There is a folk saying that tofu is made on the 20th day of the twelfth lunar month. Every family needs to grind tofu on the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month. Do you know why tofu is made on the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month? There are some legends in it? Let's take a look at the traditional customs of the 25th lunar month!
The folk proverb says, 'on the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month, push the mill to make tofu.' According to textual research, tofu was invented by Liu An, king of Huainan in the Western Han Dynasty. Zhu Xi of the Southern Song Dynasty wrote in his poem "tofu": "there are few bean seedlings, and the heart is rotten after exhaustion. He knew Huainan art early and sat down and got spring cloth." Interestingly, some places also have the custom of eating bean curd residue before New Year's Eve. The reason is that it is said that after the kitchen King reported to heaven, the Jade Emperor would visit the lower world to see whether each household was as played by the kitchen king, so each household ate bean curd residue to show their hardship and evade the punishment of the Jade Emperor. According to legend, eating bean curd residue is actually a reflection of the ancient low productivity and not so much delicious food. At the same time, it is also a reflection of the ancestors' virtue of diligence and thrift.
Legend of the origin of grinding tofu on the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month
It is said that after the kitchen King reported to heaven, the Jade Emperor would visit the lower world to see if the folk were as played by the kitchen king, so every family ate bean curd residue to show their hardship. According to legend, eating bean curd residue is actually a reflection of the ancient low productivity and not so much delicious food. At the same time, it is also a reflection of the ancestors' virtue of diligence and thrift.
Implication of grinding tofu on the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month
'rot' has a similar pronunciation to 'Fu'. Making tofu means' harvest happiness and luck in the new year '. In ancient times, the folk activities of the Han nationality on this day mainly included receiving the Jade Emperor, illuminating the field silkworm, Qiandeng Festival, catching up with chaos, etc.
Nowadays, most people don't make tofu by themselves, but often paste the cut word "Fu" upside down on the window or door, which expresses the same meaning and hopes that "happiness and luck" will come home.
Traditional customs on the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month
Meet the Jade Emperor
The old custom believed that after the kitchen god went to heaven, the Jade Emperor of heaven personally went down on December 25 of the lunar calendar to investigate the good and evil of the world and determine the misfortunes and blessings of the coming year. Therefore, every family offered sacrifices to pray for blessings, which is called "receiving the Jade Emperor". On this day, we should be careful in our daily life and words, strive for good performance, so as to win the favor of the Jade Emperor and bless the coming year.
Rush to chaos
Send the kitchen god to heaven and welcome him back on New Year's Eve. During this period, there is no God's jurisdiction and no taboos. People marry more, which is known as "driving out chaos". Disorderly age is a specific period of time designed by people to regulate social life. At the end of the year, people have leisure and savings. This is a good time for people who rarely have the energy to do big things. Therefore, people invented this special time folk custom according to the needs of real life. It can be seen that in traditional society, people's life order depends on folk customs.
Zhaotian silkworm
Also known as' burning field silkworm ',' zhaotian silkworm 'and' burning field wealth ', it is a folk custom of praying for new year in the south of the Yangtze River. On the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month, the long pole tied with the torch will be set up in the field to divine the new year with the flame. If the flame is prosperous, it will herald a bumper harvest in the coming year. Some places hold this activity on New Year's Eve.
Qiandeng Festival
It is a religious festival of Mongolian and Daur nationalities. In Mongolian, it is called 'mingganzhuola', which means thousand lanterns festival. On the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month, I went to the temple to light it. I thought the more I lit, the more auspicious it was. This festival custom is the most popular among the Mongolian people in Vilat, Xinjiang. On this day, local people eat roast beef and mutton and hold traditional sports and recreational activities.