How much Spring Festival customs do you know
The Spring Festival is one of the traditional Chinese festivals. It is the most solemn and grand traditional festival among Chinese folks. The Spring Festival has a long history. It evolved from the prayer and sacrifice of the first year of the year in ancient times. It carries a rich historical and cultural heritage in the inheritance and development. During the Spring Festival, various New Year activities are held all over the country, such as buying New Year's goods, sweeping dust, pasting couplets, eating New Year's Eve dinner, observing the New Year's Eve, paying New Year's greetings, paying New Year's greetings, dancing dragons and lions, worshiping gods and ancestors, praying for blessings and avoiding disasters, and traveling. Gods, boats, temple fairs, gongs and drums, vernier flags, lanterns, wine, lanterns, etc., there are differences in the content or details of customs due to different regional cultures. How much do you know about the customs you have seen and heard?
Lunar New Year's eve
On New Year's Eve, which is the eve of the Spring Festival, every household is busy cleaning their homes, pasting Spring Festival couplets, New Year pictures, blessing characters, decorating with lanterns, and welcoming their ancestors home for the New Year.
New Year's Eve has a special meaning in the hearts of Chinese people. This is the most important day at the end of the year. No matter how far away, the wanderer has to rush home to reunite with his family, bid farewell to the old year with the sound of firecrackers, and welcome the new year with fireworks.
New Year's Eve ancestor worship is one of the important customs of the Chinese New Year. The Chinese nation has a tradition of chasing the end carefully since ancient times. During the festival, we will never forget to worship our ancestors and report the kindness of our ancestors. On New Year's Eve, people will serve dishes, pour wine, and hold grand sacrificial ceremonies to express their nostalgia for their ancestors and pray for the blessing of their ancestors. This traditional custom has been passed down from generation to generation. Worshiping ancestors not only covers all the ancient traditional festivals in China, but also the eternal theme of Chinese folk festivals.
Set off fireworks
Since ancient times, there has been a verse of "removing the old year with the sound of firecrackers". In people's minds, setting off fireworks and firecrackers during the Chinese New Year represents saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new, and has the meaning of exorcising evil spirits, avoiding disasters and praying for good fortune.
New Year's Eve Dinner
New Year's Eve dinner is one of the customs of New Year's Eve, also known as New Year's Dinner, Reunion Dinner, Reunion Dinner, etc., especially the family dinner on New Year's Eve. The New Year's Eve originated from the ancient year-end sacrificial ceremony, which is a reunion dinner after worshiping the gods and ancestors. The reunion dinner is the highlight of the year before, not only colorful, but also very particular about the meaning. Before eating the reunion dinner, worship the gods and ancestors, and then start the meal after the worship ceremony.
Paste couplet
Every Spring Festival, whether in urban or rural areas, every household should choose a big red Spring Festival couplet and stick it on the door to add festive atmosphere to the festival.
Pay a New Year call
New Year's greetings is a way of visiting relatives and friends to congratulate each other during the New Year. New Year's greetings is an important activity in the Spring Festival. It is a way for people to express their best wishes to each other. Some congratulations on Xinxi, Gongxi Facai, congratulations, happy new year and so on. The meaning of New Year's greetings is to visit relatives and friends to communicate with each other, to congratulate each other on the New Year, to express the feelings between relatives and friends, and to express good wishes for the new year's life. The elders distribute red envelopes, that is, lucky money, to the younger generation. It is said that the lucky money can suppress evil spirits, and the younger generation can spend a year in peace with the lucky money, which reflects the elders' concern and sincere blessings for the younger generation.
Lion dance
Lion dance is an excellent folk art in China, also known as "Taiping Music" in ancient times. The lion dance is divided into north and south, and the southern lion is also called the awakening lion. Lion dance is considered to be an auspicious auspicious object to exorcise evil spirits and avoid evil. Every festival or major event must have a lion dance to add to the fun.
The lion is made of colored cloth strips. Each lion is usually performed by two people, one dances the head and the other dances the tail. Under the music of gongs and drums, performers dress up as dogs or other auspicious beasts (such as Pixiu and lions), and make various forms and actions in order to be festive and auspicious. During the performance, the lion dancers use various moves to express the Southern School martial arts, which is very masculine. Lion dance activities are also widely spread in overseas Chinese communities. Where there are Chinese people, there must be lion dances. This has become an important ceremony to promote the prestige of the nation and establish the soul of China. The value and impact are far-reaching.
Would you like to experience the traditional customs of Chinese New Year for yourself? Welcome to China.