Year is a sign of time and embodies the rhythm of life. This tradition has lasted for at least 3,000 years in China.
    In ancient times, the Spring Festival was called the first day of the year, Zhengdan, Yuanri, etc., and the first day of the first month was called the Spring Festival only after the founding of the Republic of China. As the first year of the New Year, the Spring Festival has gone through at least 3,000 years in China. Its emergence is directly related to the formation of the concept of ancient calendar years. Of course, in essence, it is rooted in the time feeling and time consciousness of ancient ancestors.
    The ancients took astronomy, phenology and personnel activities as important references for time changes, and the concept of time cycle of years should have been mastered by people before Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties. "Er Ya Shi Tian" has "Xia Yue Sui, Shang Yue Si, Zhou Yue Nian, Tang Yu Yue Zai." The Tang Yu era was probably the late Neolithic Age, when the year was called "Zai", which meant the movement and change of time. In the first year of Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty (the first 104 years), the first month of the summer calendar was officially determined as the beginning of the year. Since then, although the calendar has been constantly revised, the beginning time of the first month has not changed, and the annual festival has been fixed. Year 2008 is the time symbol of agricultural society, which embodies the rhythm of farmers’ life. This tradition has lasted for 3,000 years in China.
    During the Qin and Han Dynasties, China society gradually broke away from the influence of early primitive religious beliefs, people’s concept of "Year of the Year" changed fundamentally, and their time habit of obeying the natural lunar calendar changed gradually, and the coordination between festivals and social life at the age of the Year was concerned. As the first year of the Spring Festival, the social significance is obvious after the Qin and Han Dynasties. The court regards the first year of the Spring Festival as an opportunity to show and strengthen the righteousness of the monarch and the minister, while the people regard it as a good time for family gatherings in the countryside.
    Before the Qin dynasty to Hanzhong period, the beginning of the year was in October of the summer calendar, and the first day of October was the New Year. After the mid-Han Dynasty, the first year of the year fell on the first day of the first month, which was called the first month of Dan, Zhengdan and so on. The first lunar month is an important celebration day for the royal family in the Han Dynasty, and the court will hold a large-scale court meeting. Under the influence of the imperial court, the folks in the Han Dynasty moved the folk activities of the New Year Festival from the traditional La Ri and La Tomorrow to the "Zhengri" on the first day of the first month. The Four People’s Moon Order records the sacrificial ceremony and celebration activities of the people in the Eastern Han Dynasty. First of all, offering sacrifices to ancestors and respecting elders are the main contents of the etiquette of the Han Dynasty. The whole family, big or small, sat in front of the ancestral tablets in order of rank, and the family members toasted their parents in turn with joy. Secondly, pay tribute to the clansmen and relatives of the township party. After the celebration ceremony of family sacrifice on Sunday, people go out to pay their respects to their relatives and neighbors, and use the opportunity of the festival to communicate with them. The tradition of paying New Year’s greetings in the first month of the later generations developed from the custom of paying tribute to the New Year on the right day of the Han Dynasty.
    During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, it was still a grand ceremony of the imperial court to congratulate people at the beginning of the year, but in the folk, people crowed in the Yuan Dynasty, first set off firecrackers in front of the gate, "to rid the mountain of evil spirits", and then the whole family dressed neatly and paid homage to their elders in turn. Since the Tang Dynasty, the Spring Festival has enjoyed a government statutory holiday, with seven days off, three days before the year and three days after the year. As usual, the imperial court held the ceremony of the early dynasty, while the people got together and held a banquet to celebrate.
    In Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, the Spring Festival is called Yuan Day or New Year’s Day and New Year’s Day. Zhengdan Chaohui ceremony is still an important royal ceremony. As a national ceremony, the Emperor’s Zhengdan Chaohui is grand and spectacular, and it is an important part of national time politics. The grand celebration of the DPRK shows the peace of the country internally and the national prestige of the Chinese empire externally. At the same time, the official also took the opportunity of watching festival lights and enjoying acrobatic performances to show the attitude of sharing happiness with the people in order to harmonious society.
    For example, in the Northern Song Dynasty, "On the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar, Kaifeng House was closed for three days", that is, gambling was banned for three days and people were allowed to entertain. In the Ming Dynasty, the folk Spring Festival in Beijing was more lively and interesting. When the family started on the morning of New Year’s Day, they led their wives to worship the heavens and the earth, worship their ancestors, cook jiaozi and celebrate the longevity of their elders.
