Heng Chong said, as early as December 24 of the lunar calendar to send Zaojun before, Fuzhou people began to busy for the New Year. According to Fuzhou tradition, no one kills anything after Dec. 24 of the lunar calendar, so meat to be eaten in the first month of the year has to be prepared before then. The women of the family hang the killed chickens and pigs from the ceiling, wait for them to dry out, then stew them and place them in urns to marinate them in wine and a variety of ingredients.
Hou Hengchong said such an urn of food is not only a delicacy on the reunion table, but can often be eaten until the end of the first month of the year.
On New Year's Eve, before eating the reunion dinner, people in Fuzhou have to worship their ancestors, and among the many offerings, Hou was most impressed by the horseshoes and rice cakes. Horseshoes grow in the fields and have a strong vitality. Offering horseshoes to the ancestors has the meaning of hoping that the ancestors will bless the family concerned with successors.
The rice cakes of the Fuzhou people are different from those commonly found in the local market, as they are the size of a tray and have different flavors, so every year the Fuzhou Association will order rice cakes for its members so that the townspeople can taste the distinctive Fuzhou flavor.
The rice cakes are sliced and fried for the ancestor worship, and then put on a plate for the offering table. People in Fuzhou attach great importance to the rice cake, in addition to ancestor worship, the rice cake is also a dessert at the reunion dinner table, even if not eaten, the dinner table is indispensable. In addition, red-dregs chicken, Fuzhou fish ball and meat swallow are also delicious food on the reunion dinner table of Fuzhou people.
There is another interesting New Year's custom among Fuzhou people. After the reunion dinner, parents are required to wipe the mouths of their children with toilet paper, which means that children are not blameless, and if they say something wrong, they hope that the gods will not blame them.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Fuzhou people go out to pay homage to the New Year, you must first sacrifice to the sky, gabion rice is a necessary offering. The rice is served in a gabion container with a paper red flower in the center and chopsticks around it to pray to heaven.
According to tradition, people in Fuzhou also eat a bowl of tai plane on this day. It is a noodle dish made of chicken broth with two eggs added to the noodles, which are now replaced by quail eggs. As the name suggests, it's a peaceful way to eat.
Hou Hengchong remembers that the Lantern Festival was also very lively for the people of Fuzhou. The festival was a big one, with loud drums and music, clusters of people and the sound of firecrackers pushing the festivities to a crescendo.
Hou Heng Chong returned to Singapore in 1959 at the age of 20. In the intervening decades, due to various factors, the traditional Fuzhou New Year's Eve customs have not been preserved in their entirety.
Hou said, for example, many Fuzhou families have added non-Fuzhou members, and in order to adapt to the eating habits and preferences of members of different origins, these families had to add some non-Fuzhou food, making the food on the table at the reunion no longer purely Fuzhou food.
He said, "This is the result of changing times, and older Fuzhou people should not be stubborn, and under the principle of harmony, we should make appropriate adjustments in line with the times."
Old Shanghai New Year customs
The Spring Festival has been celebrated in China for thousands of years. But for a long time, the term "Spring Festival" referred to the "Lichun" of the 24 solar terms of the year. Until the Xinhai Revolution overthrew Manchu rule, the Republic of China was founded, Sun Yat-sen ordered the country to change to the solar calendar, and then, the New Year should be replaced in the solar New Year's Day. However, the lunar New Year has become a traditional festival celebrated by all people, solid, deep customs and national culture, is difficult to change. The celebration of the Lunar New Year is still going strong year after year. As a result of the emergence of a new solar calendar New Year's Day, in order to show the difference, since the Republic of China, the Lunar New Year has been moved to the festival of the "Spring Festival" of the name.
In the old days, from December 23 of the lunar calendar into the "New Year", has to continue to the first month of the Lantern Festival ended, but also formed a set of fixed programs. Let's take a look at how the city of Shanghai "celebrated the New Year" in the old days.
