What are the rules for posting Spring Festival couplets? Explanation of the relevant taboos for posting Spring Festival couplets

What are the rules for posting New Year couplets? During the Spring Festival, every household will post couplets. So, what are the etiquettes of posting couplets during the Spring Festival? When should we post New Year’s couplets? Let’s find out together.

What are the rules for posting New Year couplets?

Choose the five elements

First of all, we can choose different couplets according to different lucky gods, so as to boost family fortune and wealth. The lucky element is gold, so it is appropriate to use couplets that belong to the element of gold, for example: Four symbols offer good fortune. The lucky element is wood, so it is appropriate to use couplets with words belonging to the wood element, for example: Three Yangs Bring Good Fortune. The lucky element is water, so it is appropriate to use couplets with words belonging to the water element, for example: Tai Chi brings good luck. The lucky element is fire, so it is appropriate to use couplets with characters belonging to the fire element, for example: Liang Yi brings good luck. The lucky element is earth, so it is appropriate to use characters belonging to the earth element in couplets, for example: Five blessings come to the door.

Color selection attention

In ancient times, couplets originated from the ancient "peach charms". The ancients regarded peach wood as a wood to ward off evil spirits. The purpose of the ancients posting Spring Festival couplets was to drive away evil spirits and ensure safety. "Dian Shu" said: "Peach is the essence of the five woods, so it is the one that suppresses evil spirits." Since the color of peach wood is red, most of us choose red couplets to paste on the door, which symbolizes good luck and warding off evil. But there are actually three kinds of couplets: white, green and yellow. In ancient times, when an elder person in the family passed away, the younger generation would generally not post red couplets for three years starting from that year. They would use white paper in the first year, green paper in the second year, and yellow paper in the third year. They would only go back to using red paper in the fourth year after the mourning period was over. Therefore, the white, green and yellow couplets are commonly known as "filial couplets", "filial couplets" or "mourning couplets".

Paste couplets in different positions

There are many rules for pasting couplets. When facing the door, the upper couplet is on the right and the lower couplet is on the left. The order of the words on the banner is from right to left. It is called differently in different places. For example: the "door heart" is pasted on the center of the upper end of the door panel; the "frame pair" is pasted on the left and right door frames; the "horizontal drape" is pasted on the horizontal beam of the door; the "spring strip" is pasted on the corresponding place according to different content; the "dou jin" is also called the "door leaf", which is a square rhombus and is mostly pasted on furniture and screen walls.

Taboos about posting New Year couplets

1. The time to post Spring Festival couplets. The time for posting Spring Festival couplets varies according to customs in different places. As the saying goes, "On the 28th, put up flowers" and "On the 29th, put up inverted You (meaning putting up Spring Festival couplets)", so Spring Festival couplets are usually put up on the 28th and 29th of the twelfth lunar month.
2. The location for pasting Spring Festival couplets. When pasting Spring Festival couplets, be sure not to paste the upper and lower couplets upside down.