Common Spring Festival customs in China include: preparing new year's goods, posting New Year's greetings, offering sacrifices to stoves, dust removal, hanging New Year pictures, stick grilles, upside down pasting blessings, New Year's Eve, setting off firecrackers, wearing new clothes, eating jiaozi, keeping New Year's Eve, dancing dragons, lucky money, eating jiaozi, setting off firecrackers, paying New Year's greetings, watching social fires, walking on stilts, putting lanterns and dancing lions.
I think there are eight traditional customs worth mentioning in the Spring Festival. Let's take a look:
? One of the customs of the Spring Festival: watching the Spring Festival Gala?
Watching the Spring Festival Gala is a custom handed down from modern times. It was originally a variety show, but with the passage of time, it has become an indispensable custom for us every year. Although it is always said that fewer and fewer people watch the Spring Festival Gala, people are still very concerned about its dynamics. Spring Festival Gala is the abbreviation of Spring Festival Gala, which generally refers to the Spring Festival Gala held by CCTV. The party from New Year's Eve to the beginning of the following year is called the Spring Festival party, because it is held in the traditional Spring Festival.
Look at the origin of the Spring Festival again: the generalized Spring Festival Gala can be traced back to 1956. At that time, the Spring Festival Gala was directed by Zhang Junxiang, directed by Xie Jin, Lin Nong, Cenfan and Wang Yingdong, and produced by the Central News Recording Film Studio. According to the content of the film, the performance was broadcast live to the whole country by China People's Broadcasting Station at that time. At that time, many masters appeared, such as Xu Yulan, Wang, Xin, Mei Lanfang, Hou, Lao She, Ba Jin and Zhao Dan. CCTV's "Spring Festival Gala" with the nature of Spring Festival Gala began broadcasting on 1979 New Year's Eve. 1983, the first Spring Festival Evening live broadcast was officially broadcast on CCTV.
At first, it was a variety show broadcast live by China CCTV in its first CCTV program to celebrate the Lunar New Year's Eve every year. Subsequently, CCTV Chinese International Channel, Military Agriculture Channel, CCTV English News Channel, CCTV Spanish International Channel and CCTV French International Channel will broadcast live simultaneously. In addition, since 2008, the high-definition channel has also broadcast rehearsal videos; CCTV, PPLIVE, china network television and other online new media will also be broadcast at the same time.
As a TV program attracting the attention of hundreds of millions of China people and overseas Chinese, the Spring Festival Evening witnessed the historic changes in China since the reform and opening up. In the last century, the living standard of China people was only at the level of food and clothing, and there was no spare capacity to pay attention to the improvement of their own culture. Therefore, as the most extensive TV program, Spring Festival Gala can be said to be a household name in this special period of Spring Festival, and it has become a necessary project for the whole family to watch Spring Festival Gala together on New Year's Eve. Since then, watching the Spring Festival Gala has become one of the customs of the Spring Festival, and the Spring Festival has the custom of greeting the New Year. Spring Festival Gala has become one of the entertainment ways in the process of Chinese New Year, and watching it together by the whole family can also promote the relationship between them.
? The second custom of the Spring Festival: Hanging lanterns?
Every household has the custom of hanging lanterns for 30 years. Hanging red lanterns during the Spring Festival symbolizes reunion and creates a festive atmosphere. Later, lanterns became a symbol of happiness for the people of China. Through the inheritance and development of lantern artists in past dynasties, colorful varieties and exquisite craftsmanship have been formed.
Legend has it that after Jiang Ziya was blocked, there was no post from himself, only a fairy walked in the travel era. On New Year's Eve, the gods returned to their places, but Jiang Ziya had nowhere to go. Seeing his pity, people lit a lamp on the head of a high club and let him spend the night under the lamp. Over time, the custom of hanging lanterns was formed.
? The third custom of the Spring Festival: Close the door for New Year's Eve dinner?
In some places in the south, it is a long-standing custom to have New Year's Eve dinner behind closed doors, which is said to be related to Tie Guai Li, one of the Eight Immortals.
When I was a child, I heard my grandfather tell such a story, saying that when eating New Year's Eve in many places in the south, the door should be closed, and the door can only be opened after eating and cleaning up. This also has a meaning. Grandpa said that this means "closing the door to make money, opening the door for business".
