Traditional Spring Festival customs in the mountainous areas of northwest Hubei

Spring Festival is commonly known as New Year. Originally, it only referred to the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar. Nowadays, it generally refers to the celebration of the "Little New Year" from the twelfth month of the lunar calendar (formerly known as the "twelfth month")(the rules for celebrating the Little New Year are different, some are on the 23rd of the twelfth month, some are on the 24th of the twelfth month, and some are on the 25th of the twelfth month.) It ends only after the Lantern Festival is celebrated on the 15th of the first month.

do New Year goods

As the saying goes: "After eating Laba rice, you will do it for the New Year." Families go to cities or market towns to buy alcohol, tobacco, tea, incense sticks, New Year pictures, fireworks and daily necessities. Farmers in mountainous areas all raise pigs and feed rabbits at home, and raise chickens, ducks, geese and fish. Whenever the twelfth lunar month comes in the middle of winter, every household has to "kill New Year's pigs" and "slaughter chickens and ducks", smoke dried fish bacon, dried chicken and rabbit and other farm specialties. They also have to make rice cakes, grind tsampa, steam glutinous rice and soak in sweet wine; stir-fry peanuts and melon seeds. Add self-produced tangerines, walnuts, chestnuts, dried persimmon, etc. Then buy back some fashionable fruits, candies, and cakes. I also need to buy a set of bright clothes for each of the whole family. The family has worked hard all year round. During the New Year, relatives, friends, and neighbors visit each other. Everyone wants to make the New Year's goods more abundant.

Fight dust

After the people in the mountainous areas of northwest Hubei stopped all production and labor before the New Year, they carried out a comprehensive and thorough cleaning in front and back houses, inside and outside houses, upstairs and downstairs during the few days of the New Year. It's called "fighting dust". Women remove and wash quilt sheets, curtains, mosquito nets and clothes. Adults and children dress up to welcome the New Year.

Sacrifice to the Kitchen God

The 24th day of the twelfth lunar month is also known as the "Little New Year's Day" or the "Kitchen Sacrifice Festival". On this day, on the World Customs Network, there is an old custom of "offering sacrifices to the stove god". Every household posted two "paper horses" in front of the stove that the stove lord rode when he ascended to heaven, and used fruit wine, cakes, paper and silk as sacrifices. He also worshipped the maltose, which means to stick the Kitchen God's mouth and prevent him from speaking in front of the Jade Emperor. Or smeared the stove door with distiller's grains to intoxicate the stove god. He couldn't speak in front of the Jade Emperor. Even if he spoke, all the Jade Emperor heard was nonsense, which was not enough to believe it. After the ceremony, the old portrait of the Kitchen Lord was removed and burned, replaced with a new portrait of the Kitchen Lord, and couplets such as "Heaven speaks good things, and the world protects peace" were posted. There is also a banner "Head of the Family".

Paste Spring Festival couplets and hang New Year pictures

Whenever the Spring Festival comes, every household has to put up a Spring Festival couplets on both sides of the gate (now, couplets are posted everywhere there are doors and windows), as well as a horizontal drape. This adds a stronger festive atmosphere to the originally lively and peaceful festival. During the twelfth lunar month, most families cut two pieces of peach wood into wooden strips one to two inches wide and seven to eight inches long. The images of Shen Tu and Yu Lei were painted on them and hung on them beside the door. This actually unites the door god with spring.

In addition to pasting Spring Festival couplets, every household in the mountainous areas of northwest Hubei also has the traditional custom of hanging New Year pictures. One of the poems describing New Year paintings is particularly interesting: "Orchid lotus, chrysanthemums and plum blossoms are blooming all over the wall, and the house seems to smell the fragrance of flowers. It attracted a fuss in front of the eaves of the finches and rushed straight into the house to shake their wings." This poem uses the chanting of New Year pictures to depict the new atmosphere of New Year pictures commonly hung among the people when the Spring Festival is approaching.

