The Spring Festival has been celebrated in China for thousands of years. However, for a long time, the term "Spring Festival" has 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 of the Lantern Festival to end, 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 the business is booming, sales season, on the other hand, the end of the year is to clean up a year's accounts, to the owed households for the period of arrears. 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 "happy family".
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 this night 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, and 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 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, west, south, north, south and central five roads)," "picking up the God of Wealth of the Five Roads" and "picking up the God of Road Heads. 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 countryside, 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. (Text / Zheng Zuan)
Customs of the Spring Festival in Chongming
The Spring Festival is a major festival in China's folklore, and it is the first of the four seasons of the year, so it is especially 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 beans and rice and rolling silver buns 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 homophonic, it is a good sign that people want 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 ancestral statue hung on the wall of the main wall in the middle 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 and 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 day 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, the first day of the year 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 in the morning is to set off firecrackers, called "open 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 kind and charitable when they met 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 people, people's wishes, 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, they prepare wine and fruit offerings to see off the "Zao Gong".
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 "walking street"), 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 bought New Year's paintings in the living room, put the couplets on the lintel, and some people even 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 candy (these rice cakes fruit do a lot of both eaten at home, but also as a gift, usually eat throughout the end of the first month of the year).
Every time, in large, medium and small cities working in the dignitaries or, literati or, peddlers or, lead car selling pulp or, to honor their ancestors or, pockets dry also, are large cars, small cars, large bags with their wives and children back to the hometown of the long time in the city ......
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, pray for the whole family in the new year of hard work), long fans (implying that the life of a long stream), yellow like a golden treasure-like dried bean curd (implying that the wealth of the treasure) ......
The first day of the Lunar New Year, the taboos are many: can not pick water (New Year's Eve day to pick the tank full), can not sweep the floor (even if the firecracker paper, shells and confetti sprinkled all over the ground, can not be swept, said to be the "God of Fortune" to sweep away), can not be scolded each other, can not fight, can not be broken vessels (which means that the "peace and quiet "), 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, the New Year's Eve special more cooked dry rice, eat chicken, duck head and feet with oil frying pan fried and then eat, in order to indicate that last year there are things remaining to this year, but also said that the year has passed.
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Chinese New Year customs
Sacrificing the stove
China's Spring Festival, generally from the sacrificial stove to kick off. The folk song "Twenty-three, Sugar Melon Sticky" refers to the festival on the 23rd or 24th day of the Lunar New Year every year, and there is a so-called "Officials 3, Folks 4, Boat Families 5", which means that the official government holds the festival on the 23rd day of the Lunar New Year, the general folk families on the 24th day, and the people living on the water on the 25th day of the Lunar New Year.
Sacrifice of the stove, is a folk in our country has a great influence, widely spread custom. In the old days, almost every house had a "Zao Wang" god in the stove room. People call this god "Sifu Bodhisattva" or "Zaojun Sifu", and legend has it that he is the Jade Emperor's "Nine Heavenly East Kitchen Sifu Zaowangfujun", responsible for the management of the family's stove fire, was worshiped as a family's protective deity. Most of the Zaowang niches are located on the north or east side of the stove room, with the statue of Zaowang in the center. For those who do not have a Zaowang niche, there are also those who put the idol directly on the wall. Some of the idols depicted only one person, Zao Wang, while others had two persons, a man and a woman, and the goddess was called "Zao Wang's grandmother". This is probably an imitation of the image of an earthly couple. Most of the statues of Lord Zao also have the calendar of the year printed on them, with words such as "Master of the East Kitchen", "Supervisory God of the Earth", and "Head of the Household" to indicate the status of the God of Vesta. On both sides of the posters are couplets that read "Good things are said in heaven, and peace is guaranteed in the world below" to bless the whole family.
Since the New Year's Eve of the previous year, Zao Wang Wang has been staying at home to protect and monitor the family; on the 23rd day of the Lunar New Year, Zao Wang Wang will go up to the sky to report to the Jade Emperor in the sky on the family's good or bad deeds, and the ceremony of sending Zao Wang to the sky is known as "sending Zao" or "resigning from Zao". Based on the report of the Zaos, the Jade Emperor will then hand over to the Zaos the fate of the family in the new year, which should be good or bad. Therefore, for the family, the report of the Zaowang master is really of great interest.
