January 31 is the Chinese New Year's Eve, a festive day for family reunions. This year there is no waxing moon 30th, but Chinese New Year's Eve the "day is exhausted", that is, the last day of the waxing moon, so whether there is a 30th waxing moon or not, there will be Chinese New Year's Eve. This issue of Jinghua Story will talk about the topic that every year during the Spring Festival: the Spring Festival of old Beijingers. Here, the book reviewer also wishes everyone an auspicious Year of the Tiger.
The following is an excerpt from the Spring Festival in Beijing (Revised Edition), slightly abridged and modified from the original text. Unless otherwise noted, the illustrations used are from this book. It has been authorized by the publishing house to publish.
Author | He Daqi
Excerpt from | Anya
The Spring Festival in Beijing (Revised Edition), by He Daqi, The Commercial Press, January 2022.
The Spring Festival of the old Beijingers is the most grand event of the year. From the eighth day of the first lunar month to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, this is the climax period; it will continue until the beginning of February when the second dragon rises, which is the epilogue stage. There was almost two months before and after.
Over time, the content of the activity is bound to be very rich. From the beginning of the eighth month of the first month of the waxing moon to drink Lapa Porridge, The Annual Customs activities have followed, such as offering stoves, doing New Year goods, removing dust and dirt, pasting the Spring Festival, hanging the word "Fu", making New Year dishes, worshiping ancestral gods, praying for blessings, setting off firecrackers, driving away evil spirits, wrapping dumplings, reunion dinner, pressing the New Year's money, worshiping the New Year, visiting the factory, eating the Lantern, watching the dragon lanterns, guessing the riddles of the lanterns, watching the flowers... These are not only the customs of the old Beijingers, but also the concentrated release and display of folk customs and customs that the Chinese nation has gradually accumulated over thousands of years.
Chinese has always regarded "loyalty to the family for a long time, poetry and books for a long time" as the moral concept and code of conduct for educating future generations, as well as the principle of establishing a good family style. In order to supervise the daily behavior of the family and encourage the family to act in accordance with the rules of etiquette, there was a custom of offering to the king of the stove in the kitchen, the place where family disputes and tongues were most likely to arise, and to use him to supervise the mother-in-law, concubines and the whole family, so that everyone had a sense of awe. This also formed a national consensus, that is, the emperor of the stove should keep everyone's performance in mind, and report to the Jade Emperor at the twenty-third heavenly court of the Waxing Moon, and the Jade Emperor will personally inspect the human world, give rewards and punishments according to each person's performance, and psychologically guide people to tolerate and do good. Therefore, on the twenty-third day of the Waxing Moon, the elders will buy sugar melons and other offerings, solemnly hold a prostration and incense burning ceremony, and send the king of the stove to heaven. This seems ridiculous to today's young people, but this ritual of indoctrinating the people's customs has had a positive and benevolent significance in the agrarian society for thousands of years.
Stills from the documentary "Four Springs".
"Twenty-four sweeping houses", the twenty-fourth day of the waxing moon is also called "dust sweeping day", which is a thorough cleaning carried out before the New Year. Dismantling and washing bedding and clothes, washing utensils and furniture, dusting and dirt cobwebs, dredging open channels and ditches... Health Day for all is undoubtedly beneficial to the health of the whole people. The "patriotic health campaign" advocated by the government is also in line with this. In addition, because "dust" and "chen" are homophonous, this activity has the meaning of "removing the old and welcoming the new", which gives people the expectation of driving out the old luck, poor luck, and obscurity.
Just like people have to make up after bathing, after cleaning the courtyard, they naturally have to dress up. First of all, we must paste the Spring League, hang the word "Fu", and use big red paper to write the word "Fu" and paste it on the shadow wall of the door or the wall inside the house, on the water tank in the courtyard, and so on. Legend has it that evil spirits are afraid of fire, because the fire is red, so red can drive away ghosts. The word "Fu" symbolizes the five blessings of the coming year: the first blessing is longevity; the second blessing is wealth, wealth and status are respected; the third blessing is Kangning, physical and mental health and peace; the fourth blessing is noble moral sentiments; the five blessings are full of children and grandchildren, and the old age is dependent (some people say that it is a good death). These five blessings can be said to be the values formed by the Chinese nation for thousands of years, but they are more concentrated on the happy days of the Spring Festival.
