What are the traditional customs of the New Year from the first to the seventh day of the New Year?

The Spring Festival, commonly known as the New Year's Festival, is the most important traditional festival of the Chinese nation. The first day of the first lunar month is the beginning of the year. There are many special customs from the first to the seventh day of the New Year. So what are the customs from the first to the seventh day of the New Year?

Customs from the first to the seventh day of the Lunar New Year

【New Year’s Day】

1. Opening firecrackers: On the morning of the Spring Festival, when the door is opened, firecrackers are set off first to wish for good luck, which is called "opening firecrackers". After the sound of firecrackers, the ground was covered with red fragments, and the streets were filled with auspiciousness and joy.

2. New Year's greetings: An important activity during the Spring Festival is to visit new friends and neighbors to wish them a happy new year, which was formerly known as New Year's greetings.

3. Eat rice cakes: There are two types of rice cakes: square-shaped yellow and white rice cakes, which symbolize gold and silver, and imply getting rich in the New Year.

4. Gathering wealth: It is said that the first day of the lunar calendar is the birthday of the broom. You cannot use a broom on this day, otherwise it will sweep away your good luck.

5. Lucky money: It is a traditional Chinese custom to give children lucky money during the Chinese New Year. Lucky money is full of blessings and wishes for the younger generation from the elders.

【The second day of the Lunar New Year】

1. Worship the God of Wealth: In the north, people worship the God of Wealth on the second day of the Lunar New Year. On this day, both commercial stores and ordinary families hold activities to worship the God of Wealth. Every family offers sacrifice to the God of Wealth welcomed on New Year's Eve. In fact, the crude prints purchased were burned.

2. Welcoming the Son-in-Law Day: A married daughter will bring her husband and children back to her parents’ home to pay New Year’s greetings. On this day, the daughter who returns to her parents' home must bring some gifts and red envelopes to distribute to the children in her parents' home, and have lunch at her parents' home. The number of gifts must be even, as odd numbers are unlucky.

【 The third day of the Lunar New Year 】

1. Red Dog Day: The third day of the Lunar New Year is also known as Red Dog Day, which has the same pronunciation as "Red Mouth". People usually do not go out to pay New Year's greetings. It is said that it is easy to have quarrels with others on this day. However, this custom has long been outdated, as people rarely get together during the Spring Festival nowadays, and this custom has become much less popular.

2. Millet’s birthday: People believe that the third day of the first lunar month is millet’s birthday. On this day, people offer sacrifices and pray for a good harvest, and do not eat rice. It is believed that if this rule is violated, it will lead to a reduction in grain production.

【 The fourth day of the Lunar New Year 】

1. Welcoming the gods: The fourth day of the Lunar New Year is when the gods return to the world from heaven. There is a saying that "send off the gods early in the morning, and welcome them late". It means that sending off the gods should start early in the morning, while welcoming them in the afternoon is not too late. As for offerings, three kinds of meat, fruits, wine and food must be complete, and incense, candles and gold clothes must be burned.

2. Closed: From the first to the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, shops are closed and women do not sew.

【 The fifth day of the Lunar New Year 】

1. Worship the God of Wealth: People in the South worship the God of Wealth on the fifth day of the first lunar month. According to folklore, the God of Wealth is the God of Five Roads. The so-called five roads refer to east, west, south, north and center, meaning that you can make money by going out of any of the five roads.

2. Opening of business: According to the old custom, all shops of all sizes are closed from the first day of the Lunar New Year and open on the fifth day. It is customary to regard the fifth day of the first lunar month as the holy day of the god of wealth, and to believe that choosing this day to open the market will surely bring in wealth and fortune.

【 The sixth day of the Lunar New Year 】

1. Sending away poverty: The sixth day of the first lunar month is called "Horse Day". On this day, people have to "send away poverty", which is a very distinctive seasonal custom among the ancient Chinese people. It reflects the traditional mentality of our people who generally hope to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, to bid farewell to the poverty and hardship of the past and to welcome a better life in the new year.

2. Yifei: The sixth day is the Horse Day, which was called Yifei in ancient times. People really start working or doing business on this day. Since the beginning of the first month of the lunar year, the toilet cannot be cleaned until the fifth day, and feces accumulate in the toilet. So on this day, a thorough cleaning is done, and sacrifices are made to the toilet god to clean the usually dirty toilet.

【 The seventh day of the Lunar New Year 】

1. To mend a hole in the sky: It is said that there are too many cloudy days in the human world, as if there is a hole in the sky, and we need to mend it to avoid heavy rain and disaster. Therefore, people offered rice cakes as sacrifices to the gods, which was called "repairing the sky".

2. Eat seven-vegetable soup: On the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, "Renri", everyone celebrates their birthday. Seven kinds of vegetables should be cooked into seven-vegetable soup, that is, seven kinds of vegetables are cooked into mixed vegetable soup. In the agricultural society, everyone hopes that after eating the seven-vegetable soup, there will be a good harvest in the coming year.