Eating carp, celebrating silkworms...there are so many interesting folk customs on New Year's Day!

New Year's Day is coming. As a Chinese festival, the "presence" of New Year's Day in the modern sense is much weaker than that of the Spring Festival. We often talk about the customs of the Spring Festival, but few people talk about the customs of New Year's Day. Today we will take a look at the interesting customs of welcoming the New Year on New Year's Day in various places.

01 Don’t say “Dan” on New Year’s Day

It is said that old Beijingers are superstitious about the word " dan " in New Year's Day, because "dan" is homophonic with "egg", which easily reminds people of some cursing language. Therefore, in the past, old Beijingers did not like to say "New Year's Day", but only said " Gregorian calendar year ".

Beijingers don't have any special rules for celebrating New Year's Day. You can choose what to eat according to your own preferences. Here are a few of them:

(1) Croquettes

Meatballs symbolize family reunion. In the past, during the festival, families would always visit each other or entertain guests. The meal time was not fixed, and there was not much time to cook. Meatballs were prepared in advance and could be eaten as soon as they were served.

(2) Eating carp

In old Beijing, there is a custom of eating fish. The fish must be carp. Initially, it was for offering sacrifice to gods, but later it was associated with the auspicious phrase " good luck and abundance ". Fish is both a delicacy and an offering.

(3) Dumplings

Dumplings are indispensable for festivals. Pork, Chinese cabbage, and a few leeks are the most basic, but they also show the level of cooking skills. The whole family gathers together to make dumplings for a lively occasion. While making dumplings, they chat about family matters, brothers and sisters joke with each other, and laughter fills every corner of the house, and the warmth of home is fully realized.

02 New Year’s Day customs in the north

The weather in northern my country is cold in winter, with short days and long nights.

Starting from New Year's Day, people who are off from farming would slaughter pigs and sheep, sit cross-legged on the earthen kang, and chat about family matters. They would not work or go out, and the process would end on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

Due to the cold weather, the New Year's Day food in Northeast China mainly consists of frozen food, pickled vegetables and stewed food. Frozen dumplings, pickled cabbage and vermicelli stew, pickled snow mustard are all must-have foods for New Year's Day.

Children in Beijing eat candied haws during the New Year, which symbolizes a prosperous new year.

Cultural and folk activities: Yangko dance, stilt walking, and Northeast Errenzhuan are performed one after another at the temple fair. In Tianjin, people cut window paper-cuts and paste couplets, and there are endless cultural and entertainment activities. On New Year's Day in Shandong, students burn incense and worship the statue of Confucius in the hope of passing the imperial examination next year.

03 New Year’s Day customs in the south

Compared with the "vulgar" customs of the New Year's Day in the north, the customs of the New Year's Day in the south are more "elegant". In the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas, bamboo poles are tied to grass and set on fire during the New Year's Day, which is called "celebrating the silkworms in the fields". In Shaoxing, "tea bowls" are used to entertain guests on New Year's Day, and some people even put olives and kumquats in them, which is called "holding ingots".

In Fujian, the pronunciation of "Spring" is the same as "leftover", so people put flowers made of red paper on the rice when eating on New Year's Day, which is commonly known as "Spring Rice". Spring rice is a symbol of "abundance every year". In Guangdong, when paying New Year's greetings on New Year's Day, the elders will give red envelopes or tangerines to the younger generations, which is also a symbol of good luck and surplus in the coming year.

Comprehensive sources: Capital Window, BTV This is Beijing, Sinan County Statistics Bureau, etc.