1. "Four o'clock and eight festivals"
"Four o'clock and eight festivals" is a mantra often said by Yiyang locals.
It turns out that the four seasons throughout the year - spring, summer, autumn and winter are the "four seasons". What about "eight festivals"? It does not refer to the eight festivals of the twenty-four solar terms: the Spring Equinox, the Autumnal Equinox, the Beginning of Spring, the Beginning of Summer, the Summer Solstice, the East Solstice, the Beginning of Autumn, and the Beginning of Winter, but rather refers to the eight major traditional festivals popular among the people. They are the Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, Qingming Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Hungry Ghost Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Winter Solstice (Double Ninth Festival), and Chinese New Year (New Year's Eve).
2. New Year and Spring Festival customs
Spring Festival, commonly known as New Year. Originally it only refers to the first day of the first lunar month. Now it generally refers to the "Little New Year" on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month (formerly known as the "twelfth lunar month") and ends with the Lantern Festival on the 15th of the first lunar month. The Spring Festival is the most solemn traditional festival of the Chinese nation. It has four characteristics: first, it is widely spread among nearly 20 ethnic groups such as Han, Zhuang, Mongolian, Manchu, Dong, Yao, Bai, Li, and Naxi; second, it has a long history and a long history, celebrating festivals in the old and new eras. The activities complement each other; third, the customs are simple, the rituals are frequent, and the forms are diverse; fourth, the festival lasts for a long time, lasting more than 20 days before and after the end of the year and the beginning of the year. Every day is a Spring Festival festival, and the atmosphere is warm, festive and peaceful, making it People are intoxicated.
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3. Sacrifice to the Kitchen God
On the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month (also known as the "Little New Year's Day", or "Sacrifice to the Stove", "New Year"), the old There is a custom of "sacrifice to the Kitchen God". It is said that the Kitchen God (also known as "Si Ming Bodhisattva") is the god of good and evil sent to the world by the Emperor and Jade Emperor to supervise and reward and punish people. Every family has it. Every year on the night of the New Year, they go to heaven to report the good and evil in the world to the Jade Emperor. Villagers who believe in Buddhism and Taoism set up sacrifices to see him off, which is called "sacrifice to the stove". 4. Post Spring Festival couplets
Spring couplets are one of the earliest and most widely used forms of couplets in my country. It is often used to express people's joy of getting rid of the old and welcoming the new and their spirit of struggle to carry forward the past and forge ahead into the future. Whenever the Spring Festival comes, every household must affix a Spring Festival couplet on both sides of the door (now all doors and windows are affixed with couplets), as well as a horizontal drape. This adds a richer festive atmosphere to the already lively and peaceful festival.
Spring couplets are a common form of couplets and door pairs. In ancient times, it was known as "Peach Talisman" and "Door Sticker". In ancient times, people's level of understanding was limited, so they could not correctly understand natural phenomena or natural disasters. Whenever there is a natural or man-made disaster, people always think that there are ghosts and gods at work. Therefore, in the twelfth lunar month, most families use two pieces of peach wood to cut into wooden strips one or two inches wide and seven or eight inches long. The images of Shen Tu and Yu Lei are painted on them and hung on the side of the door. This actually unites the door god and spring.
5. Hanging New Year pictures
As the Spring Festival approaches, every household in Huxiang has the traditional custom of hanging New Year pictures in addition to posting Spring Festival couplets. One of the poems describing the New Year pictures is particularly interesting: "Orchids, lotuses, chrysanthemums and plum trees bloom all over the wall, and the house is filled with the fragrance of flowers. It attracts sparrows to make noises in front of the eaves, and rush into the house to flutter their wings." This poem depicts the Spring Festival by chanting the New Year pictures. At this time, people generally hang up New Year pictures.
6. Have a reunion dinner:
After waiting for relatives from out of town to rush home, every household will prepare a particularly sumptuous banquet at noon on the New Year's Day. More than ten pots of delicacies such as chicken, duck, fish, delicacies from mountains and seas were placed on the large round table. Liquor, beer, and beverages are all available. The whole family sits around the table and eats and drinks, which is called "reunion dinner".
7. Watching the New Year and Guan Caimen:
On New Year’s Day, the reunion dinner is generally eaten slowly and much, and the time is very long. Some people eat for 2 to 3 hours without leaving the table. Therefore, when someone usually blames others for being slow to eat, they metaphorically say that they are "eating New Year's dinner" - they are slow and not impatient at all. After the New Year's dinner, when it gets dark, every household piles up small pieces of firewood in the main room or fire room to start a fire, and lights up all the lights inside and outside the house. There is a popular saying among farmers in Qixian Lake District: "Fire at thirty, lamp at fifteen."
