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The customs of the Spring Festival
Sacrifice to the kitchen god
In China, the Spring Festival usually begins with offering sacrifices to stoves. The folk song "Twenty-three, Melon Stick" refers to the sacrificial stove on the 23rd or 24th of the twelfth lunar month every year. There is a saying that "officials, three people, four boatmen and five", that is, officials hold sacrificial stoves on the 23 rd of the twelfth lunar month, people hold them on the 24 th, and houses and boats hold them on the 25 th.
Sacrificing a stove is a kind of custom with great influence and wide spread among the people in our country. In the past, almost every kitchen had a kitchen god. People call this god "the Bodhisattva who commands life" or "the stove commands life". It is said that he is the "Nine-day East Chef Commanding the Kitchen Palace" sealed by the Jade Emperor, who is responsible for managing the kitchen fires of various families and is worshipped as the patron saint of the family. Kitchen shrines are mostly located in the north or east of the kitchen, with the idol of Kitchen God in the middle. Some people who don't have the niche of the Kitchen King even put the idol directly on the wall. Some gods only draw a kitchen god, while others have two men and women. The goddess is called "Grandma Chef". This is probably an imitation of the image of human lovers. Most of the statues of Kitchen God are also printed with the calendar of this year, which reads the words "Oriental chef is in charge", "guardian of the world" and "head of the family" to show the status of Kitchen God. On both sides, there are couplets of "Heaven says yes, the lower bound is safe", wishing the whole family peace.
Kitchen God has been staying at home to protect and supervise his family since last year's Eve. On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the Kitchen God will ascend to heaven and report the good deeds or evil deeds of this family to the Jade Emperor in heaven. The ceremony of sending the kitchen god is called "sending the kitchen stove" or "resigning the kitchen stove". According to the report of Kitchen God, the Jade Emperor entrusted his family with the fate of good fortune and bad fortune in the new year. So for a family, Kitchen God's report is really interesting.
Sending stoves is usually held at dusk. The family went to the kitchen first, set the table, incense the kitchen god in the shrine on the kitchen wall, and present honeydew melons made of caramel and flour. Then tie the bamboo poles into paper horses and make them into animal feed. Sacrificing caramel to Kitchen God is to make his old man's mouth sweet. Some places still wrap sugar on the mouth of the kitchen god, saying, "Say more good things and don't say bad things." This is to block the kitchen god's mouth with sugar and tell him not to speak ill. In the Chronicle of the Old Times in the Tang Dynasty, there was an occasional record that "Siming (Kitchen God) got drunk by applying distiller's grains on the stove". After people coated the mouth of the kitchen god with sugar, they took off their idols and ascended to heaven with paper and cigarettes. In some places, sesame stalks and pine branches are piled in the yard at night, and then the statue of the kitchen god, which has been enshrined for a year, is taken out of the shrine and burned on the fire with paper horses and forage. The courtyard was brightly lit. At this time, the family kowtowed around the fire, burning and praying: It's twenty-third this year, and I'm going to send the Kitchen God to the Western Heaven. With strong horses and forage, you will arrive safely. Melon is sweet and sweet. Please speak kindly to the Jade Emperor.
When sending the Kitchen God, there are several beggars in some places who dress up, sing and dance and send the Kitchen God door to door, named "Send the Kitchen God" in exchange for food.
The custom of sending stoves is common all over China. Mr. Lu Xun once wrote the poem "A boxer sends a stove as a fact": only chicken glue smells good, and clothes smell good. If there is nothing at home, there are only a few antelopes.
He said in the article "The Day of Sending Kitchen Stoves": "On the day when the chef ascended to heaven, there was still a kind of sugar on the street, which was as big as a citrus, and we also had it there, but it was flat and flat, like a thick pancake. That is the so-called gum tooth. " The original intention is to ask the chef to eat it and stick his teeth on it, so that he won't speak ill of the jade emperor. The allusion to "antelope" in Lu Xun's poems comes from the Biography of Yin Shi in the Later Han Dynasty: "When Xuan Di proclaimed himself emperor, Yin Zifang was the most filial and kind. Cooking in the morning of the twelfth day, seeing the kitchen god, the children have to worship and celebrate; There is an antelope at home, so it is worshipped. After the third one, he naturally became extremely rich. "I have known the third generation, and I have made a fortune. Therefore, I often recommend the antelope in the twelfth lunar month to worship the stove. " Yin Zifang met the Kitchen God and sacrificed the antelope. Later, she got lucky. Since then, the custom of killing antelopes to sacrifice stoves has been handed down.
