What are the customs on New Year's Day?
1. Dust-sweeping is something that China people must experience every year, and it is also a traditional custom handed down from ancient times to the present. Whenever the new year is approaching, every household should carry out a general cleaning of their living places, clean all kinds of kitchen utensils, wipe doors and windows, and change sheets and bedding. The significance of sweeping dust is to drive away all the bad things in one year and usher in good luck in the new year.
Setting off firecrackers on New Year's Day was originally used to drive away evil spirits and ghosts. According to traditional folklore, it is said that firecrackers are set off on New Year's Day to drive away "mandrills". Mandrill was a fierce one-horned ghost in ancient times, but it was most afraid of noise, so people used the explosion of burning bamboo to scare it away. With gunpowder, people put gunpowder into bamboo tubes to make firecrackers, and then make paper tubes, also known as firecrackers or firecrackers. In addition, setting off firecrackers on New Year's Day can create a festive atmosphere. After setting off firecrackers, the red on the ground represents joy, happiness and auspiciousness. Therefore, in this festive festival, people will set off firecrackers to celebrate.
When posting couplets on New Year's Day, people will tear off the old couplets that have been posted for one year and replace them with new ones. Some calligraphers will personally write couplets, and write down their own prospects for the coming year on the couplets, hoping that the coming year will come true. The custom of door gods generally appears in rural areas, and people are used to sticking big door gods on heavy wooden doors, which has played a role in driving away bad luck and opening the door to welcome the god of wealth.
4. Lion dance is an excellent folk art in China, which was called "Taiping Music" in ancient times and is a unique culture in China. In ancient times, people jumped lions to ward off evil spirits. On New Year's Day, people will perform lion dances as a celebration. The lion dance on the first day of the Lunar New Year is generally lively, and professional lion dance teams will perform lion dances. Lion dance is divided into north and south, and the southern lion is also called lion awakening. Performers dress up as dogs or other auspicious animals (such as brave and lion) under the music of gongs and drums, and make various movements in order to celebrate and be auspicious. Lion dancers should show southern martial arts with various moves when performing, which is very masculine.
5. Eating rice cakes Some areas in the south also have the habit of eating rice cakes on New Year's Day and New Year's Day. The rice cake tastes soft and glutinous, which is not only delicious, but also has a particularly good meaning. It has gradually become a food for the Lunar New Year, meaning "high every year". Eating rice cakes has a long history. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Volume II of "Scenery of the Imperial Capital" recorded that on New Year's Day of the first month, "I was so excited that I ate jujube cakes and rice cakes every day". In Jiajing, Hebei Province in the north, Wei County recorded that local people ate "steamed mutton cakes". Rice cake: also known as sticky cake, which means high every year. It is made of glutinous rice in the south and sticky millet in the north. Rice cakes have a long history. Rice cakes in Han Dynasty are called rice cakes, cakes, bait and cakes. In the 6th century A.D., the recipe of "white cocoon sugar" for making rice cakes was found in the cookbook Historical Records, and the book of Qi Yaomin in the Northern Dynasty recorded the method of grinding rice into powder to make rice cakes. Eating rice cakes on New Year's Day was very popular in Ming and Qing Dynasties, especially in the south.
The above is the custom about New Year's Day introduced to you today. Do you think these customs also appear in your hometown after reading it?