Lunar Lunar 23, is an important folk festival before the Spring Festival, people call it "stove festival". At this time, people can not hold back the joy of welcoming the New Year mood, stop all kinds of work in hand, busy routine year before the stove to send God activities.
The custom of sacrificing zaos on the twenty-third day of the Lunar New Year in Henan Province is accompanied by a poignant folk legend. In ancient times, an old couple had only one son, the two regarded their son as a jewel in the palm of their hand, and loved him very much. However, due to the poverty of the family, there is no way to make ends meet, so they had to bear the pain and let their son go to the coal mine to dig coal.
The old man missed his son's long absence. On this day, the old woman asked the old man to go to the coal mine to take a look. On the way, the old man met a barefoot piece of the same way, the two more and more familiar, get along very well. In casual conversation, the old man learned that the barefoot piece is instructed by the King of Hell, to mine to recover a hundred miners. The old man's heart is burning, begging the barefoot piece to leave his son. The old man begged the light-footed piece to keep his son, but the light-footed piece generously agreed and asked him not to tell others.
Meeting his son, the old man pretended to be sick, and his son served him, but he was never able to go down the mine. Soon after, there was an accident in the mine, and the old man rushed to take his son home.
Three years have gone by, and on the night of the twenty-second lunar month of this year, the old man remembered the risks of the year, and could not help but speak to his old partner. Who knows this word was Zaojun heard away, twenty-third night, Zaojun went to heaven, told the Jade Emperor about this matter. The Jade Emperor was infuriated and immediately punished the barefoot piece and took away the old man's son.
For this reason, every day on the 23rd day of the Lunar New Year, people honor Zaojun by eating Zao candies, hoping that after he goes to the Heavenly Palace, he will not stir up the wrongs and wrongs on earth. Over time, people have been worshipping Zao on the twenty-third day of the Lunar New Year.
Every Lunar New Year's Day, the city and countryside of the Central Plains, cracking the first round of firecrackers of the New Year. Townspeople are busy purchasing food for the stove, such as sugar and fire. In the countryside, the preparatory activities for the festival and the grand ceremony of the festival of the stove in the deafening sound of the cannon gradually opened the curtain.
The Zaosai ceremony is mostly held at night. When sacrificing zaos, the person who sacrifices zaos kneels in front of the statue of zaos master and carries a rooster in his arms. Some people also have children kneeling behind the adults with the rooster in their arms. It is said that the rooster is the horse that Master Zao rides to heaven, so the rooster is not called a chicken, but called a horse. If it is a red rooster, commonly known as "red horse", white rooster, commonly known as "horse".
After the burning of the incense table, the house is full of smoke, full of mysterious colors. The man of the house poured wine and kowtowed, reciting words. After reading the words, the person who sacrificed the stove shouted "lead"! Then the wine is poured over the chicken's head. If the chicken's head flutters, it means that Master Zao has accepted the offer. If the head of the chicken does not move, it is necessary to pour again.
After the Zao ceremony is over, people begin to eat Zao candy and fire burnt Zao food, some places also eat sugar cake, oil cake, drink tofu soup.
In Henan, the typical food for Zaozao is Zao sugar. Zaosugar is a kind of maltose that is sticky to the mouth and teeth. The reason for offering Zao sugar is to stick to the mouth of the Zao master. Legend has it that Master Zao is the god sent by the Jade Emperor to oversee good and evil on earth, and that he has the duty of communicating with people from above and below, liaising with people in heaven and conveying information between the fairyland and the mortal world
. When it went to heaven, people offered it Zao sugar, hoping that it would eat the sweet food and put in more good words in front of the Jade Emperor. Some people also say that zaosugar for zaos is not to stick to the mouth of the zaos master, but to stick to the mouth of the zaogun grandmother, who is greedy for good things and loves to gossip.
In addition to eating zaosugar on the day of the festival, the fire is also a very distinctive seasonal food. On the twenty-third day of the lunar month, the business of baklava stalls in the city is very prosperous. People are crowded and compete to buy the fire roasts for Zaozhao. In the countryside, most people do it themselves, make the dough, make the kang, the family is lively, very much the flavor of the New Year.
In Henan, people regard the festival of sacrificial stoves as a reunion festival second only to the Mid-Autumn Festival. Anyone who works, does business or goes to school outside the country strives to return home before the 23rd day of the lunar month. If you can eat the home made sacrificial stove fire, you will get the protection of the God of the stove, and your family will be safe and sound in the coming year.
