The Chinese New Year celebrations are a busy and lively event for Guangzhou people.
Guangzhou has entered the New Year's Eve since the day of "thanking the stove" on the 23rd day of the Lunar New Year, and every day's activities are tightly scheduled. The daily activities are tightly arranged. That is to say, on the 23rd day of the month to thank the stove, on the 24th day of the month to start frying, on the 25th day of the month to steam the cake, on the 26th day of the month to sweep the end of the day, on the 27th day of the month to wash the yi (yi, the dialect of Guangzhou, i.e., things), on the 28th day of the month to wrap the rice dumplings, on the 29th day to put up the Spring Festival couplets, and on the 30th day to reunite with the year. This is the arrangement before the festival.
Thanks for the stove: On the night of the twenty-third day of the Lunar New Year, the Zaojun master is sent to heaven, which is called "thanks for the stove", "sending the stove", or "sacrificing the stove". The tribute for Zaosai includes: a bowl of rice, two bricks of sugar, a letter of interest, a bowl of water, a gift of roasted pork, some sugarcane, oranges, paper money, etc. (Speaking of tribute, I remember the time when I was a child and the time when I was a child. (Speaking of tribute, I remembered a saying of my grandmother when I was a child: "Winter citrus, year orange, thank you for the stove orange". (Speaking of tribute, I remembered my grandmother's saying when I was little: "Winter mandarin, New Year's orange, thank you for the stove orange".) And write a good "Zaojun sparse", to the effect that the Zaojun please, ask him to go up to the sky to say good things, down to the world to ensure peace.
From the day of Zaobao, it is the beginning of the New Year, and people are busy. I don't think many people know such a custom anymore. The Guangdong East Notes: "Guangzhou's custom, the end of the year to fiercely fire glutinous grain, called gun Valley, to fry the pile of heart filling; frying pile of the glutinous powder for the size of the round into the oil effect of the first to worship and feed friends and relatives, but also to the glutinous rice disk knot flowers into the oil frying, called the ten flowers; powder mixed with sugar sand into the lard frying, the name of the sand congestion." The things that will probably be opened for frying will be cannon valley, pan-fried heap, etc.
Twenty-five steamed cakes: In addition to steaming rice cakes, Guangzhou City also likes to make turnip cakes, London cakes, horseshoe cakes, nine-layer cakes and so on, which means "New Year step by step". Sweeping the house on the 26th in order to welcome the New Year in a clean and tidy manner. There are also "spring dust song": Lunar New Year 23, sun washed clothes; Lunar New Year 24, clean room side of the ground; Lunar New Year 25, sweeping dust; Lunar New Year 26, clean poultry house; Lunar New Year 27, inside and outside of the wash back to one; Lunar New Year 28, household goods to wipe a wipe; Lunar New Year 29, dirty things are moved away.
As for the twenty-eighth wrapping dumplings, I have never heard of, asked the old man at home, they all said that there is no such custom in Guangzhou, before it is unknown, and then read some information, such a custom in the western part of Guangdong Province is still retained. Our family will go to buy squid, hairy vegetables, mushrooms, shrimp, vermicelli and other New Year's goods on the 28th. Posting Spring Festival couplets on the twenty-ninth day of the month includes posting door pairs, banners, and monograms. Monograms mostly read: "Heavenly officials bestow blessings", "Happy New Year", "All the best", "Peace in and out", "Congratulations and wealth". "Congratulations and wealth". These slogans are posted according to the position of the gods. On the 30th day of the New Year's Reunion, the housewives will be very busy with subdividing chickens and killing ducks, paying homage to heaven and earth, ancestors, and receiving the God of Fortune. In the evening, the family eats a New Year's dinner, and then the new year is officially launched.