eat reunion dinner

On New Year's Eve, after waiting for relatives from other places to rush home, every household will prepare a particularly sumptuous banquet at noon on New Year's Eve. More than ten pots of delicious delicacies such as chicken, duck, fish, and delicacies, filled the large round table. Liquor, beer and beverages are available. After a burst of firecrackers, the whole family sat around the banquet, which was called "eating reunion dinner". During the banquet, father and son, couple, grandfathers, grandchildren, brothers, and sisters toasted each other's dishes, and they laughed happily. The excitement was extraordinary and peaceful. Only the big carp on the table was a "watch plate" that could not be moved by the chopsticks. They could only eat it until the new moon of the first lunar month arrived. This means that the whole family is celebrating and there are fish (extra) every year. If you move your chopsticks, poke them or eat them, there will be no fish (surplus) in the old year, and there will be no fish (surplus) in the new year. The old people will think this is unlucky and will make the whole family unhappy. Therefore, before eating New Year's Eve, elders should tell children to ensure that everyone consciously maintains the situation of "having fish every year" so as to ensure that the family is prosperous, happy, harmonious and auspicious for a long time. The time of the Youth League Year must also be in accordance with the rules passed down by our ancestors. For example, the rule of Huangzhou, whose ancestors were the Youth League Year,"Don't crow, dogs don't bite, and Huangzhou people are the Youth League Year in the middle of the night."

Keep the New Year and close the Financial Gate

After the reunion dinner, it was getting late. At this time, every household piled up pieces of firewood in the main house or in the barbecue room and lit up a fire, lighting all the lights inside and outside the house. Farmers in the mountainous areas of northwest Hubei are popular: "Fire on the 30th, lights on the 15th." At this time, the whole family is warming the fire around the stove to "watch the New Year", which means that this is the last day of the year and we must do everything possible to keep it. While chewing melon seeds, peanuts, and eating fruit, they talked about the whole family's study, work and production gains over the past year, family trivial matters, and relationships with neighbors or neighbors. And plan production, work, study and other plans and goals for the coming year. Talk and laugh while watching TV (video) or singing karaoke. I don't go to bed until late in the night or even when the rooster crows at dawn. When the clock strikes zero, every household sets off long firecrackers-the "Thousand Zi Whip", called the "Star Out", to congratulate them on quitting the old New Year and welcome the arrival of the New Year. Then close the door, which is called "closing the financial door"-close the wealth you have gained in time so that it will not flow out of the door. In the early morning of the first lunar month, we will set off firecrackers and open our doors to accept the joy and wealth of the New Year. This is called "opening the door to wealth."

new Year

Celebrating the New Year is the most popular and humane traditional etiquette during the Spring Festival. At the beginning of the new year, people help the old and the young and go out to visit relatives and friends. Each brings gifts (products) with local characteristics to visit each other to exchange New Year greetings and deepen emotional connection. The customs and styles of celebrating the New Year vary from place to place, but generally you don't visit relatives and friends on the morning of the new moon, and you have to "protect your wealth" at home. After noon, you can visit grandparents, uncles and aunts nearby. Therefore, there has been a saying passed down since ancient times: "The new moon is the boy on the second day, and the place to worship on the fourth day of the third day." This means that on the first day of the lunar month, we generally do not visit distant relatives, but only celebrate the New Year's greetings to parents, grandparents, uncles and other respected elders who have separated from each other; on the second day of the lunar month, we should go out to visit Yue's parents and relatives of the Yue family; on the third day, fourth day and later days, you can visit maternal grandparents, grandparents and other distant relatives or friends.

Lantern Festival

The 15th day of the first lunar month is the first full moon day of the New Year. It is called the "Shangyuan Festival"(formerly known as the "Shangyuan Festival"), also known as the "Lantern Festival". The Lantern Festival is also called eating Lantern Festival: that is, eating "glutinous rice balls". Sending glutinous rice balls to relatives and friends means sending happiness and happiness to others. Eating glutinous rice balls symbolizes the reunion of the whole family, sweet life, and complete happiness.

Lantern Festival is also called Lantern Festival. Every household wears lanterns and colorful decorations. There are also dragon lanterns, brand lanterns, lanterns, lions, and colorful lotus boats (popular phoenix lanterns in Yun County) in the village or urban community. Lights come out from the 13th of the first month, and every household can play them. The lights are turned down on the 16th of the first month.