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 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 can't 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 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 merchants hang up the new image of Zhao Gongyuanshuai in the middle of the hall, 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 Fortune 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.
In the coming dawn, the year's Spring Festival celebrations come to an end
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