Lunar Lunar month 24, that is, December 24, for the "God of the stove" to the sky to play the day, so the night of the twenty-third, every family to "send stove", "sacrificial stove", celebrate the New Year! This is the beginning of the celebration of the New Year. It is the night of each household or worship God of the stove in the hall, more in the pasted God of the stove on the kitchen stove, for wine, fruit, but also for water chestnuts, water chestnuts, as well as good fish, good meat, there are bamboo lyrics so that: "Fame, fortune and prosperity, less right and wrong, all the grips of God blessing silently rely on each other. This day, the discretionary offering nothing else, fish to buy fresh meat to buy fat."
The god of the stove to heaven is to report to the jade emperor in a year of good and bad on earth, the faults of the people, in order to avoid him to say too much, so "send the stove" when people also offer with caramel sugar made of sugar, etc., it is said that for him to eat the sticky teeth, speech is not clear, and even can be less, do not say bad things about the earth. "send stove" when each family to point on the incense and candles, is the night, the house smoke, colorful offerings dazzling, over the New Year's atmosphere all of a sudden came.
The twenty-fifth day of the Lunar New Year is the day when the gods come down. According to tradition, each family dusted and swept inside and outside, clearing a year's accumulation of dust, clean up the usual pile of debris, etc. This is quite serious. This is a very serious action, in today's terms, it is an active, regulated and modeled mass hygiene campaign. After this day's work, every household nasty big to go, supplies than before well, inside and outside the show fresh look, is like a new year's appearance.
Also from this day onwards, families began to busy themselves with all aspects of the New Year's tension. The first thing is to buy and prepare enough food for the New Year. Each household must also grind powder, for the package dumplings, some families and Tuan powder homemade rice cakes. The former is to take "reunion" meaning, the latter can eat "happy", "high year". Next is to prepare new clothes, new hats, new shoes. People may generally wear old things throughout the year, but in the New Year is sure to turn over the "line"; again is to begin to buy spring couplets, buy New Year's paintings, buy "door god", to be posted on the door of the head of the household, upstairs and downstairs. During this period, in order to supply the needs of the public, the market sells these things in a very rich variety. Each family is also a need, such as buying Spring Festival couplets, shopkeepers choose "prosperous business through the four seas, the source of prosperity up to the three rivers", the general household is more often choose "days and months to increase the life of the people, spring full of Qiankun Fukumanyuan" and so on.
This period is also the store in the middle of the year the busiest time, on the one hand, when business is booming, the most prosperous sales season, on the other hand, the end of the year is the year to clean up the accounts, to the owed households to ask for the arrears of the period. So each family sent specialists to handle this matter, the city has appeared a rather large-scale "debt collection" team: "Accounts in the hands of the bag, traveling through the street east to the west of the alley. Stepping into the heavy door, he called out to answer, Mr. The debt to be returned to the full." There are those who are very quick to pay back the bill, but there are many who cannot pay back the bill on time for various reasons. The debt collectors are burdened with a heavy responsibility to pursue, often day and night action, night, regardless of the cold of five nights.
In the case of those who are unable to pay their bills on time, there are actually many who are completely unable to pay their bills. These people in addition to the accounts owed to the store, it is likely that they also owe private debt. The end of the year is also the time when most debts are repaid, so these people are faced with the pressure of collecting money from both sides. However, according to customary practice, debt collection, debt collection only to New Year's Eve until the New Year can not be discussed, otherwise responsible for self-seeking "bad luck", in has been unlucky. Therefore, to hide accounts, debt collectors, New Year's Eve is the last hurdle, such as escaping this hurdle, next year is another story. So they have been with the bill collectors, debt collectors maneuver, by all means to get through this New Year's Eve off: "A hundred holes and thousands of debtors to come, no plan and difficult to return. I have no choice but to take refuge on the stage today and get rid of them after this dawn."
But apart from the poor people like those mentioned above, on the whole, the coming of the New Year is a time of extraordinary joy and exuberance. After all the aforementioned preparations, the daily-anticipated New Year's Eve finally came into sight, and the New Year's celebration came to a climax.