At the same time, you also have to buy a New Year painting and paste it in the house, and the content of the New Year painting has the meaning of "blessing, Lu, Shou, and Joy". For example, the big fat boy holds a big golden red carp, which has the meaning of "auspicious and more than enough"; "magpie Dengmei" means good news to the home; pasting the big red couplet and hanging colorful hanging money is to pray for good fortune and disaster relief. In short, all the decoration preparations before the festival reflect people's pursuit of a better life in the future, which has not changed from ancient times to the present, and is the driving force for social progress. In the pace of the whole people running for a well-off life, the red-hot new year is a review of the lost year, and it is a gas station to continue to move forward.
When the decorations of the festival and the various delicacies are ready to stop, the time for the ancestor worship is reached in the thirtieth night. The portraits of the ancestors and the wooden tablets of the ancestors collected on weekdays are enshrined on the case, and the offerings are abundant, the red candles are shining, the incense burner is burning high, and the smoke and shadows are swirling and slowly drifting. The family members knelt down and prostrated their heads in order according to their generations, and the atmosphere was solemn and solemn. We children also follow the instructions of adults, prostrating our heads more than once, until the adults pull up to relax, and the young hearts gradually plant the seeds of respecting the ancestors and chasing the distant and filial piety.
Chinese New Year's Eve night reunion dinner, first of all, the whole family must come together, if there is any reason can not go home, but also leave an empty seat, put on the dishes, symbolizing that this person is also present. Home is the spiritual harbor of hard-working people, which is eternal. The dishes on the table are not only rich, but also have auspicious meanings. "Braised fish" takes the meaning of a fiery day and a rich life; "stewed chicken" takes an auspicious omen; "hot pot" prays for the next year's day when people are prosperous and prosperous... Looking at the grandparents sitting on the main seat, the parents sitting next to us, those of us who are sitting in the lower seat, waiting with anxiety, because only when the elders move chopsticks can we eat happily. These daily rules, the orderly manner of the elderly and the young, the morality of respecting the elderly and respecting the ancestors, are infiltrated and educated us all the time in every happy activity of the Spring Festival family reunion.
When I was a child, I felt happy and happy to have a big year, which made me understand a lot of things. When I think about it now, I realize that the living habits accumulated in life for thousands of years have finally formed relatively stable customs, which are embodied in the form of etiquette, and this form of etiquette contains the moral concepts, values and national spirit of our nation. Confucius said "etiquette cultivates virtue", which means that the form of etiquette can cultivate people's moral sentiments.
ancestor worship
Chinese New Year's Eve night at the table, and be cautious about the ancestors.
Cigarettes swirled around the offerings, and future generations knelt down to worship the New Year.
Ancestor worship during the Spring Festival is the most solemn and ceremonial activity.
I remember when I was young, when I arrived at Chinese New Year's Eve, the atmosphere of the New Year was already very strong, the sound of firecrackers in the alleys rose and fell, the smell of New Year's dishes wafted out of the kitchen, and the children jumped back and forth and jumped and fought happily...
In the evening, the elders of the family began to set up offering tables for the ancestors in the evening. They took out a wooden box about one meter and a half meters long and about thirty centimeters wide, and first took out two portraits of Taizu from the box, which Grandma said was called "Shadow", which was an honorific title for the ancestral relics. Both of the statues are framed on shafts and hung on the wall due north. The painting is an old lady and an old grandmother, the old lady is dressed in official clothes, and the old lady and grandmother are dressed in official women's clothes, which is very graceful and luxurious. Underneath the portrait is a long strip of plates, and the wooden tablets taken out of the wooden box in turn are arranged from the middle to the two sides according to the level of the generation. These wooden tablets, each about twenty centimeters high and six centimeters wide, are divided into two layers, inside and outside, and inserted together. Above it is written in small letters "The position of so-and-so in the manifestation examination" and "the position of the so-and-so of the manifest concubine". There is a wooden socket underneath, rectangular, four centimeters high, and when plugged in, it looks like a stone stele on the cemetery.
In front of the strip, a table of eight immortals was placed, spread on a tablecloth, and a copper incense burner was placed in the front position, which contained gray and white incense ashes, and after the offering, the incense was inserted into it and let it continue to burn. To the left and right of the incense burner are tin wax tables with bright red candles. Serve a variety of dried and fresh fruits on a tall plate, left and right, and arrange them in pairs. At this time, the mother will put the large steamed bun that has just come out of the pot, put a red dot on the center point, stack it up, also high, and put a plate on the left and right. On the floor in front of the offering table, a futon is placed for kneeling during the sacrifice. When everything is ready to stop, wait for the evening reunion dinner, the whole family gathers to hold an ancestor worship ceremony.
