Spring Festival customs of the Han people in southern China

 

Spring Festival customs of the Han people in southern China

 

Fujian

 

During the Spring Festival, Fujian folk have the custom of praying for blessings and offering sacrifices. People will plaster their courtyards, bedrooms, kitchens, warehouses, and livestock sheds with New Year's red stickers of different styles. New Year's Eve expresses the good wishes of the family, and can also be used to decorate the house to create a festive atmosphere. The Spring Festival in Old Fuzhou is mainly divided into four stages: from the end of the lunar month to the New Year's Eve, people worship stoves to welcome the spring and ancestors to stay up; from the first to the fourth day of the first lunar month, they visit friends and ask for lucky money; from the 15th to the 18th day of the first lunar month, they watch lanterns to welcome the gods. The Lantern Festival is held; Aojiu porridge is given on the 29th day of the first lunar month, marking the end of the Spring Festival. On the first day of the Lunar New Year, before people in Fuzhou go out to pay New Year greetings, they must first offer sacrifices to heaven, and rice with bamboo strips is a must-have sacrifice.

The New Year customs in rural areas of southern Fujian have their own characteristics. In rural areas, farmers have many houses with many doors. On both sides of the door, there are two upright sugar cane plants with red paper on them, which are called "door sugar cane". In the dialect, "sugar" and "jia" are close sounds, which means entering a good place. The table in the hall is set with New Year's rice, perennial vegetables, and steamed cakes, with "spring branches" tied with red and yellow paper, symbolizing that the food will be abundant all year round and bring good luck and wealth. Parents lead their children to sit around the stove, which is called "Watching the New Year Around the Fire". The elders give the younger generation lucky money, which is called "dividing circles". [80-83]

Welcoming the gods in the New Year is a customary activity held in the first month of the year in Fuzhou villages. The third to fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the time for wandering spirits, and it has become one of the important activities of the "New Year" (Spring Festival) in rural areas. The wandering gods often take the village as a unit, and sometimes several villages unite. They use open sedans to carry the statues of local gods, and parade around the village in groups amidst the sound of gongs, drums and firecrackers. People line the streets to watch and greet them, and the scene is lively. On the night of the 15th Lantern Festival, the activities to welcome the wandering gods reach their climax. After all the gods entered the temple and took their seats, fireworks went off in front of the temple, gongs and drums blared, "the trees and silver flowers were red, and the sky was blown by the spring breeze" until late at night. [84]

The old Fuzhou people mainly have four ways of saying "New Year": first, the first, second and third day of the lunar month; second, starting from the "Zhuntang" on the first day of the twelfth lunar month, and ending with the dragon raising his head (head) on the second day of the twelfth lunar month. (Yang), these two months are in the concept of "year", that is, "Nian Ming pocket"; thirdly, the "Tail Ya" on the 16th day of the twelfth lunar month starts until the 29th day of the first lunar month (拋九 Festival) are counted as Chinese New Year, which lasts for 45 days; fourthly, from the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month to the Aojiu Festival on the 29th day of the first lunar month.

Jiangsu

 

Jiangsu folk, during the Spring Festival, in addition to the same customs as the whole country, such as sticking New Year's red cards, staying up late, lion dancing, and giving New Year greetings, there are also some unique customs. For example: Suzhou people put cooked water chestnuts in their meals on New Year's Eve and dig them out when eating, which is called "digging for ingots." When relatives and friends come and go, they put two green olives in when making tea, which is called drinking "ingot tea" to wish them good luck and wealth. The most special annual custom in Nantong is probably "setting fire". Every year on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Nantong people will "set fire", which is commonly known as "lighting caterpillars", "exploding hemp insects", and also called "lighting field wealth". It is to get rid of pests and hope for a good harvest next year. In Nanjing, "every family walks on the bridge and everyone looks at the lanterns" is a major New Year custom. [86]

According to the Spring Festival custom in Jiangsu, on the second day of the Lunar New Year, even if the floor is swept, the garbage cannot be taken out. Instead, it is piled in the corner of the house until the first half of the first lunar month, which is called "gathering wealth." The God of Wealth is worshiped on the second day of the Lunar New Year. On this day, both commercial shops and ordinary families will hold activities to worship the God of Wealth. Every family offers sacrifices to the God of Wealth they received on New Year's Eve. In fact, they burned the crude prints they bought. We will eat wontons at noon today, commonly known as "Yuanbao Soup". Sacrificial offerings include fish and mutton.

