Spring Festival couplets, also called couplets and door couplets, originated from the ancient Fu Tao. According to ancient records, Dushuo Mountain peach trees cover the sky, and there are two gods, tea and Lei Yu, who can eat hundreds of ghosts. Therefore, on New Year's Eve, people paint two gods on mahogany and hang them outside the door to ward off evil spirits. This mahogany has no words. Wang Anshi's poem "Always New Peach for Old Peach" refers to this kind of peach symbol. Later, on New Year's Eve, Meng Changjun, the monarch of Houshu, ordered his men to write lyrics on peach trees. He was not satisfied with the writing, so he personally wrote a pair of couplets on the peach tree: "New Year's Eve, Qing Yu, Jiajie, Changchun", which was the first Spring Festival couplets in China.
The naming of Spring Festival couplets began with the Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang. Mao Yunlou Miscellaneous Words said: "Before New Year's Eve, the imperial edict suddenly came from Jinling, the capital of Beijing. A pair of Spring Festival couplets should be added at the entrance of the official school, and Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang went out to watch it." He loved Spring Festival couplets and issued a decree to promote them. It is said that once he went into the palace to watch Spring Festival couplets in disguise, and when he saw that one family didn't hang Spring Festival couplets, he asked if the butcher who killed the pig and castrated the pig couldn't write, so he smiled and wrote a pair for the pig: "Split the road of life and death with both hands, and cut off right and wrong with one knife." The butcher saw from Zhu Yuanzhang's "horse face" that he was the current emperor, and was reluctant to put the "royal treasures" outside the door, so he hung them on both sides of the ancestral memorial tablet. It is said that one year after the Spring Festival, Gan Long went down to the south of the Yangtze River and passed through Tongzhou Town, which is now Tongzhou City, Jiangsu Province. Thinking that there is also a Tongzhou district in Beijing today outside the Forbidden City, I made a couplet to make the accompanying ministers object: "Nantong, North Tongzhou, North Tongzhou connects North and South", but the ministers can't compare it. Unexpectedly, a small attendant studied hard and practiced hard. When he saw that the streets were covered, he immediately made a couplet: "East Pawnshop, West Pawnshop and East Pawnshop are all things". He was overjoyed and awarded three titles.
Some folk Spring Festival couplets are also very interesting. For example, the Spring Festival couplets of a shoe store are: the future must stand firm, the works are vast and faint, and the important thing is to distinguish and recognize horizontally-starting with the first step. A barbershop's Spring Festival couplets are: every time a knife is raised, everyone will lose their hair, and when it is dragged down, everyone will bow their heads and criticize-change their face.
Setting off firecrackers
When it comes to setting off firecrackers, the first thing to say is that some cities have implemented "prohibition", which is a law that everyone must abide by. As a custom in the past, I'm here to nag about its origin and history.
In the past, firecrackers must be set off during the Spring Festival. Firecrackers are an indispensable procedure in the Spring Festival, like an indispensable dish.
In ancient Chinese New Year, people used bamboo to burn and burst to drive away ghosts, hence the name "firecrackers". The Chronicle of Jingchu said: "On the first day of the first month, chickens crow and firecrackers are set off in front of the court to ward off evil spirits." Later, due to the evolution of society and folk customs, firecrackers have undergone two major changes: first, after the invention of gunpowder, it developed from burning bamboo to filling gunpowder with paper tubes to detonate. After the explosion, the noise was loud, the paper scraps were flying and the gunpowder was fragrant, so firecrackers were also called "explosion war". Since then, people have strung firecrackers with hemp poles, which is called "weaving guns". It is also called "firecrackers" because its sound is as clear as a whip. On the basis of "firecrackers", various fireworks, even fireworks, appeared. Second, the function of firecrackers has completely changed from avoiding evil spirits and exorcising ghosts to auspicious, lively, festive and joyful festivals. Wang Anshi's poem said, "firecrackers keep the old, and spring breeze warms the wine in Tu Su? . "So people used to think that it would not be a Chinese New Year if they didn't set off firecrackers and drink.
