Meng Yan's Transformation

Eating dumplings on New Year’s Eve means “changing the year and handing over the child” (good luck in the coming year), and eating dumplings on the morning of New Year’s Day means good luck for the whole year.

On the morning of the first day of the new year, Yunqing steamed a large pot of dumplings, but it was still not enough, so she also heated up some sticky bean curd and steamed buns...

After breakfast, Xiao Mengyan put on her new flowered cotton jacket, Zifeng and Ziqiang looked very proud in their "green military uniforms", Zi'an and Zixun looked very handsome in their school uniforms, and only Yingying wore the clothes that Yunqing's mother had modified and sewn. Although she felt a little disappointed because the clothes were not as new as her brothers and sisters', she still liked the clothes that Yunqing's mother had modified and sewn for her, because the clothes reflected her mother's love and warmth...

When the children put on their new clothes, they found a small red paper bag in each pocket. When they opened it, they were surprised to find that it was a dime of "lucky money". Meng Yan said happily: "Wow, now I can buy four pencils!"

After the children of Zhan Yu's family were dressed neatly, they went to Aunt Zhang's house to pay New Year's greetings first.

When paying New Year’s greetings, men or boys should kowtow to their elders, and women or girls should nod their heads.

"Aunt Zhang, Happy New Year! I wish you good health and all the best!" After her brothers kowtowed and her sister nodded, Xiao Mengyan also walked up to Aunt Zhang, nodded and said New Year greetings.

"Xiao Mengyan is dressed so beautifully today! Come, Auntie, give me some candy." Auntie Zhang said as she put the candy in Xiao Mengyan's hand. Xiao Mengyan stepped forward to take the candy and said, "Thank you, Auntie!"

Aunt Zhang gave each child who came to pay New Year's greetings a handful of candy and a red paper bag containing "lucky money". After the children took the red envelope and candy and thanked her, they put the candy in their pockets. They walked to a deserted place and secretly counted the candy and the money in the red envelope they had received. Then they happily went to the next house to pay New Year's greetings.

The children did this and never got tired of visiting every household to wish them a happy new year.

When they returned home, everyone's pockets were bulging. Everyone took out piles of candies, peanuts, persimmons... and "lucky money" from red envelopes that they had received when visiting the elders. Everyone carefully counted the results of their own visits to see who had gained the most. After the competition, they were reluctant to eat the food, so they found a piece of red paper or handkerchief to wrap it up and put it away. When they felt particularly greedy on that day, they would take it out and eat a piece... Most of the "lucky money" in the red envelopes were just a few cents, except for the one given by Aunt Song which was a dime.

The custom of New Year's greetings has been passed down in my country for a long time. According to legend, in ancient times, there was a monster called "Nian" that came out on the night of the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month and ate humans from house to house. People had to put meat at the door, close the door, and hide at home, not daring to go out until the morning of the first day of the new year. People opened the door to meet each other, bowed and congratulated each other for not being eaten by the monster. After the Qin and Han Dynasties, the custom of New Year's greetings began to be widely promoted. In the Song Dynasty, New Year's greetings were not only a way for ordinary people to celebrate the New Year, exchange ideas, and strengthen family unity, but also a means for the upper class to keep in touch and expand interpersonal relationships.

Lu Rong (Ming Dynasty) said in Volume 5 of Shuyuan Miscellaneous Notes: "On the New Year's Day in the capital, from the court officials to the common people, people go back and forth on the streets for days, which is called 'New Year's greetings'". The term "New Year's greetings" came from this. The custom of New Year's greetings also became popular in Kyoto during the Ming Dynasty and has continued to this day.

In his "Dongjing Menghualu", the Song Dynasty scholar Meng Yuanlao wrote about the scene of the people of Bianjing in the Northern Song Dynasty celebrating the New Year: "On the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar, Kaifeng Prefecture relaxed the arrests for three days, and the scholars and common people congratulated each other early in the morning." In his "Dream of the Southern Song Dynasty", the Southern Song Dynasty scholar Wu Zimu recorded: "The scholars and officials all congratulated each other, and the common people, both men and women, also dressed in fine clothes and went back and forth to pay their respects." According to the "Qingbo Magazine" written by the Song Dynasty scholar Zhou Hui, in order to save time when paying New Year's greetings, the scholars and officials at that time did not need to go in person to those friends who were not very close to each other, but sent servants to deliver a "New Year's greeting card" to each other, which is somewhat similar to the current "New Year's card". At that time, the "New Year's greeting card" was mostly made of plum blossom paper, cut into two-inch wide and three-inch long pieces of paper, with their names and addresses and some New Year's greetings written on them, and delivered on the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar. The recipients of the congratulations also gave back a "New Year's greeting card", which was considered a New Year's greeting.

