When is the Spring Festival?
Spring Festival is the first day of the first lunar month, also known as Lunar New Year, commonly known as "Chinese New Year". This is the biggest and most lively traditional festival in China. The Spring Festival has a long history, which originated from the activities of offering sacrifices to gods and ancestors in the beginning and end of the Shang Dynasty. According to the China lunar calendar, the first day of the first month is called Yuanri, Chen Yuan, Jacky, Yuanshuo and New Year's Day. Commonly known as the first day of the first month. It was changed to Gregorian calendar in the Republic of China. The first day of the Gregorian calendar is called New Year's Day, and the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar is called Spring Festival.
The customs of the Spring Festival
First, the Spring Festival sweeping dust
According to Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals, as early as the Yao and Shun era, China had the custom of sweeping dust during the Spring Festival. Because "dust" and "Chen" are homophonic, sweeping dust in the Spring Festival has a new meaning, meaning "getting rid of the old and not being new", hoping to sweep all bad luck out of the house.
Second, paste couplets, blessings and door gods.
On the afternoon of the day before the Spring Festival, children will paste couplets on the door with paste and brushes, and then let the adults below see if they are pasted correctly. Some of them are pasted on the crosshead of the lintel with couplets on the left and right sides of the lintel. Others put blessings on doors, walls and lintels to express people's yearning for a happy life. Others will stick pictures of door gods on the door panels, praying for a safe year and adding festive atmosphere.
Third, offering sacrifices to ancestors and gods.
Sacrificing to God during the Spring Festival is a custom all over China. The customs of offering sacrifices to gods are similar all over the country, but the purpose is basically the same. They all pray for good weather, good harvests and good luck in the coming year.
Sacrificing ancestors is generally after offering sacrifices to gods, and customs vary from place to place. In our hometown, every day before lunch, every household sends a representative to the ancestral temple with food and offerings, and the ancestral temple will not close until the fifteenth day of the first month.
Four, eat jiaozi, eat jiaozi, eat rice cakes.
In most parts of the north, it is a custom to eat jiaozi in the morning during the Spring Festival, and a coin is often put in the jiaozi. Whoever eats a coin will be said to be the happiest person in the family that year. In Huai 'an, Jiangsu, there is a custom of eating jiaozi in the morning. In Kaifeng City, Henan Province, people will eat jiaozi during the Spring Festival. There is also the habit of eating rice cakes in the New Year, and the taste of rice cakes varies from place to place.
Five, shou sui, give lucky money.
Keeping New Year's Eve is also one of the most important activities in the Spring Festival. Neighbors and friends get together, or family get together, some play cards, some watch the Spring Festival party, and everyone stays up all day, waiting for dawn to welcome the arrival of the New Year.
Lucky money is the favorite custom of children and the younger generation. After the New Year's Eve dinner, the elders will give coins to the younger generation respectively, and wear copper coins in strings on the children's chests with red lines, saying that they can suppress evil spirits and drive away ghosts. This custom has been popular since the Han Dynasty. Of course, there are no copper coins now, and they are usually cash in red packages.