    On January 1, 1912, after Sun Yat-sen took office as interim president in Nanjing, he introduced the western calendar, taking the Gregorian calendar as the standard year. At this time, official festivals were separated from traditional folk festivals, and two calendar systems appeared in China. One was the official western solar calendar system, which was used as the time standard for public administration and international communication. One is the calendar system of Yin and Yang in traditional society, which people are used to, serving agricultural time and daily social life. In January, 1914, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Beijing government put forward in its submission that "it is proposed to designate Lunar New Year’s Day as the Spring Festival" and it was approved. As a result, the traditional lunar new year’s eve was officially renamed as "Spring Festival", and the traditional New Year’s Day and New Year’s names were placed on January 1 of the Gregorian calendar.
    At one time, the government of the Republic of China was not satisfied with the existence of the dual calendar structure, trying to use the Gregorian calendar in a unified way, and all the traditional festivals and customs were moved to the new calendar system to celebrate the Gregorian New Year’s Day, but the Lunar New Year. But the effect of doing so is not ideal. At the beginning of 1934, the government stopped the compulsory abolition of the lunar calendar, and had to admit that "folk customs should not interfere too much with the old calendar year, except for public institutions." The folks can celebrate the Lunar New Year again.
    When New China was founded in 1949, it inherited the tradition of 1911 and adopted the calendar method of A.D. Chronology, but paid special attention to the traditional festivals, and stipulated the legal holidays such as New Year’s Day, Spring Festival, Labor Day and National Day and their holiday dates. Since then, "Spring Festival" has become the name of the Chinese New Year in the whole society.
    The Spring Festival is at the turning point of the annual cycle and the four seasons cycle. With the pace of the Spring Festival, it is like unfolding a long scroll of old customs.
    The Spring Festival is a China festival with the longest history, the widest geographical spread and the largest number of festivals. It is truly the first festival of the Chinese nation and a major festival with world influence. The Spring Festival is at the turning point of the annual cycle and the four seasons cycle. Its festivals are rich and vivid, full of the beauty of human ethics, emotion, art and wisdom. In order to fully present the face of the traditional Spring Festival, we are following the footsteps of Chinese’s Spring Festival, and in accordance with the order of festivals, we are gradually launching a long scroll of annual customs. Let’s take a look at the custom of sending the old year.
    1. "Laba porridge"
    The eighth day of the twelfth lunar month is called Laba Festival. Laba Festival is a prelude to the New Year Festival. North China ballad sings well: "Wife, wife, don’t be greedy, it’s New Year after Laba." After Laba, it means entering the festival stage. On Laba Day, people want to eat seasonal Laba porridge.
    There are various legends about the origin of Laba porridge, and the most influential one is to commemorate the Buddha’s enlightenment. Legend has it that Buddha Sakyamuni fainted one day because of fatigue. Fortunately, a shepherdess cooked mixed rice and spring water with her to make porridge for him to eat. For this reason, Buddhist disciples cooked Laba porridge on the eighth day of Laba and distributed it to the poor to satisfy their hunger and keep out the cold, as a sign of great mercy. Therefore, Laba porridge is also called "Buddha porridge".
    Of course, eating porridge in Laba is not only influenced by Buddhism. In fact, in ancient China, there was a custom of offering sacrifices to gods with red bean porridge on the winter solstice. In fact, the ingredients of Laba porridge all have folk meanings, which are homophonic: longan symbolizes wealth and reunion, lily symbolizes Pepsi and harmony, red dates and peanuts symbolize early birth, lotus plums symbolize love and heart-to-heart, walnuts symbolize harmony and beauty, and preserved oranges and chestnuts symbolize good luck, etc. People look forward to a better life in the future.
