The Spring Festival is the most solemn festival in China, and there may be many explanations for the festivals during the Spring Festival. From the moment we enter the twelfth lunar month, we enter the rhythm of the festival. All the rhythms of life are the countdown to the Spring Festival.
In addition to New Year's Eve and Spring Festival, the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month is also a big festival. The main day before the Spring Festival should be the Little New Year.
But when the Little New Year falls, just like whether dumplings or glutinous rice balls should be eaten during the New Year, it will cause a difference between northern and southern China.
In the north, it seems natural to celebrate the Little New Year on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month; Southerners can’t help but jump up: I don’t argue with you about eating dumplings during the New Year. It is clearly the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, so this is the authentic one. .
Folk customs are the customs established by the people. Therefore, "Little Year" has different concepts and dates in different places. In the north, it is customary to celebrate the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, while in most areas in the south, it is the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month.
Of course, there are many other explanations. For example, in some areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, "the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month" and "the night before New Year's Eve" are both called Xiaonian. In some areas of Yunnan, the date of Xiaonian is the sixteenth day of the first lunar month. In some ethnic minority areas in the southwest and north, the small New Year dates are New Year's Eve and so on.
Ok, let’s just talk about the origins of the 23rd and 24th of the twelfth lunar month.
First of all, Xiaonian is a day, and it has a long history as a festival, but it was not called Xiaonian at that time.
For example, in the Han Dynasty, there was already the custom of Xiao Nian. At this time, Xiao Nian was called "Xiao Sui". Cui (pronounced shí) of the Eastern Han Dynasty recorded in the "Four People's Monthly Order": "The new year will be renewed tomorrow, which is called Xiaosui. Drinking wine with the elders, Xiu congratulates the teacher." On the day of Xiaosui, people should especially drink wine with their teachers. , display the virtue of respecting teachers by elders.
In the Song Dynasty, there was a real "small year". Zhou Mi at the end of the Song Dynasty and the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty recorded in "Old Martial Arts": "In the ban, the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month is the last night, and the 30th day is the big festival."
In other words, the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month is the big festival. Night is Little New Year's Eve, and the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month is New Year's Eve. The "banzhong" here refers to the officials of the Northern Song Dynasty, that is, the emperor. It can be seen that Xiaonian is an official festival that is popular from top to bottom.
Reflects the prosperity of Bianliang, Tokyo
It seems that the 24th of the twelfth lunar month has a slight advantage. Of course, the book "Old Events in the Wulin" is about old events in Lin'an, the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, and it seems difficult to convince the public in the north.
"Tokyo Menghua Lu", a notebook prose essay by Meng Yuanlao of the Song Dynasty, was written in the second year of Jingkang of Emperor Qinzong of the Song Dynasty (1127). A book about urban customs and feelings.
Here it says: "On the 24th, when the new year comes, people stay up late at night and invite monks to read sutras. They prepare wine and fruits to send gifts to the gods. They burn a hundred mouthfuls of paper instead of money and paper, and stick the stove horse on the stove. The lees of wine are smeared on the stove door, which is called "drunken minister". "It can be seen that the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month is called the Jie Nian Festival, and sacrifices to the stove have already begun.
The twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month is still more advantageous.
Sacrifice to the Stove
How did the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month come about? There is another saying called "officials, three people, four ships and five". In other words, the off year for official families is on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, for citizen families it is on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, and for Fu family and Fanzhai it is on the 25th of the twelfth lunar month. There is also a saying that "the army is three and the people are four", the warriors are over twenty-three, and the ordinary citizens are over twenty-four.
In fact, it mainly depends on how the emperor’s family does it.
Qianlong was very busy
Starting from the middle and late Qing Dynasty, the Qing royal family held a ceremony to worship the heaven on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month. In order to "save expenses", they also paid homage to the Kitchen God. . And we know that during the Qing Dynasty, Beijing was the center, and the northern regions followed suit and celebrated the Small New Year on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month one day in advance. Most areas in the south still maintain the tradition of celebrating the 24th of the twelfth lunar month.
There are many customs for celebrating the New Year, the most important ones are preparing new year's goods, sweeping dust, offering sacrifices to the stove, etc.
For example, the poet Luo Yin of the late Tang Dynasty wrote "Send the Stove": "With a cup of tea and a wisp of smoke, the Stove King and the Emperor ascend to the sky." Isn't it much better than Xiao Yueyue's "God praises merit and deeds, but the earth is jealous and evil"?
God said that meritorious deeds will return to the palace and bring auspiciousness
Another example is the poem "Sacrifice to the Stove" by Fan Chengda, a poet of the Southern Song Dynasty:
"It is said in ancient times that on the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, The Lord Zao wants to talk to the sky.
The clouds are flying and the horses are hanging around. There are cups and plates for the feast. /p>
A man offers his daughter a drink to escape, and he drinks wine and burns money to please the king.
Don’t hear about the fight between your maids, and don’t get angry when the horns of cats and dogs are dirty;
Dipper. Don’t repeat the clouds that are long and short, just beg and get points. ”
Please make today’s booming information society make our new year easier.
Worshiping the Stove Lord is no longer necessary, because the house has a gas stove, and the young man even eats takeout every day, so he has no friendship with the Stove Lord.
Cleaning can be called housekeeping. You don’t have to be fully armed and flying up and down with a feather duster.
You can buy New Year’s goods online without having to get up early and brave the cold wind to catch the big market. With just a flick of the thumb, the New Year is here and we are much happier than our predecessors.