Grandpa also said, behind closed doors to eat New Year's Eve, folklore is to play tricks on Tie Guai Li. We all know that Tie Guai Li is a famous immortal, and he is one of the Eight Immortals. Although this man is lame, he is a fairy, and the Jade Emperor has arranged a task for him to check the people's feelings on the last day of each year. So every New Year's Eve dinner, Tie Guai Li will become a beggar, and then go door to door begging. Then show the jade emperor the begging things one by one, so that you can see at a glance who is poor and who is rich. The Jade Emperor is also fair. For some wealthy families, the Jade Emperor will make them accept certain punishments, such as disasters, so as not to make them too rich. For poor families, the Jade Emperor will be merciful and let them earn several times more money to avoid being too poor.
Later, the story spread among the people, including a shrewd businessman. He thought of a way, that is, when eating New Year's Eve, close the door and the family will not talk loudly until he finishes eating and cleans up. At this moment, Tie Guai Li came, having eaten clean, and there was nothing on the table. When Tie Guai Li came in, his family was too poor, so he was merciful and gave them more opportunities to get rich. So many people have learned this method one after another, so this method has spread, and everyone has learned it one by one. The custom of closing the door to eat New Year's Eve has been handed down and continues to this day.
However, farmers believe that the custom of eating New Year's Eve in the south is mainly due to the fact that many meals are cooked on New Year's Eve and the weather is cold in winter. If the door is left open, the food will be easily cooled by the north wind, which will affect the taste and delicacy. Secondly, it will be bad for your health and easy to cause stomach pain!
? The fourth custom of the Spring Festival: "Receiving firecrackers"?
On New Year's Eve, after offering sacrifices to ancestors and deceased parents, when the whole family closes for a family reunion dinner, they should set off firecrackers, usually 1-3, which means that all the unpleasantness of the old year will be sent away, and then the whole family will sit around and talk and laugh until the New Year bell rings.
Taizhou has a story of "collecting firecrackers" to drive away pirates, and a large number of pirates are gathering off Taizhou. Although he was beaten by Qi Jiajun, the dog couldn't change the habit of eating shit all the time. They are going to sneak attack on Taizhou in the dark when the soldiers and civilians are partying on the evening of the 30th and the defense is lax. Ladies and gentlemen, you should know that it is really easy to succeed in a sneak attack by robbers, especially when there is no clear goal.
At eleven o'clock in the evening, the robber's boat approached Taizhou Bay, and the shore was quiet from a distance. The robbers were so happy that they thought they could return home with their full loads. Who knows, before they could close their mouths, suddenly the guns on the shore rumbled and the flames soared. This earth-shattering battle scared the Japanese robbers out of their wits. While crying with tears, they shouted, "Dig the ant in the house, dig the ant in the house" and hurriedly turned around and fled for their lives.
The sound of guns on the shore lasted until dawn. Scared out of her wits, the Japanese robbers shivered in the ocean, but never dreamed that it was General Qi who let the people set off the closed-door cannon that caught them in the tourist trap. Since then, the custom of Taizhou people turning off guns at 30 nights has been handed down.
? The fifth custom of the Spring Festival: Shounian?
The custom of "staying to the old age" comes from a legend. This is also a legend that people often hear. On New Year's Eve, in Archaean, there was a fierce monster scattered in the mountains, which people called Nian. Its appearance is ferocious, its nature is ferocious, and it specializes in eating birds, animals and insects. It changes its taste every day, from kowtowing insects to living people, which makes people talk about "Nian". Later, people gradually mastered the activity law of "Nian", that is, every 365 days, people go to places where people live in concentrated communities to taste fresh food. The haunting time is after dark, and when the rooster crows at dawn, they return to the mountains. ?
After determining the date of the ravages of 2008, people regarded this terrible night as a gateway, and came up with a set of methods to close the New Year's Day: every family prepared dinner in advance, turned off the fire, cleaned the stove, then tied all the cowpeas, sealed the front and back doors of the house, and hid in the house to eat the "New Year's Eve" because this dinner was uncertain. In addition to inviting the whole family to have dinner together to show harmonious reunion, we should also worship our ancestors before eating and pray for their blessing to spend the night safely. After dinner, no one dared to sleep, so they sat together and chatted with courage.
People regard the night of "Nian" as a portal of patience. In order to kill time, the whole family get together and talk about everything, which means praying for a safe night. After a long time, it formed the custom of not sleeping for a year on New Year's Eve.
? The sixth custom of the Spring Festival: Happy New Year?
