The footsteps of the Year of the Tiger are getting closer and closer, and "Collecting Five Blessings" has probably become the most ritualistic Pre-New Year's Eve song at present.
When busy "sweeping blessings", we must not forget the "tradition" - today is the "little year" of the lunar calendar!
A small year is the beginning of a busy year. Wen Maijun specially invited Wu Xiaoping, a famous program host in Nanjing, and our Shao Xiaonian to unveil the prelude to the Spring Festival.
1
How did the little year go?
The Little Year is the prelude to the New Year, and the theme before the New Year is "Removing the Old and Clothing the New". Lao Wu casually read: "Twenty-three sugar melon sticky, twenty-four sweeping houses, twenty-five grinding tofu, twenty-six killing pork, twenty-seven killing roosters, twenty-eight noodles, twenty-nine sticking Spring League, thirty nights staying up overnight, twisting and turning at the beginning of the New Year..."
"Twenty-three sugar melon sticky", this proverb hides the code of the little year.
Legend has it that the twenty-third day of the waxing moon is the day of "sending stoves". The King of Stove has always been regarded by the people as the family god who is in charge of the good fortune of a family. To send the stove is to send the king of the stove to heaven.
The Emperor of The Stove wanted to go to heaven to report to the Jade Emperor about the good and bad things of the family for a year. In order to make him "white for one year", people say more good things and not bad things, so they offer more fructose and various kinds of food.
The sugar melon is used to give the stove king a sweet mouth, hoping that he will say more good things in front of the Jade Emperor, and at the same time use sugar to stick to the mouth of the stove king, so that he can't say bad words, "The heavens say good things, and the netherworld is safe."
Making sugar melons is quite ritualistic, and Lao Wu recalls his experience of making sugar melons with malt and sticky rice when he was a child.
The Song Dynasty poet Fan Chengda's "Sacrifice Stove Words" wrote clearly about the custom of sacrificing stoves, sending stoves to men, women do not cooperate, and the folk have the taboo of "men do not worship the moon, women do not sacrifice stoves" - "The ancient legend of the twenty-fourth month of the waxing moon, the stove king wants to say things to the heavens." The cloud car wind horse small stay, the family has cups and plates of abundant ceremonies. Pork head rotten hot pisces fresh, bean sand and pine powder bait balls. The boy offers his daughter to avoid, and the wine burns money stove Junxi..."
The form of "sending stoves" is lively and grand, so this day is called "Small Year".
2
What day is the little year?
Exactly which day is a small year, there are many opinions. Waxing Moon 23, Waxing Moon 24th, Waxing Moon 25th... There are many small years.
Lao Wu said that China's geography is vast, and the customs of the small year between various places are "similar and different", and there are indeed small differences.
In the past, when talking about the small year, it generally refers to the twenty-third day of the Waxing Moon. In the past, there was a saying of "officials, three people, four waters and five", which means that the official celebrated the small year on the twenty-third day of the Waxing Moon, the folk celebrated the small Year on the twenty-fourth day of the Waxing Moon, and the people on the water celebrated the Small Year on the twenty-fifth day of the Waxing Moon.
In addition, there are differences between the north and the south, and most of the days of delivering stoves in the south are set on the night of the 24th day of the Waxing Moon, while the northern people are on the 23rd day of the Waxing Moon.
According to the people of Nanjing, the fifteenth day of the first month is called Xiao Nian. After all kinds of preparations for "removing the old cloth and the new" years ago, from the beginning of the New Year, without moving the knife or the fire, I ate the rich dishes prepared years ago, and ate until the fifteenth day of the first month of the Nanjing people's small year, and this year really ended.
Lao Wu laughed and said that whether it is from the small year of the twenty-third lunar month, or the small year of local customs, or the small year of the fifteenth month of the Nanjing people, the theme of the small year is: joy, celebration, eating!
3
The meaning of the annual custom
Some people may ask, what is the value of the New Year customs like the New Year every day now, such as the Small Year?
"I used to joke that the people of Nanjing 'the tailor dropped the scissors and fell a ruler (to eat)'. Now that everyone has eaten enough, what is the meaning of eating in the New Year? Lao Wu said, "The carrier of traditional Chinese culture is often pinned on eating, thousands of years of farming society, in the eating of a lot of culture, these stories passed down from generation to generation, the formation of traditional Chinese culture, the cultivation of cultural habits are very meaningful, so the Customs of the New Year should still be preserved as much as possible." ”
"In the New Year, although you can't eat anymore, you should eat less." If the custom of the New Year is preserved, it is often told to future generations, which is a cultural inheritance and a contrast with the hard days of the past, knowing that today we live in a honeypot, and these customs carry the memory of history. ”
4
Small year customs in various parts of Jiangsu
In the "History of Jiangsu Customs" compiled by the "Jiangsu Bunko", Wen Maojun also consulted the small year customs of various parts of Jiangsu in the old days.
In Nanjing, the 24th day of the waxing moon sprinkles the room, which is called "sweeping dust". At night, he used sugar cakes and other food to sacrifice the king of the stove, and the common cloud: "The god of the stove is in heaven, and the words of people are too god." Sacrifice with sugar, taking the meaning of gum teeth. Sesame seeds and sugar are roasted as "gold dollar treasures", and barley sugar is kneaded as "silver dollar treasures".
In Pei County, on the 23rd day of the 23rd lunar month, the stove is sacrificed to the god of stove with wine fruits and sugar cakes.
In Huai'an, on the night of the 24th day of the 24th month, sugar cakes and tea and fruit sacrifice stoves are made. Folk marriage on the same day, think there is no taboo.
In Changzhou, on the 24th day of the lunar month, it is customary that the king of the stove will ascend to the heavens and sacrifice with an agate group. This day sweeps the house to remove dust, called "removal of disability". The people of Wuxi replaced the door god with a new one on the same day; the stove was called "pine pot".
Wishing you all: Happy New Year! Happy New Year!
Modern Express + reporter Wang Fan/Wen Surui/Photo
(Edited by Zhang Yu)