(Drawing by Fucha Maolin)
Today is the fourth day of the Chinese New Year, generally the New Year to the fifth day of the New Year is to a stage, the taboo in the New Year can not be completely lifted until the fifth day of the first year, and by the fifth day of the first year, basically the main New Year activities will end. Therefore, this fourth year of the first year is the prelude to the fifth year of the first year, mainly there is a summary or the things that have not come and gone before need to be done. It is said that the summary nature of this day is that the New Year's day is more chaotic, and it is not suitable for cleaning and taking out garbage. In the fourth year of the first grade, it is necessary to clean up and pile up the garbage in the courtyard, saying that it is ready to "throw away the poor". The rest of the food eaten in the previous few days, put together, called folding basket, this day the average person is to clean up the hygiene, eat the folding basket.
The fourth day of the New Year has the fourth of the first year of the exquisite and said, today is still one of the twenty-four solar terms of the lunar calendar, Li Chun has its own exquisite and eating methods, this New Year's Fourth and Li Chun catch up with the day, so today to say the folk rules of the fourth day of the New Year, but also to talk about the exquisite spring.
On January 25th, we published an article entitled "The Manchurians Have Their Own National Characteristics in the Little Year", and the main job of the twenty-third year of the 23rd year of the Month of La is to send the head of the family, The King of the Stove, who said that the King of the Stove reported to heaven.
The fourth day of the Lunar New Year is when the gods return to the human world from the celestial realm, and on this day, the king of the stove will be brought back to the human world. According to the past, after the 23rd day of the Lunar New Year to the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, there was no head of the household, the King of the Stove, and there was a vacancy. So there has been no head of household for such a long time, do you want to pick up the king of the stove early today? In the past, the rule was that "sending The gods early, receiving the gods late", the so-called sending the gods should start early in the morning, and it is not too late to receive the gods in the afternoon. Therefore, there is no need to rush to pick up the stove king, and it is not too late to pick up in the afternoon.
According to folk legend, at the beginning of the first month of the fourth stove, the king returned to the human world, because in the past it was said that the king of the stove was the head of each household, so the first job of the king of the stove as the head of the household was to check the household registration, and everyone in every household had to stay at home on this day, not go out, prepare rich fruits, burn incense and light candles and set off firecrackers to show that the owner of the household, the king of the stove, came home.
It is precisely because on this day that the king of the stove came back to order the heads of the family, so it is not appropriate to go out on this day, that is, do not make excuses to go out on this day, this day is not suitable for going out to give people a New Year's greeting. But we said earlier, Manchurian women have a high status, aunts have a high status, although after entering the customs to accept some customs in the Central Plains, but in order to maintain the status of aunts, so there is a gap in folklore, the folk customs of the flag family on the fourth day of the New Year is also to show the status of aunts, this day other New Year's greetings can not be, but nephews this day to see the aunt, to give the aunt a New Year's greeting. The old Beijing flag man has a saying that he slipped through the mouth, saying, "Uncles and uncles, generations of relatives, broken bones and tendons." "The meaning shows the importance of relatives on the matrilineal side, regardless of the family. This is completely different from the patriarchal society of the Central Plains since ancient times, which only recognized patrilineal relatives.
For merchants, the fourth day of the Chinese New Year is an important day. Because there are many taboos in the New Year since the beginning of the New Year, various businesses have also closed their doors. Generally, these taboos can be broken by the fifth day of the first year, and the merchants will open the door. Therefore, the fourth day of the Chinese New Year is the work of the merchants preparing to open the door.
Generally speaking, people are the first five to receive the god of wealth, because the merchant must open the door on the fifth day, so they must receive the god of wealth in advance on the fourth day of the first month. Usually at three o'clock in the afternoon of the fourth day of the first month, the preparations for the five-way ceremony begin until the end of nine or ten o'clock in the evening. It is necessary to receive the five ways of wealth, five directions, representing that all aspects can get rich. Because of the five ways to pick up the god of wealth, so the owner of the business needs to bring incense candles to the east, west, south, north, and middle of the five directions of the god of wealth to ask for pick-up, each time the god of wealth is received, a string of hundred cannons is fired in front of the door. After all the answers, the owner of the business, the treasurer and the guy, prayed to the god of wealth in turn, and after the worship, the mantle on the original offering table was cremated, implying that the god of wealth was sent. The ceremony is over.
Pick up the god of wealth and prepare for the opening of the market on the fifth day of the first month, this is Tujili, which means that the door can be opened, and the source of wealth can be rolled in.
Generally, business owners should feast on the evening of the fourth day of the first year, distribute red envelopes, and thank everyone for their help. This day also has a mysterious chance, it is the day when the boss looks unpleasant and fried the squid.
In the past, there was a saying in Beijing: "The sky is not afraid, the earth is not afraid, I am afraid of the official words of the treasurer on the night of the fourth day of the first year." "This is because at the thank-you banquet of the boss to invite the guys, there are wine and dishes, and the custom is to eat buns. At this time, the treasurer raised a glass of congratulations and said "hard" to the guy, which is called "official language".
Don't think that the boss is thanking anyone who is saying hard work, that is pure officialdom, not sincerity. After this official speech, the bun was served, the boss personally clipped the bun, the bun was put in the bowl, who was implied to have been fired, and the dismissed person automatically packed his bags after the meal, so this feast was commonly called "eating rolling egg buns", and now it is said that it is fried squid.
The Manchu word for lichun niyengniyeri dosimbi, my-engniyeri means spring, spring. The Manchu Lichun and the other three Li festivals use dosimbi. The word-forming methods of juwari dosimbi (Lixia), bolori dosimbi (Liqiu), and tuweri dosimbi (Lidong) are the same as those of niyengniyeri dosimbi (Lichun), indicating the beginning of a season.