The beauty of New Year's Eve is the sunset. In the evening, all the elders and children of the family gather in the house, and even those who are far away from home try to return home before then to celebrate the New Year with their families. We sit together under the lights, with the "New Year's Eve dinner", eating and drinking, laughing and joking, this meal continues longer. This is a year of hard work to the end of the enjoyment of the joy of family, so the name is "family happy".
This night immediately following the New Year, so many family elders, after the New Year's Eve dinner, do not go to bed, around the stove to observe the New Year. It is also a time to talk, laugh and eat miscellaneous food. People will not feel the night deeper and longer. By midnight, some people will also go to the city temple to burn "first incense".
Till the rooster crows and the day dawns, men, women and children of all households put on new clothes, new hats and new shoes, and worship heaven and earth and their ancestors in the hall where the offerings have already been set up. Then the young and the young all pay New Year's greetings to their parents, parents to the children scattered to the year before already prepared for the New Year's money, which is the children have long been looking forward to, so finally happy to hand into the bag. Then the door is opened and explosions are set off to welcome the new year, and neighbors meet and greet each other to celebrate the new year.
Since the first day of each day, it is the period of relatives and friends to visit the New Year. Guests come with gifts, hospitality must please drink "Yuanbao tea", is the tea put on the green fruit or tea lid on top of a green fruit. Also use the gold lacquer plate with fruit offerings to the guests, the mouth said "congratulations more like this". And must be invited to eat wine and rice. At that time, the elders who see the younger generation are to send the New Year's money, which is not a small burden on the economically disadvantaged, not inevitably. However, this kind of New Year's greetings, to the end of the Qing Dynasty in Shanghai has been simplified. Those who had a lot of contacts went out to pay their New Year's greetings, and often did not enter the door, but only threw a thorn in the side, as if they had come to congratulate the New Year, which could save on socializing and expenses: "Changing the peach symbols in new colors, and a short set of robes in front of the door. The most important thing is that people are not afraid of breaking their backs so often, so they are in a hurry to throw a thorn as a New Year's greeting."
In addition to the New Year's Eve, the rest of the year is spent on a variety of trips and recreational activities to "celebrate" the New Year. The most popular places to go are the City God Temple and the connected West Garden (i.e. Yuyuan Garden): "There is nothing to do in the New Year, and I walk across the nine curved bridges in the garden. Suddenly I heard the children clapping their hands together, whose harrier was swinging in the middle of the day." However, since the establishment of the modern rental territory, the colorful Ten Mile Ocean Park has infinite charm, and has become a good place for New Year's fun, especially for those who live outside the Ocean Park: "People in the city love to go to the Ocean Park, and people outside the city strive to enter the Temple Garden. At the same time the general look happy, we are metaphorical in the wordless"; and also outside the theater, listening to books, drinking tea. After the opening of the port on the ocean field inside and outside the wind of prostitution is very prevalent, there are some people will take this period for sex tourism, so busy fireworks everywhere: "New Year's weather mirror new grinding, throwing money as fast as a shuttle. Chu pavilion Qin building thousands of places, fruit plate opening laughter"; of course, more people often stay at home, indoor music can be found, such as inviting friends and relatives to build "square city", drumming and playing the qin, pulling the self-singing, etc.: "food and fresh clothes to enjoy the year more, the Qian people throw stabbing with a common name. Every house is closed for three days, not the sound of cards or the sound of drums."
To the fifth day of the first month, for the God of Wealth (commonly known as "road head god") birthday, all over the world there are "picking up the God of Wealth", picking up the "God of Wealth of the Five Roads (to take the east and west, south, north and south of the five roads)". The "God of Fortune", the "God of Five Roads", and the "God of the Roads" are celebrated everywhere. God of Fortune unified "wealth", everyone related, especially the opening of the business for the wealth, so they celebrate the most energetic. Shanghai has long been a prosperous southeast of the big Shangyi, merchants can be found everywhere, the celebration of the first five days of the particularly fierce can also be imagined. Merchants to receive the God of Fortune more for three animals: pig head, carp, rooster. Carp, harmonic "Liyu", especially popular. As early as a few days ago, the streets from the countryside in the townspeople, selling fresh carp to the families, carp is also known as "Yuanbao fish", so it is called "send Yuanbao."
