literary works, the original form of Spring Festival couplets is what people call "Fu Tao". 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.
3. New Year's Eve dinner
Also known as New Year's Eve, reunion dinner, etc. Especially the New Year's Eve dinner 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 (indicating that there is a plan), fish (indicating that there is more than one year), oyster sauce (indicating that the market is good), Nostoc flagelliforme (indicating that it is rich), yuba (indicating that it is rich), lotus root (indicating that it is smart), lettuce (indicating that it is profitable) and sausage (indicating that it is long-term) 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.
Step 4: keep your age
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.
5. 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.
Step 6 set 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. The original purpose of firecrackers is to welcome gods and exorcise evil spirits. 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.