During the Tang and Song Dynasties, the offerings for offering sacrifices to stoves were quite rich. Fan Chengda, a poet in the Song Dynasty, wrote a very vivid description of the folk activities of offering sacrifices to stoves at that time: it is said in ancient times that in the twelfth lunar month, the kitchen god spoke to heaven. Clouds, cars and horses linger, and there are cups and plates at home. The pig's head is cooked, the fish is fresh, and the bean paste and Gan Song bait are round. When a man asks his daughter to avoid it, he drinks and burns money. You can't smell your servant's struggle, and your cat and dog don't feel angry when they touch you. Send you to Tianmen to get drunk, and don't repeat the clouds with long spoons and short spoons, begging for points from the market.
The sacrificial furnace on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month is closely related to the New Year in China. Because, a week later, on New Year's Eve, Kitchen God came to the world with the good and bad fortune that the family should get. Kitchen God is considered to guide the gods in the sky. Other gods have ascended to heaven after the Chinese New Year, and only Kitchen God will stay in other people's kitchens for a long time. The ceremony of welcoming God is called "receiving God", and the kitchen god is called "receiving kitchen". Generally, it is New Year's Eve to pick up the kitchen, and the ceremony is much simpler. At that time, just put on a new stove lamp and burn incense in front of the stove niche.
As the saying goes, "Men don't Yue Bai, women don't sacrifice to the kitchen". In some places, women don't sacrifice stoves. It is said that the kitchen god looks like a small white face and is afraid of women offering sacrifices to the kitchen stove, which is "suspected of men and women." The origin of Kitchen God has a long history. Among the folk gods in China, the qualification of Kitchen God has a long history. As early as the Xia Dynasty, he was already a great god revered by the people. According to the ancient book The Book of Rites, Kong Ying Da said: "Hitachi, the son of Zhuan Xu, is Zhu Rong and worshipped as the kitchen god." "Zhuangzi Sheng Da" records: "The stove has a bun." Sima Biao commented: "bun, kitchen god, dressed in red, looks like a beautiful woman." "Hold PiaoZi. "Wei Zhi" also recorded: "On a dark night, Kitchen God also accused the white man of being guilty." These records are probably the source of Kitchen God. Also, or the Kitchen God is a "Suiren" who digs firewood to make a fire; Or Shennong's "fire official"; Or "Su Liji" in "The Yellow Emperor Cooking Ren"; Or the kitchen god surnamed Zhang, the name list, the word Guo; Opinions vary. There is an interesting story circulating among the people.
It is said that in ancient times there was a family named Zhang, two brothers. The elder brother was a plasterer and the younger brother was a painter. My brother's specialty is cooking pots and pans. He was invited by East Street and West Square, and they all praised his cooking. He has been famous for a long time, and calling him "King Zhang Zao" is thousands of miles away. Strangely, Wang said that no matter who built a stove, he liked to interfere in other people's homes if there was any dispute. When he meets a noisy daughter-in-law, he will persuade him. When he meets a fierce mother-in-law, he will say that he seems to be an old elder. In the future, neighbors will look for him if they have anything, and everyone respects him. The king lived seventy years, and when he died, it happened to be late at night on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month. After the death of Wang, Zhang Jiake fell into chaos. It turns out that the king is the head of the family and everything in the family is under his command. Now that the eldest brother has passed away, the younger brother can only write poems and draw pictures. Although he spent a lot of time, he never did housework. The daughters-in-law in several rooms clamored for separation, and the painter was stirred helplessly and frowned all day. One day, he finally came up with a good idea On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the first anniversary of Wang's death, late at night, the painter suddenly called to wake up the whole family and said that the eldest brother had appeared. He took his son, daughter-in-law and the whole family to the kitchen, only to see the flickering candlelight on the dark kitchen wall showing the appearance of the king and his dead wife, and the whole family was shocked. The painter said, "When I was sleeping, I dreamed that my eldest brother and sister-in-law became immortals, and the Jade Emperor named him the prince of the Nine Days East Chef. You are always lazy and lazy, and your sister-in-law is not harmonious, disrespectful and unfilial, which makes your family uneasy. " Big brother was angry to know that you were going to break up. He is going to tell the Jade Emperor that he will come down on New Year's Eve to punish you. Hearing this, the sons and daughters' nephews and daughters-in-law were frightened. They immediately knelt down and kowtowed again and again, and hurriedly brought Wang Ping's favorite sweets to the stove to eat, pleading with the kitchen king for forgiveness. Since then, uncles, brothers and daughters-in-law who often make noise have never dared to make trouble again. The whole family lives in harmony, young and old. Neighbors knew about it, and the news spread. They all came to Zhang's house and wanted to know the truth. In fact, the kitchen god on the kitchen wall on the 23rd night of the twelfth lunar month was painted by the painter in advance. He came to town to scare his children's nephews and daughters-in-law, but this method really worked. So the neighbor came to the painter to inquire about the situation, so he had to pretend and distribute the painted kitchen god to the neighbors. As a result, it spread along the countryside, and the kitchen of every household was labeled as the kitchen god. Over time, the custom of offering sacrifices to the kitchen god on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month and praying for the safety of the family was formed. After the custom of offering sacrifices to the kitchen god spread, from the Zhou Dynasty, the palace also included it in the sacrificial ceremony, and formulated the rules of offering sacrifices to the kitchen god nationwide, which became a fixed ceremony.