There used to be a lot of attention to setting off firecrackers. On the morning of New Year's Day, when you open the door or go out to pay New Year's greetings, you should set off firecrackers, also known as "opening the door". If you don't open the door when you go out, it is considered an ominous sign. On New Year's Eve, after worshipping ancestors and deceased parents, the whole family closed the door to have a family reunion dinner and set off firecrackers. Generally, one or three firecrackers are set off, and then the whole family sits around talking and laughing, eating omnivorous food and staying up until midnight or dawn.
Fireworks were set off throughout the ages, and fireworks appeared in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Fireworks production in Ming Dynasty has reached a considerable level. It's good from height, variety to shape. Zhang Shizhe, an Amin poet, vividly described the scenery in the sky when fireworks were set off in the poem "Chen Duchang Zhai Guan Fireworks": "There are hundreds of lanterns in the air, and the goddess' new makeup is colorful. "It's true, you chop jiaozi sword, madman flute every Dongting Lake. By the Qing Dynasty, the scale of fireworks was more grand, and the craft and pattern changed beautifully. People, government and Buddhism will set off fireworks on holidays, especially in the palace. There are no firecrackers abroad, but there are fireworks. According to encyclopedia Damei, 1879 has a kind of fireworks, which can show the outline of people. Now that computers are used to control fireworks, I still feel that "westernization is not as good as national quintessence". Why else would the country go to Liuyang, Hunan Province to buy fireworks?
At present, many cities in our country prohibit setting off firecrackers because of security, noise and pollution, and only cities and rural areas without "prohibition" have this custom. When the "ban" was first implemented, many people were really not used to it, and some people thought many ways for it, such as driving their families to the countryside to shoot. In fact, culture is created by people, and cultural forms will constantly change. Since there are rules to follow, you should think of something for your nostalgia in your heart. Some people are smarter, get a tape to play-listen to firecrackers, or use the sound of stepping on a small balloon as firecrackers, or simply buy a few strings of handicrafts and firecrackers to hang in the hall, which is safe and does not affect the mood at all, but also adds a little joy to the family!
make dumplings
During the Spring Festival, northerners eat jiaozi and southerners eat rice cakes, which has a long history in China.
Beijingers have a famous saying: It's not as delicious as jiaozi. Today, it sounds like jiaozi is the most delicious, but in the case of backward production and primitive cooking in ancient times, jiaozi is delicious.
Jiaozi has a history of 1000 years. It was once called prison pill, buffalo horn, wonton, bobo and so on. What's jiaozi's name? Jiaozi's original name is "jiao", "powder jiao" refers to the jiao made of flour, and "water jiao" refers to the jiao cooked in water. Because northerners pronounce "dumpling" and "dumpling" almost the same, it was later called "dumpling". The book Guangya in the Three Kingdoms period said: "Wonton, shaped like a crescent moon, is a common food." . This wonton is jiaozi, and the crescent moon is half the moon. Tang's "Youyang Miscellaneous Meanings" has "Prison Pills on Cages?" Steamed dumplings? ""Tang Zhong prison pills? Jiaozi? Description of.
Why do northerners eat jiaozi on New Year's Eve? One is to take its homophonic name "New Year's Eve" and eat it in the middle of the night just after the old year and after the new year, which means to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new year. Second, take its auspicious shape, because jiaozi looks like an ingot, symbolizing the prosperity of the country and people, and "the way to make money". Therefore, there is no difference between jiaozi and Xian Yi, young and old. On the 30th night of the lunar calendar, the Empress Dowager Cixi will give the concubines and palaces a blessing? Madame Gege? Royal daughter? They all called to the temple, and when the children arrived, they all wrapped jiaozi in a long box, wrapped it well and quickly, and received a reward; Then everyone ate jiaozi together. When Emperor Guangxu and his wife came to pay a New Year call, they were also given "jiaozi, cooked cake?" . Beijingers are even more homeless in jiaozi. Even those men who grow crops and drive carts, their wives should pack some four-wheeled jiaozi for him to eat, so as to have a bumper harvest in the coming year and keep the horses and chariots safe. Jiaozi was found in a wooden bowl of Tang Dynasty tombs unearthed in Turpan, Xinjiang. No wonder the ancients praised it as "the best food in the world".
