What are the traditional customs on New Year’s Day?

What are the traditional customs on New Year’s Day?
Out with the old and in with the new! The 2018 Lunar New Year is coming soon! New Year’s Day is the first day of the new year. Do you know all the customs on this day? So if you want to know more about the 2018 Spring Festival, then continue to wander in the 2018 Spring Festival special topic on the Fortune Teller website! 1. Opening firecrackers On the morning of the Spring Festival, firecrackers are set off first to wish the new year auspicious. This is called "opening firecrackers". Setting off three firecrackers is called "three hits in a row"; setting off four firecrackers is called "good fortune, wealth, longevity and happiness"; setting off five firecrackers is called "five blessings coming to the door"; setting off six firecrackers is called "six good lucks"... After the sound of firecrackers, the ground is covered with red fragments, as bright as brocade, which is called "a house full of reds".
2. Worship gods The first day of the first lunar month is also a day for worshiping gods. Friends with religious beliefs can go to the temple to burn incense and pray for blessings to ensure a smooth and peaceful year. On the first day of the first lunar month, people in some places would worship their ancestors and gods in the early morning, get up to burn incense and set off firecrackers, which means "grabbing the spring." In some places, worshiping gods and ancestors on the first day of the new year is very particular. Wine and tea must be placed first, and food such as chicken, chicken blood, squid, pork, etc. must be prepared in advance. The chicken blood should be placed on the chicken. After lighting three incense sticks at the ancestor statue, you can start worshiping your ancestors. After the ancestor worship, the prosperous new year begins.
3. After eating rich fish and meat on New Year’s Eve, the whole family has to eat vegetarian food for the first meal of the first day of the new year. "斋" (fast) and "惧 (disaster)" (disaster) have the same pronunciation, and eating vegetarian food also means "eating disasters", which means "eating away" all kinds of disasters in the new year and blessing the family with peace and safety. On the first day of the New Year, people eat vegetarian food for lunch. They cook a pot of "Luohan Vegetarian Food" with vermicelli, bean curd sheets, hair algae, mushrooms, etc., which means that all the vegetarian dishes to be eaten in the year should be eaten on this day. From then on, they can eat meat and fish and pray for a smooth year. Therefore, there is a saying that "eating vegetarian food on the first day of the New Year is better than fasting for a year."
4. Drink Tu Su wine. Tu Su wine is a kind of medicinal wine. According to ancient customs, on New Year's Day the whole family would drink Tu Su wine to get rid of evil spirits. In ancient times, people drank Tu Su wine in a very unique way. When ordinary people drink, they always start with the oldest; but when drinking Tu Su wine, it is just the opposite, they start with the youngest. Perhaps the younger ones are growing up day by day, so they drink first to show their congratulations, while the older ones are getting younger year by year, so they drink later to show their desire to stay.
5. Eating rice cakes: Eating rice cakes on the first day of the Lunar New Year is a Chinese tradition, symbolizing "prosperity on every level." The styles of rice cakes include square-shaped yellow and white rice cakes, which symbolize gold and silver, and imply getting rich in the New Year.
6. Eating dumplings: Eating dumplings on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day is a custom of northerners, but now many southerners have also joined the ranks of eating dumplings. Eating dumplings on New Year’s Eve means “changing the year and handing over the child” (good luck in the coming year), while eating dumplings on New Year’s Day is for good luck for the whole year.
7. Eating glutinous rice balls for breakfast on the first day of the Lunar New Year must have a special meaning. Its meaning is: everything goes well and the whole family is happily reunited. On the first day of the Lunar New Year, glutinous rice balls are not called “glutinous rice balls” but “yuanbao”, and eating glutinous rice balls is not called “eating glutinous rice balls” but “getting yuanbao”. Because in the local dialect, "getting into trouble" is often referred to as "getting into trouble by getting into trouble".
8. Eating long noodles , also called longevity noodles, are eaten on the first day of the Lunar New Year. It symbolizes "longevity year after year" and is a wish for a long life of a hundred years. Many elderly people still maintain this custom.
9. Drink "Yuanbao Tea"
People in Shaoxing, Zhejiang have the custom of going to teahouses to drink "yuanbao tea" on the first day of the Lunar New Year. The so-called "yuanbao tea" means that the tea used here is of a higher grade than usual, and a "kumquat" or "green olive" is added to the teacup at home to refer to "yuanbao", symbolizing "yuanbao coming in, making you rich and prosperous" in the new year. Secondly, there is a "yuanbao" cut out of red paper pasted on the teacup, which roughly means "attracting wealth and treasure."
10. Drink chicken soup on the first day of the Lunar New Year, symbolizing "peace". In addition, the main labor force in the family also has to eat chicken feet, which means "grabbing wealth in the new year."
11. New Year's greetings An important activity during the Spring Festival is to visit new friends and neighbors to wish them a happy New Year, which was formerly known as New Year's greetings. New Year's greetings are a traditional custom among the Chinese people. It is a way for people to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new and express good wishes to each other. New Year's greetings usually start at home. On the morning of the first day of the New Year, after getting up, the younger generation should first greet the elders and wish them good health, longevity and all the best. After receiving the greetings, the elders will distribute the "lucky money" prepared in advance to the younger generations. After paying New Year's greetings to the elders at home, people go out to pay New Year's greetings to others.
12. In the old days, people would predict the harvest of the new year based on the weather in the first few days of the new year. The theory originated from Dongfang Shuo's "Sui Zhan" in the Han Dynasty, which said that eight days after the year, the first day is the chicken day, the second day is the dog day, the third day is the pig day, the fourth day is the sheep day, the fifth day is the cow day, the sixth day is the horse day, the seventh day is the great man day, and the eighth day is the grain day. If the day is sunny, the things it governs will flourish; if the day is cloudy, the things it governs will not prosper. Later generations followed this custom and believed that it was auspicious if the weather was clear, windless and snowless from the first to the tenth day of the lunar month. Later generations developed the fortune-telling into a series of sacrificial and celebratory activities. There is a custom of not killing chickens on the first day of the lunar month, not killing dogs on the second day, not killing pigs on the third day... and not executing people on the seventh day.
13. Giving New Year’s Money Giving children some New Year’s money is a traditional Chinese custom. New Year’s money is filled with elders’ blessings and wishes for the younger generations. In China, there are some widely circulated stories about the origin of New Year's money. For example, in ancient times there was a goblin with a black body and white hands, named "Sui", who came out every New Year's Eve to harm children. So people would light the lights and stay up all night, and put copper coins next to the children's pillows to ward off evil spirits. This is called "guarding against evil spirits" and "suppressing evil spirits", and later also called "guarding the new year" and "suppressing the new year".
14. Do not kill, do not sweep . During every Chinese New Year, there are many customary customs to be followed, commonly known as the New Year taboos. Because the first month of the year is the beginning of the year, people often regard it as a sign of fortune for the new year, so there are many "taboos" during the New Year. For example, killing is taboo on the first day of the Lunar New Year, because killing is believed to lead to disasters such as sword disasters, war disasters, and blood disasters. You cannot use a broom on the first day of the first lunar month, otherwise it will sweep away your luck and cause you to lose money. If you must sweep the floor, you must sweep from the outside to the inside. You are not allowed to break furniture during the New Year. Doing so is a sign of bankruptcy. You have to quickly say “May you have a peaceful new year” or “May you be rich and prosperous.”

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