New Year Customs｜Tianjin people today post \”it\’s true\”! There are specific ways to hang money and stick the characters \”福\”

Tomorrow

Day

New Year\’s Eve

New Year\’s Eve

After today, it will be New Year!

After the preparations in the past few days

The food during the Spring Festival is almost ready

On this last day of the year

Tianjin people are still There is something important to do!

Tianjin Among the customs

there is a saying of \”twenty-nine posts to Daoyou\”

The so-called \”Dao\” in \”Daoyou\” is the god who practices Tao; \”You\” is ten One of the two hours, from 17:00 to 19:00. The meaning of \”Daoyou\” connected together is to use Spring Festival couplets, blessing characters, hanging coins, door gods, New Year pictures and other sacrifices to the gods to welcome the arrival of the New Year.

Diao Qian\’er is a special name for Tianjin. Nowadays, in urban Tianjin, it is most common to post \”Diao Qian\’er\” and the word \”Fu\” during the New Year. The two complement each other, implying happiness, auspiciousness, and prosperity of the family, highlighting the red and joyful new year.

Can the word \”福\” be pasted upside down?

How to distinguish the upper and lower couplets of Spring Festival couplets?

……

You should know these \”old ways\” of Tianjin people!

01

Posting hanging money

Many Tianjin people’s memories of the New Year begin with hanging money of. Whenever the Chinese New Year is approaching, these window grilles with red colors and different styles will appear on the market. This is a New Year\’s item that Tianjin people must buy. In fact, hanging money is more characteristic of Tianjin than pancakes and fruits, and it is a unique folk custom in Tianjin!

In ancient times, people hanging money were called spring flags. In ancient China, there was a custom of using flags to express wishes, which has been recorded in \”The Book of the Later Han·Etiquette\”.

\”Tianjin Wei Celebrates the New Year\” There is such an introduction in the book: hanging money, also called door note, hanging note, door color, fasting certificate, passing money, etc., is roughly several feet and is no more than three inches in size. It is usually engraved with four auspicious words on the dyed paper. , such as \”Bamboo News for Peace\”, \”Family Joy\”, \”Food Harvest\”, \”Heavenly Official Blessing\”, etc. There are also \”connected lines\”, \”fish scales\” and \”square\” engraved on both sides of the text. There are patterns such as \”win\” and \”return pattern\”. Diaoqianer has many names, such as \”Guomen Jian\”, \”Mendiaozi\”, etc. There are similar annual customs in Shanxi, Liaoning, Hebei and other places, but the form and content are different. . For example, Shanxi is called Guaqian, which is a collection of five auspicious paintings of different colors unique to Tianjin.

Tianjin\’s hanging money is cut and carved with patterns on a rectangular piece of red paper, with the lower part carved into a tassel shape. It usually has auspicious words such as \”Gong Xi Fa Cai\” written on it, and some are hung on Lintel, some are directly attached to the door Generally, there are three large stickers on the lintel, five on the door, and one on the door and window. According to custom, the hanging money should be facing outward, that is, the door and window are facing forward. The sizes vary, and some people want to put a lot of money on them.

The reason why Diaoqianer can be passed down for so long is, on the one hand, TianThis is due to the people of Tianjin who adhere to folk customs. On the other hand, because hanging money has been a low-priced item since ancient times, people can afford it. Even if the family conditions are not good, people will hang money to bring good luck during the New Year. It\’s just a spirit.

According to Tianjin custom, the longer the money hanging time is, the better. However, in the north, it is windy in spring and rainy in summer, so it is rare to hang it until the following New Year. Therefore, Tianjin has a \”customary agreement\” on the time for picking the hanging money\’er: on the 29th of the twelfth lunar month, it is posted to Daoyou, and on the 25th of the first lunar month, the hanging money\’er is picked.

In addition to the unique hanging money,

On the 29th day of the New Year,

Spring couplets, the word \”Fu\” and the door god should also be posted!

02

Post Spring Festival couplets

Tianjin folklore expert Luo Shu Wei introduced that the current New Year products such as couplets are somewhat different from the traditional ones. The traditional way of reading couplets in old China is from right to left. The position of the upper and lower couplets is that the upper couplet is on the right and the lower couplet is on the left. The horizontal couplets are also read from right to left. Read. Nowadays, many horizontal scrolls of Spring Festival couplets are written from left to right. As for the pasting position of the upper and lower couplets, it can only be based on the direction of the horizontal couplet. That is, if the horizontal couplet is written from left to right, the upper couplet will be on the left, and if the horizontal couplet is written from right to left, the upper couplet will be on the right.

To distinguish the upper and lower couplets, you need to look at the flat and oblique tone of the last character. The ending character of the upper line is oblique tone (equivalent to the third or fourth tone in Chinese), and the ending character of the second line is the flat tone (equivalent to the first or second tone in Chinese). sound). From a phonological point of view, it sounds pleasant and pleasant to the ears when read like this.

03

Post the word blessing

The twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month is the time to \”stick to the past\”, There is one thing that is very particular, and that is the word \”Fu\”. According to legend, after the Ming Dynasty Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang captured Nanjing, he ordered all the people to put the word \”Fu\” on their doorsteps to avoid being killed in the massacre the next day. The kind-hearted Empress Ma. Unable to bear it, he secretly asked the people in the city to write the letter overnight. The word \”Fu\” was posted on the door. The next day, Zhu Yuanzhang found that the whole city was covered with \”Fu\” characters. He was furious and ordered to kill all the people who had posted the words \”Fu\” upside down. Queen Ma quickly begged for mercy: \”True Dragon.\” When the emperor entered Nanjing, the people of Li were \”lucky\”, which was in line with God\’s will. \”The people in the city escaped the disaster. Since then, the people have developed the custom of posting blessing characters every Spring Festival.

Therefore, many people take the homophonic sound of \”福来\” and paste the word \”福\” upside down. In fact, there are also particularities in pasting the word \”福\” upside down. The rule is that the characters \”Fu\” on the door must be pasted upright, and the characters \”Fu\” on the cabinets and beside the water tank must be pasted upside down. The characters \”Fu\” can be large or small, starting from the outside to the inside.

04

Post the door god

When posting the door god, please pay attention to the direction of the faces of the characters on the two doors. They cannot be pasted backwards. The doors of old-fashioned buildings have two doors opening opposite each other, and the door god is just right. One door must be posted on each side, and the two doorkeepers must face each other. Nowadays, houses generally have single doors, and the two doorkeepers can only be posted on one side.On the same door.

Reminder: Spring Festival decorations should be done in pairs

It should be noted that New Year’s money hangings, window grilles, red lanterns and other decorations must be decorated in pairs, and avoid taking single items.

Editor | Chen Tong

Comprehensive | Tianjin Archives, Tianjin Broadcasting, etc.

Source: Tianjin Broadcasting