For the office workers who have been busy for a year, the most important thing to pay close attention to the Spring Festival is when to celebrate the new year and how to have a holiday for the new year? The general office of the State Council today issued a notice on the arrangement of some holidays in 2019. According to the notice, the Spring Festival holiday in 2019 is from the 30th of the lunar new year to the 6th of the year.
According to the notice, with the approval of the State Council, the specific arrangements for the holidays of new year's day, Spring Festival, Qingming Festival, labor day, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid Autumn Festival and national day in 2019 are as follows:
1、 New year's Day: from December 30, 2018 to January 1, 2019, there will be three days off. On Saturday, December 29, 2018.
2、 Spring Festival: 7 days off from February 4 to 10. Work on February 2 (Saturday) and February 3 (Sunday).
3、 Qingming Festival: April 5 holiday, and weekend off.
4、 Labor Day: May 1.
5、 Dragon Boat Festival: it's off on June 7, and it's continuous with the weekend.
6、 Mid Autumn Festival: it's off on September 13, and it's continuous with the weekend.
7、 National Day: 7 days off from October 1 to 7. September 29 (Sunday), October 12 (Saturday).
What are the traditional customs of the Spring Festival?
Sweeping dust
According to Lu's spring and Autumn Annals, there was a custom of sweeping dust during the Spring Festival in China. According to the folk saying: because of the homophony of "Chen" and "Chen", sweeping the dust in the new spring has the meaning of "removing the old and distributing the new". The intention is to sweep out all the bad luck and misfortune. This custom reposes on people's desire to break down and make a new start, and their plea to say goodbye to the old and welcome the new. When the Spring Festival comes, every family should clean the environment, clean all kinds of utensils, remove and wash the bedding and curtains, sweep the six Lu courtyard, dust the cobweb, and dredge the open channel and underground ditch. There is a joyful atmosphere of sanitation and clean spring festival everywhere.
Post new year's scrolls
Spring couplets are also called door couplets, spring stickers, couplets, couplets, peaches and so on. They describe the background of the times in neat, dual, concise and exquisite words and express good wishes. They are unique literary forms in China. Every Spring Festival, no matter in the city or in the countryside, every family should select a red couplet and paste it on the door to increase the festive atmosphere for the festival.
Paste window flowers and flip the word "Fu"
In the folk people also like to paste a variety of paper-cut on the window -- window flowers. Window flowers not only set off the festive atmosphere, but also set up decoration, appreciation and practicality. Paper cutting is a very popular folk art in China. It has been loved by people for thousands of years. Because it is mostly pasted on the window, it is also called "window flower". With its unique generalization and exaggeration, the window flowers show auspicious things and good wishes incisively and vividly, and decorate the festival with splendor.
New Year paintings
Spring Festival posters are also very common in urban and rural areas. The black and colorful new year pictures add a lot of happy atmosphere to thousands of families. New Year picture is an ancient folk art in our country, which reflects the simple customs and beliefs of the people and hopes for the future. New Year pictures, like Spring Festival couplets, originated from the 'door god'. With the rise of woodblock printing, the content of New Year pictures is not limited to monotonous themes such as door gods.
Staying up late on New Year
New year's Eve is one of the most important annual activities. On the eve of new year's Eve, people give gifts to each other, which is called 'giving to the old'; wine and food invite each other, which is called 'other years'; the elderly and the young gather to drink and praise each other completely, which is called' dividing the years'; people stay up all night, waiting for the dawn, which is called 'keeping the old'. On New Year's Eve, the whole family get together to have a new year's Eve meal, light candles or oil lamps, sit around the stove and chat, wait for the time to say goodbye to the old and welcome the new, stay up all night, symbolizing to drive away all the evil plague and look forward to the good luck of the new year. There are two meanings of keeping one's old age in ancient times: the elder's keeping one's old age means' quitting the old age ', which means cherishing time; the younger's keeping one's old age means prolonging the life of their parents. Since the Han Dynasty, the time of new and old year's alternation is usually midnight.
Firecracker
There is a saying in Chinese folk that "open the door to firecrackers". That is to say, when the new year comes, the first thing for every household to open the door is to set off firecrackers, and remove the old and welcome the new with the sound of firecrackers. Setting off firecrackers can create a festive and lively atmosphere. It is a kind of entertainment activity of the festival, which can bring happiness and auspiciousness to people.
Pay New Year's call
On the first day of the new year, people get up early, put on the most beautiful clothes, and dress up neatly. They go out to visit relatives and friends, and pay respects to each other. Congratulations on the coming year. There are many ways to celebrate the new year. Some of them are the same clan leader who leads several people door-to-door to celebrate the new year. Some of them are colleagues who invite several people to celebrate the new year. Some of them get together to congratulate each other, which is called "reunion worship". As it took time and effort to visit the new year, some of the top figures and scholar officials later used their own stickers to congratulate each other, thus developing the later 'greeting cards'. When celebrating the Spring Festival, the younger generation should first pay homage to the elders and wish them a long and healthy life. The elders can give the prepared lucky money to the younger generation. It is said that the lucky money can suppress evil spirits. Because the "lucky money" is homophonic with the "lucky money", the younger generation can have a peaceful and safe life. There are two kinds of new year's money: one is made of colored rope and thread, which is placed at the foot of the bed; the other is the most common one, which is the money that parents wrap and distribute to their children with red paper. New year's money can be given in public after the junior's new year's Eve, or put under the child's pillow secretly by the parents when the child is asleep on New Year's Eve.
Spring Festival custom
In the ancient agricultural society, since the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, housewives were busy making arrangements for new year's food. Because it takes a long time to marinate the cured meat, it must be prepared as early as possible.
Steamed rice cakes, rice cakes because of the homophony 'high year', coupled with a variety of tastes, almost become the family's necessary food. The style of New Year cake has square yellow and white New Year cake, which symbolizes gold and silver, implying the meaning of making money in the new year.
The night before the Spring Festival is called reunion night. All the tourists who are away from home have to travel thousands of miles to come home. The whole family has to sit around and make dumplings for the new year. The whole family gets together to make dumplings for the new year. If you talk about Spring Festival, you will have a good time.