There is another traditional custom that the Guangzhou people call "opening the door to firecrackers". New Year's Eve vigil until late at night, welcome Hou good time, to the time of the cross, they open the door to say "open the door," or stick on the red background of the "open the door to good luck" slogan, burn the door cannon. At this time, every family, lighting firecrackers. Some people in order to "grab the head of the cannon", lift a few minutes to fire the cannon. Other people heard the lead, a moment of firecrackers, deafening, lasted a few hours. Only after two or three points gradually quieted down. More than four o'clock, the firecrackers once again, to the dawn square stop. Open the door to go out, the door of the house, the streets and alleys, are covered with a layer of star broken firecrackers red paper, adding a lot of festive atmosphere. However, nowadays, due to the banning of firecrackers in Guangzhou, there is no longer such a New Year's Eve custom. Although there are still some people who are not afraid to open the door to firecrackers, it is not as lively as in the past. This activity is missing, and I always feel that the atmosphere of the New Year is not as strong as it was when I was a child.
Not only is the "open door cannon", now the Guangzhou people to retain these pre-holiday customs are not much, take my family as an example, I think, relative to other families, our family is considered to be the Chinese New Year customs are still preserved more complete. On the 23rd day of the Lunar New Year, we thank the stove, on the 27th day of the Lunar New Year we wash the food, on the 29th day of the Lunar New Year we put up spring couplets, and on the 30th day of the Lunar New Year we reunite with the family, and my mother still steams cakes when she has time at the end of the year. But nowadays most Guangzhou families are afraid of the trouble or don't have the time, so they buy the cakes, and no longer eat at home for the 30th New Year's Eve dinner, but go to some restaurants for the New Year's Eve reunion.
The New Year begins on the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar; every day there is a fixed ritual: "The first day of the first person to worship the gods, the first two people to worship people, the third day of the poor ghosts, the first four people begging for rice, the first five, the first six is the New Year, the first seven looking for the spring to go, the first eight eight do not come back, the first nine nine head empty, the first ten to play the spring to go, eleven to play the child back, twelve to build a lampshade, thirteen to turn on the lamp, fourteen lamps, fifteen lights, fifteen pray for the end of the lamp, the picking of green to go away from the hundred diseases. ." The activities of the Spring Festival, until the Lantern Festival, before coming to an end.
The first day of the Lunar New Year. It is said to be the old Guangdong people, the first morning of the first day will go to the wild field excursion. Some around the village, some around the field, some follow the house to walk around the circle, called "traveling", commonly known as "traveling luck", hoping that in the new year good things always come, all things win. The second day of the first month of the lunar calendar is called "New Year's Eve", and from this day on, people bring their children to visit their friends and relatives with gifts such as three animals and rice patties. In my family, for example, my mother kills a chicken in the morning to pay homage to the ancestors, and after that, she starts to make the New Year's dinner (the second day of the first month of the lunar year is the first day of the year to eat the New Year's dinner). After eating the New Year's dinner, we bring all our things back to Grandma's house and start paying our respects. On the way out, grandma or grandpa gives mom a bundle of lettuce, celery, and green onions on red paper as a return gift. It means: the whole family is full of vigor, the adults are hardworking, and the children are smart and clever. The seventh day of the first month of the lunar calendar is the seventh day of the first month of the lunar year, and it is the custom of Guangzhou to visit the place of flowers on the day of the first month of the lunar calendar.
During the Lunar New Year, Guangzhou people have a lot of taboos and habits: according to the old custom of the "old broads", on the first day of the Lunar New Year can not wash their hair for fear of washing away the wealth; the second day of the Lunar New Year is the beginning of the New Year, since New Year's Eve New Year's Eve dinner, to the day to be able to move the meat; the third day of the Lunar New Year is the red mouth, do not pay tribute to New Year's Eve, easy to provoke right and wrong; followed by the Chegongxian, the Day of the People, and so on. There are endless instructions. Also, you can't buy shoes for the New Year because the Cantonese pronunciation of "鞋" is the same as "唉"; buying books is even worse because the pronunciation of book is the same as "输", which means that you are afraid of "losing, losing" sounds for the year, which is even worse. It is even more taboo to buy books. In the big festival, happy birthday feast, used to talk about auspicious words, do not say the words of mourning. If someone accidentally broke the dishes, that is, read a "years and years (harmonic broken) peace", or "the ground blossoms, wealth and honor".