Due to different local customs, there are also activities of "jumping the kitchen king" and "beating the kitchen king" among the people. "Jumping the Kitchen King" is a folk activity form developed from ancient exorcism, mainly the activity of beggars. From the first day of the twelfth lunar month to the 24th, it is the day of "jumping the kitchen god". After entering the twelfth lunar month, beggars are in groups of three or five, and women dressed as stoves make trouble at the door with bamboo sticks and beg for money, which is called "jumping on the stove king" and also means exorcism. This activity is mainly carried out in the southeast of our country.
sweep the dust
After the Stove Festival, preparations for the Chinese New Year officially began. Every year from the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month to New Year's Eve, China folks call this period "Spring Festival" or "Dust Day". Dust removal is year-end cleaning, which is called "house cleaning" in the north and "dust removal" in the south. It is a traditional habit of our people to sweep the dust before the Spring Festival. Whenever the Spring Festival comes, every household should clean the environment, clean all kinds of electrical appliances, remove and wash bedding curtains, sweep six yards, dust cobwebs and dredge culverts in open channels. North and south of the great river, everywhere is filled with the atmosphere of being willing to engage in hygiene and welcoming the Spring Festival cleanly.
Interestingly, there is a strange story about the origin of ancient dust sweeping. Legend has it that the ancients believed that everyone was attached to a three-corpse god. Like a shadow, he followed people's whereabouts and was inseparable. Three dead gods are a guy who likes flattery and gossip. He often tells stories in front of the Jade Emperor and describes the world as ugly. Over time, in the jade emperor's impression, this world is simply a dirty world full of evil. Once. The secret report of the three dead gods tells us that the world is cursing the Emperor of Heaven and wants to rebel against him. The jade emperor was furious and made an imperial edict to quickly find out what happened in the world. Anyone who hates gods and insults them writes their crimes under the eaves. Then let the spider cover it with a net and mark it. The Jade Emperor ordered Wang Lingguan to go down on New Year's Eve, and all the marked families were beheaded, not one left. Seeing that the plan was about to succeed, three resin gods took advantage of the gap and flew down to earth. Indiscriminately, they marked the eaves and corners of every household to make the tomb palace extinct. Just as the Three Corpses God was doing evil, the Chef God discovered his whereabouts and was frightened to disgrace, so he quickly sought out various Chefs to discuss countermeasures. So, I came up with a good idea. From the day when the kitchen is delivered on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month to the time when the kitchen is closed on New Year's Eve, every household should clean up the house. If any household is not clean, Kitchen God will refuse to enter the house. According to the instructions of the kitchen god before he ascended to heaven, everyone cleaned the dust, dusted the cobwebs, cleaned the doors and windows, and thoroughly cleaned their houses. When Wang Lingguan visited the lower bound on New Year's Eve, he found that every household had bright windows and bright lights, people were reunited and happy, and the world was beautiful. Wang Lingguan was surprised that he could not find a sign indicating bad behavior. He rushed back to heaven, told the Jade Emperor that there was peace and happiness on earth, and prayed for a happy New Year. The Jade Emperor was greatly shocked after hearing this. He made a decree to detain the Three Corpses God, ordered him to be slapped for 300 mouths, and put him in prison forever. Thanks to the help of Kitchen God, this human disaster was spared. In order to thank the Kitchen God for helping people to solve disasters and bless Zhang Xiang, the folk dust-sweeping always starts from the kitchen and is busy until the New Year's Eve.
