Detailed explanation of the seven customs of the 16th day of the first lunar month
Introduction: Many people think that the Chinese New Year is over as long as the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month is over. However, this is not the case. In many places in our country, the Chinese New Year is truly over after the 16th day of the first lunar month. Therefore, there are many customs and activities on this day, and it is very lively! In this issue, the editor will introduce to readers the seven major customs of the sixteenth day of the first lunar month. Let’s learn about them now! In addition to the grand and festive celebrations of the Spring Festival, we also need to pay attention to some taboos regarding the Spring Festival. Next, let’s take a closer look at the Spring Festival special topic compiled by Mr. Shui Mo!Custom 1: Walking the lark on the 16th day of the first lunar monthThis is very popular in the southwest of Shandong Province. The New Year atmosphere is gone and early spring is coming. Farmers are in the busy farming season and it is time for women and children who have been cooped up at home all winter to go out for an outing and keep fit. "When you step out of the house, you will be smart and clever." In Jining area, in the early years, mothers often went to the Confucius Temple, Mencius Temple, and Zeng Temple to burn incense and make wishes. Mothers wished their children to become successful and clever. But this was in the past. Now these scenic spots charge a fee, and people have switched to climbing mountains to enjoy the scenery. Walking on Bailing Mountain is actually walking on Bailing Mountain. Some people even visit relatives and friends and communicate with each other on this day. In some places in the north, people also roast larks. Every household has to prepare some firewood and cypress branches, corn, platycodon, and larks. After dinner, the whole family gathers in front of their own door to light the materials. The family members gather around the fire, the elders say some auspicious words, and then let the whole family roast their arms and legs, pat the uncomfortable parts of the body, and finally the whole family steps over the fire to pray for good health in the coming year. Every household sets off fireworks and firecrackers, and the sound of firecrackers resounds through the earth, in order to get a good start. Others roast some steamed buns or rice cakes over the fire and then share them to eat. Legend has it that eating steamed buns or rice cakes baked in this way can prevent all kinds of diseases. Some people also light cypress branches and sweep them across their stoves, meaning to sweep away all scorpions and centipedes and prevent them from entering their stoves. Finally, one old man was left in each family to guard the fire, while the others ran around from house to house to warm themselves by the fire. Until all the cakes are baked.Custom 2: Get rid of all diseases on the 16th day of the first lunar monthIn the Central Plains region, there is a legend and traditional custom of "running away all diseases on the 16th day of the first lunar month". The form is roughly the same as walking with larks, but the name is different. That is to say, on the 16th day of the first lunar month, after breakfast, almost every household would lock their doors, and the whole family would go out to "run away all diseases". In the past, the elderly loved to visit temple fairs, meditate, worship Buddha, and pray for blessings and good fortune; young people would also enjoy all kinds of recreational activities that please the body and mind. Even those elderly people who usually don't like to wander around and prefer quietness, as long as they can move around, will not stay at home on this day. Most of them will dress warmly and walk around the fields with crutches. People say that after a trip on the 16th day of the first lunar month, all diseases will be "left behind" on the road and in the wild during the comfortable and enjoyable short-distance trip, so that all diseases will disappear; those who are healthy will get better and healthier; those who are sick and have disasters will just be "left behind" and their luck will turn bad luck into good luck! Therefore, there is a taboo in traveling on this day. People can go to many places, but they cannot go to visit relatives and friends or go to other people's homes to "travel away all diseases." If you go rashly, people will think that you will "leave" your own diseases in their homes, which will be bad for their family.Custom 3: Flag and flower dance on the 16th day of the first lunar monthThe preparation work for the dancing flag flower must be done several days in advance, such as picking up cypress seeds from the hillside in the cemetery, finding old pots and crushing them with stone mortars, and digging up frozen soil and repairing mortars in the middle of the street. Doing these things is very hard and laborious. In addition, you also need to prepare wheat straw, sawdust, flagpoles, iron chains for tying sheep, and scrap iron barrels with holes drilled in them. The surface of the flag-shaped iron barrel is filled with bean straw, followed by sawdust, and the center and bottom are filled with cypress seeds and saltpeter. The flagpole is about ten feet high. After the top is firmly connected to the iron bucket with an iron rope, the bean stalks are first lit, and the bottom of the flagpole is quickly inserted into the mortar and started to rotate. As the fire spread, it gradually picked up speed, and a dragon spitting out flaming tongues appeared before people. As people around him cheered, the spinner worked harder and harder until he was replaced after being drenched in sweat. The most exciting part is when the broken pot of saltpeter burns red. The red ball turns into an incandescent ball, the radiating golden stars crackle, and the dark night is as bright as day. If the speed was faster, the iron chain would be flattened into a horizontal shape, and the bursting iron would hit the stone wall and reflect back. The onlookers were afraid that it would fly onto themselves, so they could not help but retreat again and again. When did the Dancing Flag Flower originate? It probably originated during the Hong and Yong periods of the Ming Dynasty. A large number of soldiers transferred to Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan and Anhui to settle down as farmers. In order to add to the festive atmosphere, the composition of the army's gunpowder was changed, and it was put into an iron barrel and shaken. Later, it evolved into its current form.Custom 4: Climbing the City Wall on the 16th Day of the First Lunar MonthIt is a unique folk activity in Nanjing that originated in the Ming Dynasty. There is a popular saying that "climbing the top of the city wall, stepping on peace, and walking away all diseases." Around the 1960s, this folk custom almost disappeared due to the destruction of the city walls and other reasons. Now, as sections of the city walls such as Taicheng, Shitoucheng, Zhonghuamen, Zhongshanmen and Hanzhongmen have been restored and opened to the public, this activity has continued. What we can