Chinese New Year's Eve reunion dinner
Family reunions are Chinese New Year's Eve, and chicken, duck and fish are on the table.
The dumplings came out of the pot to steam, and the fire tree silver flowers soared into the sky.
In my childhood memories, the most memorable is the New Year. For more than a month from the eighth day of the first lunar month to the second dragon in February, there are corresponding celebration activities at each time, except for various sacrifices and blessing ceremonies, most of which are based on eating, drinking, playing and having fun. The Chinese New Year's Eve meal of the Chinese New Year's Eve can be said to be the highlight of the Spring Festival.
This Chinese New Year's Eve meal is called the "reunion dinner". In the past, old Beijing was mostly a big family, three generations of grandchildren lived together, and even four generations were in the same hall, as described in Lao She's novel "Four Generations Together", a large family, more than a dozen people lived in a courtyard, ate and lived together, and the number of elders and children was also more respectful.
As soon as the Chinese New Year's Eve arrived, the family members rushed back, reunited with the family, and happily ate a Chinese New Year's Eve reunion dinner, which represented a happy year. If there are individual members who are outside and really can't come back, they must also leave a seat at the dinner table, put on the dishes, and treat them as if they were present.
For example, there must be a braised carp on the table, because "fish" and "Yu" are harmonious, indicating "every year there is more than enough"; Sixi balls are held in a basin with four large braised pork balls, symbolizing the four happy events of "Fu, Lu, Shou, and Xi"; a large bowl of braised pork belly, fat and thin, delicious and fragrant, meaning the next year's days are red and hot; a whole chicken is stewed in a casserole, steaming on the table, "chicken" and "Ji" are homophonous, symbolizing "auspicious celebrations" "The meaning of roasting lamb is to stew large pieces of lamb over low heat, fish it out and dry it to remove the water vapor, and then fry it in sesame oil and sprinkle it with pepper and salt, which is so delicious! Why use lamb? Because "sheep" is ancient and "auspicious", it has an auspicious meaning.
In the center of the table is an eight-treasure hot pot, the ingredients in it are meat and vegetarian, mainly clinker, charcoal fire to boil the soup, meaning that the future days will be warm and cheerful. Vegetarian vegetables must have mustard piers, which is a cold dish that appetizes with wine, the northern winter home dish is Cabbage, radish, so choose a good cabbage heart, a round section, pour golden mustard juice, pour rice vinegar, sesame oil, can be degreased, the color shape is like a gold yuanbao, eat a picture of auspicious. There is also a plate of "heart beauty" radish shreds, mixed with vinegar sugar, bright red water spirit, sweet and sour, crunchy to eat, but also pray for the next year's day to be sound and colorful, everything is smooth.
The staple food of Chinese New Year's Eve rice is dumplings, which means "alternating between the old and the new, and making friends with each other". The shape of the dumplings is very similar to a small yuanbao, which also means that the new year is rich, and the yuanbao rolls in. This big table reunion dinner, everything is said, it is full of people's expectations for a better life. I remember that it was almost the New Year, my mother was busy buying and firing many days in advance, and in the afternoon of Chinese New Year's Eve, the whole family would participate in making Chinese New Year's Eve meals, washing vegetables, noodles, cutting meat, chopping stuffing, it was really laughter and joy. When making dumplings, it is always grandma's own hand and filling, because whether the dumplings are delicious or not, it is all on the filling. When the bag was packed, the whole family went to battle, laughing and working around the eight immortals table, and we children also ran out and ran in excitedly, transporting the wrapped dumplings to the kitchen one by one.
In the evening, when the table meals are set up, according to the elder and young, the grandmother will sit in the north-facing south seat, followed by parents, uncles, aunts, and finally us children. Eating is also grandma first move chopsticks, and then everyone begins to eat and drink, the family rules must be followed.
After the meal, we set off firecrackers in the courtyard with lanterns, and we had to stay up until the early morning of the first day of the new year, when the elders gave us the money to press the old age, until we really couldn't stay up, so we went to bed to rest, and fell asleep in the incessant sound of firecrackers.
