Window flowers, blessing characters, New Year paintings, keeping the age, pressing the old money, every Chinese New Year's Eve the future, the adults are busy, the children are happy, all look forward to the early arrival of this day.
Of course, in the days of national celebration, there are still many taboo things to pay attention to, such as not taking out garbage, not saying unlucky words, not going to the door to collect debts, and so on.
Because local customs are different, there are some local taboos.
As we all know, folk customs are generally passed on by word of mouth, and the ancients summed up these experiences into colloquialisms in order to facilitate their circulation.
For example, the sentence said today: "Chinese New Year's Eve three is not empty, and the next year is not poor."
So what does this "three non-empty" refer to, and is there any reason for it?
One
Although the word "empty" itself has a bad meaning, although the word was originally invented as the meaning of "cave", it gradually evolved into "none", "no", "no result" and many other less auspicious meanings with the development of the times.
For example, idioms are empty, empty, empty, empty, and so on.
Therefore, the ancients were very taboo about "emptiness" during the New Year, which summed up this saying.
Among the "three voids", the most feared nature is "room space".
The room was empty, and the representative was thin and unpopular. In ancient times, Chinese New Year's Eve was the date of the emperor's annual descent.
However, on this day of rejoicing in all the families, if the room is empty, no one lives, and no one sacrifices to the king of the stove, then the king of the stove will not come, and some unclean things may come in, affecting the fortune and health of the owner of the house.
So we look at the "haunted houses" in many ancient novels, which generally appear in these vacant houses.
Therefore, the ancients believed that even if they were away all year round, they had to go home and live Chinese New Year's Eve. One is that they can be reunited, and the other is that they can "press the house" and let the king of the stove protect the safety and health of the family.
However, in modern times, the population has increased sharply, and vacant houses have become rare, so it has been changed to the first year of new houses Chinese New Year's Eve can not be empty.
Two
In addition to not being empty, the ancients felt that lamp oil could not be empty, that is to say, it was necessary to light the lamp all night.
As we all know, ancient lighting mainly uses oil lamps, under the combination of lamp oil and wick, so that the ancient night is no longer dark.
However, because lamp oil is more expensive, the average family can not use it at night, so the ancients' work and rest time is different in modern times.
Just as the so-called "sunrise and return," after sunset, the ancients would lie in bed and rest early, one can save lamp oil, and the other day can get up early to work.
However, on the night of Chinese New Year's Eve, even poor families will fill the lamp oil, make the lights bright, and never extinguish the night, whether they are observant or not, because it means "a bright future".
In feudal antiquity, people believed in good morals and preferred to spend money to fill the lamp oil rather than let it empty and touch the moldy head.
Three
This third emptiness is that the pot cannot be empty.
In ancient times, when describing a poor family, it would always be used to describe it as "can't open the pot", because the pot is empty, and naturally it is impossible to open the pot.
Therefore, on the night of Chinese New Year's Eve, people often put some grain in the pot to "fill the pot", indicating that there is no food and clothing in the coming year.
Of course, in different regions, the food in the pot is also different.
For example, in the Shandong region, some dumplings will be put in the pot, which means that there will be more than enough in the coming year. The Gangnam area naturally puts some rice, and the fuller the rice grains, the more auspicious it is.
In fact, the custom of not being able to empty the pot began to rise from the Ming Dynasty, because zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, once ordered that every year when the Chinese New Year's Eve, each family must put some food in the pot, and the pot cannot be empty.
The reason why he gave such an order, in addition to emphasizing the above meaning, was actually related to an experience in Zhu Yuanzhang's childhood.
Remember the story of Zhu Yuanzhang stealing and eating cattle when he herded cattle for the rich man?
Although Zhu Yuanzhang was very clever and made up a lie to deceive the rich man, he was eventually discovered, so Zhu Yuanzhang not only lost his job of herding cattle, but his father also owed a huge debt.
By the night of the Chinese New Year's Eve of the year, the family could only go hungry. Zhu Yuanzhang was really hungry, so he decided to steal something from someone else's house to eat.
In fact, if you think about it, he even dared to kill the landlord's calves to eat, and it was normal to steal some food when he was extremely hungry.
However, he searched for several in a row, and the pot was empty, which made him very angry. When he came to the last house exhausted, he found two steamed buns in the pot, which saved his life.
That's why he would only give such an order after he ascended the throne.
Of course, the story of Zhu Yuanzhang stealing steamed bread from a pot is a folklore and has no historical basis. However Chinese New Year's Eve the custom of not being able to empty the pot at night was handed down from this time.
Later generations summed up the three voids of "empty room", "empty lamp" and "empty pot", and finally formed this saying.
In fact, the ancients summed it up as a saying, nothing more than looking forward to a good life in the coming year, although there is no reason, there is no scientific basis, but it makes the ancients have hope and hope in their hearts.
In the feudal era, "hope" was the most precious thing, whether it was the hope of the title of the golden list, or the hope of abundant food and clothing, as long as people had hope, they could continue to live and continue until the light came.
Reference: The Compendium of Sayings