During the Spring Festival, when relatives meet, they always say some sweet words and bless each other. For example, congratulations on wealth, the spirit of the dragon and the horse, and all things win. During the New Year, the elders will give some money to the children, known as "Lishui", meaning good luck. New Year's dishes in addition to chicken, the store must also be prepared roast pork (to take the meaning of braised red strong), fish (year after year), hairy vegetables oyster sauce (hairy good market), fans (uninterrupted) bamboo, sweet bamboo (rich, sweet enough). Even in the old days, women had to pick an auspicious day to wash their hair, and could not wash their hair on the first and fifteenth days of the year, which was said to be blasphemous. However, with the popularization of science and the progress of the times, some superstitious customs have gradually disappeared and been replaced by new social customs.
Walking through the Flower Street to celebrate the New Year is a complex that has haunted the hearts of the Guangzhou people for thousands of years:
"Guangzhou people do not like to break off the branches of the flowers, and are used to rooted potted plants, pots and pots of transportation. Many of the flowers were so tall and dense that they covered the roof of the truck cab, and from a distance, you could see a group of flowers racing across the sky, magical. These flowers will run into every house, and people will pour wine and blessings in the midst of the flowers. I think, more than anywhere else in the country, Guangzhou people have a right to say: the Spring Festival is here!"
"I think people on the mainland celebrate the Spring Festival, mostly decorated with red paper and firecrackers, where the springtime and auspicious air is laid out artificially. Only Guangzhou, hardened by a season of flower trucks, introduces tangible spring life into their homes, and therefore celebrates it most honestly and thoroughly."
The above two paragraphs are the words of Mr. Yu Qiuyu inside "A Tale of Five Cities" in "Cultural Bitter Journey". Indeed, the Spring Festival in Guangzhou is built with flowers. Guangzhou people don't eat dumplings on New Year's Day, and Guangzhou people have to visit the flower street on New Year's Day.
The traditional Guangzhou Spring Festival Flower Market starts on December 28 (or 27 if the month is small) of the lunar calendar and lasts for three days, with the third day extending to the early hours of the first day of the new year before it ends. Generally a week before New Year's Eve, these flower streets are closed to vehicular traffic, and the authorities begin to set up scaffolding and stalls for flower growers to sell their flowers. The flower streets are stretched out into several long corridors. Some large branches of flowers and trees began to be transported a few days earlier, the official opening of the market on the 28th day of the 12th month of the lunar calendar, when the ten miles of flower streets are decorated with lanterns, loudspeakers playing light Cantonese music, people look at the flowers, buy flowers, "selling lazy", the flow of people endless, day and night, flower farmers live and eat in the flower market. New Year's Eve. Flower market into the climax. That is really a sea of people, water. The center of the flower market often have famous calligraphers should be crowd waving, more lively. Until two o'clock at midnight, people are slowly dispersed, flower farmers also sell the leftover flowers, reduced price auction, do not leave a little left over. Touring the flower street people, often at this time, picked up a good bargain. So everyone is happy, happy to go to meet the dawn of the new year.
"Ten miles of Fragrant Street, a city of spring, laughter and noise into the colorful door. It is suspected to be the honey picking of the mountain ranges, and it has become millions of flower-appreciating people." Guangzhou's flower street is not an ordinary man-made landscape, not man-made "city card", not to mention the government's image project. Guangzhou Flower Street is a huge market for buying and selling flowers, and it is an important program essential to the New Year's Eve of the Guangzhou people, and it is an important part of the traditional culture of the Guangzhou people. It can be said that the New Year's shopping flower street and drinking morning tea these habits, as is the unique cultural phenomenon of the Guangzhou people, is to make the Guangzhou people different from the other important characteristics of the Chinese people.
Guangzhou people must buy a pot of kumquat, a pot of daffodil, or a peach blossom on New Year's Day. Why is the peach blossom tree a single one, not a single one? Yes, Guangzhou people buy the whole cut down peach blossom tree home. Peach blossom is to Guangzhou people as Christmas tree is to westerners. Guangzhou people are obsessed with flowers, whether it is elegant people or vulgar city, New Year's Day to buy peach blossoms and other old few, then with a variety of flowers.