Money
On the first day of the Chinese New Year, the new year is worshipped, and the family is full of joy.
The juniors came together to perform a big gift, and the red envelope pressed the year to send deep affection.
When I was a child, the most important thing I looked forward to was the New Year. Because there are many snacks that you can't eat on weekdays, hearty meals, toys that you can't see, and you can wear new clothes and new hats, there are too many happy things. Especially the elders and relatives and friends, when they pay new year's greetings, they will give their children money, and when they visit the factory temple fair, they can buy what they want to buy, and when they have money in their pockets, they can be the masters of their own homes.
My family is a big family, grandma, uncle, aunt, father, mother, and our big group of children all live together. The first thing to do in the first year is to pray for the New Year first, and go to the living room to kowtow to the elders who have already sat down. Because Grandpa had passed away and Grandma was the head of the family, I wore the new clothes my mother had made, knelt down on my knees against Grandma, and said, "Grandma's New Year is auspicious!" Grandma smiled kindly and said, "Get up! "Hand over a red envelope that has been prepared long ago." Then kowtow to parents, aunts, uncles in turn, the adults are full of smiles, and the children will have to pay for the years after prostrating their heads. Young and old are full of joy and the whole family is happy.
In the second year of junior high school, I began to go to relatives, and first went to my grandmother's house to pay respects to the New Year. Grandma's family lived in the grinding factory outside Harder's Gate at that time, more than our family. Grandpa, grandmother, aunt, uncle, and relatives of all disciplines must have dozens of people. Kowtowing is a must, but it is not in vain, the bag is stuffed with red envelopes, and all that is heard is the blessing and encouragement of the elders. Grandma loved to say, "Study well, grow up and have a career, and do great things!" "At that time, I was young, and I listened to it only as a promise, and I didn't take these words to heart, just thinking about what toys and snacks I could buy with the money in my pocket. Now that I think about it, it was all the love of the elders!
Speaking of the history of pressing old money, that is a long time. In the Han Dynasty, there are records that there is a legend that there is an evil ghost called "Qi", every Chinese New Year's Eve night when the child is asleep, he quietly invades the room from the crack in the door, runs to the bed and stretches out his white hand, touches the child's head, and the child is frightened and cries, so that he gets a high fever and does not go away, so that he is stupid. In order to protect their children, parents sit on the edge of the bed with the lights on, which is said to be the origin of the "keeping the age" on the thirtieth night. Later, in Jiaxing Province, a couple who had children wrapped eight copper coins in red paper and handed them to their children to play, but they did not expect that the "qi" who came out late at night saw the red paper and copper coins, and they were frightened to turn their heads and flee, and there was no trace. This incident soon spread, and people followed the example of wrapping money in red paper to give money to children to suppress evil spirits, because "qi" and "year" are homophonous, and slowly evolved into "pressing the old money" and became a traditional Chinese custom.
This old money not only has the meaning of warding off evil spirits and driving away demons, but also the elders' care and love for the next generation, and the good wishes for the health and peace of the next generation. In the Qing Dynasty, there was a poem called "Pressing the Year Money", in which it was written: "One hundred and ten coins wear a long colored thread, and then divide them into their own collection." Discuss the price of firecrackers, and Tian Dejiao is busy all night. "A scene of adults and children living happily together and watching the old age jumped on the paper.
In the matter of giving money to the old age, a lot of attention was added later. For example, the number should have an auspicious meaning, if you give sixty-six yuan, take the meaning of "six six big shun"; if you give eighty-eight yuan, take the meaning of "hair"; after changing to paper money, the elders like to go to the bank to exchange new banknotes connected to the face number to the children, "wish the children good luck". All of these are the ardent sustenance of the elders to the future generations, and are a form of nian culture. When people are young, they may only know that someone gives red envelopes for fun, but when they become adults, they think back that it is this bit of etiquette that has formed a tradition of Chinese civilization with a long history, continuous blood, inheritance and longevity, which adds joy to the Spring Festival festival. Seventy years have passed, and it is my turn to press the money for my grandchildren and granddaughters, and in the red envelope, it is also my blessings and expectations.
Bye bye
At the beginning of the first month of the new month, relatives and friends are worshipped, and the elderly and young are orderly and different.
Make a prostration of the head auspicious, congratulations on the New Year music and harmony.