Since the Qing Dynasty, New Year's greetings are no longer a courtesy visit between individuals, but a form of "group greetings". In "Ce Mao Yu Tan", Yi Lanzhu, a Qing Dynasty writer, said: "At the beginning of the year, the capital city routinely holds group greetings to strengthen friendship and hometown feelings", "Every year, the book red on duty will book guests, and feast and have fun all day long."

When paying New Year's greetings, you should inform the host family and agree on a time. Younger generations usually choose the morning to pay New Year's greetings to older generations, but not too early. It is best to do it before lunch.

When visiting relatives during the New Year, you should dress appropriately. It is best to wear new clothes if possible. In front of elders, it is best not to dress too ostentatiously because the elders tend to be more traditional in their thinking, so as not to upset them.

When visiting relatives, you should be polite and greet everyone present one by one. When greeting the new year, you should say more nice words and compliments, and be careful about the degree of joking and teasing.

Do not stay at the host's home for too long. After eating, take a short rest and then say goodbye to the host and leave, so as not to delay the host's other activities.

For children, the happiest thing during the Spring Festival is receiving lucky money from their elders. Lucky money is mostly given by the elders of the family to the younger generation. Therefore, there was a funny nursery rhyme that was circulated among the people: Three stars are in the south, and every family is paying New Year's greetings; the younger generation kowtows, and the elders give money. If they don't get the money, they turn around and leave. So why do we give lucky money to children during the Spring Festival?

Legend has it that in ancient times there was a demon called "Xiao Sui" with a black body and white hands. Every year on the night of the 30th, he would come and touch the foreheads of sleeping children. After being touched, the children would have a high fever and talk in their sleep. After the fever subsided, they would become stupid and crazy. People were afraid that "Xiao Sui" would harm their children, so they would light the lights all night and not sleep. This was called "guarding against Sui". Later, there was a family named Guan in Jiaxing Prefecture. The couple had a son in their old age and loved him very much. On the night of the 30th, in order to prevent "Sui" from disturbing and touching the child. The old couple kept playing with the child. The child wrapped eight copper coins in red paper, wrapped and unwrapped. After the child was tired from playing, he was too sleepy and fell asleep. But before he went to bed, he casually put the eight copper coins wrapped in red paper next to his pillow. In the middle of the night, a gust of cold wind blew, and "Sui" came. When "Sui" was about to touch the child's forehead with his white hands, suddenly a golden light burst out from the child's pillow, and "Sui" ran away screaming. After this incident spread, people followed suit and wrapped money in red paper and placed it under the children's pillows on New Year's Eve, so that the "evil spirit" would never dare to touch the children's foreheads again. Therefore, people called this kind of money "evil spirit money". "Evil spirit" and "year" have the same pronunciation, so over time, it has been called "lucky money". Of course, this is just a legend that people have given "lucky money" mysterious powers.

The earliest "lucky money" in my country appeared in the Han Dynasty, also known as "lucky money". The original "lucky money" was not real money, but a kind of decoration similar to coins, made of copper or iron; round with square holes or shovel-shaped. It was cast with blessing words such as "good luck", "happiness, wealth, longevity and happiness", "long life", or auspicious patterns such as the twenty zodiac signs and the eight trigrams.

In the Ming and Qing dynasties, "lucky money" had become real money! Most of them were tied with red strings. Elders could give it to the younger generation when they were paying New Year's greetings, or parents could quietly put it under the child's pillow when the child was asleep on New Year's Eve. Wu Manyun, a Qing Dynasty poet, wrote in his poem "Lucky Money": "Hundreds of coins are strung together with colorful threads, divided and put under the pillow for personal collection; discussing firecrackers and flutes, Tianxiang Dejiao was busy all night." This shows that "lucky money" is the happiest harvest for children in the New Year. They use the lucky money to buy things they like.

After the Republic of China, the "lucky money" given to children has evolved into a 100-cent copper dollar wrapped in red paper, which means "long life"; the "lucky money" given to adult juniors is a dollar wrapped in red paper, symbolizing "prosperous wealth and huge profits."

After the currency was changed to banknotes, the elders liked to give the children new banknotes with consecutive numbers, because "lian" (lian) is homophonic with "lian" (lian), which means "continuous promotion" and "continuous wealth" for the offspring. This custom has been passed down to this day.

The custom of "lucky money" represents a kind of good blessing from elders to younger generations. It is also a talisman given by elders to children, blessing children with health and good luck in the new year!