Wuzhen is an ancient cultural town with a long history, and its colorful folk customs are an important part of its charm. The Spring Festival is the most solemn festival in China. In the long history of thousands of years, Wuzhen people have created, used for reference and absorbed the splendid culture of the Chinese nation, and formed a unique Chinese New Year custom. Only by savoring it carefully can we realize Wuzhen people's love for real life and infinite expectation for a better future.

First, quiet and simple

The streets and houses in Wuzhen are built along streams and rivers, so is the so-called "people do their best to pillow the river".

The style of most Wuzhen folk houses is no different from that of other water towns, except that some folk houses along the river extend to the river, and the lower part is hit in the river bed with wooden stakes or columns, which is called "Shui Ge", and other towns are gone. Shui Ge is a real "pillow river" with windows on three sides. With windows, you can enjoy the scenery of urban rivers, dream back at midnight and listen to the sound of running water below, which is quite interesting. Mao Dun, a literary giant born in Wuzhen, described his hometown of Shui Ge in an article entitled Mountains and Rivers on the Earth. "... the river is outside someone else's back door, standing at the back door (that is, the door of Shui Ge), and you can draw water with a bucket. When you wake up in the middle of the night, you can hear the sound of water and float over ..."

Wandering in the ancient town, the scenery of Chenghe River makes people linger. The sightseeing Luge, located in the south of Yingjia Bridge in Zhong Shi, is a must for tourists to watch the scenery of Chenghe River. Visit Lugar is a two-story water-style teahouse, backed by Chexi River and facing Zhong Shi Street. Dongshi River meanders eastward under the bridge in front of the door, and not far away is the restored Wuzhen East Scenic Area: the small streets along the river are long and slender, and the paved stone slabs seem to have no end. There are almost uniform black eaves and blue tiles on both sides of the small street, and the eaves of the small building are comparable. On the rippling city river, ships come and go, gurgling, swaying from time to time reflected in the water pavilion and trees on the shore, leisurely, passing through one bridge opening after another. In the water town, the bridge is an unusual scenery. From Yingjiaqiao to Caishen Bay, there are eight ancient stone bridges lying across the river less than 700 meters, four of which span the beautiful Dongshi River, four of which are located in the streets north of Henan and Dongshi respectively, and then lead to the distance by the stone road. Perhaps because of the different construction years, these ancient bridges have diverse styles and different styles. It's like an ancient bridge museum: a single-hole circular stone arch bridge, which the locals call a circular bridge. The semicircle of bridge opening stands upright, and the stone steps on both sides of the bridge slope are a bit steep. Although the bridge deck hanging in the air is only the size of two square tables, the railing on the other side of the bridge still leaves a rest place for pedestrians. Sitting on the railing of the bridge like an armchair to enjoy freshness and coolness is what Wuzhen people call comfort. The shape curve of the Garden Arch Bridge is beautiful, and the Ying Ying Garden Moon is reflected on the water under the bridge. Whenever the clouds are light and the bright moon is in the sky, the moon in the sky will sway in the full moon in the water, adding a little elegance to the tranquility. The beam bridge in Ming and Qing Dynasties has simple and lively lines, and the middle bridge deck is still like the girder of a house resting on the bridge column in the middle of the river. Although it has gone through a hundred years of vicissitudes, it still maintains a consistent calm and simplicity. Pingqiao, as its name implies, is not only flat, but also plain and simple in style. If it weren't for the low bridge railings on both sides and the small waves at the foot, I would never have thought that this is also a bridge. There is also a wind and rain bridge in Caishen Bay. From the angle of slope, it belongs to a flat bridge, but it is the most luxurious one. Two stone bridges more than four meters wide are connected together, and a screen with a wall grille is separated between the two bridge railings. Under the screen are two rows of stone seats for pedestrians to rest. The banks of the river are supported by wooden pillars to cover the top of the bridge. When the sun is shining, you can enjoy the cool and enjoy the cool. On rainy days in autumn, why not "leave the residual lotus to listen to the rain"?