New Year's Greetings are a traditional Chinese custom, a way to greet the old and welcome the new, and to express good wishes to each other.
The custom of worshiping the New Year has a history of more than 2,000 years, as early as the Han Dynasty, there was the saying of worshiping the New Year, and in the Tang Dynasty it began to prevail, from the relatives of the emperor and the state, the princes and nobles, down to the common people, all sentient beings, and to the first day of the first lunar month, they all had to pay homage to each other. The Song Dynasty poet Zheng Gangzhong wrote in his poem: "The village witch blows the horns and the heavens will dawn, and the lanes will be early in the year." It can be seen that this New Year's Greeting is the first important thing to open the door. Chinese New Year's Eve keep the age to the time of intercourse, it is the first day of the New Year, after dawn the children have to change into new clothes, the adults are also dressed neatly, groomed and dressed, the new year and new atmosphere, a good omen.
When I was a child, I had to first pay homage to my grandmother, who was the highest in the family, prostrate on my knees, wish my grandmother health and longevity, and then give gifts to my parents, uncles, and aunts in turn, because there are too many elders in the family, so in addition to grandma, other elders will perform the salute. When making a swing, hold a fist with your right hand, form a palm with your left hand, and hold your right fist with your left hand. Because the right hand is the attacking hand, wrapped up to show goodwill, sincerity, respect, this can not be wrong, if the right hand to hold the left hand is unlucky. After holding hands, shake up and down, over the head, down over the knees, wish the elders in the family auspicious and safe, all the best, after the family to go out of the courtyard door, meet the neighbors, we must make each other congratulations, "Good New Year" sound is endless, a festive and peaceful.
My family has many relatives and friends, so I must prepare New Year's gifts before Chinese New Year's Eve, and buy a number of snack boxes at The Fulan Zhai on the west side of the West Fourth Arch Road, so that each family cannot be empty-handed. In addition to the "fine eight pieces" in the snack box, you also need to buy some tea, fruits, wine, etc., and the things you mention vary from person to person, and you can send them selectively.
In the second year of junior high school, I will go to my grandparents' house, which is the day when I married my daughter and returned to my mother's house. When I saw my grandparents, I knelt down first and prostrated my head, and I also had to say auspicious words such as wishing the second elder a long life, and my grandparents always smiled and praised them, and then they gave money to press the old age, and when they saw their uncles and aunts, they also had to make a salute, and everyone was happy and harmonious. When I arrived at my grandmother's house, I was going to stay for lunch. Grandma's New Year dishes are different from ours, and they have a different flavor. I especially remember a vegetarian dish, which was stir-fried with shredded tofu and shredded carrots and various ingredients, dried with cooked sesame seeds, and served on the table with a fragrant aroma, so delicious!
The number of old Beijing New Year's greetings can be more, men meet each other with their left hands and hold their right fists, women meet to press their right hands on the left hand and put it on the right waist to shake, and the legs have to be half squatted, this etiquette is called "bye-bye". Seeing the elders is generally a prostration ceremony, and the ordinary generations see each other to do or worship each other, of course, like my parents, there are many elders, and the previous generation will be improved into a bow. When you arrive at the homes of important relatives and friends, you first bow three times to the Buddha statue, then to the ancestral tablets and images three times, and then salute the elders and children in the house in turn. When visiting the New Year, we should also pay attention to not saying taboo things, illness, death, divorce, etc. should be avoided, say more happy and happy things, and use more auspicious words.
The Spring Festival New Year's Greeting, the relatives and friends who rarely see each other in a year have gone through, which can enhance feelings, integrate into family affection, care for each other, and wish each other well, which is an excellent opportunity for harmonious interpersonal relations in old Beijing.
With the development of society and the progress of science and technology, people's current lifestyles and ideological concepts have also changed, and the traditional way of new year worship has gradually faded out of people's lives and replaced by mobile phone WeChat to pay homage to the New Year. Although the words are there, it seems that the human touch is much lighter.
This article is an authorized excerpt from the Spring Festival in Beijing (revised version), slightly abridged from the original text, and the illustrations used in the article are from this book. It has been authorized by the publishing house to publish. Original author: He Daqi; Excerpt: An Ye; Editor: Qingqingzi; Introduction Proofreader: Lu Qian. Without the written authorization of the Beijing News, it shall not be reproduced, and welcome to forward to the circle of friends.