When to paste window flowers? On the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month.

Pasting window decorations is an ancient traditional festival custom. During the Spring Festival, people in many parts of China like to paste various paper-cut window decorations on their windows. So, when should we put up window decorations? Is it the 20th day of the twelfth lunar month when we put up window decorations?

When to paste window decorations

Window flowers are usually pasted on the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month. The 28th day of the twelfth lunar month refers to the common name for the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month (also known as the twelfth lunar month) in the Chinese lunar calendar. There are such customs and folk songs on the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month: "On the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, let the dough rise" and "On the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, make cakes, steam bun "Sticking flowers" means pasting New Year pictures, Spring Festival couplets and window flowers.

The meaning of window paper-pasting

Window paper-cuts, with their unique method of generalization and exaggeration, express auspicious events and good wishes vividly, and decorate the festival with splendor and joy. Window paper-cuts not only set off the festive atmosphere, but also bring people aesthetic enjoyment, combining decorative, aesthetic and practical functions.

The 28th day of the twelfth lunar month: "sticking flowers"

On the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, in addition to making dough, people also have to "stick flowers", that is, stick New Year pictures, Spring Festival couplets and window decorations. The custom of pasting Spring Festival couplets originated from the ancient "peach charms". The ancients believed that peach wood was a wood that could ward off evil spirits. "Dianshu" said: "Peach is the essence of the five woods, so it can suppress evil spirits." During the Five Dynasties, Meng Chang, the monarch of the Later Shu Dynasty, was fond of literature. He ordered people to write peach charms every year, which became the origin of later Spring Festival couplets. The words "New Year brings more blessings, and the festival is called Changchun" written on the peach charms became the first recorded "Spring Festival couplet" in Chinese history. Later, with the advent of papermaking, the custom of posting Spring Festival couplets using red paper instead of peach wood emerged.

The 28th day of the twelfth lunar month: “Let the noodles grow”

On the 26th and 27th of the twelfth lunar month, meat for the New Year's meal is prepared. On the 28th, it is time to prepare pasta. In the past, social development was underdeveloped and there was no modern convenient yeast powder. Ordinary noodles prepared a few days in advance would easily go bad. Only leavened noodles would not go bad easily, so they would leaven the noodles on the 28th day to prepare the staple food for the first to fifth days of the first lunar month. At the same time, this was also because of the old custom that fire should not be used to steam buns from the first to the fifth day of the first lunar month. On the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, people in Taiyuan will steam "two baskets of cakes and steamed buns"; people in Hebei will "steam jujube flowers" as offerings to their ancestors for the New Year's Eve; and people in Henan will also "steam steamed buns and fry guta on the 28th." Only people in Beijing are a step slower, "letting the dough rise" on this day and "steaming buns" until the 29th.