Kaifeng New Year
Kaifeng folk call the Spring Festival "New Year". However, the New Year is not only refers to the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar, but also includes the beginning of the year, the end of the year, from the eighth day of the twelfth month of the old year to the first five days of the first month of the new year are the New Year's Day. In the old days, Kaifeng circulated a proverb that says: "Lapa, sacrificial stove, the New Year came, the girl wants to spend, the boy wants to gun." Therefore, a "Lahai", Kaifeng city and countryside will have "the flavor of the year".
Twenty-three, sacrificial stove officer. December 23 for our country folk festival, people in order to let the stove king to the heavenly Jade Emperor more good words, every family should be set on the stove on the throne, some on both sides of the throne on the pair wrote "on the sky to say good things, the world to send good luck". The meaning of this is that it is a farewell party for Mr. Zaowang.
After the festival, families are busy buying new year's goods, cleaning the house to welcome the New Year, especially cigarettes, wine, fish, meat and gifts for relatives can not be less. The shopping for New Year's goods was busy until the 30th day of the Lunar New Year. In Kaifeng today, there is still a Spring Festival ballad: "Twenty-three, sacrificing the stove officer; 24, sweeping the house; 25, playing bean curd; 26, to cut meat; 27, to kill a chicken; 28, to kill a duck; 29, to beat the wine; the year 30, posting the door flag."
New Year's Eve is customarily referred to as New Year's Eve, and every household has to put up spring scrolls. In the past, this day, Kaifeng also has many old customs. Such as "civil sealing", "military sealing drill", "commercial sealing door", "book sealing board", "beggars seal stick", and so on and so forth. And the most important folk activities on New Year's Eve ancestor worship and year-end vigil. Now New Year's Eve, Kaifeng people still inherited many good customs. New Year's Eve, although no longer "ancestor worship". But some worship each other's friends and relatives, watching TV, guessing the magic words, until late at night, some family reunion, mutual encouragement, summarize the harvest of the year, to develop a new year's work and study plan." The "New Year's Eve" has been given a new content in the new era. When the clock strikes midnight, people scramble to set off the first firecracker, which in turn signifies Kaifeng people's determination and energy to open up the future.
On the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar, families get up early, change new clothes, wash and clean, the first firecrackers, worship ancestors statue. Then, the younger generation to the elders to pay tribute to the New Year, the elders to give the younger generation "pressure money". The family eats New Year's dumplings and then begins to pay New Year's visits to friends and relatives. In the old days, New Year's greetings were usually led by parents, who would first pay homage to their elders' close relatives and neighbors, and then go to distant families. Each family for the reception and other New Year's guests, the family often prepared cigarettes, tea, melon seeds, peanuts, candies and so on. According to Kaifeng "early worship, late worship" of the custom, the first afternoon, the New Year's activities that ended.
The second day of the first month is the girl back to her mother's home. In the old days on the second day of the month, Kaifeng City, four townships, firecrackers, sirens, whistles into a piece, mules and horses, big car shuttle, an endless stream.
The third day of the first month for the sacrifice of graves, sacrificing ancestors of the date, because the old calendar said that this day, "all things are not appropriate", the third Kaifeng taboo on going to relatives. The first five for the broken five festival, folk believe that the first five is the first year after the first inauspicious day, friends and relatives are also jealous of each other to visit. In addition to these two days, the festival, Kaifeng folk go to friends and relatives, a few days.
Linzhou Spring Festival
Linzhou folk will be the Spring Festival called the New Year, but the New Year is not exclusively refers to the first day of the first month, but includes the beginning and end of the year. Once you enter the month of Lunar New Year, you will have the "New Year's flavor".
Breakfast on the eighth day of the first month of the Lunar New Year, folk should eat "Lahai congee". Porridge with millet, persimmon block boiled and made, sweet flavor, commonly known as "persimmon pimple white soup". Farmer's wife will be in the sun before the congee is done, wrenching on the south wall of a pile of grain, said: "Lahai congee earlier, wrenching on the south wall of a pile of grain, a crow does not stomp on my family valley". Eat "Laha congee" according to documentary records, Linzhou is from the Song Dynasty began. The original meaning was that people used the year's harvest to offer sacrifices to their ancestors, to the gods and to celebrate a good harvest. Later, due to the frequent disasters in Linzhou, gradually evolved into eating "Lapa congee", wishing for the next year, sorghum and grain abundance. At present, Linzhou folk still have "ate Laha congee, the next year a good harvest," the proverb.