    2. Send the kitchen god in the next year
    After Laba is off-year, off-year is the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month in the north and the 24th of the twelfth lunar month in the south. Folk songs such as "Twenty-three, Sweet Melon Sticks" and "Twenty-three, king of people" all talk about offering sacrifices to stoves, which is an important festival custom in traditional off-year years. The Kitchen God, commonly known as the Kitchen God, the Kitchen God and the Kitchen Master, is a special deity worshipped by the people in China during the New Year Festival. The name of Kitchen God appeared in the Warring States Period. After the Wei and Jin Dynasties, Kitchen God became the eyes and ears of the gods to monitor the lower world. It stayed in people’s homes, lived with the people day and night, and monitored every move of the people. It is inevitable that people will bump into each other in their daily lives. People are worried that Kitchen God will make a small report, so they befriend it, commonly known as "Mei Zao". Flattery to the gods is a common manifestation of folk beliefs, but it is more vivid and interesting in the sacrifice to the kitchen god. For example, smearing the stove door with distiller’s grains is called "drunken life"; Provide kitchen candy to the kitchen god, and pray and pray: "Sweet and spicy, the kitchen god is mo Yan". This kind of candy with high viscosity not only sticks to the mouth of the kitchen god, but also sweetens his heart.
    Step 3 sweep the dust
    "Twenty-four, dust." When the Kitchen God is sent away, people should clean and wash and welcome the New Year. Since the kitchen god went to heaven on the 23 rd and 24 th of the twelfth lunar month, "the custom is called all is forgiven." Usually, people are cautious about cleaning the house for fear of offending the gods. Now they have sent away the kitchen god who lives at home, and people have been given the opportunity to clean at will.
    Dusting is one of the passing ceremonies of eliminating the old and welcoming the new at the end of the year, and it is also a time-space purification ceremony at the end of the year. People try their best to clean up the upper and lower parts of the house, the corners of the walls and the top and bottom of the cabinets. Although cleaning the house is an actual hygienic behavior, it is a necessary space purification activity before the start of sacrificial activities in ancient people’s lives, which has symbolic significance of cleaning and purifying human settlements.
    4. Prepare food for the New Year.
    After offering sacrifices to the stove, people entered the stage of preparing food for the New Year’s Festival in the folk song of "Twenty-five, grinding bean curd". Of course, the New Year’s food is not only tofu, but also the abundance of food is a typical feature of the New Year. As the saying goes, "Adults look forward to farming, while children look forward to the New Year". Because there are many rare foods and entertainments in the New Year Festival. Festival food can best reflect the unity and locality of folk customs.
    The traditional food shared by the whole country in New Year’s Day is rice cake. Eating rice cake in the New Year means getting higher every year, and praying for better every year. Shandong New Year steamed cake is the most typical example: it is steamed from the beginning of the twelfth lunar month to the end of the twelfth lunar month, and the steamed food is eaten until February 2, which is a good family. Jiaozi is an important food for the Spring Festival in the north. As the saying goes, "If you are poor, you will be rich, but you will not eat jiaozi.". Jiaozi food was also prepared years ago. Of course, meat is the most important food in Chinese New Year, and there must be meat in Chinese New Year.
    5. Body Cleanliness: "Cleaning up the Sickness" and Shaving the Year
    After busy preparing food for the New Year, people began to bathe and fast to welcome the New Year. Bathing to remove filth is one of the main customs of the old New Year’s Day. In the New Year’s Festival transition ceremony, in order to turn the transition time into a special purification stage, people not only purify time and space by exorcising evil spirits and sending gods, but also the human body itself needs to be cleaned to get rid of the old and welcome the new. People in Hefeng, western Hubei province "bathe" in the sun, which is called "washing the dust every other year" and "washing sloppy". Tujia people wash all their quilts and clothes on the 28th of the twelfth lunar month, and the whole family, old and young, take a bath with mugwort. People in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province take a bath on the 26th of the twelfth lunar month, which is called "washing Fulu", and take a bath on the 27th day and night, which means "washing chirping and weeding".
    The cleaning behavior of human body at the end of the year is a necessary ceremony. In addition to bathing, there is also shaving the year. As the saying goes, "If you have money, shave your head for the New Year". At the end of the year, we must shave the new year and clean the New Year.
    6. Decorate the door: window grilles, New Year pictures, peach symbols and Spring Festival couplets.
    After cleaning and bathing, people will decorate the door, the so-called "twenty-eight, decals." Decals, including Spring Festival couplets, doornotes, New Year pictures, paper-cut window grilles, etc.
    Let’s talk about the door god first. The earliest door god was a puppet carved from peach wood, which appeared in the pre-Qin period. The door gods in Han Dynasty have evolved into two figures, their names are shentu and Yu Lei. Legend has it that shentu and Yu Lei are two brothers who are responsible for catching evil spirits that harm the world. Door gods are increasing in future generations, mainly including Zhong Kui, Qin Shubao and Wei Chijingde.