The preparations for the Spring Festival in Wuzhen generally begin on the first day of the twelfth lunar month, and supporting primary schools has become an important symbol for Wuzhen to enter the Spring Festival in the old society. After the dusk of the first day of the twelfth lunar month, there was a sound of slapstick in the streets and alleys of Wuzhen. As the guards walked, they banged and banged harder, and shouted, "Be careful in cold weather, the front door is closed, the back door is heavy, Chai Men looks like a pile of ashes [bèn bèn], beware of thieves, the portal is important." After liberation, due to the good public security, the slogan was changed to "Be careful when freezing candles in cold weather, the front door is closed and the back door is heavy." See Chai Men, ashes piled up, vigilance, portal is important ".

In a peaceful day, what we call "fighting" is different:

1, the start time of each day is different. Small branches that begin after dusk; The night shift will start after dark dinner;

2. The duration is different. The small shift ends at 8 pm and lasts for about two hours; The night shift lasted until the next day, with a whole night;

3. The time of year is also different. Primary schools begin on the first day of the twelfth lunar month and end on the New Year's Eve, that is, one month before the Chinese New Year. Playing overtime is an activity that is carried out every day throughout the year;

4, the gameplay is different. In the process of shifting gears, just knock on a wooden stick for shifting gears; The usual knocking is to knock a few sticks first, and then knock the gong;

5. The slogans shouted in shifts are different. Generally speaking, the slogan of "playing overtime" will change with the changes of the four seasons, but the slogan of "helping the young" rarely changes. Every year, the slogan of "helping the young" is the same, and some slogans have even been used for decades or hundreds of years.

In Laowuzhen, every year in the twelfth lunar month, neighbors get together to discuss supporting small transfer, usually discussing how to share the cost. After the agreement is made, please ask someone to make a small transfer. For those who change less, there are about the following sources:

1. local night watchman;

2. Local geotechnical engineering (corpse receiver);

3. local beggars;

4. Poor families in this block;

Every day after work or before dusk, people who finish work will go to every household to collect labor remuneration, or have dinner, or receive some food or cash. Generally speaking, a poor family can have a very good Spring Festival with one month's salary.

Second, buy new year's goods and folk customs

In Wuzhen, many people start preparing new year's goods as soon as they arrive in the twelfth lunar month, but most Wuzhen people don't start buying new year's goods until the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month. So after the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, the market in Wuzhen became lively, and people bought new year's goods everywhere. Every household is busy preparing new year's goods. Bacon, sauced meat, sauced hoof, pig's head and dried salted fish are hung in front of every household and under the eaves of Shui Ge. The atmosphere of the New Year infected everyone in the town. Strolling in the town, there is laughter everywhere, and the breath of the New Year slowly begins to spread to every corner of Wuzhen.

Third, send the kitchen god.

On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, every household in Wuzhen began to prepare to send the Kitchen God. Farewell to Kitchen God is an important activity before the Spring Festival, and no one dares to neglect it. Early in the morning, people began to prepare sacrifices for the kitchen god at night. Among them, the most important thing is to make the stove round. The stove circle is made of glutinous rice flour and old yellow pumpkin. It is often made into the shape of gold bars, ingots and cornucopia. Secondly, prepare a pot of maltose and four kinds of fresh fruits.

After dinner, I began to send Kitchen God. First of all, I put sacrifices, such as zaoyuan, maltose and fresh fruit, in front of the idol of Kitchen God and invited him to enjoy it. After a while, I took off the idol of Kitchen God and burned it, and then I burned some paper money. Why prepare these products? This is because Grandpa Kitchen God's duty is to "speak well in the sky and report peace in the ground". He sits on the kitchen stove every day, and he has a panoramic view of everything happening at home. Everyone is sure to do several wrong things every year. Kitchen God will keep them in his heart. On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the Kitchen God will report to the Jade Emperor what he saw and heard this year. In order not to let the Kitchen God tell the Jade Emperor what he did wrong, and to avoid being punished by the Jade Emperor, people made glutinous rice flour and yellow pumpkin into the shapes of gold, ingots and cornucopia, which was equivalent to bribing the Kitchen God's grandfather. At the same time, the kitchen god has a sweet mouth after eating maltose, and will "only say good things, not mention bad things." On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, Kitchen God went to report to the Jade Emperor. Without the supervision of the kitchen god, people can kill people, so from the 24th day, people began to kill chickens and pigs.