The Spring Festival in China has given people a feeling that is hard to melt, a pure and honest flavor brewed over the years. This is the "cultural root" that gives birth to us. The Spring Festival, with its artistic conception and cultural symbol, has assumed a cultural function: First, to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, to tie a knot in life and separate the past from the future; Second, sacrifice, remember the virtues of ancestors, inherit the aspirations of ancestors, integrate everything in the world and pray for happiness in life; Third, clan etiquette exchanges, arrange life order, contact family ties from generation to generation, find personal orientation, and assume social responsibilities; Fourth, folk entertainment, expanding social contacts, spreading traditional culture, venting feelings and appreciating the joy of life.
The Spring Festival has become the carrier of China's traditional culture, which has been handed down from generation to generation, and has deposited heavy gold-bearing mineral deposits. In the Song Dynasty, Wang Anshi once wrote the poem "January Day": "In the sound of firecrackers, one year old is removed, and the spring breeze sends warmth into Tu Su. Thousands of families always change new peaches for old ones every day. " The quality of culture has remained unchanged for thousands of years.
1. Sticking Spring Festival couplets and door gods
Spring Festival couplets originated from Taofu. "Taofu" is a rectangular mahogany board hanging on both sides of the gate in the Zhou Dynasty. According to the History of Etiquette in the Later Han Dynasty, the peach symbol is six inches long and three inches wide, and the words "shentu" and "Yu Lei" are written on the mahogany board. On the first day of the first month, a peach symbol was made for the household, and the name was immortal wood, which was feared by all ghosts. Therefore, the Qing Dynasty's "Yanjing Shi Sui Ji" said: "Spring Festival couplets, that is, Taofu also." In the Five Dynasties, in the court of Western Shu, someone wrote couplets on peach symbols. According to Song Shi Shu Family, "Meng Chang, the master of the later Shu Dynasty, ordered Zhang Xun, a bachelor, to write a poem on the mahogany board, claiming that it was a cloud: Qing Yu in the New Year, and Changchun in the Jiajie Festival". This is the first Spring Festival couplets in China. Until the Song Dynasty, Spring Festival couplets were still called "Taofu". In Wang Anshi's poems, there is a sentence that "thousands of households are the narrowest, and the new peaches are always replaced with the old ones". In the Song Dynasty, peach symbols were changed from mahogany boards to paper, called "spring stickers".
Second, paste New Year pictures
During the Chinese New Year, people like to paste Spring Festival couplets and cut window grilles, and also hang New Year pictures in the living room and bedroom. A new year's picture adds a festive atmosphere to every household.
3. Happy New Year
Happy New Year is a traditional folk custom in China, and it is a way for people to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new and express their best wishes to each other.
In ancient times, the original meaning of the word "Happy New Year" was to celebrate the New Year for the elderly, including kowtowing to the elderly, congratulating them on the happy New Year, and greeting them about their lives. In case of friends and relatives of the same generation, we should also salute and congratulate them.
Fourth, set off firecrackers
In ancient Chinese New Year, people burned bamboo and made sounds to drive away ghosts, hence the name "firecracker". "The Chronicle of Jingchu's Age" said: "On the first day of the first month, the cock crows 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, they developed from burning bamboo to filling gunpowder in paper tubes to detonate. After the explosion, the sound was heard, the scraps of paper flew and the gunpowder was fragrant, so firecrackers were also called "explosive battles". Since then, people have used hemp stems to weave firecrackers into strings, which is called "weaving guns". Because its sound is crisp as a whip, it is also called "firecrackers". On the basis of "firecrackers", various fireworks and even fireworks have 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: "The sound of firecrackers is one year old, and the spring breeze sends warmth into Tu Su." Therefore, in the past, ordinary people thought that it would not be Chinese New Year without setting off firecrackers and drinking.
V. Dust removal
Dust removal means 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 appliances, tear down and wash bedding curtains, sweep the six yards, dust cobwebs and dredge open channels and culverts. North and south of the great river, everywhere is filled with the atmosphere of being happy to engage in sanitation and welcoming the Spring Festival cleanly.
VI. Lucky money
Lucky money has a long history, which is called "being tired of winning money", "worshipping money" and "betting money on the new year". In the coin series, it is classified as spending money. As early as the Han Dynasty, lucky money appeared in China, mostly with round round holes and round square holes, and the front of the money was mostly auspicious words, such as "eliminating disasters and eliminating evil". "Fushan Shouhai", "Long life and wealth" and "strengthening the body", and some have Qian Wen on the front and auspicious patterns on the back, such as "Big Dipper", "Tortoise and Snake", "Tiger", "Eight Diagrams" and "Zodiac".
