My hometown is a mountain village in western Guangdong, where the traditional customs have distinctive cultural characteristics of diversified beliefs in western Guangdong. To be exact, in my hometown, the annual Spring Festival preparation activities began on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month. According to legend, this day is the day when the minister ordered Fu Zaojun to ascend to heaven to avenge his family for one year. Therefore, every year on this day, housewives in our village will get up early, "cook a fragrant meal" with flour, and then offer a fragrant meal to family gods including Zhao Jun, which means that Zhao Jun will ascend to heaven early, recognize her position and talk well in front of the Jade Emperor. After seeing off the kitchen gentleman, every household can clean with peace of mind in the following week, or make zongzi, buy couplets and buy New Year pictures during this period.
On New Year's Eve, people in their hometown will get up early and tear up old New Year pictures and couplets, and then put up new ones. After putting up New Year pictures and couplets, housewives at home can "relax", worship God and light up activities. The so-called "Italian head" is to put fresh onions and garlic into a red envelope, which means that it is smart and can calculate, so it is called "Italian head", and then put two "Italian heads" in various places. After worshipping God, the family can't clean up any more. All words and deeds should be measured and taboo. It is said that the Kitchen God came home from heaven with gold and silver treasures on New Year's Eve. In the process of offering sacrifices to the gods, a lighted oil lamp should be placed in front of the indoor shrine to illuminate everything. During this period, the oil should be continuously added to the seventh day of the following year. In my hometown, the family worship gods mainly include ancestor gods, land gods of the five dragons in the middle palace, kitchen gods, door officials, heavenly officials, bed mothers, country and so on; Take my own family as an example. Every year, we pay homage to the ancestors of ancestral houses, the land gods of the Five Dragons in the Middle Palace, the door officials, heavenly officials, dragon mothers and dragon sons of the ancestral temple in the west of the city, the societies of all walks of life, our own Guanyin Master (which was enshrined by my mother), the land gods, kitchen gods, door officials, heavenly officials and bed mothers of the Five Dragons in the Middle Palace. Some families, such as those who have a contract with the water banyan tree in the village, also want to worship the banyan tree during the festival, that is, pay tribute to their parents. Sacrifices include chicken, pork, pork hands, pork bellies, steamed dumplings, rice bowls with red envelopes, candied melon cakes, drinks and incense sticks. On New Year's Eve, family members have a reunion dinner, and the leftovers are left for the next day, which is called "more than one year". It is night owls who stay up until the early hours of the morning.
At 0: 00 on the first day of the first lunar month, every household in my hometown will set off fireworks and firecrackers, which is called "welcoming the god of wealth" and pray for prosperity, colorful and longevity in the new year. The fireworks show will last for two hours, full of excitement and local flavor. Early the next morning, every household will set off firecrackers again to welcome the dawn of spring. Housewives get up early in the morning to pack jiaozi, and then take jiaozi and tea to burn incense, offer sacrifices and pour tea to gods everywhere. From then on to the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, they would burn incense and pour tea every morning and evening, which was special on the first day of the Lunar New Year, and they would burn incense in the morning, middle and evening. From this day on, everyone will greet each other when they meet. Children should pay New Year greetings to adults, and adults should give children red envelopes. In the meantime, there should be no quarrelling or unlucky language. On New Year's Day, it is customary for people in the same village and household to pay New Year greetings to each other, and relatives do not pay New Year greetings to each other. We are used to dancing lions during the Spring Festival here. The lion dance team will visit different villages every day to pay New Year greetings. Before New Year's greetings, a special person should go to each family to hand over New Year's greetings, and then each family will prepare red envelopes and firecrackers at home after receiving the invitation. When the lion wakes up, they will set off firecrackers, then wake up the lion to celebrate the New Year and pick green flowers, and then set off firecrackers when they leave.
On the second day of New Year's Day, every household in my hometown has to get up early in the morning to clean up, especially to sweep away the scraps of paper left after setting off fireworks and firecrackers on the first day of New Year's Day. After the cleaning, it is commonly known as "opening the new year", which means that everything that can be done is forgiven. After the beginning of the new year, married women will go back to their parents' home to visit relatives, so the activities on the second day of the New Year are quite tense. In the next few days, all families will visit each other to pay New Year greetings, such as blood relatives, cousins, in-laws, and relatives who are indentured. In my hometown, the items for visiting relatives are generally chicken, pork, candied melon cakes, fruits and so on. The visitor will return the gift as usual, that is, take out chicken and pork, then symbolically extract some candied melon cakes and fruits, then put a handful of rice and two red envelopes (the amount of red envelopes is generally equal to the price of chicken and pork) into a small bag, and then put the small bag into the big bag of visitors' visiting gifts until the guests leave. If the guest's home was damaged or damaged the year before last, the host's family would send back steamed dumplings, sesame cakes and oil cakes as a blessing as usual.
On the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, families in their hometown have to get up early to set off firecrackers, because this day is said to be "Everyone's Day" and the legendary anniversary of Nu Wa's creation of mankind, so it should be specially celebrated. After setting off firecrackers in the morning, we have to kill chickens and worship God. At this point, all traditional activities during the Spring Festival can come to an end temporarily, and people don't need to burn incense and oil every day. In addition, our traditional habit here is that people don't visit relatives in other families every day, and basically stay at home all day to feel the festive atmosphere. In addition, many wanderers basically want to bid farewell to their loved ones, leave their hometown, embark on a journey again, and return to that familiar and unfamiliar place to work on the seventh day of the Lunar New Year.
Lunar New Year's Eve is the day when the lights are turned on, that is, every household will hold a banquet to entertain relatives and friends at the full moon the year before last. Because these families hang lanterns in village altars, ancestral temples and ancestral houses early in the morning to give good news to the gods and ancestors and pray for their blessing, this kind of banquet is also called "turning on the lights", which is generally more grand than full moon wine. After the lanterns are hung, they can't be taken down until the sixth day of the Lunar New Year. When it rises and falls, it is called "putting on the lights" and "taking off the lights". Generally, when the lights are turned off, you should also worship God and celebrate with your family. In the author's hometown, the custom of opening light wine is rare now, but it is popular in neighboring towns and villages, so it is also recorded. In addition, around the tenth day of the New Year, people in their hometown are used to praying to the nearby gods of the ten parties, commonly known as "Fu", and then returning to the ten parties around the 25th of the twelfth lunar month, commonly known as "Hui Fu".