"Yangcheng world this flower flower, more buy flowers to spend the year. The flowers were offered on New Year's Eve, and the winds of incense warmed people's homes." It is said that the flower market in Guangzhou sprouted in the Tang Dynasty and took shape in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Why do Guangzhou people have a passion for flowers? It is not because Guangzhou people are elegant people who know how to appreciate flowers, but because flowers can represent countless good intentions, and nothing in this world can express the best wishes of the world better than flowers. Chinese people need to express their wishes during the New Year, they need to welcome the old and hope that the year will be better than the new. Cantonese people are especially superstitious, so they must make the most out of their New Year's wishes. Flowers symbolize prosperity and good fortune, which perfectly matches the mentality and needs of the people in Guangzhou. In addition to buying flowers, walking on Flower Street has become a symbol of "good luck" for Guangzhou people during the Chinese New Year. Walking along the Flower Street can bring you good luck. The bad will become good, the good will become better, so Flower Street is suitable for anyone to go there, it can be a family, a couple, or a group of bachelors who hope to find a partner in the coming year. Flower Street is a big ocean of joy and celebration, and throughout the year, strolling down Flower Street is the most relaxing time of the year for Guangzhou people to walk down the street.
The most traditional festive foods symbolize Guangzhou people's expectations for the New Year:
Food is the most important thing for people, especially Guangzhou people, who are the most good at eating and the most capable of eating, and the New Year's food is the most important thing, and it's very rich in varieties. The most traditional Chinese New Year foods in Guangzhou are Bak Kut, Pan Fried Pile, Oil Corner, Egg Scatter, Taro Shrimp, and Rice Cake.
The proverb says: "Pan-fried dumplings at the end of the year are a must-have for every family. Pan-fried dumplings are a must-have for every family. The filling is made of popping grain mixed with sugar glue. Popping grain is made by frying glutinous grain until it explodes and removing the husk. The skin is made of glutinous rice flour, very thin, with sesame seeds sticking to the outside. The whole pile is fried in boiling oil until golden brown. Nowadays, people are not so particular about what they make, and some people do not put any filling in the pan-fried dumplings. In addition, there are oil horns, which are divided into soft horns, crunchy horns and crispy horns. When I was a child, every year when the New Year was approaching, my grandmother and mother took me together to make "oil horn", although I did not like it very much and did not do well, but the joy of making "oil horn" with my family was also a kind of New Year's fun. There are also fried foods such as "sugar rings", "winter fruits", "eggs", "taro shrimp", etc. "Sugar rings", "winter fruits", "eggs", "taro shrimp", etc. are also fried foods. "Sugar ring" with glutinous rice flour rolled into a ball, pressed into a wooden mold, one by one "batch" out, fried into a golden brown, crispy and delicious, generally sweet, but also salty. "Winter fruit" with glutinous rice flour into small strips or slices fried. "Taro shrimp" is made of betel taro shaved into threads and combined with rice flour paste in a frying pan, eaten crispy and delicious. "Egg Scatter" is made of flour mixed with lard and egg and deep-fried. The sweet ones are mixed with sugar and flour, and stick to the sugar gelatin after deep-frying; the salty ones are mixed with southern milk and salt, and taste crispy and delicious.
The Spring Festival must also melon seeds, red melon seeds, black melon seeds, "modern" melon seeds (sunflower melon seeds) points. Chinese sweets are sugar lotus root, sugar lotus seed, sugar horseshoe (water chestnut), sugar melon, sugar orange cake, sugar coconut angle, sugar coconut flakes.