Nowadays, the prosperous friends are even more colorful. As far as fillings are concerned, there are hundreds of kinds of fillings, such as minced chicken, fresh shrimp, assorted vegetables and three delicacies. As far as cooking methods are concerned, there are methods such as boiling soup, steaming in a cage, making soup and pot stickers, and products such as quick-frozen dumplings and instant dumplings are also emerging one after another. Dumpling houses have mushroomed all over China. Hongxing Lou Restaurant, one of the "Eight Buildings" in Beijing, can be made into 25 small jiaozi on one side and two sides, each with a different flavor. Xi 'an Tang Cheng Dumpling House is famous for its dumpling feast at home and abroad. It is said that some foreigners always swell up when they try to put something in their mouths. The "Laobian jiaozi Pavilion" in Shenyang is famous for steaming dumplings in a pot and cooking jiaozi with chicken soup. Tianjin Muslim "Baiji jiaozi Pavilion" and Taiyuan "Renyili Dumpling House" are also top-grade Chinese jiaozi, which makes passers-by drool and crowds move. The fresh shrimp steamed dumplings in Guangdong Cantonese cuisine are catching up, and northerners flock to the south one after another.
Eat rice cake
In most parts of the south, every family eats rice cakes during the Spring Festival. Although there are two schools of New Year's cakes in modern China, like moon cakes, the style in the north is rough and the taste is poor. Suzhou, Guangdong and Ningbo are the best places for South-style rice cakes. They are salty, sweet and light in taste, cooked, fried and fried, fine but not soft, and delicious. They are cooked with various ingredients. It's really a great food in China. Suzhou rice cake has a history of more than 2000 years, and it is very famous in Southeast Asia, Europe and America. There is another allusion. Suzhou ancient city was the capital of Wu in the Spring and Autumn Period. He Lv ordered Wu Zixu to build a city. After the completion of the city, the prince of Wu was overjoyed and called it "He Lucheng". A grand banquet was held to celebrate the success of the ministers. Only Wu Zixu is unhappy. He predicted that the king of Wu was arrogant and did not take precautions against Gou Jian and Fan Li, the king of Yue, and the country would perish sooner or later. After returning to the camp, he secretly told his entourage: "After my death, if the country is in trouble and the people are hungry and have no food, you can go across the hall? One of the six gates in Suzhou? Dig three feet to get food. " As expected, Wu Zixu was later framed and killed, and Wu was wiped out by the Vietnamese army. At this time, the capital is short of food and starving everywhere. Followers suddenly thought of Wu Zixu's dying instructions and led people to Xiangmen to tear down the city and dig the ground, only to find that the bricks of Xiangmen were not made of clay, but made of glutinous rice ground into powder. Since then, in order to commemorate and remember Wu Zixu's achievements and loyalty, Suzhou people eat rice cakes in the Spring Festival, and this custom has been spread all over the country and today.
New Year picture
New Year pictures are unique to China. They are named New Year pictures because they are posted during the New Year. In ancient times, it was posted on the door, not in the house. Ancient books contain "painting a tiger on the door" and "painting a chicken on the door". After the invention of rigid painting in Song Dynasty, it was called paper painting. In the Ming Dynasty, there was a record of the custom of New Year pictures, but it was still not called New Year pictures. Until the "Reform Movement of 1898" in Guangxu period of Qing Dynasty, all aspects of social life were engaged in "improvement". The reformists suggested that New Year pictures should cooperate with social reform, and the first choice was to put forward the idea of "improving New Year pictures". Immediately, in the painting shop in Yangliuqing, Tianjin, Qi first printed some big-character posters reflecting the ban on smoking, the establishment of schools and women's self-improvement, which were called "improved New Year pictures". Since then, the title of New Year pictures has been used to this day. From the middle of Qing Dynasty, the New Year pictures of Yangliuqing in Tianjin, Weifang in Shandong and Taohuawu in Suzhou were the most famous. In the early 1920s, the offset New Year pictures of "Moon Brand" appeared in Shanghai, which were also used as commercial advertisements. New Year pictures are still widely used in Chinese communities in some Southeast Asian countries.
Traditional New Year pictures are mostly woodcut watermarks with bright colors, lively pictures and simple lines. The main themes are bumper harvest, spring cattle, scenery, flowers and birds and some feudal superstitions. Contemporary New Year pictures are innovations on the basis of tradition. They are very popular because of their rich craftsmanship and rich themes. They are still widely used in the Spring Festival in rural areas and exported to many countries as tourism or handicrafts.