Twenty-three, sent the old stove master to heaven. People in order to let the king of the stove to the Jade Emperor for the people, good words, on both sides of the stove on the pair of the king of the tablets, wrote: "on the sky to say good things, down to the world of good luck". In order to prevent Zao Wang from reporting falsehoods, sesame candies were used as offering fruits and stuck to Zao Wang's mouth.
Twenty-four sweep the house. Folk legend has it that King Zaobao is the emperor's supervisor, responsible for looking at the family's merits and faults, where there is a fault, to be scratched on the wall mark, to the end of the year Lunar New Year's Day on the twenty-third report to the sky, Luk Yi five more to receive the decree of the sky with the heavenly soldiers back to the folk according to the mark on the wall to be punished. People in order to eliminate hidden dangers, to be sent to heaven after the next day, immediately clean the house, which formed the "twenty-four sweep the house" custom.
Twenty-five tofu grinding. On this day, people will be soaked soybean grinding, kneading foam through the basket to slag, boiling pulp into blocks, fishing into the sieve pressure. Afterwards, the tofu will be cut into small pieces and put into the water with salt to keep, for consumption during the Spring Festival.
Twenty-six to cut meat. On this day, the market meat racks stand, the village support pot slaughter pigs and sheep, meat cutters, the amount of money and line, the rich prepared to the first month of the fifteenth; the poor prepared to the first month of the fifth or so.
Twenty-seven steamed to eat. It is one of the things that poor and rich families have to do, and it is also one of the characteristics of the New Year. According to the size of the population and the number of guests, each family should steam enough to eat until the fifteenth day of the first month of the lunar calendar, or at least until the number of "broken five".
Twenty-eight big sticker scraping. 1949 years ago, Linzhou folk mostly invited people to write couplets, there are individual farmers to use the family flower to express their wishes, in addition to the six on the door to be affixed to the god. Door god like Qin Qiong, Jingde, big sword Guan Gong, five sons, etc., most of them are engraved plate printing. Paste couplets pay attention to "poor sign (horizontal couplets), rich couplets", that is, the lintel paper to be small, pairs of paper to be fat. 1980, the rural areas have emerged to paste double couplets, that is, in addition to the door frame on the paste a picture of the other in the stacks on the wall and then paste a huge couplets. There is a diamond-shaped paper written on a bucket of squares, written on the word "Fu", under the vertical writing of a "go out and see the happy", or "welcome to receive the blessing", or "celebrate the Spring Festival" and so on, pasted at the door or to meet the wall wall. Tree affixed to the garden "full of spring", stone mill affixed to the "White Tiger", stone mill affixed to the "Green Dragon", the car affixed to the "day to travel thousands of miles", livestock troughs affixed to the "prosperity of six animals", grain Tun affixed to the "rice and wheat barn", the table affixed to the "day into the bucket of gold", closet affixed to the "full box of clothes", the head of the bed affixed to the "physical peace. At the same time, all kinds of sacred cards are written and painted, except for the kitchen, which is written on green paper (meaning to avoid fire), and the rest are written on red paper. The whole place is red and auspicious.
Twenty-nine waxing away. The night of the day, to the neighboring large villages as the first, composed of dozens of people with lanterns, drums, beat big cymbals, holding incense rolls, to the village temples in front of the god, lighting candles, burning incense foil, intended to worship God to drive away evil spirits to send the gospel. People in the villages gather at the holy places and wait for the arrival of the gospel team. One village sends, another village receives, the four fields are brilliantly lit. 1950, this custom disappeared, changed to twenty-nine to play wine.