The Zaobao ceremony is usually held at nightfall. The family first goes to the stove room, sets up a table, pays homage to Zaowang, who is located in a shrine on the wall of the stove, and offers sugar melons made of caramel and flour. Then, they make paper horses and feed grass to the animals. Offering caramelized sugar to Zaowang is to sweeten his old man's mouth. In some places, sugar is smeared around the mouth of Zaowang, saying, "Say more good things, don't say bad things." This is to stuff the mouth of Master Zao with sugar, so that he will not say anything bad. In the Tang Dynasty, there is a record of "applying wine lees on the stove to make Zaosi drunk" in the "Records of the Years and Seasons in the Emperor's Chariot". After smearing the mouth of Zaowang with sugar, people take down the statue of the god and send it up to the sky with paper and cigarettes. In some places, they pile up sesame stalks and pine branches in the yard at night, invite the image of Zaojun, which has been offered for a year, out of the shrine, and set fire to it, together with paper horses and grass. The yard was brightly lit by the fire, and the family bowed around the fire and prayed while burning: "This year is the twenty-third day of the year, and I would like to send Zaojun to the West. There is a strong horse, there is grass, a smooth and safe journey. The sugar melons are sweet, so please tell the Jade Emperor what you want to hear.
Sending Zaojun, some places there are still several beggars, disguised, singing Zaojun song from house to house, Zaojun dance, called "sending Zaojin", in exchange for food.
Send stove customs in China's north and south of the country is extremely common, Mr. Lu Xun has written a "gengzi send stove that is the case" poem: only chicken gum teeth sugar, canonical clothes for petal incense. There are no long things in the house, not only less yellow sheep.
He said in the article "Zaojun day of the send": "Zaojun day, the street also sells a kind of sugar, the size of a mandarin fruit, in our place also have this thing, but flat, like a thick small pancake. That's called 'Gum Tooth Molasses'. The original intention was in asking Zaojun to eat it and glue his teeth so that he could not flirt and speak ill of the Jade Emperor." The allusion to the "yellow sheep" in Lu Xun's poem comes from "The Book of the Later Han Dynasty - Yin Zhi Zhuan": "During the reign of Emperor Xuan Di, Yin Zifang was a filial and benevolent man. Lunar morning cooking, and the stove God see, Zifang worship again to be celebrated; home has a yellow sheep, because of the sacrifice. Since then, after the storm to the rich. To know three generations, and then prosperous, so after often to wax day sacrifice stove and recommend yellow sheep." Yin Zifang saw the God of the stove, kill yellow sheep sacrifice, and then made good luck. From then on, the custom of killing yellow sheep to sacrifice to Zaozao has been passed down.
The offerings for Zaos in the Tang and Song dynasties were quite abundant. The Song Dynasty poet Fan Chengda's "Zaosi words" made an extremely vivid depiction of the folk festival of Zaosi at that time: Ancient legend of the twenty-fourth day of the waxing moon, Zaojun towards the sky want to talk about things. The cloud car, wind and horses stayed a little, and the family had cups and plates for the ceremony. The pig's head is rotten, the fish is fresh, the bean paste is sweet and loose, the rice bait is round. Men offer their daughters to avoid it, and sprinkle wine and burn money to make Zaojun happy. Don't be angry at the maid's struggles, or at the cats and dogs that touch you. I will send you to the gate of heaven with a full stomach and a long spoon and a short spoon, so don't repeat the clouds, and beg for the profit to be shared with you.
The festival on the 23rd day of the Lunar New Year is closely related to the New Year. Because, a week later, on the night of New Year's Eve, Lord Zaowang comes to earth with other gods and goddesses with the good fortune and misfortune that the family is supposed to receive. Lord Zao is believed to lead the way for the gods in heaven. While the other gods go back to heaven after the New Year, only the King Zao stays in the kitchen of the family for a long time. The ceremony of welcoming the gods is called "receiving the gods", and for Lord Zao it is called "receiving the stove". The ceremony is usually much simpler on New Year's Eve, when you just need to put on a new stove lamp and burn incense in front of the stove niche, and that's the end of it.
There is a saying that "men don't worship the moon, women don't sacrifice to the stove". In some places, women do not sacrifice the stove, it is said, Zaowang master looks like a white man, afraid of female sacrifice stove, there is a "male and female suspicion". The origin of Zao Wang Wang has a long history. Among the Chinese folk gods, Zao is considered to be very old. As early as in the Xia Dynasty, he was already a great god worshipped by the people. According to the ancient book "Rituals - Rituals" Kong Yingda sparse: "Zhuanxu's son Ri Li, Zhu Rong, sacrificed to the god of the stove." Zhuangzi. Dasheng" recorded: "The stove has a bun." Sima Biao commented: "Bun, the god of the stove, dressed in red, like a beautiful woman." In the "Clasp of Parks. Micro Purpose" also recorded: "On the night of the lunar eclipse, the god of the stove also goes up to the sky for white men's sins
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