    Door-keeper painting is a picture with the image of the door-keeper. Later, the theme of the painting was expanded and it became a New Year picture that decorated the house and added joy during the New Year Festival. In ancient paintings of door gods, deer, happiness, BMW, bottles, saddles and other symbols were often painted. New Year pictures have a wide range of themes, with festive and auspicious as their themes, such as surplus in successive years, happy ever after, the blessing of the immortals, and making a fortune.
    Peach boards, peach symbols and Spring Festival couplets, which generally appeared later, are important decorations at the New Year’s gate. Before the Song Dynasty, there was a peach symbol hanging at the door, which was written with the words to ward off evil spirits and pray for blessings. The peach symbol was replaced once a year. Everyone may be familiar with this poem: the sound of firecrackers is one year old, and the spring breeze sends warmth into Tu Su, and thousands of families? ? Day, always change the new peach for the old one. With the change of the times, people want to express more and more wishes, and the words on the peach symbols are longer and longer, gradually forming a neat auspicious couplet. So the Spring Festival couplets, a new year’s door decoration, appeared. Although the Spring Festival couplets originated in the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, it should be in the Ming and Qing Dynasties that couplets were written on paper to popularize society.
    Next, let’s talk about the custom of Chinese New Year.
    1. New Year’s Eve dinner
    The New Year’s Eve dinner originated from the ancient year-end ritual. With the development of the family society, the polytheistic sacrifice gradually evolved into the ritual of the twelfth lunar month, which mainly offered sacrifices to ancestors. Chinese’s New Year’s Eve dinner is a family reunion dinner. This is the most abundant dinner in a year, which is a dinner for people and gods.
    Traditional New Year’s Eve dinner, dishes full of meaning. For example, Suzhou people’s New Year’s Eve dinner is commonly known as "family fun", and there is a dish called Anle dish-made of air-dried eggplant stalks mixed with other fruits and vegetables. When people eat New Year’s Eve, they must eat this product first for good luck. There are two indispensable dishes for the New Year’s Eve dinner in southern China. First, there is a fish with a complete head and tail, which symbolizes that there is more than one year; The second is meatballs, commonly known as mariko in the south, which symbolizes round and round. There must be water chestnuts in the traditional Peking man’s New Year’s Eve dinner, which is homophonic "must be neat", that is, the family must be neat.
    Of course, there are regional differences between the North and the South. In addition to dishes, the South wants to eat Ciba or rice cakes, while the North generally eats jiaozi. Jiaozi originated in China very early, and it can become the symbol food of the Northern New Year. On the one hand, jiaozi itself is delicious, on the other hand, jiaozi is a symbol of time change. In folk customs, the time of the old and new years alternate at midnight, and on the occasion of the alternation of New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Eve, the whole family eats jiaozi to celebrate the new year. In addition, in order to spice up the holiday life, some places also add candy, peanuts, dates and even coins when wrapping jiaozi. Whoever eats jiaozi with what stuffing will get a good omen. Eating candy indicates that life is as sweet as honey; Those who eat peanuts mean immortality; Eating dates means getting children early; Those who eat coins naturally have good fortune in the New Year.
    2. lucky money
    After dinner on New Year’s Eve, the elders should give the younger generation lucky money to wish the younger generation a safe New Year. Lucky money is the most anticipated gift for children in the New Year. Legend has it that lucky money originated earlier, but it really became popular in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. There are two kinds of lucky money: special money and general money. The special lucky money is an imitation. Its material is copper or iron, and its shape is square or long. Generally, the money is engraved with "good luck", "happiness in life" and "long life".
    During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, money in circulation was usually used as lucky money. This kind of lucky money is given directly to the younger generation, and some are placed at the foot of the bed or beside the pillow after the younger generation sleeps. The lucky money was originally meant to be a blessing, but the use of circulating money to make children old brought the joy of independent consumption to children. This situation is probably a new phenomenon after the Ming and Qing Dynasties, which opened the trend that the lucky money changed from a belief function to a holiday economic function. After the Republic of China, all money shops issued special red paper change tickets at the end of the year in case people spent money on lucky money. At that time, it was also popular to wrap 100 copper coins in red paper, which meant "long life"; Give the lucky money to the adult junior, and the red paper is wrapped in an ocean, symbolizing "abundant financial resources" and "a million profits". After using modern paper banknotes, parents like to choose new banknotes with connected numbers, which indicates that future generations will "get rich again and again" and "get promoted again and again".