Cakes include rice cake, turnip cake, taro cake, horseshoe cake, nine-layer cake, muffin cake, etc., which symbolize the New Year. Nian Gao is also known as "big cage cake", which is named after the bamboo cage with a big opening that can be used to hold the cake. The rich and powerful use dozens of pounds of rice to make a Nian Gao, with red dates and cypress branches inserted into the golden-colored surface of the cake, which signifies good luck and long term prosperity. Radish Guangzhou dialect called "vegetable head", take "vegetable" and "wealth" of the harmony, New Year's Eve food radish cake, is a symbol of wealth and treasure. Horseshoe cake with water chestnut as raw material, the Cantonese dialect says "water chestnut as" horseshoe ", New Year's Eve food horseshoe cake, you can clear the heat, eliminating stagnation, its role in regulating appetite has been proved for the practice, and there is a" horse never stops hoofing it", self-improvement of the
It has to be mentioned is the dishes on the table of the Guangzhou people. Guangdong region, a variety of Chinese New Year food, good luck, ordinary dishes are also given a good name, so that people are happy to enjoy. Such as hairy vegetables braised pork knuckles called "Fazai on hand", hairy vegetables braised oyster black bean that is "good fortune", salty pickled vegetables fried pig's tongue (the Guangzhou people called the pig profit) called "a book of ten thousand profit", fried fresh lilies called "Hundred Years of Happiness", vegetable gall grilled mushrooms called "full of money", fish slippery tofu casserole called "peace for the young and old". There are also a variety of chicken products, beautifully called "phoenix and sunrise", "birds facing the phoenix", "dragon and phoenix", and so on, to name a few. Chicken is essential to the Chinese New Year dishes, the so-called "no chicken is not a feast", and roast pork, in addition to the wedding symbolizes chastity, the Chinese New Year is meant to be strong and prosperous. Lunch on the first day of the year, must also have a vegetarian dish, commonly known as "Lohan Zhai", with Shao Cai, fungus, fans, shrimp preparation, but also some people steamed preserved meat, but start chopsticks to eat first "Zhai".
Lastly, there are some activities to welcome the spring, such as lion dances, dragon dances, somersaults and fireworks.
Guangdong lions, unlike those in other provinces, are called "waking lions". The lion dance in Guangdong is different from those in other provinces, and is characterized by Guangdong's characteristics in both its production and its method of dance. Guangdong lion dance originated in Foshan, according to legend, in the early years of the Ming Dynasty, Foshan place appeared a one-horned monster, big eyes and wide mouth, from time to time issued a "year, year" sound. As long as the beast appeared, the old family would suffer greatly, either livestock was victimized or crops were destroyed. Later, we thought of a way, with bamboo gabions woven into a number of lion head model, painted mottled colors, ambush in the countryside villages, once the beast appeared, they will be golden drums, dance will be up, scared away the beast. So people think that the lion has to suppress the evil spirits and drive away evil spirits, as auspicious omen, and later, to facilitate the Spring Festival, the villages in all townships and villages to lion dance to eliminate disasters, forecasting good luck, this is about the origin of the lion dance said. Lion dance activities during the Spring Festival, in addition to performances in the square, but also along the street dance, house by house to congratulate, to show that the lion is near the door, good luck, the host family will be rewarded in the door, packaged red hanging green, so that RuiLi go to pick, called "picking the green". Through this activity, we hope that the lion can bring good luck to the family. Second is the Dragon Dance, Guangdong's dragon dance, a variety of names, a thousand different styles, different dragon dance, puts people's different ideals and aspirations. The Spring Festival is a day of celebration, and most of the dances are enthusiastic and exuberant colorful dragons, golden dragons and sarongs, and the cloth dragons are danced during the day and the dragon lanterns are danced at night. As for somersault kicking, it is a traditional culture from a long time ago, and it seems that not many people will do it now. Every year on the first day of the Lunar New Year in Guangzhou, large fireworks are set off along the Pearl River. That night along the river road and other places are crowded with people, water and bustle.
Guangzhou New Year, lively and rich, let a person feel y, Guangzhou's local traditional culture is how strong.
However, the long river of history passes very quickly, and people's concepts are easily swayed by new things, especially in Guangzhou, which is one of the cities with the largest foreign populations, and the transmutation of the world's customs is also an indisputable reality. Nowadays, life is better, people's concepts have changed, and Chinese New Year events have their own splendor. However, the city's historical and cultural patterns, as well as its traditional customs, are important assets of human culture.
Big as a nation's cultural form, small as a city's New Year's Eve customs, this. Everything needs to be constructed and maintained by the power of the people. Guangzhou New Year's Eve customs as one of the folk culture literacy markers, representing the depth of a city's historical and cultural resources. Strong culture, to be recognized by the people, after recognition, we should consciously maintain it, consolidate it.