Xinhuanet Beijing, February 14 (Wang Ying) In another day, we will usher in the long-awaited New Year’s Eve. With the sound of firecrackers, the whole family is reunited and happy. As the most solemn traditional festival of the Chinese nation, how do you celebrate the Spring Festival? In addition to eating dumplings during festivals, how do we make the New Year taste and memories?
Clever hand-cut window flowers to let the New Year atmosphere flow naturally at home
Before the festival, many families were busy preparing New Year’s goods and buying New Year’s gifts. There are some festive objects that decorate the indoor room, such as the character “Fu”, window flowers, and zodiac auspicious pendants. In fact, in the past, I didn’t have to buy window flowers, and many families cut and pasted them themselves. On the square-inch red paper, cut out the joyful images.
“Window flower” is commonly known as paper cutting. In the past, no matter in the south or north, there were flowers on the window during the Spring Festival. Nowadays, the southern Babaylan is usually only posted when getting married, while the custom of pasting window flowers during the Spring Festival in the north is still popular in many places. Why do you need to paste window flowers during the Chinese New Year? This is closely related to the solar term of the beginning of spring. The Tang Dynasty poet Li Shang Yin once wrote in his poem: “The creation of gold is better than the custom of Jing, and the cutting of green is the style of Jin to make people.” The “Jing customs” and “Jin style” in the poem point out this origin. After the Song and Yuan dynasties, the time for scraping window flowers to welcome the spring was changed from the beginning of spring to the Spring Festival, and people used paper cutting to express their joy.
Window flowers not only set off a festive festive atmosphere, but also bring people a beautiful enjoyment, integrating decorative, appreciative and practicality. Today, when DIY is advocated, if you are free, you might as well buy some red paper, try to cut small window flowers by yourself, and use your skillful hands to decorate the atmosphere of the home in the New Year.
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Writing Spring Festival couplets and posting door gods to make the whole family safe and happy
Like window flowers, there is also a Spring Festival couplet in the New Year list of many families. Some families who pay attention to the family will also buy door gods. It is a little difficult to control the door god, but you can still try to write the Spring Festival couplets by yourself, which not only trains calligraphy, but also improves theUpgraded from literature.
Like window flowers, Spring Festival couplets have a history of thousands of years. According to works such as “Jade Candle Book” and “Yanjing Sui Shi Ji”, the original form of Spring Festival couplets is what people call “peach talisman”. During the Song Dynasty, people began to write couplets on peach wood boards. One was to keep peach wood anti-evil meaning, the other was to express their good wishes, and the third was to decorate the portal in order to seek beauty. Later, people wrote couplets on red paper symbolizing joy and auspiciousness, and posted them on both sides of the doors and windows in spring to express people’s good wishes for good luck in the coming year.
In addition to Spring Festival couplets, many places also retain the custom of sticking door gods. Among the people, door gods are symbols of righteousness and force. The ancients believed that people with strange appearances often have magical nature and extraordinary abilities. They are upright and kind-hearted, and catching ghosts and demons is their nature and responsibility. Zhong Kui, the ghost-catching master who people admire, is such a strange appearance. Since the doors of houses are usually two sides, the door gods are always paired up. After the Tang Dynasty, in addition to the previous two generals Shentu and Yulei, people also regarded Qin Shubao and Yuchi Gong as the door gods. Since then, the custom of using these two famous generals as door gods has begun to be widely circulated among the people.
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Keep the New Year on New Year’s Eve in the evening of New Year’s Eve. In the sound of firecrackers, we bid farewell to the old and welcome the new.
Keep the New Year is an important custom in Chinese folk New Year’s Eve. It is also called zhaowai, staying up to the New Year, and staying up late to welcome the arrival of the Lunar New Year. In ancient times, there were two meanings: the elderly stayed at the age of the year as “going away from the old year”, which means cherishing time; the young stayed at the age of the year to extend the lifespan of their parents. Since the Han Dynasty, the time when the new and old years alternated was usually midnight. On New Year’s Eve, men, women, young and old will be brightly lit and gathered together to stay up to celebrate the New Year.
Because the long-term stay of New Year, in the past, people had the New Year’s Eve dinner while staying at New Year’s Eve and spent a wonderful night together. Since the 1980s, new content has been created: people across the country watch the Spring Festival Gala together. The Spring Festival Gala program lasted for more than 4 hours was rich and diverse, and people welcomed the ringing of the New Year bell in laughter and joy.
It is worth mentioning that Suzhou people have to wait for the loud bells coming from Hanshan Temple, Fengqiao, when they are on New Year’s Eve. When the bell passes through the dark night and reaches thousands of households, it marks the arrival of the New Year. Regardless of spring, summer, autumn and winter, every day, it is at the right timeAt midnight, the loud sound of this huge bell would be heard from Hanshan Temple, which is called “Midnight Minute”.