Previously, using the lunar calendar, the Qing Dynasty was a calendar formulated by the Kangxi Emperor at the request of Western missionaries, according to which the beginning of the year, the first day of the first lunar month was New Year's Day. After entering the Republic of China, it was fully required to use the Western calendar, and even banned the first day of the first lunar month of the lunar calendar. Later, it was found that it was impossible to change the folklore, so he called the first day of the first lunar month the Spring Festival. Historically, the Spring Festival refers to the Spring Festival, which indicates the arrival of the first season of spring in the four seasons of the year.
LiChun, the old Beijing banner people pay attention to eating spring cakes, according to the "Four Treasures" record: "Li Chun Day, du people (referring to Beijingers) make spring cakes, lettuce, number spring plate." Generally speaking, the leeks, shredded meat, vermicelli, bean sprouts, and tender spinach are fried together, which is "hecai", and the above said meat is very small, and the meat that cannot be eaten generally has no meat. But the old Beijingers have the same as the egg stall instead of meat dishes, and cover the top of the dish with a stall egg cake, the old Beijing flag people call it "Hecai Wearing Hats", and there is also an auspicious word "gold and silver full of hall".
Speaking of eggs here, let's briefly talk about Beijing customs, that is, old Beijingers never say eggs, generally called chickens. In the past, eating chicken was meat dishes, there were few eggs bought at home, and usually occasionally to open meat to relieve hunger, you have to eat eggs in the restaurant, but Beijing people are afraid to say eggs, and they can't be called eggs in restaurants. Stall eggs are called stall yellow cabbage, egg scrambled meat is called wood chestnut meat, poached eggs are called nest fruits. There is a joke in Beijing folklore, a southerner went to Beijing to go to the restaurant, this southerner did not eat eggs, saw that there was woody meat, thought it was all meat, and came to a portion. When he came up to see, it was egg scrambled meat, he did not eat, and looked at the recipe, he ordered yellow vegetables, thinking it was a vegetarian dish, and the result was a stall egg. The southerners were out of luck, and when they saw the nest fruit, they thought it was a kind of snack, so they ordered a copy, and the result was a poached egg.
Why are Beijingers afraid to talk about eggs? Because folk divide this word into two words, referring to the genitals. Old Beijing was the capital of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the seat of the emperor, and there were many eunuchs. In particular, the ming eunuchs were very powerful, and no one dared to provoke them. The eunuchs of the Qing Dynasty did not have so much power, but when they came out of the imperial palace, ordinary people did not want to cause trouble, and they also stayed away. These eunuchs are afraid of the word egg, especially they sometimes go to the restaurant, so the restaurant uses other words instead of eggs, and the general old Beijingers do not say eggs, they are called chickens.
The lunar calendar was also used in ancient Japan, but since the Meiji Restoration, the lunar calendar has been completely abolished, but the original traditional festivals have been transferred to the modern Western calendar. They celebrated the festival on February 2, the day before the spring, the old Beijing flag people's primrose. The Japanese call it a festival, which literally means to separate the festivals, and in fact it means to welcome the New Year. As far as folklore is concerned, the father of the family should wear a grimace mask, which is quite a Manchurian mask. The children of the family slashed at the mask with a blessing bean. It means throwing ghosts out. Looking at Halloween similar to the West, but the ghosts here are different from the ghosts that Chinese think, and the ghosts here include all kinds of things that humans think are bad, such as disease, pain, bad mood, and so on. This year, we can pray that the epidemic will be removed as soon as possible.
The Japanese eat a kind of sushi on this day, similar to the biting spring of the old Beijing flag people eating spring rolls, the requirement is to eat silently, which means to eat happiness into the body. If you talk halfway, it is considered to spit out happiness, which is taboo.
Speaking of Lichun, it is impossible not to mention the old Beijing flag writer Mr. Lao She, whose old surname is Shu Mulu, which means "coral" in Manchu, which is translated as "stone smear" in the Jurchen era. Speaking of the source, it turned out to be the Khitan people, and there are three sources, one is the Uighur Shulu clan in the Khitan clan, that is, the original Uighurs, who are the descendants of the Great Liao, and the empresses are out of this clan. The second is the Khitan Clan, and the third is the Xi Xiao family, which is close to the Khitan clan.
Mr. Lao She was born on February 3, 1899, which was the 23rd year of the Spring Festival and the Waxing Moon. Therefore, beijing's small year or lichun often commemorates Mr. Lao She. Because Mr. Lao She was born in Lichun, his parents named him Shu Qingchun. Lao She went to school, using the scientific name Shu Sheyu, that is, there is the meaning of "abandoning self" and "forgetting oneself". Later, when writing, he used the pen name Lao She. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Lao She lived in Nanshan, Chongqing, and once drank with friends. Someone asked him why he was called "Lao She"? He said: Lao She, well, always give up. My son can't be called a little house like I always give up. But my wife is not willing to give up, and I can't give up! Lao She's words are very humorous.
This is the calligraphic work of Meringer's Manchu Lichun. The Manchurian banner people also have a saying that there is no sacrifice after the spring, and generally go to the Chinese New Year's Eve to worship the ancestors, which means that on the night of the Chinese New Year's Eve, the ancestors are invited to come to the earth with the spirits of heaven and the gods, and greet the New Year with the descendants.
At least now, Qingming sacrifices or Tombs of Qingming, the Manchurians had never had such a custom before. It was only after the new China that schools and other general organizations to commemorate revolutionary martyrs, qingming sacrifices or qingming tomb customs spread to the Manchurians.
Author Fucha Chunbing
Produced by the original article of manchu culture network.