Every year after the eighth day of the first lunar month, people begin to get busy for the New Year. Purchase New Year goods, prepare spring unions, and seal up the old money. In the countryside, there are also people who sew new clothes, kill pigs, make rice wine, and make local specialties. Towns and villages are steeped in a festive atmosphere.
"One night is two years old, five is divided into two years", as an important custom of the New Year, year after year into people's lives. When I was a child, every New Year's Day, no matter what the family's economic conditions were, the family would sit by the fire, the adults would drink tea while drinking melon seeds, while chatting, we children or adults or adults to tell stories, or go to hide and seek, waiting for the elders to send money, although the money is not much, triangle, five corners, one yuan, adults, children together to keep the age.
I remember one Chinese New Year's Eve night in the early 70s, the weather was very cold, it was in the era of the large rural collective, my family's economy was more difficult, there was no money to buy big fish and meat, nor money to buy many New Year goods, but the customs left by the ancestors did not change at all. The whole family sacrificed their ancestors, simply ate the New Year's meal, took a bath, and then sat around the fire and watched the New Year together. On Chinese New Year's Eve night that year, my grandfather also made an exception to keep the old age with us, and my siblings and I were very happy. Grandpa's family economy is rich, every year we go to Grandpa's house to visit the New Year, Grandpa will give each child two yuan of profit according to the custom is money, this time Grandpa and we celebrate the New Year, and there is another piece of pressure money.
Netizens posted Chinese New Year's Eve rice. Photo/Nickname
In the first half of the night, my siblings and I were always scrappy and confident. The brain is particularly excited, delicious, fun, and pressed for money. Chinese New Year's Eve many programs: worshiping ancestors and worshipping heaven and earth, the whole family eating a long Chinese New Year's Eve meal, our mother gave us new clothes for the New Year made by our brothers and sisters, and at midnight, the whole village crackled and crackled. Other people's homes set off firecrackers, and ours followed suit. My father hung a long string of firecrackers on a bamboo penny, and my father did not smoke, but during the Spring Festival, because some of the guests who came to visit the New Year smoked, the family would also buy a few packs of cigarettes for hospitality. The father took a cigarette and lit it on the charcoal of the stove, put it in his mouth and inhaled it, and then lit a firecracker. What followed was a deafening explosion, a scene in which my parents forgot a year's hard work and showed a smiling face in the flickering light of the fire. The most enticing show is the elderly handing out money to the children.
In the rural areas of Shonan Province, special attention is paid to sealing and opening the financial gate during the New Year. Chinese New Year's Eve night, after the firecrackers set off by the father rang out, he said that he had sealed the door of the treasury, and then the father closed the gate and waited until the morning of the first day of the New Year, and then set off firecrackers again, that is, to open the gate. Only when his father sealed the financial door could he truly enter the stage of defending the age. At this time, the adults in the family began their program, uncles and aunts played a few cards, grandpa and grandfather chatted with their fathers, and we ate peanuts, pumpkin razors, rice dough skins, flower slices, lanhua root, oil sticks and other specialties. Grandma changed the table with a bouquet of incense after a while, and Mother prepared breakfast the next day in the kitchen. I don't know if it was because we couldn't stay up late at a young age, or for some other reason, but time was stretching longer and longer like a cowhide band for several of our children, and the sleepy worms began to spray smoke in their heads. Grandpa saw that our brothers and sisters were sleepy, so he began to send us pressure money, and then the other elders also sent pressure money, Grandpa he had the most money for the economy, three yuan per person, the other elders some were one yuan, some were seven or eight corners, and at least the little aunt, she sent five corners. This is also very good, my sister-in-law is only nine years older than me. This year's Chinese New Year's Eve keep the age, and each of our children receives as much as four or five yuan, which is the highest in the calendar year. After everyone took the money, they were very happy and went back to their rooms to sleep.
I lay in bed for a long time and couldn't sleep, I don't know if it was overexcited or some other reason? Later, he simply got up, sat by the fire and ate melon seeds, in a daze, and did not go to bed until dawn.