The custom of "sweeping the house with dust on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month" has a long history. According to "Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals", China had the custom of sweeping dust during the Spring Festival in the Yao and Shun era. According to the folk saying, because of the homonym of "dust" and "Chen", sweeping dust in the Spring Festival means "getting rid of the old and not being new", and its original intention is to sweep away all "unlucky" and "unlucky". This custom has placed people's desire to break the old and create new ones and their prayers to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new.
The "three-corpse god" is called "god" by Taoism and is enshrined in the human body. According to the "Taishang Three Corpses", "The name of the corpse is Peng Shu, in the head; The name of China's body is Peng, which is in the abdomen; The name of this body is Jiao Peng, which is in the human foot. " He also said that on that day, they went to heaven to tell the emperor Chen about human sins; But as long as people stay up late, it can be avoided. This is the so-called "keeping Geng Shen"
Eat stove candy
Kitchen sugar is a kind of maltose, which is very sticky. The candy that is drawn into a long strip is called "Guandong Sugar", and the candy that is drawn into a flat circle is called "honeydew melon". When it is put outside in winter, because of the cold weather, the honeydew melon is solidified firmly, and there are some tiny bubbles in it, which tastes crisp and sweet and has a special flavor. The real kwantung candy is too hard to break. Be sure to split it with a kitchen knife when eating. The material is very heavy and fine. The taste is slightly sour, there is no honeycomb in the middle, each piece weighs one or two, two or four, and the price is relatively expensive. Sugar, sesame sugar and non-sesame sugar. Sugar is made into melon shape or north melon shape. The center is empty and the skin thickness is less than five points. Although the size is different, the transaction is still calculated by weight. The big honeydew melon weighs one or two Jin, but few people buy it as a cover.
Jieyu yellow
According to the ancient custom, when the Kitchen God goes to heaven, the Jade Emperor will personally descend to earth on the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month to investigate the good and evil on earth and decide the fortunes of the coming year. Therefore, every household offered his blessing, calling it "Meeting the Jade Emperor". On this day, we should be careful in our daily life and words, strive for good performance, win the favor of the Jade Emperor and bring good luck for the coming year.
Rush out of chaos
It was not until New Year's Eve that Kitchen God was sent to welcome him back. During this period, there is no God's jurisdiction on the earth, and at all times, many people get married, which is called "expelling chaos". Luannian is a special period designed by people to adjust their social life. At the end of the year, people have leisure and savings, which is a good opportunity for those who have little energy to do great things. Therefore, people invented this special time folk custom according to the needs of real life. It can be seen that in traditional society, people's life order is regulated by folk customs.
Zhao Tiancan
Also known as "burning field silkworms", "burning field silkworms" and "burning field wealth", it is a popular folk custom of praying for the New Year in Jiangnan area. On the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month, a long pole tied with a torch will stand in the field, indicating the new year with the flame, and the thriving flame indicates the bumper harvest in the coming year. This activity is held in some places on New Year's Eve.
Thousand Lantern Festival
This is a religious festival of Mongolian and Daur. Mongolian is called "Ganming Zhuola", which means Thousand Lantern Festival. On the 25th of the twelfth lunar month, I made "Ganming Zhuola" and lit it in the temple, thinking that the more I ordered, the more auspicious it would be. This festival custom is the most popular among Mongolians in Vilat, Xinjiang. On this day, local people eat roast beef and mutton and hold traditional sports and entertainment activities.
have a bath
In traditional folk customs, intensive bathing and washing clothes are needed in these two days to get rid of the bad luck of the year and prepare for the Spring Festival next year. There is a saying in Beijing that "twenty-seven washes the sick, twenty-eight washes the sloppy". Taking a bath on the 26th of the twelfth lunar month is "washing Fulu".
Little new year's eve
The day before New Year's Eve is called "New Year's Eve", and people call it "Don't be old" when greeting each other. Burning incense outdoors is called "Tianxiang", which usually takes three days.
Catch up with the new year
Tujia traditional festivals are also called "Chinese New Year". Tujia people celebrate the Spring Festival one or several days earlier than Han people.
Legend about Tujia people's "New Year";
1. The Ming Dynasty sent Tujia soldiers to the southeast coast to resist Japan, and the military order was urgent, so they left for the front line ahead of the Spring Festival. Soldiers fought bravely and made "the first meritorious service in Southeast China". Later generations are used to commemorating this expedition with an annual festival in advance.
2. Tujia ancestors are poor, so they have to work for the rich at the age of 30 to celebrate the New Year in advance so as to reunite with their families.
3. In the old society, there were government troops to drive away the people every year, and Tujia people had a reunion dinner in order to avoid celebrating the New Year in advance.