Paying New Year's greetings is the oldest folk custom in China. During the Spring Festival, the activities of exchanging feelings between relatives are a way for people to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, and express their good wishes to each other. New Year's greetings refer to visiting relatives and friends on the first day of New Year's Day and greeting each other. Origin of the custom of paying New Year greetings: In ancient times, the original meaning of the word "New Year" was to pay New Year greetings to the elderly, including kowtowing to them, congratulating them on a happy New Year and greeting their lives. In case of friends and relatives of the same generation, you should also salute and congratulate. On the first day of the new year, people get up early, put on new clothes, go out to visit relatives and friends, and wish each other good luck in the coming year. There are many ways to pay New Year's greetings. Some are householders leading several people from house to house. Some colleagues invited several people to pay New Year greetings. Others get together to congratulate each other. This is called "group worship".
In the Song Dynasty, friends and relatives would greet each other, which was an early New Year card. In the Ming Dynasty, the design of New Year cards was more perfect and exquisite. Not only the sender's name and address are printed on the email, but also "Happy New Year" and greetings are written. With the development of the times, the custom of New Year greetings is constantly adding new contents and forms. Nowadays, people not only follow the old way of paying New Year greetings, but also begin to pay New Year greetings by SMS and telephone.
? The seventh custom of the Spring Festival: Going back to your mother's house?
It is the custom of Han people to go back to their parents' home on the second day of the Lunar New Year. Married daughters will take their husbands and children back to their parents' homes to pay New Year greetings, commonly known as "wedding day". On this day, the daughter who goes back to her parents' home must bring some gifts and red envelopes to her children and have lunch at her parents' home. Usually a family will choose to take a family photo on this day.
When the girl goes home, if there is a nephew at home, menstruation has to pay again. Although she gave lucky money on New Year's Day, this time it had a different meaning. This custom is called "eating midnight snack" by Chaoshan people. As the name implies, it's just lunch, and the daughter must get back to her husband's house before dinner.
The custom of returning to one's mother's family originated from the inconvenient transportation in ancient times. In ancient times, most daughters rarely had the opportunity to go home after they got married, so the common way to visit their parents was to return home. In addition to about three days after marriage, the next day is the second day of the first month of each year, also known as Huimen Day. I chose this day because I have to stay at my husband's house to help entertain guests on the first day, and it is not suitable to go back to my mother's house at the end of the twelfth lunar month, so I can bring gifts to my husband's house on the second day of the Spring Festival. Over time, going back to her mother's house on the second day of the Lunar New Year has become a very distinctive traditional custom of the Han nationality.
? The eighth custom of the Spring Festival: Lantern Festival?
The fifteenth day of the first month is the traditional Lantern Festival, also known as Lantern Festival and Shangyuan Festival. Old Beijingers prefer to call it Lantern Festival. Why is this? It turns out that in ancient times, this "Lantern Festival" was as important as "New Year's Eve", and people always made it very lively. The most typical one is the "flower show", also called "catwalk".
Lantern Festival is also called Lantern Festival. The custom of burning lanterns in the Lantern Festival originated in the Han Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, the lantern viewing activities became more prosperous. Lights are hung everywhere in palaces and streets, and tall light wheels, light buildings and light trees have been built. Lu Zeng, a great poet in the Tang Dynasty, described the grand occasion of the Lantern Festival in "Watching Lights at Fifteen Nights", saying that "the stars in the Han Dynasty fell, and the balcony was like a hanging moon."
In the Song Dynasty, more attention was paid to the Lantern Festival, and lantern viewing activities became more lively. The lantern viewing activity lasted for five days, and the styles of lanterns were more abundant. In the Ming Dynasty, the Lantern Festival will last 10 days, which is the longest Lantern Festival in China. Although there were only three days to enjoy the lanterns in the Qing Dynasty, the scale of the lantern viewing activities was unprecedented. Besides burning lanterns, fireworks are also set off for entertainment.
The festivals and customs of Lantern Festival have been extended and expanded with the development of history. As far as the length of festivals is concerned, there is only one day in Han Dynasty, three days in Tang Dynasty and five days in Song Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, lights were lit from the eighth day of August until the seventeenth night of the first month, a total of ten days. Connected with the Spring Festival, it is a city during the day, full of excitement, and brightly lit at night, which is spectacular. Especially the exquisite and colorful lights make it the climax of entertainment activities and the last custom during the Spring Festival.
The customs and activities of the Spring Festival are different in the north and south, but they are basically the same in one thing, that is, family reunion, visiting relatives and friends, visiting elders and so on. I hope we can remember these customs full of affection and good wishes and pass them on from generation to generation.