The first five hours, the merchant hall hangs up the new image of Zhao Gongyuan Shuai, in addition to the three animals, the rest of the offerings are very rich. The incense and candles were lit, and the light shone brightly in the hall. Then inside and outside the household firecrackers, one after another, the whole city boom, sound vibration for hundreds of miles. And continuous, its sound, the intensity of the momentum is too early on the first day of dawn: "firecrackers connected to the sound, the God of Wealth is busy **** scramble to welcome. Just want business this year is good, pick up and drop off why not to the five o'clock."
Finally came to the fifteenth Lantern Festival. Fifteen full moon, just the meaning of reunion, is great luck. This day, every family must eat "Lantern Festival", that is, dumplings, is to take the reunion, the meaning of good luck. But the Lantern Festival also lies in the "lights", so it is also known as the "Lantern Festival". Is the day of households, stores and stores hanging lights in front of the door, temples, gardens, plazas and other public **** premises, but also large lights and colors. After sunset, ten thousand lights are released, even pieces of even the city, the red light shining sky. Lanterns in a variety of shapes, there are various colors of lanterns, a variety of plant lights, animal lights, character lights, story lights, etc., Shanghai, the most common rabbit lamps, lanterns, horse lanterns, the largest, the most wonderful for the "dragon lanterns": the dragon body has a head and a tail, scales flashing, *** long 9 sections, under the bearings to the handle by the dragon dancers to manipulate. And by the special person holding a large bead like "rolling lamp", and the dragon body around, chasing, and even fighting, they *** dance in the streets and alleys of Shanghai.
Then men, women and children in groups out of the appearance of lights. City God Temple and the West Garden is another center of activity. The pavilions are decorated with lights, inside and outside the bright. In the garden of the big rocky hill, but also set off fireworks, the most attractive. Come here the audience shoulder to shoulder, all smiling. This festival in addition to see the lights, to appreciate a special "popularity": the so-called "ten miles of curtains are not rolled, look at the lights to see the lights of people," is that unique mood. Lantern night of the fierce has been to extend until the end of the night, to the end of the lights, the crowd began to slowly walk home. One theory is that this day is also the day of the return of the god of the stove, then go home just to catch the stove master.
The year's Spring Festival celebrations come to a close in the coming dawn. (Article/Zheng Zuan)
Customs of the Spring Festival in Chongming
The Spring Festival is a major festival in China's folklore, the first of the four seasons of the year, so it is particularly valued by the people. As the saying goes: "Hundreds of miles of different winds, thousands of miles of different customs". Because of the county's unique geography, so the Spring Festival customs are slightly different from place to place. Now collect some of the past years before and after the Spring Festival scenes, footage and readers of the gentleman together with the melting in the strong feelings of the countryside with the drunk.