VII. Offering sacrifices to a stove
Offering sacrifices to a stove is a custom that has great influence and spread widely among the people in our country. In the old days, almost every kitchen had a "kitchen god" god. People call this god "the Bodhisattva who commands the life" or "the kitchen master commands the life". It is said that he is the "Nine-day East Chef who commands the kitchen palace" sealed by the Jade Emperor, who is responsible for managing the kitchen fires of various families and is worshipped as the protector of a family. Kitchen God niches are mostly located in the north or east of the kitchen, with the gods of Kitchen God in the middle. Some people who don't have a niche for the kitchen king also paste the gods directly on the wall. Some gods only draw one kitchen god, while others have two men and women. The goddess is called "Grandma Kitchen King". This is probably an imitation of the image of a human couple. Most of the statues of the Kitchen God are also printed with the calendar of this year, with the words "the chef in the East is in charge", "the guardian of the world" and "the head of the family" written on them to show the status of the Kitchen God. On both sides, there are couplets of "Heaven says good things, and the lower world keeps peace" to bless the whole family.
VIII. Sacrificing ancestors
Chinese people will never forget their dead ancestors during festivals, and the Spring Festival is no exception. Offering food or flowers as a token of our hearts is a common ritual. The form of ancestor worship may vary according to religious beliefs, but the significance of commemorating ancestors is the same.
9. Eating New Year's Eve
Eating New Year's Eve is the most lively and enjoyable time for every household in the Spring Festival. On New Year's Eve, a table was filled with rich new year's dishes, and the whole family was reunited, sitting around the table and having a family reunion dinner. The sense of fulfillment in my heart was really unspeakable. People not only enjoy the delicious food on the table, but also enjoy the happy atmosphere. There are big dishes, cold dishes, hot fried dishes and snacks on the table. Generally, there are two things, one is hot pot and the other is fish. The hot pot is boiling, steaming, warm and sultry, indicating that it is booming; "Fish" and "Yu" are homophonic, which symbolizes "more than good luck and celebration" and also means "more than every year". There are also radishes, commonly known as vegetable heads, wishing you good luck; Lobster, abalone and other fried foods, I wish my family prosperity as "cooking oil with fire". Finally, I will have a dessert, wishing the days to come to be sweet and sweet. On this day, even if I can't drink, I will drink a little. In ancient times, people paid great attention to the quality of wine when drinking during the Spring Festival. Some wines are now gone, leaving only many touching wine names, such as "Grape Fermented Grains", "Lanwei Wine", "Yichun Wine", "Mei Huajiu", "peach blossom wine Wine" and "Tu Su Wine".
X. Bao jiaozi
jiaozi has a history of more than 1, years. It was once called Prison Pill, Shuijiao, Wonton, Bobo, etc. Then how to call jiaozi? The original name of jiaojiao is jiaojiao, which means jiaojiao made of flour, and shuijiao refers to jiaojiao boiled in water. Because northerners pronounce jiaojiao similarly, it was later called jiaozi. In the Three Kingdoms period, the book Guangya contained: "Wonton, shaped like a crescent moon, is a universal food." This wonton is jiaozi, and the crescent moon is a half moon. There have been descriptions of "steamed dumplings with prison pills in the cage" and "dumplings with prison pills in the soup" in Youyang Zaju in the Tang Dynasty.
jiaozi, which is prosperous and prosperous today, is even more colorful. As far as stuffing is concerned, there are hundreds of kinds of minced chicken, fresh shrimp, assorted foods and three fresh foods. As far as cooking methods are concerned, there are soup boiling, cage steaming, pot cooking, pot stickers and other methods, and products such as quick-frozen dumplings and instant dumplings are also emerging one after another. Dumpling houses have mushroomed all over China. Hongxinglou Restaurant, one of the "Eight Buildings" in Beijing, can be made into 25 small jiaozi on one side and two sides, each with a taste. The dumpling feast at Tang Cheng Dumpling House in Xi 'an is well-known at home and abroad. It is said that some foreigners always make their stomachs swell while trying to stuff them into their mouths. The "Laobian jiaozi Pavilion" in Shenyang is famous for steaming dumplings in a pan and cooking dumplings in chicken soup. Tianjin Muslim "Baiji jiaozi Pavilion" and Taiyuan "Kanyili Dumpling House" are also top-grade products of Huaxia jiaozi, which makes passers-by drool and make them crowded. The fresh steamed dumplings with shrimps in Guangdong Cantonese cuisine have a tendency to catch up with others, and northerners are flocking to the south.
In addition, during the Spring Festival, there are some customs, such as steaming rice cakes, putting the word "Fu" upside down, observing the New Year, welcoming the Spring Festival, and going back to one's parents' home.