How do Lishui people celebrate the New Year?
Making Huangguoba: Huangguoba is a unique food in Nanshan District of southwest Zhejiang. The method is to select several unique small shrubs on the mountain, burn them into ash, and then brew them with boiling water to separate alkali from ash. Then, the soaked alkaline water is drained and used to soak rice for making yellow glutinous rice (rice is also specially selected, and yellow glutinous rice can be made without ordinary rice). After the rice is soaked in alkaline water, the soaked rice is steamed in a steamer or a wooden barrel for steaming rice, then finely ground in a stone mortar, and then made into various shapes of yellow glutinous rice by hand. This kind of crispy rice not only has good toughness, but also has a special flavor. It is a kind of food that people especially like. On the 13th and 4th of the twelfth lunar month, every household should help each other to make a lot of yellow skins. Due to the use of alkaline water, yellow glutinous rice can be stored for a long time without deterioration. I remember when I was a child, every family had to make a big cake called "Cake King" on New Year's Day, and I didn't eat it until February 2 of the lunar calendar, called "Cake King on February 2". Now, most of the yellow glutinous rice has been produced by machines and sold in big cities such as Shanghai, Hangzhou and Ningbo.
Worship ancestors and gods: On every big festival, it is indispensable to worship ancestors and gods, just like all parts of the country. However, the worship of ancestors and gods in my hometown began on the afternoon of New Year's Eve. Usually around three o'clock in the afternoon, every household stops at the incense table and begins to welcome the ancestors and gods who are usually worshipped to their homes for the New Year. After honoring our ancestors and God, the whole family happily got together for dinner. On the fifth day of the first month, there is also an activity to worship ancestors and gods, telling ancestors and gods that the New Year is over and sending them back to their own world.
On the first day of the first month, I don't sleep during the day: although I stayed up all night on New Year's Eve, I was very tired, but on the first day of the New Year, I couldn't sleep during the day. It is said that whoever sleeps collapses the field (the mountains are all terraced fields).
Go to bed early on the first night of the first month: on the first night of the first month, every family had dinner early, so they fired the closing cannon and closed the door early to sleep. There are two versions of this custom: one is that on the New Year's Eve when mice marry girls, we humans can't disturb them, otherwise the mice will retaliate. Whoever disturbs them, they will eat up their fruits when the crops are ripe. Another way of saying it is that ancestors with younger generations and immortals from all walks of life are invited to pay New Year's greetings at the New Year's Eve, but ghosts who can't follow the right path have no place to pay New Year's greetings, so they go out on the first night of the first month of the first month, and people who don't go to bed early will meet them. So each family set out early to turn off the guns, drive away the ghosts who can't walk the right path, and then close the door to sleep.
On the morning of the first day of the first month, the washing water should not be poured: there are two versions of this custom. One is that the washing water on the first day of the New Year will drain the wealth of the year. Therefore, after washing your face on New Year's Day, you should gently pour the water in the washbasin in your own direction, and pour out the water in the basin, indicating that the wealth of the year is coming in; Another way of saying that washing water backwards is that you are not afraid of wasps for a year. The origin of this statement is unknown, but it was said by the older generation.
Don't sweep the floor on the first day of the first month: it is absolutely forbidden to sweep the floor on the first day of the first month. It is believed that because sweeping the floor on the first day of the first month will not only sweep away wealth, but also attract a jinx and bring disaster to your family, every household should hide the broom every night except New Year's Eve. No matter how dirty the ground is on the first day, no one will say you are unsanitary.
New Year's Eve title: In rural areas, most families have a title for their own use. Every New Year's Eve, every household will put red paper on the scale and seal it until after the fifth day. Legend is the incarnation of the snake demon, and the planetesimals on it are the designs on the snake demon. On the first day of the lunar new year to the fifth day of the lunar new year, using scales will attract snakes. Farmers generally go up the mountain to work, and what they are most afraid of is meeting poisonous snakes. Therefore, the scales must be sealed during the Chinese New Year to avoid attracting poisonous snakes.
Burning foreign pigs: In the past, every household in rural areas had to prepare some firewood that was not easy to burn, such as tree roots. On New Year's Eve, a fire was burned in the small fireplace in front of the stove, which was called "burning foreign pigs". Lishui people used to cook mushrooms in the mountains. It is said that there is a monster named Xiaoshan on the mountain. Mushroom people worship mushroom mountain every year after going there, which helps mushroom farmers to see that mushrooms are not destroyed by wild animals. One year, a mushroom man went home for the New Year, and "Xiaoshan" in the mountains followed. Seeing that the mushroom man's daughter-in-law is beautiful, he wants to take this daughter-in-law for himself. This daughter-in-law is very clever, so she tried to drive Xiaoshan away. On New Year's Eve, it rained heavily, so the daughter-in-law asked Xiaoshan to help her go up the mountain to find something to eat. Xiaoshan agreed. When she came back, she was already soaked in the rain. Daughter-in-law told her to bake in the fireplace in front of the stove, but in advance this daughter-in-law had buried some firecrackers in the ash beside the fireplace. "Xiaoshan" went to keep warm, because the fire was not strong enough, so she took a stick to pound the fire and caused firecrackers. Many years later, the mushroom man returned to Mushroom Mountain and saw "Xiaoshan". They asked him why he left without saying goodbye. "Xiaoshan" said there was a mine in Lishui, and he was afraid to go. Since then, people in the mountains have made fires on New Year's Eve, and ghosts such as Xiaoshan in the mountains dare not go down the mountain again. People call this fire "burning foreign pigs". Some old people say that the mountains were closed before, and some farmers didn't even have matches at home. When there is no fire during the Chinese New Year, they can't go to other people's houses to borrow a fire. They all make a fire in their own fire pit and keep it burning. From a practical point of view, this statement is more reasonable.
No shaving in the first month: Lishui people don't shave their heads in the first month, saying that shaving their heads in the first month will kill their uncle. According to legend, a nephew was very naughty. One year during the Spring Festival, he went to his uncle's house to pay a New Year call. When he saw that his hair was long, he took his nephew to shave it. The nephew didn't want to say, "Uncle, you can't get a haircut on the first day of the first month. If you cut your hair, you will hurt your uncle. " Uncle Yu never dared to take his nephew to get a haircut again. I don't know when this custom began, but until today, many people cut their hair years ago, and generally don't cut their hair in the first month.
There are many customs in Lishui Spring Festival, but with the progress of society, some customs have been gradually forgotten by people and replaced by many new cultural life.