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Give New Year’s money to the younger generation on New Year’s Eve KomiksWishes children healthy growth and peace and joy
For children, the most exciting thing during the Spring Festival is the New Year’s money from the elders. CinemaYear money, also known as “Year money” and “Year money”, is one of the festival items in the New Year customs. New Year’s money is the most important purpose of Cinema. Komiks is to suppress evil and exorcise evil. People believe that children are susceptible to sneak attacks, so they use red paper bags to give money to children, so they dare not disturb them again. Therefore, people call this kind of money “生后后后后后后”. Because “生” and “生” are pronounced the same as “生” and over time, it is called “生后后后后后后”. Use New Year’s money to defeat evil spirits, help children celebrate the New Year safely, and wish them good health and good luck in the new year.
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From the first day of the first day of the lunar month to the sixth day of the lunar month, greetings to my parents’ home, “get poor at the five poor”
After New Year’s Eve, people ushered in a new year. In the past, from the first day of the first lunar month to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, there would be rich and diverse holiday customs. With the changes of the times and the differences between different places, many customs are gradually fading away, and what remains are worth cherishing and inheriting.
On the first day of the first lunar month, people usually set off firecrackers after getting up in the morning, which is called “opening firecrackers”. After the sound of firecrackers, the ground was broken red, as bright as clouds, and it was called “Full House Red”. In many areas, children have to wear new clothes on the morning of the first day of the New Year. After everyone is dressed up, they go out to visit relatives and friends, wish each other a happy New Year. When greeting New Year, the younger generation should first wish you a happy New Year to your elders and wish you a long and healthy life. The elders can distribute the prepared New Year’s money to the younger generation. Many places do not take out brooms or take out garbage on the first day of the first lunar month. They prepare a large bin to hold waste water. They do not pour it on that day.
On the second or third day of the first lunar month, for many families, it is the day when a married girl brings her husband back to her parents’ home, commonly known as “Welcome the Son-in-law Day”. This day, we will also visit relatives and friends and worship each other for new spring, commonly known as “eating New Year’s wine”. In Shanghai, guests bring their families to their homes to give gifts. BabaylanThe gifts are generally specialties from various places, and the host invites guests to drink “yuanbao tea” (that is, add two green olives to the tea to brew together). This tea tastes a little bitter at first, but it tastes sweet and sweet, which means that the bitterness will come out and the good fortune will be made.
The third and fourth grades of the lunar calendar are different because of different customs in different places. On the fifth day of the lunar month, people have to “rush to get out of the five poor”, commonly known as breaking the five, including “poor wisdom, poor learning, poor literature, poor life, and poor communication”. After people get up in the morning, they set off firecrackers and clean up. Firecrackers are set off from the inside and out, and walk out the door while setting them, which means driving out all unlucky things. This day is said to be the birthday of the God of Wealth, so it is also the auspicious day for the God of Wealth. In the past years, there was a custom of grabbing the road. On the night of the fourth day of the first lunar month, prepare sacrifices, cakes, fruits, incense, candles and other items, and yell the gongs and drums to burn incense and worship, and respect the God of Wealth with devout respect. In order to compete for profit, it was first taken over in the fourth day of the first lunar month, which was called “grabbing the road head”, also known as “grabbing the God of Wealth”.
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Dumplings are still to be eaten, but dumplings on New Year’s Eve are very different
Now during the big and small seasons, people are used to eating dumplings. Although eating dumplings during the Spring Festival is not new, the dumplings on New Year’s Eve are very different. When making dumplings, in addition to various beautiful fillings, people often wrap sugar beans, peanuts, dates, chestnuts, coins, etc. into the filling, which means good luck in the coming year. In some areas, when eating dumplings, they also need to serve some side dishes to show good luck. For example, eating tofu symbolizes the happiness of the whole family; eating persimmon cake symbolizes the satisfaction of everything; eating three fresh vegetables symbolizes the prosperity of the three yangs. In addition, many areas in the south do not eat Komiks on New Year’s Eve, but choose to eat rice cakes or dumplings. Although the ingredients are different, the expectations for the New Year are the same.
Why do you have to eat dumplings during the Spring Festival, especially on New Year’s Eve? In fact, eating dumplings means “renewal Jiaozi”. “Zi” is “Zi Shi”, and Jiao is homophonic with “dumpling”, which is “festive reunion” and “auspiciousRuyi means. The dumplings on New Year’s Eve should usually be wrapped before 12 pm and eaten until midnight, because this is the beginning of the first day of the first lunar month. The New Year adds joyKomiks!
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Times are changing, people’s concepts are changing, and the way of celebrating the Spring Festival is also changing. Nowadays, many New Year’s customs in traditional contexts are gradually forgotten by people, and some new New Year’s styles such as traveling with their families and exploring in the ice and snow world have become the choice of many people. It is said that the New Year’s atmosphere is weak, and there is nothing more special except eating dumplings. In fact, the New Year’s atmosphere is not weak, but what is light is our choice. It’s time to celebrate the New Year. Follow these rich New Year’s customs and start a different Spring Festival with a full atmosphere and a deep connotation!