We collected so much money on the night of the Chinese New Year's Eve, and while we were happy, there was a worry that this money would not be "confiscated" and handed over to my mother. After the Lantern Festival, our old money was indeed "confiscated". However, I was lucky that there was no 100% "confiscation", and my mother left me two yuan, saying that it could only be used to buy books and school supplies, and if it was diverted for other purposes, next year's press money would be 100% "confiscated". In the first month, I will use this two dollars to buy more than ten comic strips, or buy a few novels and homework books. The younger siblings were too young to know what to buy, so they had to leave it to their mothers for safekeeping.
Grandpa once explained to me why the lunar calendar Chinese New Year's Eve should observe the new year. Keeping the age is the custom of not sleeping on the last night of the old year and staying up late to welcome the arrival of the new year, also known as Chinese New Year's Eve keeping the year, commonly known as "staying up the year". When I grew up, I felt that my grandfather's explanation was too simple, so I consulted some information and slowly learned the origin and customs of keeping the age.
Chinese New Year's Eve shou nian, commonly known as "boiling year". Why is it called "staying up for years"? Folk generations have passed down such an interesting story: according to legend, in the ancient flood era, there was a vicious monster that people called "Nian". Every night Chinese New Year's Eve, the beast will crawl out of the sea to harm people and animals, destroy the countryside, and bring disasters to people who have worked hard for a year. In order to avoid the beasts of the year, on the thirtieth night of the waxing moon, when it was not dark, they closed the gate early, did not dare to sleep, sat and waited for the dawn, and in order to kill time and to strengthen their courage, they drank. Wait until the new year's day morning when the beast no longer comes out, before they dare to go out. People met and bowed to each other, congratulated Daoxi, glad not to be eaten by the Nian Beast, so that after many years, nothing happened, and people relaxed their vigilance against the Nian Beast. Just one night Chinese New Year's Eve, nian beast suddenly sneaked into a village in Jiangnan, and a village of people was almost eaten by nian beast, and only one newlywed couple with red curtains and red clothes was safe. There were also a few children, in the courtyard lit a bunch of bamboo playing, the fire was red, the bamboo burned and crackled, nian beast turned here, saw the fire frightened to turn around and flee. Since then, people have known that the Nian beast is afraid of red, afraid of light, afraid of noise, and at the end of each year, every household will paste red paper, wear red robes, hang red lanterns, beat gongs and drums, and set off firecrackers, so that nian beasts will not dare to come again. The story is like a myth, but it's particularly appealing to small children.
Chinese New Year's Eve night family reunion dinner. Photo/Nickname
When did the observance of the age begin? According to historical records, the Jin Zhou Department's "Record of Customs and Lands": "The customs of Shu, the late years and the feeding questions, are called feeding the years; the wine and food are invited to be other years; until the Chinese New Year's Eve Da Dan does not sleep, it is said to keep the age." The Chronicle of the Qin Zhong Dynasty records: "The three generations before and after the matter of keeping the age are uneducated, and the poem "Du Wei Zhai Shou Nian" of the Tang Dynasty Du Fu 'Shou Nian' poem 'Guarding the Age of A Xian, Pepper Plate Has Been Praised' is suspected to have been from the beginning of the Tang Dynasty. Meng Haoran's poem "The Year Has a Night and a Dream": "The family that guards the age should not lie down, and think about the dream soul that comes." Song Dynasty female lyricist Zhu Shuzhen's poem "Except for the Night": "Poor winter wants to go to Shang wandering, sitting alone and frequently holding the cup of the year." Qing Dynasty Ji Yun "Notes on Reading Wei Caotang • Luanyang Elimination Summer Record III": "Halfway, I lost my foot and fell into a dry well." Not only in the wilderness and secluded paths, but also in the family to guard the age, the road is not pedestrian, the call is dry, there is no response. The Tokyo Dream Record records: "Chinese New Year's Eve ... The house of the scholars, sitting around the stove, Da Dan does not sleep, called the keeping of the age. "In ancient times, these literati and inkers described the age of shou, vivid images. As the saying goes: "Gold is easy to get, Shaoguang is difficult to stay", love life, cherish time, this may be the reason for the whole world to keep the age. Interestingly, in Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, etc., due to the influence of the mainland, the New Year has Chinese New Year's Eve keep the new year, and even the Chinese communities in Europe, America and Africa have similar customs.