    Step 3: keep your age
    After the New Year’s Eve dinner, the whole family sat around the stove, chatting about the future and talking about the land until the dawn of the fifth watch to usher in the new year. On New Year’s Eve, people wait for the arrival of the new year in the form of staying up all night, which is called "keeping the old year".
    The custom of observing the age has a history of nearly two thousand years in China, and the purpose of observing the age is to pray for a long life. Because it stays up all night, people have to sit up, so it is called "endure the year" in the northern proverb. In order to prevent people from sleeping on New Year’s Eve, people also formed a taboo, saying that if they sleep that night, they will be in poor health the next year. Keeping the age is to strengthen the body and prolong life. In ancient times, observing the age was an important way to pray for parents or the elderly, so most people insisted on observing the age. Since ancient times, people have always regarded observing the old age as an important process to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. Watching the new year is a farewell to the old year and a watch for the new year.
    The folk custom of keeping the old age is mainly manifested in the fact that the lights stay on all night on New Year’s Eve. The fire of Nian originated from the need of exorcism in ancient times: there was a folk saying that there was a monster named Nian who often came out to eat people on New Year’s Eve. Because Nian animals are afraid of red lights, people hang red lanterns at the door and light red flames in the courtyard, thus ensuring the safety of their families. This folklore expresses people’s feelings of tension and instability in the time change, so people drive away the darkness with lively lights and welcome the arrival of the new year dawn. On New Year’s Eve, besides the New Year’s fire, there is also the custom of "burning lights to shine on the New Year", that is, burning lights and candles all over the New Year’s Eve. On New Year’s Eve in the Ming Dynasty, all houses were lit with candles, and candles were specially lit at the bottom of the bed, which was called "wasting". It was said that after this, the wealth at home would be enriched in the coming year.
    Let me talk about the custom of welcoming the new year.
    In ancient society, people waited for cock crow to tell time. The cock crow on the first day of the first month is especially meaningful, it calls for the arrival of the new year. Of course, with the change of modern China’s timing means, people have set the landmark of old and new time at midnight.
    1. "One-year-old in firecrackers"
    With the New Year’s Eve, there are firecrackers and fireworks. On the day of seeing off the old and welcoming the new, people enjoy setting off fireworks and firecrackers.
    New Year’s firecrackers originated from primitive religious beliefs, which people use to exorcise evil spirits and pray for blessings. Folklore believes that firecrackers and other sounds can drive away ghosts and evil spirits. The Chronicle of the Age of Jingchu, which was written in the middle of the 6th century AD, has recorded that on the first day of the first month, "the cock crows before the court" to drive away the mountain monsters and evil spirits. At that time, it was really a firecracker. The method was to barbecue the bamboo tube in the fire. The bamboo tube was heated and expanded, and finally it exploded. Until the Tang and Song Dynasties, this kind of firecracker was still used. Fan Chengda, a Song Dynasty poet, wrote a story about the firecrackers in Wudi at that time. In addition to the traditional natural firecrackers, gunpowder firecrackers also appeared in the Song Dynasty. This kind of gunpowder firecracker not only has thunderbolt, but also has smoke. The smoke emitted by firecrackers has the effect of killing germs in the air, so people often set off firecrackers when the plague occurs.
    During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, gunpowder and firecrackers became more popular. People not only used firecrackers to drive away exorcises, but also used them to send gods, greet them and receive New Year visitors. The sound of firecrackers adds to the festive atmosphere. On New Year’s Eve in Beijing in the Qing Dynasty, "the sound of firecrackers was like thunder and thunder, all over the ruling and opposition parties". In Suzhou for the New Year, gongs and drums beat and the streets heard each other. When giving gifts to the gods, we should put more firecrackers, which are known as single-sounding, double-sounding, and one-book-winning. There is also a kind of whip with hundreds of small explosions, which makes a lot of noise and is called "Baowang Whip".