8. New Year greetings:
New Year greetings are the most popular and humane traditional etiquette during the Spring Festival. At the beginning of the new year, people take care of the old and the young and go out to visit relatives and friends.
9. Dragon dancing, lion dancing and flower drum playing:
10. Lantern Festival
The fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the first full moon day of the new year. It is called "Shangyuan Festival" (called "Shangyuan Festival" in ancient times), also called "Lantern Festival".
March 3rd
The third day of the third month of the lunar calendar is the "Shangsi Festival (also known as the 'Xiucheng Festival')" in ancient my country. Legend has it that this is the birthday of the Queen Mother of the West. In ancient times, the first ten days of the third month of the third month of the lunar calendar was regarded as "Shangsi". After the Wei and Jin Dynasties, it was designated as the third day of the third month of the lunar calendar. Fan Ye of the Southern Song Dynasty recorded in "The Book of the Later Han·Etiquette": "The stars and the moon have risen, and the officials and the people are all clean on the east flowing water. It is said to wash and remove dirt and phlegm, which is great cleansing." It means that in ancient times, people would wash themselves in the clear water on this day. The purpose of washing by the river was for hygiene and health care. Later it evolved into a festival of drinking and feasting by the water and spring outings in the countryside. Wu Zimu of the Song Dynasty recorded in "Meng Liang Lu·March": "A banquet was given to Qujiang, and all the people drank and went for an outing."
Today, the traditional festival of "March 3" is still inherited by the Han people and many ethnic minority areas in my country.
4. Qingming Festival
Qingming Festival (also known as Outing Festival) is around April 5th of the Gregorian calendar every year (the fifth solar term among the 24 solar terms in the lunar calendar). As a traditional folk festival, it began in the Spring and Autumn Period. Later, it gradually merged with the previous "Cold Food Festival" held for 1 to 2 days, and became a festival for mourning ancestors, worshiping ancestors, sweeping their tombs, and going on youth tours.
5. Dragon Boat Festival
The Dragon Boat Festival is also known as "Duanyang Festival", "Chongwu Festival" or "Tianzhong Festival". On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, it is a grand traditional festival among the Han people.
6. Tiankuang Festival
The sixth day of the sixth lunar month is called "Tiankuang Festival" for short. It began during the Zhenzong period of the Northern Song Dynasty (998-1022). "Tiankuang" means "God's gift". Zhenzong designated June 6th as the "Tiankuang Festival" when the "Book of Heaven" was sent to various places for the second time, and built the "Tiankuang Hall" in Dai Temple.
8. Qiaoqiao Festival
"Qiqiao Festival" is also known as "Girls' Day", "Women's Day", or "Qixi Festival". On the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. Originated from ancient folk myths and legends - the story of "The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl meet in the Milky Way". It was first recorded in "The Book of Songs·Xiaoya·Dadong".
Every year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, it is said that that day is the day when the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl meet at the Magpie Bridge over the Tianhe River. And only once a year. People can only see the two stars Cowherd and Weaver Girl clearly on a clear night. Because the Weaver Girl is clever and clever, all women in the world hope to beg for wisdom from the Weaver Girl on this day. During festivals, people have customs such as displaying things and begging for tricks. During this festival, people in ancient times also built colorful buildings in the courtyard, which were called "Qiqiao Buildings". Women set up incense tables, display fruits and needles, and beg for wisdom.
There are many ways to beg for tricks. Some go up to the colorful building, face the moon, and thread a nine-hole needle with colorful thread. The one who wears it first is called "Get Qiao", and the one who wears it later is called "Losing Qiao". In some places, a bowl of water is placed under the sun at noon that day, an embroidery needle is placed on the water, and the shadow of the needle on the bottom of the bowl is used to determine whether it is a lucky loss or a lucky win. In some places, this day is regarded as "Girls' Day". Young girls held a "Mu Xian Festival". In areas south of the Yangtze River, on this day, children untie the five-color silk threads around their necks and throw them on the roof, which is called sending health ropes. The Chinese Valentine's Day is very important in Guangzhou. Every household displays melons and fruits, as well as various fragrant flowers, cosmetics, and girls in costumes to worship the Seventh Sister (Maolan Seventh Sister) under the moon. People in Guangxi and other places store water on this day, which is called "Double Seven Waters". It is said that bathing with this water can ward off evil spirits and cure diseases, and achieve the effect of cleansing and beautifying the body. In ancient times, people in Taiwan, Fujian and other places regarded the seventh day of the seventh lunar month as "Valentine's Day".
Nowadays, Chinese people generally regard July 7th as China's "Valentine's Day".
