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Today is the twenty-second day of the Waxing Moon
Tomorrow is a small year
Have you cleaned your house, sacrificed stoves, and done New Year goods?
The pace of life of contemporary urbanites is fast-paced, and these old customs are almost invisible. Many New Year goods are placed online orders -
"Maybe I haven't been home yet,
The goods have already been delivered to the doorstep first.
New Year is the top priority of the year for the ancients, usually starting from the eighth day of the first lunar month and not stopping until the fifteenth day of the first month. Eat, use, wear, wear, play, offer, dry, fresh, raw, cooked... All the goods bought in the New Year are called New Year goods. "Eating" in the New Year goods is the most important, followed by sacrifice, dressing, and playing. Therefore, the folk have spread such a slip of the tongue:
"Children, children, children, don't be hungry, after lapa eight is the year; lapa porridge, drink for a few days, mile mile la la la twenty-three; twenty-three, sugar melon sticky; twenty-four, sweep the house; twenty-five, frozen tofu; twenty-six, go buy meat; twenty-seven, slaughter the rooster; twenty-eight, put the noodles; twenty-nine, steamed steamed steamed buns; thirty nights to stay up all night; twist and turn at the beginning of the New Year!"
New Year's food, people like to pay attention to the meaning of good. The south loves to eat rice cakes, which means that the first year of the good color is high, and the year is better than the year. The north loves to eat dumplings, known as the old saying that "no dumplings are not new year"- the meaning of meat filling is rich, and the meaning of vegetarian stuffing is smooth.
Qing "New Year" (New Year Painting)
Capital Museum Collection
The "sacrifices" in the New Year goods include "offering to the heavens" and "worshiping the ancestors", so all kinds of "incense", "paper", "wax", etc., are naturally indispensable.
Qing "Rich and Noble Dynasty" Figure Axis (Partial) Anon
Collection of the Palace Museum
The "wear" in the New Year goods is to pull new cloth and make new clothes, which is probably one of the reasons why children in ordinary families in the past are most looking forward to the New Year. And the dignitaries and dignitaries not only have to wear, but also have a lot of chains and jade pieces on their bodies, and they walk with jingles and sounds, called "one walk and three rings".
Qing Yao Wenhan 《Celebrating the Year' Dynasty"
Collection of the National Palace Museum in Taipei
There are more "play" in the New Year goods. For example, dip a New Year painting, raise a winter insect, hang a lantern, lift a windmill, draw a sugar painting, put a firecracker...
Catch a temple fair in the year and see juggling, lion dances, lantern riddles, opera... Buy some good stuff.
Qing Tongzhi Pastel Hundred Zi Dragon Lamp Figure Begonia-shaped Open Light Cap Barrel
Guanfu Museum Collection
In addition, writing the Spring Festival is also an essential activity for every household. In the past, there was no glue, and people used to paste it with water and white batter. And the writing of the Spring League is not a random person can write, the general book Xiang Mendi is written by the most respected elders in the family, which means loyalty and inheritance. Or let the children who have learned to write at home, implying that there will be people after them.
However, among the common people, there are still many cold doors, and they cannot be as easy as the rich families. So, what if people who can't read and hyphenate also want to post the Spring League?
People who can get enough to go to the market to buy a painting, or explain the meaning they want, let others ghostwrite it. People who will have enough to eat will choose to buy red paper to paste on the wall, and then buckle the rice bowl to draw a square circle on it, draw a few on the left, draw a few on the right, and look at the distance to look like the Spring League.
The Spring Festival is written as "Spring League", and usually written as "Couplet". The Guanfu Museum has a collection of town rulers with couplets written on it, using ebony as the material, deeply chiseled 14 seal characters, and the text is square and legal. The tail drops "Wu Yu", with the Yin text "Shanzi" seal seal seal, and the Yang text "Wu Yu".
This couplet is neat and tidy, quoting the scriptures. Shanglian "poem into Sikong Twenty-four Pins" ("Sikong" refers to the late Tang Dynasty poet Sikong Tu, "Twenty-four Pins" refers to his poetic treatise "Twenty-Four Poems", which is said to be immortal).
The lower link "The thirteen lines of the Therin Great Order" ("Great Order" refers to Wang Xizhi's son Wang Xianzhi, zhongshu ling is known as "great order", because Wang Xianzhi did the Zhongshu order, so it is called "Wang Daling". The "Thirteen Elements" refers to the "Luoshen Endowment" written by Wang Xianzhi, which can be called the representative work of Wang Xianzhi's Xiao Kai. The unique Song Dynasty engraved on the jasper "LuoshenFu" has more than 250 words in the thirteen lines, so it is called "Jade Edition Thirteen Lines").
What are the unique customs of your hometown?
Come and share it in the comments section!