    In modern times, firecrackers in rural areas during the Spring Festival are a must-have item. If there is no firecrackers during the Spring Festival, people will feel empty. Today, when the New Year bell of CCTV Spring Festival Gala rings at midnight on New Year’s Eve, the whole country is in a state of uproar, with fireworks flying and firecrackers ringing all over the country. Chinese, which has always been reserved, is now integrated into the carnival world.
    2. Sacrifice to Heaven and Earth and Ancestors
    People greeted the New Year with firecrackers resounding through the sky, and the gods who reported the old year back to heaven returned to earth with a new mission. In order to welcome the new god, various families set up incense tables and made pious sacrifices. In the New Year, it is a tradition that existed in the Han Dynasty, which has been followed by the people. In the New Year, people welcome back the gods, and the arrival of the gods means that the annual time will return to the daily world where people and gods coexist.
    Ancestor sacrifice is the most important family sacrifice in the Spring Festival. Ancestor sacrifices are frequently recorded in the Book of Rites, such as "drinking heavily?" It is the ancestral sacrifice gift of the ancestral temple at the end of the year. After the Ming and Qing Dynasties, due to the revival of patriarchal clan system, ancestor worship became an important part of the New Year ceremony again. Since the Republic of China, people still keep the habit of offering sacrifices to their ancestors during the Spring Festival. Generally, ancestral tablets are set in family halls. Before people eat the reunion dinner, parents should invite their ancestors home for the reunion dinner in turn. After the ancestors enjoy it, their families will eat at the table.
    It is this year after year of ritual reunion that strengthens the family’s sense of cohesion and ensures the continuity of the family. As the basic unit of society, the family is also the basic unit of cultural inheritance. The long-standing inheritance of China civilization has a certain internal relationship with the extension of China family society.
    3. Wear new clothes and pay New Year greetings
    It is a custom in Han Dynasty to greet the New Year with fresh and clean clothes. There is a folk song in the north: candied melons offer sacrifices to the stove. When the New Year comes, the girl wants flowers, the boy wants firecrackers, the old woman wants to eat new rice cakes, and the old man wants to wear a new fedora.
    In the folk society, the new clean clothing is not only the beauty of the New Year’s Day, but also has divine significance. The new clothing is to pray for blessings and eliminate disasters. After passing the threshold of the old year, people get a new life. Wearing new clothes and hats symbolizes that people have entered a new life journey. This new dress of the body and the new decoration of the portal both reflect Chinese’s awareness of attaching importance to the time renewal of the New Year.
    After welcoming the new year in the morning, it is followed by the New Year and the New Year. The order is home first, then outside. In the Ming Dynasty, New Year greetings in Beijing prevailed in the ruling and opposition circles. At that time, there were two forms of New Year greetings:
    One is to meet and bow down. If people meet relatives and friends on the road, they will also get off the bus and kowtow to pay New Year greetings on the road. Another kind of New Year greeting is a false form of etiquette. In the mid-Ming Dynasty, there was a custom of "looking at the door and posting posts" in the capital, and some courtiers paid attention to etiquette, such as Chang ‘an Avenue in the east and west, where courtiers lived the most. At this point, people don’t ask about knowledge and ignorance, but look at the door and post.
    In the old days, New Year greetings emphasized family relations, and the process of New Year greetings was the process of strengthening family relations. He clan in Dongxiang Road, Jiangxi Province holds a group worship every year on the first day of the first month. Group worship is not limited to one clan, but is carried out throughout the He clan in Henglu. The group worship is progressive according to the ethical order of the young and the old recorded in the genealogy, that is, the younger generation pays New Year greetings to the elders, and the small room pays New Year greetings to the big room. The order of generations cannot be changed. Until today, rural cities still maintain the traditional custom of celebrating the New Year, and there is still the habit of bowing down in local villages in Shandong and Hebei.
    Step 4 pick up the god of wealth
    When the new year comes, it means the arrival of the new god of wealth. There are many incarnations of the God of Wealth. From the perspective of folk beliefs, there are the God of Wealth, Wu Caishen, Five-way God of Wealth, Qinglong God of Wealth and so on.
    From New Year pictures and temple clay sculptures, we can often see the image of the god of wealth, dressed as a civil servant, and it is said that he is the leader of the Shang Dynasty. Bigan was a loyal minister. His heart was dug by Shang Zhouwang, but he survived because he ate the panacea that Jiang Ziya gave him. He spreads his wealth widely among the people, because without his heart, he is unbiased. Another god of wealth is Fan Li. Fan Li is a master of management. He amassed wealth three times and dispersed it three times. His genius of getting rich and his quality of attaching importance to righteousness have won people’s admiration.