People in Qixian Lake District like folk stories and legends. It is said that the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl got married and had children by the Qixian Lake. Therefore, everyone tells the story of the "Cowherd and the Weaver Girl" vividly. Every year on the evening of the seventh day of July, many people will naturally gather together to watch the magpies building bridges and the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl meeting...
People tell ancient and magical love stories while enjoying the cool weather. The gentle evening breeze takes away the heat of the day, and the magical story expresses people's infinite longing and yearning for a better life. Lin Jie, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, is the most famous poem "Begging for Skills", please see:
Tonight on Chinese Valentine's Day, look at the blue sky, the morning glory and the weaver girl crossing the river bridge.
Every family begs for tricks and looks at the autumn moon, wearing tens of thousands of red silk threads.
9. Mid-Autumn Festival
The Mid-Autumn Festival is also called "Zhongqiu Festival" and "Reunion Festival". It is an ancient and traditional festival of the Han nation. On the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. This day happens to be in the middle of the third autumn, hence the name "Mid-Autumn Festival". Ancient emperors had the ritual system of worshiping the sun in spring and the moon in autumn. During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, people began to enjoy the moon during the Mid-Autumn Festival. In the Tang Dynasty, there were customs of going up to the stage to watch the moon, going boating to admire the moon, and drinking wine to admire the moon. During the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Northern Song Dynasty (988-1003), August 15th was designated as the Mid-Autumn Festival. There are customs of offering sacrifices to the moon, worshiping the moon, appreciating the moon and eating moon cakes. Today, together with the Spring Festival and the Dragon Boat Festival, it is known as the three major traditional festivals in China. This festival is also popular among many ethnic minorities.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is the time when the autumn air is crisp, the osmanthus is fragrant, and the fruits are ripe. And because the moon is closest to the earth at this time, there is a saying that "the moon is brighter one night and more tonight, and the moon is especially bright in the Mid-Autumn Festival." Feeling. Therefore, "good flowers and full moon" is a major feature of the Mid-Autumn Festival. The festival's festivities and folk psychology are extremely sentimental and poetic. Although different regions and different ethnic groups have different customs, there are many aspects that are roughly the same.
① Worshiping and admiring the moon: Whenever the bright moon rises and the clear light fills the earth, people will set up tables and chairs in the open air or under the sweet-scented osmanthus tree, and put round fruits (apples, grapes, dates, etc.) etc.) and round foods (moon cakes, candies, etc.) are brought to the table. The whole family gathered around the table, silently looking up at the bright moon, and stood solemnly for a moment to show their respect to the moon. Afterwards, the whole family sat around the table and enjoyed the delicious food and the bright moonlight. Literati, poets or elegant people often get very excited about poetry at this moment, searching their guts, reciting poems and singing the right poems. Couples and lovers who cannot go home for reunion for some reason are in a foreign land, looking up at the bright moon, which evokes infinite longing for their relatives in their hometown.
Su Shi, the great poet of the Song Dynasty, wrote the poem "I wish you a long life, and I will travel thousands of miles to meet the beautiful girl". This is undoubtedly the best blessing for all the lovers in the world who cannot be reunited as scheduled. "People are relatives of hometown, and the moon is the brightness of hometown." People regard the Mid-Autumn Moon as a symbol of reunion, so those who are "alone as a stranger in a foreign land" will always "suspect the frost on the ground" whenever they see "the bright moonlight in front of their bed" on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival. Then I couldn't help but "raise my head to look at the bright moon, lower my head to miss my hometown". Undoubtedly, the poem "Thoughts on a Quiet Night" by the Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai vividly expresses the infinite longing for one's hometown and relatives since ancient times when people are alone in a foreign land, and profoundly reveals people's deep yearning for a happy life.
②Taste mooncakes: The custom of eating mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival began in the Song Dynasty and became popular in the Yuan Dynasty. According to legend, at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, famines were severe in various places and people were in dire straits. People everywhere rose up against the government one after another. In order to secretly contact the revolting civilians, Zhang Shicheng of Taizhou put secret leaflets about the uprising of killing enemies on August 15 into mooncakes and gave them to the civilians. After the revolting civilians ate moon cakes, they knew the time and place of the uprising, and responded to the call, held a national uprising and won victory. Later, the custom of giving and eating mooncakes to each other became popular on August 15th to commemorate the ancestors and express holiday blessings to relatives and friends.
③Gift-Giving Day: On the Mid-Autumn Festival, it is popular for people to visit relatives and friends and give each other gifts. In particular, young men take advantage of the Mid-Autumn Festival to visit their parents-in-law.
No matter how important the gift is, mooncakes are indispensable