Twenty-four night
From December 23 of the lunar calendar, people who have worked hard for a year for a good Spring Festival began to get busy. The night of December 13th or 24th on the lunar calendar is collectively known as the "24th Night". According to legend, this day is the day when Zaojun goes to heaven, and it is a common custom to send Zaojun to heaven. People in this night with "rolled silver bag" (with green vegetables and mushrooms, tofu, etc. cooked as a filling, and then wrapped into a hundred leaves), "twenty-four sugar", red beans and rice as a sacrificial food, lighted incense and candles, offerings for the Zaojun, and prepare paper money, tie colorful bridges, kowtowing and worship, and then firecrackers, the Zaojun statue and the front curtains (commonly known as the "string of joy") burned, the head of the household to the image of the king to say something to himself, such as "good things to play in the sky, to protect the safety of the lower world" and other auspicious words of prayer. and other auspicious words to pray. This custom has now been removed, but the ancient custom of eating azuki bean rice and rolling silver bags still exists. After the twenty-fourth night, families are busier and busier, inside and outside the cleaning, commonly known as dusting the eaves dust, each family is busy washing bedding tents, brewing, fried peanuts and beans, and purchasing food with things. It is common for people in both urban and rural areas of the island to grind flour and steam cakes, a custom that continues to this day. Since the words "gao" and "gao" are homophones, it is a good idea for people to be high every year. The method of making cakes varies in different parts of the county. Shangsha mainly steams muffins, the central part steams sticky cakes, and Shimousha mainly steams pug-soled cakes; while poor people use sorghum flour and white corn as the main raw materials for steaming cakes. In addition, people have to prepare some tin foil, paper money, incense, candles, yuanbao, tea and fruit and other things as offerings to honor the gods. A few days before New Year's Eve, people also want to put up new spring couplets, hanging ancestor, the ancestors of the statue hung on the wall of the main wall of the hall, set up offerings, to be a New Year's Eve, light incense and candles, so that the descendants to look up to. Before New Year's Eve, people also play hoarding, that is, the lime in a sack, to the ground print, hoping that the next year grain silo. These activities are now gone. Some farmers will also be the city's garbage and useless chores and weeds piled up to the field, light a fire to burn, in order to the next year auspicious, safe and sound.
New Year's Eve
The 30th day of the 12th lunar month is New Year's Eve, commonly known as New Year's Eve. On this day, all the New Year's furnishings are set up, such as writing spring couplets and posting door gods. In the evening, the whole family gathered around to eat New Year's Eve dinner, dishes far more sumptuous than usual, the main dish with the heart of vegetables, tofu, etc., roasted with a hundred leaves rolled wrapped, known as the roll of money bundles, to show that the coming year, the source of wealth rolled in. This is the happiest night of the year for children, as their parents and elders give them money for the new year. In the old society, no money in this day is difficult, according to the old rules, the year the debt to clear that year, the end of the year to discuss the debt, to the first of the year can not be forced to discuss, until the beginning of February after the fall of the lamp to discuss the debt, so the debtor in the New Year's Eve sent around to collect the debt, can not afford to pay the debt of the people had to hide around, can not return to their homes to the first of the year in order to go home. So in the old days, there was a "good year off food households, no money sad" proverb.
Spring Festival
The first day of the first month of the lunar calendar for the Spring Festival, commonly known as the New Year. The first thing to do early in the morning is to set off firecrackers, called "open the door cannon", the original meaning of which is to drive away evil spirits, and later contains the meaning of opening the door to good luck, high rise and wealth. New Year's Eve, adults and children put on new clothes and hats, dressed neatly, the whole family sat around the table, *** into a hearty breakfast, mainly vegetarian, plus dumplings (round), sugar rice cakes, to show that the whole family reunion, year high, and will last year's twenty-fourth night of a bowl of adzuki bean rice into the breakfast, commonly known as the "Chennian rice," meaning that every other year has a surplus of good taste. After breakfast, the children to neighbors, friends and relatives, elders, one by one, greetings. The first day of the first month of the taboo is quite a lot, can not move the knife, can not splash water, can not go to the water bridge to pan the rice, can not sweep the floor, can not open the back door, can not move the firewood, can not export slurs, can not hit, can not sleep too late and so on. Even cooking firewood to cook vegetables with sesame sticks, soybean sticks, etc. in the stove hall crackling sound, the more fire, the more auspicious, the forecast of this year's prosperity, section of the high. In addition, the morning of the third and fifth of the new year, every family should burn breakfast, before the meal to light incense and candles, in order to pray for the whole family prosperity and peace.
