Network Chinese New Year· Spring Festival 丨 New Year's Eve: Welcome the God of Vesta!

"Greeting the God of Vesta and sending the God of Fire", "Receiving the Five Roads", "Eating 'Folding Luo'", and "Tying up the Fire God" are all customs of the fourth day of the Chinese New Year. Folding is a hodgepodge of meals left over from a few days; "throwing poverty" is cleaning the room and collecting garbage into one place... What are the customs and taboos of the fourth year of the first year? Let's learn together!

The custom of the fourth day of the Chinese New Year

Greet God, receive God

The fourth day of the Lunar New Year is the time when the gods return to earth from the celestial realm. There is a saying that "sending The Gods early, receiving the Gods late", the so-called sending of the gods should start early in the morning, and it is not too late to receive the gods in the afternoon. In terms of offerings, the three animals, fruits, wine and vegetables should be prepared, and incense should be burned and candles should be burned to burn gold clothes. If the boss wants to "fire" someone, he will not invite him to worship God on this day. From the first to the fourth day of the first grade, the shops are closed, and women do not need needles and threads.

On the eve of the fourth day of the first lunar month, prepare sacrifices, cakes, fruits, incense candles and other items, and beat gongs and drums to burn incense and pray, reverently and respectfully to the god of wealth. The first five days are said to be the birthday of the god of wealth, in order to compete for profits, so it preceded the fourth day of the first month, known as "grabbing the road head", also known as "receiving the god of wealth". Whoever receives the god of wealth must offer the sheep's head and carp, the sheep's head has the meaning of "auspicious", and the carp is the harmonic sound of "fish" and "Yu", and the poem is auspicious. People believe that as long as they can get the apparition of the god of wealth, they can get rich. Therefore, every New Year," people open doors and windows, light incense and firecrackers, light fireworks, and welcome the god of wealth at 50:00 on the first day of the first lunar month.

Connect five ways

Connecting the five roads, originally referring to the five roads of the gods, later evolved into the five roads of the god of wealth. In the old days, after the Spring Festival holiday, merchants generally received the five-way god of wealth on the evening of the fourth day of the first month, and opened the market on the fifth day of the first month to make a fortune.

The owner of the five roads must bring incense candles to the East, West, South, North, and Middle Five Directions of the Fortuna Hall to ask for pick-up, and every time the God of Wealth is received, a string of hundred cannons is fired in front of the door. After all was received, the master and the companions prayed to the god of wealth in turn, and after the worship, the mantle on the original offering table was cremated to show his respect to the god of wealth. The ceremony is over.

Sheep Day

The fourth day of the first lunar month is the "Sheep Day" of the creation myth of Nuwa. The Jin Dynasty Dong Xun's "Asking Etiquette" says: "The first day of the first month is a chicken, the second day is a dog, the third day is a pig, the fourth day is a sheep, the fifth day is a cow, the sixth day is a horse, and the seventh day is a man." Zhengdan paints chickens at the door, and sticks people to the tent for seven days. "In the old imperial calendar, the sheep are occupied, so it is often said that "three sheep (yang) kaitai" is a symbol of auspiciousness and a day to welcome the god of Vesta back to the folk.

Folk taboos on the fourth day of the Chinese New Year

1

Avoid going far away

Avoid going far away, this day is the day of the folk custom to receive the gods, to welcome the gods, the king of the stove and the god of the family to come back to protect the family, the king of the stove will be named, so it is not appropriate to go out. The stove prince had to check the household registration, so every household had to stay at home, prepare rich fruits, burn incense, light candles, and set off firecrackers to show their welcome.

Old Beijing has the custom of the fourth taboo of the first year, but nephews can go to see their aunts, "uncles, generations of relatives, broken bones and tendons, regardless of each other's family." "Grandma has a status at home, which is a characteristic of Chinese folklore.

2

Do not shave your head

The shaver worked from the early morning of the thirtieth, whether he shaved his head and braided, washed and cut the man's head, and worked all night until the morning of the first day. At that time, most of the shaving masters were Baodi people, and at dawn they rolled up their bags and returned to their hometowns, shaved their heads again, and could not find the master. This is to urge people to do all the cleaning and sanitation work before the New Year.

3

Don't break things

Usually, breaking utensils is taboo, and breaking utensils in the New Year is even more a bad sign. In the old times, folklore believed that if the utensils were broken in the first month, there would be bad fortunes in the new year. Therefore, when breaking the utensils, we must quickly say "the age (broken) years (broken) peace" or "the more you fight, the more you fight", "the old does not go to the new and do not come", etc., as a solution.

Of course, the times have progressed, and many folk customs have also changed, and the list here is also to let everyone know more about different customs and habits. Most importantly, we would like to wish everyone a smooth and smooth new year, a lot of income, and a lot of harvest.

Edited and produced by @Xi'an.com V

Editor: Huang Min

Audit: Ma Fang

Final Judgement: Dong Yue