see now is that those who climb up the city wall are mainly elderly people in their seventies and eighties. Many of them climb up with the help of the wall with great effort, and then just walk on it for a while before going down. Most of them live nearby, and some live in Zhangfuyuan. Although they usually come here to hang out, today they came to "climb the city wall". One grandma even said casually, "Climbing the city wall on the 16th day of the first lunar month will not hurt my waist." The reporter saw at the scene that there were also a few middle-aged people who climbed the city walls to recall their childhood memories. The reporter saw at Zhonghuamen Castle that there were obviously more people climbing the city walls, and they were coming in an endless stream, but most of them were elderly people and children. Most of them said that since it has been a custom for many years, they must climb it. However, there is a fee to climb the Zhonghuamen Castle, and they have some opinions about this. According to a person in charge of Zhonghuamen Castle, the charging regulations have been in place for some time and will not change because of the custom of "climbing the city wall on the 16th day of the first lunar month."Custom 5: Sending cattle stakes on the 16th day of the first lunar monthThe custom of sending cattle stakes on the 16th day of the first lunar month has a long history. At that time, people didn't know about family planning. Many families, after having girls as their first or second child, always wanted to have a boy, so they asked people to give them cow stumps in the hope of having a boy. Many times, anyone who gives a cow stake always gets what he wants. Therefore, sending piles was more popular at that time. Eight men are required to participate in the Ox Post, preferably with different surnames, and there must be a young man among them. The eight people made the appointment during the day and went to the invited family's house for dinner in the evening. After eating and drinking, when most people were asleep, the eight people went to steal the cattle posts. The stolen items included bricks, bowls, shoes, etc. The family whose son is robbed must have many boys, and must be powerful and popular in the village. After the stolen items were wrapped in red paper, they were given to the youngest of the group to take. This was called "holding the pole." Then we went to the host's house together. When they arrived, the oldest ones started to shout "good luck" and the people behind them responded, of course all of them were congratulating the host on having a baby soon. The young man holding the stake would hold the stolen items, climb onto the owner's bed, sleep for a while, and finally urinate on the bed. Then hand the stake respectfully to the owner for safekeeping. The few of them ate and drank again, and did not go home until very late. Everyone must keep their mouths shut and never mention sending or stealing stakes before someone has a baby, otherwise it will not work. When the owner of the house gives birth to a boy, they must go to the family whose items were stolen to announce the good news. The children of both sides recognize each other as godfathers and godmothers and become relatives. This is why they want to steal things from powerful and popular people. The child’s name is also very interesting, he is called what he steals. For example, if the person steals a bowl, he would be called "Wan'er"; if the person steals a pair of shoes, he would be called "Xie'er". Only when the person grows up will he be called by his full name. When the child is one year old, the family that stole the stake must return the stolen amount to the family whose property was stolen, returning ten or a hundred times what was stolen. If you steal a brick from someone, you should return a hundred bricks to him; if you steal a pair of shoes, you should return ten pairs of shoes to him. The custom is full of superstition, but it is still popular in remote areas.Custom 6: On the 16th day of the first lunar month, the rat marries his daughterThe folk legend of "The Mouse's Wedding" is very popular in our country. However, the date of "Rat's Wedding" varies from place to place. In some places in the suburbs of Shanghai, it is said that the mouse's daughter gets married on the 16th day of the first lunar month. On this night, every household fries sesame candy, which is the wedding candy prepared for the mouse's wedding. On the night of the mouse's wedding, people in Zixing, Hunan, put candles in the corners of the house and in the corridors, with the intention of lighting up the path for the mouse to take during the wedding. New Year pictures and paper-cuts of "The Mouse's Daughter's Wedding" and "The Mouse's Wedding" are regarded as "auspicious symbols" by the Chinese people and are pasted on walls and windows during the New Year and other festivals. The New Year picture "The Mouse's Daughter's Wedding" printed in Mianzhu, Sichuan, shows a group of mice carrying flags and umbrellas, beating gongs and blowing trumpets, and carrying a sedan chair to welcome the bride. Riding on the toad's back is the "bridegroom", wearing a Qing Dynasty official hat, waving a folding fan in his hand, and staring at a large golden box with a greedy look on his face. Just as this group of ugly guys were swaggering through the city, what was waiting for them was a big yellow cat. A pair of mice were leading the way in front. One of them had been caught by the cat's claws, and the other was biting the cat's mouth. At this time, the "bride" sitting in the sedan chair knew that the end was coming and burst into tears. This New Year picture reflects the people's distinct likes and dislikes.Custom 7: Visit the temple fair on the 16th day of the first lunar monthAccording to the old legend in Penglai, the sixteenth day of the lunar calendar is the birthday of the Sea Goddess, and the local people celebrate it as a festival. At that time, people from all directions rushed to the Tianhou Palace in Penglai Pavilion to burn incense, worship, draw lots, make wishes, and donate money. The incense was very popular. Local people organized opera troupes and yangko teams to perform for the goddess in the theater and square opposite the Tianhou Temple, and performed folk dramas and yangko. After paying homage to the goddess, people often watch operas and yangko dances in front of the Tianhou Palace with their relatives and friends, visit Penglai Pavilion and its nearby scenic spots, and buy their favorite small commodities in the square below the pavilion until they are satisfied. This custom has been passed down to this day. There will be huge crowds of people and it will be very lively and bustling, so it is called a "temple fair".Summary: The seven customs introduced in the above article are the seven customs about the 16th day of the first lunar month that the editor wants to introduce to all readers. You can learn about how you celebrate the 16th day of the first lunar month in your place? After reading this article, there are more exciting content in the Spring Festival special topic, let’s take a look! |
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