Old times, a Spring Festival beggars up. There is a kind of beggar, they are not because of the poverty of the family to go begging, but for filial piety. According to legend, the elderly live to 9981 years old, there is a ghost gate, only ate the "hundred rice" can be safe and sound through this pass. So the family has the old man filial piety men and women in the first day of the new year out of the house to beg for food to their parents to eat. There is another kind of beggar commonly known as "beggar", they beg in a funny way. Some beggars with red paper wrapped with a head of vegetables hanging on bamboo poles, every door to a said head of vegetables to, business is good, pleading for alms, which is called "send head of vegetables". Some use paper and bamboo wire made into a cow, to the door of the family to say all the good words, auspicious words, in order to seek alms, which is called "send spring cow"; some holding a holly or cypress branches, hanging some small bells on the branches after the ancient money, said that the family will be like a money tree in the new year, as the money comes, which is called "shaking the money tree"; there are beggars dressed in Buddhist shirts, wearing a mask of the God of Fortune in the disguise of the God of Fortune to the family of the bodhisattva. Inside the courtyard of the house running wildly jumping, to show that the god of wealth bodhisattva came, this is called "jumping god of wealth". Although the Chongming people lived in poverty in the old society, they were still kind to these beggars and gave them some dried food and other foodstuffs. After the liberation of these enterprises have long been extinct.
In the view of the Hainanese, all the folklore is according to the will of man, man's desire, man-made, so, in the Hainanese dialect, all the folklore behavior in front of the addition of a "to do" word, such as do Qingming, do relatives (i.e., marriage), and the northern people "New Year! ", the Hainanese dialect called "do year". It should be noted that "do year" refers to "do the old year" that is, the Spring Festival. The north said on New Year's Day, Hainan called "do new year". But in Hainan countryside, "New Year" is not the year to "do".
Hainan proverb "year afraid of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the month afraid of fifteen". After the Mid-Autumn Festival, the countryside is preparing to "do the year": castration rooster, filler ducks, circle family pig, ready to do the year money. In the second half of December of the lunar calendar, the atmosphere of "doing the year" is getting stronger and stronger!
First of all, the 24th of December is to send "Zao Gong". Legend has it that "Zao Gong" is the god sent by the Jade Emperor to oversee good and evil on earth, and that every year on this day he has to go up to heaven to report to the Jade Emperor. For this reason, every family uses bamboo handles or bamboo sticks to clean the front and back of the house, inside and outside the house, above and below the house, and the incense burner is also cleaned and replaced with new ashes, and at night, wine and fruit offerings are prepared for the "Zaogong" to send off.
After sending off the "Zaogong", the head of the family will be busy with the "Faichi". In the past, the townships of the "city", three hundred and sixty-five days a year, only a few days before the "city", only "hair" a "hair! The only days of the year before the "city" are "hair" and "hair"! The market was filled with three birds, gold, silver, joss sticks and candles, Jingguo sugar cakes, "dolls" (New Year's paintings), "Wangle plasters" (i.e., the street performers), chopsticks and pots, "New Year's oranges", and all kinds of clothes. "...... There are buyers as well as sellers, those who buy pork, dry vegetables, wet vegetables (i.e., seasonal vegetables), "worship" offerings, New Year's clothes, and New Year's paintings and couplets. ...... Throughout the morning, in each "market", picking a stretcher, carrying a basket, pushing a car, holding a child, the old, the young, men, women ...... people come and go, endless flow of people! The farmers are carrying their year-end goods on stretchers. Farmers pick up the New Year's goods with a stretcher and push them with a car. They have pulled out their savings from a year's hard work! The year's consumption energy is bursting out in these few days!
The words of the acquaintances of the "Niancheng" who meet each other are: "Brother two! Have the chickens fattened up yet?" "Sister-in-law! Do you have any chickens for New Year's Eve?" "Third wife! Are your children coming back for New Year's Eve?" "Er Gong! Do you have any 'New Year's letters' from your relatives in Nanyang?"