Thirty pinches of kernels, out of the pot. Pinch kernel that pinch flat food, out of the pot that is fried food. These two are the most intense and heavy work on the thirtieth day of the Lunar New Year. On this day, from early morning, all the women in the family together, dish filling dish filling, and noodles and noodles, to be dish good filling and good noodles, around the bedside pinch flat food. The mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law are very happy as they pinch and tease each other. There are enough flatbreads for the night of the 30th and for the first day of the year, and they stay busy until about 5:00 in the afternoon. They are busy until about 5:00 p.m. After the flatbreads are wrapped, they are boiled in a pot, fished into small plates, two for each plate, and the housewife burns incense and paper to pray to her ancestors: "If there is something you want to say, you will know first, and if there is something you want to eat, you will eat it first, and bless the family's safety, prosperity and wealth." Another by the men of the family with a bar tray to the graves of ancestors, each grave put a small plate, burning guns kowtow. After these things are done, start deep-frying, where the oil food should be fried, crispy meat, meatballs, knife head (pig ribs for offerings), vegetables food are fried in the pot, but the first pot should be the first to take a little bit of filling into the stove, so that the king of the stove on the first day of the fifth night to come back to eat. Of course, if the lunar month is small, this day's activities are placed on the twenty-ninth.
Coin flat food. This is a prevalent folk custom in Linxian County. In the thirty package flat food, will be several coins were wrapped into the flat food, the first morning meal, who ate the coin flat food who in this year will be blessed, to the whole family brings great fun. People are scrambling to get up early, especially children in order to eat the money, make an exception to eat more flatbread, and make the whole family laugh.
Send light. Thirty evening, the county south of the countryside, each family will be made of paper lanterns, connected to the column, sent to the grave, long night lighting, so that the ancestors with people in the New Year. This lamp on the morning of the first day to retrieve.
Barrier stick. Thirty nights, it is customary to put a stick of mahogany in the door with the threshold, no mahogany with other sticks, in order to prevent "wild ghosts" into the home.
The year. Also known as the "year-end". Folklore thirty night, as long as there is perseverance, will wait until God's daughter to open the door to the South Heavenly blessings on earth, if you go to bed early, there is no blessing. People with good intentions, every year the 30th night of the Lunar New Year, the whole family together to chat endlessly, take advantage of this to enjoy the happiness of this family. Housewives should also set up a good incense for offerings, all night with candles, incense 5 times. It is forbidden to make a lot of noise, so as not to alarm the gods; forbidden to open the box cabinet, so as not to run out of money; forbidden to look in the mirror, take the comb, so as not to see the "ghosts"; forbidden to see the knife and scissors, so as not to break the family; forbidden to sweep the floor, so as not to gold and silver out of the flow; forbidden to pour the potty, so as not to defile the spirits. Thirty night to throw the leftovers, called the next year's rice. Early on the first day of the morning to throw the leftovers, in order to omen auspicious surplus. 1980 years later, boiled the year added new content, many have the conditions of the family gathered in the television set, watch the wonderful television program, will be close to the time, the youth of the family right hand pawed the gun, the left hand holding the fire, the right foot across the door, the left foot stepped on the door, the eyes of the television screen, set up to grab the head nodding loud gun frame. Television screen on the hour, with the melodious sound of the bell, thousands of households firecrackers, fire, fireworks, two and other kinds of colorful artillery will be the sky dotted with colorful, dazzling.
The first day of kowtow. People day unknown after eating flat food, the younger generation first to the elders at home kowtow, and then ganged up to go to other families (usually the clan) kowtow to pay tribute to the New Year. In addition to leaving a respected old man at home, the rest of the head to the right and left neighbors, and even three miles and five villages to the relatives of new friends to pay tribute to the New Year. If the younger generation is a child, or newly married daughter-in-law, the elders to give a few New Year's money.
Walking relatives. The order of going to relatives is: nephews go grandma's house, daughter-in-law with son-in-law to go to his mother's house, and then to go to the aunt, aunt, sister's house. In addition to special circumstances, all to return to worship. Folk have "the first two E Mei moon, the first three or four good worship festival" said.
Breaking five festival. The first five days of the first month of the lunar calendar for the broken five days, with superstitious colors. People believe that the first five, fourteen, twenty-three for the unlucky day. The fifth day of the first month of the first year after the first inauspicious day, very taboo "friends and relatives", backlog from home to improve their lives for the holidays. Is the day c time, the housewife also pulled out a little ash, sent to the street intersection, commonly known as "send poor ash".
From Lunar New Year's Day 30 to the first five days of this period, the children are not beaten and scolded, eat well, wear beautiful, play happily, even if there are faults, but also not beaten and scolded, this is the old generations of people handed down the rules. If the child is scolded, it will be condemned by everyone. So the children are most looking forward to the New Year.