With the arrival of the New Year, the atmosphere is extremely enthusiastic, and every family is setting off firecrackers. On the lively Chinese New Year's Eve, the streets are surging and red. After pasting the Spring Festival couplets, blessings came, and I was full of joy to send blessings to the spring. In the blink of an eye, Chinese New Year's Eve 2024 is coming. This day is regarded as the grandest traditional festival in the hearts of the Chinese. The way and the details of how this day is celebrated are very unique. "Sticking Spring Festival couplets" is undoubtedly one of the best. The Spring Festival couplets are presented in concise words, representing people's beautiful vision of warding off evil spirits and welcoming good luck. It is a unique cultural expression of China and a symbol of the Spring Festival celebration in every household. As long as the couplets are pasted, the Spring Festival will be celebrated lively.
On the night of Chinese New Year's Eve on February 9th, there are still many details to pay attention to, such as when will the Spring Festival start to be pasted? How to paste it well? How to paste it correctly? This requires a certain amount of skill and knowledge. If you paste it wrongly, it may not only become a laughing stock, but also bring bad omens, especially following the "three noes" principle, let us understand it together, respect the tradition, and understand it as soon as possible.
How did the tradition of "sticking spring couplets" come about?
The origin of the Spring Festival couplets can be traced back to the peach symbol, which is recorded in the Book of Etiquette of the Later Han Dynasty that the length of the peach charm is six inches, the width is three inches, and the names of the ghost gods "Shen Tu" and "Yu Lei" are engraved on the peach wood board. Later, in order to commemorate the pair of peach brothers, people pasted them with peach boards. According to legend, there is a mysterious world called Ghost Domain, where ghosts wander around at night. Whenever the golden rooster crows, the ghost must return, and at the entrance of the ghost, there are two god-men named Shen Tu and Yu Lei. The ghosts in the ghost world always like to come to the world to steal food. When the ghost behaves against the heavens at night, they will quickly use the reed rope to ** it and send it to feed the tiger. If the ghost doesn't want to be caught, draw a portrait out of mahogany and stick it on the door. As a result, the ghosts and gods were afraid of them, and the common people carved their images out of mahogany, which helped to ward off evil spirits. By the Song Dynasty, peach talismans were replaced from peach wood boards to paper, known as "spring stickers" and "spring couplets". Now the way of pasting Spring Festival couplets is also very popular, painting a pair of Spring Festival couplets on the door, pasting them on the wall, sticking them on the door, hanging them in the house, and sticking them at home. However, this view is clearly unscientific. In our traditional beliefs, red symbolizes auspiciousness and festivity, adding to the atmosphere of the festival and is engraved with words of blessing to express people's deep expectations for good luck and well-being in the coming year. However, if you encounter ghosts during the New Year, you should be careful, because these ghosts will eat you! Send New Year's greetings to all directions
1.Make sure you don't paste at the wrong time.
Although the exact time for sticking Spring Festival is not strictly prescribed, the ideal time is between 6 a.m. and 12 noon on Chinese New Year's Eve. Because during this time, the yang energy is at its most vigorous and the atmosphere is the most festive. In addition, there is an opinion that if Chinese New Year's Eve falls on the 29th day of the lunar month, then the best time should be between 12 noon and 3 pm. And if Chinese New Year's Eve is the thirtieth day of the lunar month, then the best time is before 12 o'clock in the morning. After pasting the Spring Festival couplets, you also need to put firecrackers to dispel bad luck. No matter what time period it is, it is to say goodbye to the old year, welcome the new year, and hope that the new year will be full of energy and all the best.
2.Avoid pasting mistakes.
Sticking couplets is not a random act, it has its own specific order. In ancient times, the couplets followed the rule of "upper right and lower left", that is, the right side was the upper couplet, while the left side was the lower couplet. The skills of sticking Spring Festival couplets are constantly changing, and now most people are accustomed to going up and down on the left and right down, judging the upper and lower couplets with the help of tone. However, in the current custom, many couplets are laid out like this: the upper couplet on the left and the lower couplet on the right. If it is impossible to distinguish, it can be judged by the tone. If the last word is a sound character (发.
The third and fourth tones are the sound words), then it is the upper link; Conversely, if the last word is a flat sound character (发.
The first and second tones are flat words), then it is the lower link. After the Spring Festival couplets are pasted, if you want to add horizontal batches, you need to be more careful in choosing words. If it's a horizontal batch, just paste it directly. The way to paste the couplets needs to be adapted to the times. Some couplets can be classified according to time and season, just by following a certain order.
3.Avoid using double-numbered labels.
When you go to read the couplets, have you noticed that a couplet usually contains 7 words, rarely 6 or 8 words. Traditionally, the double number represents "yin", which means bad luck, while the singular number represents "yang", which means positive, bright. Even numbers are often pronounced similarly to "hurt" and "mourning", which is not appropriate for a celebratory time like the Chinese New Year. Therefore, when pasting Spring Festival couplets, you should choose the singular form, which can better show its positive, auspicious and auspicious meaning, indicating that the coming year will be smooth.
4.Choose the upside down or forward way of the Fu word.
During the Spring Festival, in addition to couplets, the word Fu is the most common in every household, representing good fortune and good luck. Many people choose to paste the word Fu on the wall in reverse, which means "Fu has arrived". But this practice is inaccurate. The word Fu can be divided into two types: "positive blessing" and "reverse blessing". If the blessing character on the door of the home or the door of another room needs to be affixed positively, then it will have an auspicious meaning. On the contrary, if it is posted upside down, then the "Fu" will be rejected. But on the cabinet, refrigerator or rice bowl noodle jar at home, the word Fu needs to be pasted upside down. In ancient times, people believed that keeping good fortune at home was to bring good luck to the family, which meant that the good fortune had arrived.
Things to avoid when pasting Spring Festival couplets.
In the process of pasting Spring Festival couplets, there are many things that need to be avoided. When you paste the couplets, be sure to remove those old ones, because this symbolizes getting rid of the bad luck of the past and brings a new meaning. Some places advocate that it is not appropriate to post Spring Festival couplets during this period to show mourning for the deceased. If someone in the family unfortunately dies, most places can not paste the Spring Festival couplets to express the memory of the deceased, and some places can paste green and purple Spring Festival couplets, but the content can not be too festive, and the red paper couplets can be restored in the fourth year.
Although it may seem simple to paste Spring Festival couplets during the Spring Festival, they all carry a wealth of cultural significance and traditional habits, and respecting these traditions is respecting our cultural roots. May the snow be a good year, and home and everything will be like a spring breeze. Here, Xiao Dong conveyed his best wishes and expectations for a better life in the New Year, wishing everyone a happy New Year and all the best!
Chinese New Year