Ganzhou New Year customs you don’t know
The last day of the lunar year is called "New Year's Eve", and the Hakka people also call it "New Year's Eve". The first day of the first lunar month, which is the first day of the year in the lunar calendar, is commonly known as the first day of the lunar month. Together with the second and third day of the lunar month, it is called the Spring Festival. The Hakka New Year celebrations include the Spring Festival, which begins on the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month and ends on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, when the Lantern Festival is celebrated.
From the beginning of the new year to New Year’s Eve, every Hakka family puts away their farm tools and rushes around to buy new year’s goods. Every household starts making yellow rice dumplings, frying oil dumplings, and making sugar rice dumplings. Welcome the New Year with various pastries such as cakes and sesame cakes. One of the important activities is "sweeping dust" to remove the old and welcome the new, giving the family a new look.
The 24th day of the twelfth lunar month is the "Little New Year". A sumptuous dinner is held. After the meal, sacrifices are made to the stove and presented to the "stove god". This day is called the "Stealing Heart Day". Hakka people often "break ground" on this day. "There is no need to ask the teacher to look at the Feng Shui direction and choose the time, just like the winter solstice.
"New Year's Eve" is also called "New Year's Eve". On this day, Spring Festival couplets are posted on the door of every household, and red notes are posted on the lintels and windows. On this day, every family slaughters chickens and ducks. Going to the ancestral hall to respect the ancestors means not forgetting the kindness of the ancestors during the holidays. The New Year's Eve dinner is eaten very early, usually starting at four or five o'clock in the afternoon and continuing until the evening. The whole family has a reunion dinner and drinks a farewell wine together. The children celebrate their growth and the elderly celebrate the new year. After the meal, people worship the stove and welcome the Kitchen God, and then the whole family cleans the restaurant and washes the dishes. All the tableware must be scalded with boiling water to remove the fishy smell of oil and meat, which is commonly known as "Jingzhai".
Then, the adults took out new clothes and dressed the whole family in festive attire. All the rooms in the house are lit with bright lamps, and a charcoal stove or brazier is burned in the main hall or dining room. The largest tree pocket is burned, which is called feeding the New Year pigs, hoping to raise fat pigs in the coming year and ensure a good harvest. Adults give red envelopes to their children to celebrate the New Year, telling them to be obedient and study hard. As people grow older, they must be more sensible. The family sits around the fire to "watch the New Year", looking back on the old year and looking forward to the coming year, staying up all night.
At midnight on the first day of the first lunar month, people rush to burn incense and fire cannons to welcome the New Year, which is called "rushing for spring". They believe that the earlier they get up, the better the luck this year. The head of the household fires the cannon and walks in the "auspicious" direction, which is called "traveling". Wear new clothes in the early morning, worship your ancestors first, then your elders, and say "Congratulations on the new year." The men and the little boys carry baskets to prepare tea, wine, fish and meat to offer sacrifices to the community and the dragon god; the children invite everyone to drive the cattle into the mountains, and set off firecrackers along the way to send each other off, which is called "sending spring cattle".
Eating vegetarian breakfast (people in Wangmudu area of Gan County eat vegetarian food all day long) means eating for a year of good health, which is intended to avoid disasters and protect health. On this day, adults and children play all day long, but they are not allowed to leave the house. Children are especially forbidden to sit on the threshold of other people's houses. Women knitted knitted yarn on the terrace or in their own courtyards, collected shoe soles and insoles, and chatted casually. Men play cards or "bean counting", and children like to set off firecrackers. The whole village seems very lively.
On the second day of the lunar new year, we start visiting relatives and friends to pay New Year greetings. When we meet at the beginning of the new year, we say "Congratulations on getting rich" to each other. An adult from each family will take the children to pay New Year greetings to the elders. In the old days, the younger generations knelt down to the elders, and the elders gave their children blessings. Red envelopes are given to the New Year, and some auspicious wishes are said. The amount of New Year's money varies depending on blood connections and friendships, and any amount can be spent.
On this day, many religious believers go up the mountain to worship gods and Buddhas. Generally, families prepare "Kowloon Plate" starting from the second day of the lunar month, containing snacks such as cured duck, pork liver, sausages, and peanuts, melon seeds, and fruit plates to entertain guests until the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. When relatives come to visit, they are often treated favorably by eating a bowl of wine-laden eggs. During this season, there are abundant cultural and entertainment activities in various parts of the countryside, including opera (performed on the stage of the ancestral hall), tea singing, dragon lanterns, lion lanterns, carp lanterns, lion fights, etc., which start from the second day of the lunar month and last until the fifteenth night of the first lunar month, reaching a climax Rear diffuser light.
After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the Spring Festival remained an important holiday. Before the holiday, activities to support the military and love the people were carried out. Party, government and military leaders visited the garrisoned armed police officers and soldiers, public security police, families of martyrs, and nursing homes to send condolences and letters. Various units visited retired comrades, etc. Neighbors, relatives and friends visit each other.