    Look at Wu Caishen. Marshal Zhao Gong of Wu Shen is a household name. Marshal Zhao Gong is a Taoist figure with a good name and a clear word. The Emperor of Heaven named him "Marshal Zhao of Zhengyi Xuantan", and he was in charge of the lucky messenger and Lishi Xian Guan. Another Wu Caishen was Guan Gong, who was given various titles by emperors of past dynasties because of his loyalty and bravery. Influenced by the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, people regard Guan Yu as the embodiment of loyalty, especially some industrial and commercial organizations in modern times regard Guan Gong as the patron saint and god of wealth of the industry.
    The belief in the five-way god of wealth is mainly circulated in the south. The so-called five roads refer to the five roads in the east, west, north and south. The five-way god is also a walking god, that is, going out five ways is the way to get rich. If you don’t come, you will run around and get it. Commercial trade depends on traffic, and the convenience and safety of traffic depend on the protection of the god of the road, the walking god. The traditional worship of walking gods has evolved into the god of wealth under the background of the development of commercial economy. In Shandong and Zhejiang, the custom of taking Qinglong as the god of wealth is still popular. Most of the folk pictures of the dragon god of wealth are flying around the dragon, and the two immortals are on both sides of the dragon god of wealth. In front is the cornucopia, and Qinglongkou is swallowing jewels.
    "Greeting the God of Wealth" and "Receiving the God of Wealth" are important sacrificial contents in the Spring Festival, usually from the first day of the first month to the fifth day of the first month. During this period, when people meet, they say "Congratulations on making a fortune" and "making a fortune" becomes the most active vocabulary at the beginning of the year.
    Finally, by the way, I want to talk about "Lantern Festival" on the fifteenth day of the first month.
    If the New Year is a folk drama with the participation of the whole people, the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month is the finale of this drama.
    Lantern Festival is a typical festival custom, so it is also called "Lantern Festival". The Lantern Festival began to flourish in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. Every year, Yang Guang, Emperor Yangdi, held a grand Lantern Festival in Luoyang, the capital city, to entertain foreign messengers and to boast about the wealth of China. Lantern Festival was even more popular in the Tang Dynasty. In order to enjoy the whole country, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty extended the lantern festival on the fifteenth and eleventh nights of the first month to three nights, and stipulated that the official family would have a three-day holiday on the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth of the first month. In order to enjoy the lanterns all night, the usual curfew was cancelled during the festival, which is called "Jin Wu can’t help it". City life in Song Dynasty further developed, and Lantern Festival lights became more prosperous. In the Ming Dynasty, the Song system was fully revived, and the Lantern Festival custom was extended to ten days in Yongle period. From the eleventh day of the first month, officials in Beijing had a ten-day holiday.
    Another custom of Lantern Festival is to eat Yuanxiao. Yuanxiao is a seasonal food, and it became fashionable to eat Yuanxiao on the fifteenth day of the first month in Ming and Qing Dynasties. After the ninth day of the Ming Dynasty, the capital city began to eat Yuanxiao, which is made of glutinous rice powder, round, filled with walnut kernel and white sugar, as big as walnuts, and is called "dumpling" in Jiangnan. In the Qing Dynasty, Suzhou people called it Mariko, and Hangzhou people called it "Lantern Mariko". After offering sacrifices to ancestors, family members and fellow villagers enjoy the dumplings together to get the meaning of reunion.
    "Men and women playing" is a special cultural landscape of Yuanxiao. Lantern Festival in the first month is the only "carnival" festival in a year. At this stage, people break the daily order constraints and go out of their homes one after another, going to the theatre, visiting lanterns and solve riddles on the lanterns, walking away from all diseases and making trouble at night. Even women who hide their boudoir on weekdays have a rare opportunity to travel. Some people say that Lantern Festival is the ancient Valentine’s Day in China, which seems to have some truth. Today’s urban public life needs a public festival like Lantern Festival, which can have collective activities of watching the lights and enjoying the moon and folk customs, and carry out square-style community gatherings. Through the common festival customs, the public’s awareness and responsibility of public cultural space will be enhanced, so as to cultivate the spiritual tradition of community sharing.