The custom of keeping the old age has both nostalgia for the dying old age and hope for the upcoming new year. On the occasion of the removal of the old and the new, relatives and friends sit around the stove. Looking back at the past and looking to the future is not without benefits. The "Biography of Tang Caizi" written by the Yuan Dynasty scholar Xin Wenfang records a good story of the great tang dynasty poet Jia Dao Chinese New Year's Eve "sacrifice poems": Every Chinese New Year's Eve, Jia Dao will take a one-year-old work and place it on a few, burn incense and worship again, and drink wine to wish: "This I have been bitter all year round." Every Chinese New Year's Eve, he summarizes the gains and losses of the past year, similar to our current New Year's message. He believes that if "thirty-six decades have passed" and "cherished the years from now on", then "keeping the age" will lose its meaning. The observance of Jia Island has a deeper meaning.
In my childhood, most of the New Year's Eve observances failed to have a beginning and an end. There was only one exception, from the long night watch to dawn. It was the Chinese New Year's Eve that Grandpa had at my house for the New Year. Therefore, when I see adults on the first day of the New Year, I am always a little embarrassed, especially when I think of the first day when I vowed to "never sleep tonight" or something like that. Of course, I also pay attention to the appearance of the adults, and I am amazed: how can they survive that long night? It's actually quite simple, because they know why they keep the age. But the principle of keeping the age is not simple. Later, my understanding of the old age was, on the surface, to stay up all night, but in fact it was due to a mentality of resigning the old and welcoming the new.
When I was a child, I can't remember how it ended. But waking up must have been in bed, sleeping in a warm bed. Next to the pillow was a small red paper bag containing pressed money, and there were a few candies. This is what my mother has prepared for our brothers and sisters, which means that the future will be better and better. On the first day of the New Year, it seems that we have a good life when we open our eyes. There is also a set of cheap new clothes, which means "leaving the old and welcoming the new". In fact, people all over the world are looking forward to "resigning the old and welcoming the new", and they all pray for a good day and a good life to come early.
Year after year, the observance of the years has left a deep imprint on my memory. In the childhood era, the unique feeling of the shou age is endlessly evocative. At the end of each month, he excitedly shouted that he would have to stay up all night and not sleep all night this year. It's like you're going to do something big. However, at two o'clock in the morning, I couldn't stay still, and I still couldn't hold out until dawn. In the early 1980s, I joined the work force, and I no longer asked the elders for money as I did in my childhood, but instead paid out to the elders. After starting a family, after living in the Pearl River Delta for 30 years, I still kept the old age according to the customs of my hometown in Shonan and sent money to the younger generations. Since 1984, CCTV began to hold the Spring Festival Gala, watching the Spring Festival Gala seems to have become an important program for keeping the year, the Spring Festival Gala is watched every year, but I don't know why? I feel that it is becoming more and more difficult to watch the Spring Festival Gala and insist on having a beginning and an end, and the Spring Festival Gala that has been held for more than thirty years seems to be keeping pace with the times. Now, our family keeps the New Year's Day, still abide by the old customs, but some corrections, whether adults and children will not force the new year until dawn, when they are willing to sleep.
The years do not live, the seasons are like a stream. Keeping the age is one of the most memorable New Year customs of the older generation, and it is also an important part of the Spring Festival custom culture. But a lot has changed now — especially urban people, who at most wait until the meridian time to call friends and relatives and send a WeChat text message to say goodbye to the New Year, and then go to bed and fall asleep. There is rarely the will and persistence of keeping the age. Of course, with the progress of society, the custom of keeping the age should also keep pace with the times, and there is no need to sleep at night Chinese New Year's Eve night. But for the observance of the age, we still have to stick to it, keep the customs, and keep the traditional culture of the nation, that is, keep the roots of the nation.
Text/Xiao Fei