People, filled with the joy of "doing the New Year", put the purchased New Year's paintings in the living room, put the couplets on the lintel, and some people put red paper on the furniture and fruit trees to celebrate the New Year. A few days before, families are busy soaking glutinous rice, grinding rice paste, making rice cakes, Wenchang and other places are busy making rice flower candy, peanut sugar (these rice cake fruit to do a large amount of both their own to eat, but also as a gift to send, usually eat throughout the end of the first month of the year).
Every time, in the large, medium and small cities working in the dignitaries or, literati or, peddlers or, lead the car to sell pulp or, to show off their ancestors or, pockets dry also, are large cars, small cars, big bags with their wives and children back to the hometown of the long time in the city of ......
Hainan There is a saying "thirty nights - the knife and anvil shall not be idle". Because in Hainan, no matter how hard-pressed people, Lunar New Year's Eve, borrowing money to borrow rice to kill chickens and ducks, braised meat, pig's trotters, meat, vegetables, seven plates and eight bowls full of incense burner before the Eight Immortals on the table, wait for the ancestors rituals are completed, then firecrackers, wait for the meal has been cooled down before the family to eat New Year's Eve around the fireplace (commonly referred to as the "fireplace"). New Year's Eve night, men, women and children take a bath. On the evening of New Year's Eve, men, women, and children take a bath and put on new clothes, which means that they are sending off the old and welcoming the new. Even in the ticket era, usually save kerosene, starting from the evening of 30, room light, room light, night and day, for several days until dawn on the fourth day of the year. Commonly known as "hair lamps", take "add to the wealth" meaning. Thirty nights, many people "keep watch", stay up all night until the first day of Advent, then, in accordance with the hour, families scrambled to set off the New Year's Eve happy cannons, meaning "welcome the spring to receive the blessing", and then the younger generation to the elders kowtow, salute, congratulations! "The first generation will give their elders "New Year's money".
On the first day of the morning, young and old have to get up to eat "fasting rice" (i.e., for the purity and whiteness to commemorate the ancestors). "Ramadan" is not only similar to the halal food of Islam, and as the North must eat fish on New Year's Eve (year after year), as well as eating things must also have auspicious symbols, which must be stir-fried eggplant (eggplant, Hainanese words meaning better than a year), stir-fried watercress ("celery" and "hard work"). "and" diligence "resonance, praying for the whole family in the new year hard work), long fans (implying that the life of a long stream), yellow like a golden treasure-like dried bean curd (implying wealth) ......
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, there are many taboos: you can't pick water (on New Year's Eve, you have to pick the tank full), you can't sweep the floor (even if firecracker paper, shells and confetti sprinkled all over the floor, you can't sweep, saying that it's sweeping the "God of Wealth" away), you can't scold each other, you can't fight, you can't break utensils (which means "harmony"), you have to say that when we meet, you have to say that you want to get back to your family. "), meet shall say congratulations auspicious words ......
Hainan customs around the New Year are not the same, some places are the first two to pay tribute to the New Year, the first three or four to the tasteless, some places are the first can not be on the home to pay tribute to the New Year. Gifts to pay homage to the New Year, generally have oranges or gifts in the folder orange leaves, to show that "this year will be great luck" blessing.
The second day of the married daughter with her husband's children back to her mother's home to pay homage, such as the first year of marriage back to her mother's home to pay homage, it is self-prepared firecrackers, a string of firecrackers before entering the door in order to inform the table. Daughter son-in-law to the old man, mother-in-law to pay New Year's Eve is the most grand New Year's Eve, this day, the rest of the family (especially the elders) must be at home, to accept the congratulations. Father-in-law and mother-in-law have to prepare a sumptuous feast feast, afternoon daughter and son-in-law to go, but also to the red paper wrapped sweets, rice cakes, etc. to the daughter to do the "welcome road".
The third, some places in Hainan called "fried test", that is, on New Year's Day 30 specially more cooked dry rice, eat chicken, duck head and feet with oil frying pan fried and then eat, in order to say that last year there is something left to this year, but also said that the year has passed.