 

Zhejiang

 

Zhejiang's New Year customs, Xiaonian, generally require cleaning, making new year's goods, and sending the Stove God to heaven; in some places, ancestors are worshiped on this day to kick off the New Year. On New Year's Eve, people post couplets, set off firecrackers and fireworks, eat New Year's Eve dinner, watch the New Year's Eve, and worship the Bodhisattvas of heaven and earth. When families get together to have New Year's Eve dinner, the meal should be sumptuous and include fish, which means "there is more than enough every year"; if they cannot finish it all, they should save the rice for eating on the first day of the new year, which means "there is more than enough left over". The New Year is celebrated with fireworks until 12 o'clock in the evening.

On the first day of the first lunar month, celebrating the New Year, the first thing is to "open the door". In the early morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, every household is scrambling to open the door. It is generally believed that the earlier the better. The sound of firecrackers is heard one after another to send off the old, welcome the new and bring in blessings, which is commonly known as "receiving the new year". Secondly, wear new clothes, worship ancestors and gods. First, worship the ancestors, and then worship the six gods (the Kitchen God, the Eaves God, the White Tiger God, the Well God, the Land God, and the God of Wealth), mainly to pray for the safety of the population throughout the year and the prosperity of the family business. Finally, New Year greetings. On the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, first at home, the younger generation pays New Year greetings to the elders. From the second day of the Lunar New Year, neighbors, relatives and friends go back and forth to pay New Year greetings. According to the old custom, the time for New Year greetings is usually from the second to the tenth day of the Lunar New Year or extended to the fifteenth day of the Lunar New Year. The custom of not paying New Year greetings on the first day of the Lunar New Year is still retained in some areas of Zhejiang.

When eating during the New Year, everyone pays attention to the "appeal", and rice cakes are the most indispensable. In the past, every rural household in Sanmen, Taizhou had the custom of pounding rice cakes. "Thank you for the New Year" is an ancient custom. It is a form of thanking God for blessing the family with another safe year and praying for good weather in the coming year. In Shaoxing, after sending off the Kitchen God and before New Year's Eve, every family always chooses an auspicious day to bless. This is the most solemn ceremony of the year for every family.

 

Guangdong

 

Guangdong has a profound traditional culture and continues its original New Year customs. According to the old custom of "Laoguang people", the "New Year" begins on the dust-sweeping day on the 24th of the new year and ends on the Lantern Festival on the 15th of the first lunar month. The nearly one month period is called "New Year", which is what we call it now. "During the Spring Festival". If we start from the preparation of "New Year's goods", we will start to get busy around the end of the year, purchasing new furniture and supplies, making new clothes, purchasing and making New Year's food, cleaning the house, and putting up New Year reds, etc. On the first day of the Lunar New Year, worship the Tai Sui God and the gods of heaven and earth to welcome the new year and bring good fortune. On the second day of the new year, the New Year's Day, people worship the gods and ancestors, eat the New Year's dinner, and then start visiting relatives and friends to pay New Year's greetings. From the beginning of the New Year to the Lantern Festival, most villages and towns have traditional ceremonial and entertainment activities such as lion dance, dragon dance, worship of gods, wandering gods, floating colors, big plays, cursor flags, gongs and drums, martial arts performances, ball games, etc. Various folk activities have continued for more than half a month. The wandering god, also known as the wandering master, is to invite the statue of the god out of the temple to patrol the community, which has the folk significance of exorcising evil spirits, protecting the environment, and praying for good harvests. Every year during the Spring Festival, villages and towns take turns to hold folk wandering activities in chronological order. The scene is very lively, praying for peace and prosperity for the country and the people, good weather, suppressing evil and fighting disasters, and good luck in all things in the coming year.

The customs and activities of the New Year in Guangdong reflect the beliefs and beliefs of respecting heaven and ancestors, emphasizing business pragmatism, and paying attention to meaning. The specific conditions vary depending on the customs and customs of each major region. For example, the Spring Festival customs in Guangfu area have a strong commercial atmosphere, which is most obvious in Guangzhou and surrounding areas. The fringe areas of Guangzhou, such as western Guangdong, retain more traditions related to worshiping gods, wandering gods, exorcising Nuo, lion dances, and floating floats. The Hakka area retains many traditional customs of Hakka culture, such as bathing on New Year's Eve, taking care of the dead, giving away the poor, whipping the spring, the Beginning of Spring Festival, and eating seven dishes per day, etc.; Chaoshan area generally It continues the ancient customs and shows a high degree of unity, such as sending the gods to heaven on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, surrounding the furnace on New Year's Eve, worshiping the ancestors with fasting on the first day, and worshiping relatives and friends on the first day of the lunar month, welcoming the gods to heaven on the fourth day of the first lunar month, and welcoming the spring on the day before the beginning of spring. After the fifth day of the first lunar month, some villagers perform Nuo to "ward off disasters". There are games such as performances to welcome the gods, games to play with gods, games to play with cursor flags, games to play with gongs and drums, etc. On the night of the Yuan Dynasty, women walk on bridges to fight off disasters, play on swings, Activities such as planting pine and bamboo branches.

 

Hainan

 

In the eyes of Hainanese people, all folk customs are made artificially according to people's will and wishes. Therefore, in Hainan dialect, all folk customs are preceded by the word "do", such as doing Qingming Festival. , Be an in-law (that is, get married). "Celebrating the new year" is called "making the new year" in Hainan dialect. On New Year's Eve, lights are lit in every room and every home is lit, night and day, for several days until dawn on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year; it is commonly known as "fading", which means "adding children and making a fortune". In the early morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, both young and old have to get up and eat "vegetarian rice" (that is, clean and white to commemorate their ancestors). The food eaten during the "vegetarian meal" must also have auspicious meanings, including fried eggplant (eggplant, which in Hainanese means getting better year by year), fried water celery ("qin" and "qin" are homophonic, I hope the whole family will be safe and healthy). The new year is about hard work and hard work), long vermicelli (meaning that life will be smooth and flowing), and yellow dried tofu shaped like gold ingots (meaning to attract wealth).

 

Sichuan

 

During the Chinese New Year in Sichuan, the whole family eats New Year's Eve dinner together on the eve of the New Year's Eve. It is a big New Year's Eve dinner. Eat glutinous rice balls on the morning of the first day of the new year. From the first to the third day of the lunar month, people "visit each other's houses" (door-to-door visits), usually to visit older and senior relatives, and bring gifts such as chickens, eggs, noodles, wine, and leaf tobacco (tobacco leaves). When the daughter-in-law and uncle return to their parents' home, they will have to stay in the countryside for a few days. Go to the Lantern Festival (in the city) at night. The teahouse at the Tianchang (temple fair) is very lively, with many Sichuan opera, storytelling and other performances.

 

Hubei

 

In areas such as Shashi and Jingzhou in Hubei Province, there is a peculiar custom of eating poached eggs as the first meal of the new year, which means that in the new year, the family can be "real and blessed." "Killing the New Year pig is one of the most important parts of the New Year celebrations for Shiyan people, starting with "toasting". The Shiyan folk song "December" sings: "On the 20th day of the twelfth lunar month, every family kills the pig. Cut up the meat, hang it up, and carry it to my sister’s house. "Adults look forward to planting crops, and children look forward to celebrating the New Year." In Hubei, the New Year begins on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month. There is a folk saying: "Twenty-three, send lamps; twenty-four, remove fish bones; twenty-five, beat the drum; twenty-six, blessing pork; twenty-seven, remove dirty stains; twenty-eight, blessing chickens and ducks; two Nineteen, every family has it.”