广东人的节日习俗 Cantonese Festival Customs

1） 春节 Spring Festival

除夕：在除夕夜，全家围炉吃团圆饭。饭后，大人们会给孩童，而子女会给父母上辈分发“压岁钱”。水缸必须装满水，米桶要填满米，灯火不能熄灭，这象征着“岁岁有余”，“年年不断炊”的好兆头。

春节当天：家家户户客厅中的大桌上会用红盘盛满大吉（指柑，以前的人说柑大于吉，所以称之为大吉）、青橄榄和各种糖果，门前会放灯挂彩，晚辈向上辈敬茶祝福身体健康。这天多数广东人会吃素，若条件不允许那至少早餐不吃荤。过后，一家人都会带上大吉到亲戚朋友家拜年。客人会赠上大吉贺祝主人吉祥如意，主人要以大吉回赠，俗谓转敬式换吉，意义是在回敬美好祝愿。早晚人们都会成群结队地尽兴游赏观看歌戏，是个迎春的热闹喜乐气氛。

年初二：广东人把年初二称之为“开年”，从这天开始，一切都百无禁忌，可以打扫、洗衣、打骂孩子等。老人家曾有句俚语“让我帮你开年”，意思就是“年已经过了，让我好好地教训你”。不过到了今天，只有老一辈的广东人会遵守开年的习俗，年轻一代可能已经不晓得“开年”了。

On New Year’s Eve, the whole family will gather around the stove for reunion dinner. After the meal, the adults will give out “New Year’s Money” to children, while the child will give to their parents and older generation. The water tank must be filled with water; the rice tank must be filled with rice; the lights must not go out, in order to symbolize the good omen of “Abundance Year After Year” and “Continuous Cooking Every Year”.

On the day of Spring Festival, on the large table in the hall of every household, the red plate is filled with “Daji”(Meaning: Good Luck) (i.e. tangerine, mandarin which is larger than orange, hence it is called “Daji”), green olives and all kinds of exquisite candies. Lights are hung up in front of the doors, and the juniors offer tea and blessings to their seniors. Most people would want to be vegetarian on this particular day, at least for breakfast. Afterwards, the whole family will bring “Daji” to their relatives and friends’ houses for New Year greetings. The guest will present “Daji” to the host, and the host should give another “Daji” back as a form of transfering auspiciousness, intended to return well wishes. During the day and night, people enjoy gathering in groups to watch operas, which is a lively and joyous atmosphere to welcome the spring.

The second day of the Lunar New Year: The Cantonese call this day as the "New Year”. From this day onwards, all taboos are off, cleaning; washing; beating and scolding children etc. are allowed. The elderly used to popularize the slang term “Let me start the New Year for you”, which means “The year is over, let me teach you a lesson”. But up till this day, only the older generation of the Cantonese abide by the customs of the New Year, and the younger generation may have started the year differently.

2） 清明节 Tomb Sweeping Day

行清：传统的广州人向来重视清明扫墓，在粤语中，“行清” 指的是在清明节期间扫墓，祭祖，而 “行正清” 则是指在清明节当天扫墓祭拜祖先。

“Xingqing”: Traditional Cantonese have always valued tomb sweeping during the Qingming Festival. In Cantonese, “Xingqing” refers to the sweeping of tombs while “Xingzhengqing” refers to worshipping ancestors on the day of the Qingming Festival.

3）端午节 Dragon Boat Festival

传统的习俗，例如：佩戴香囊，悬挂艾叶菖蒲等习俗，在新加坡已经极为罕见，剩下的习俗：吃粽子和赛龙舟等项目，依然完好地保留着。

广东碱水粽：煮熟后的碱水粽的米粽颜色呈淡黄色，看起来非常诱人，韧劲十足，清香四溢，让人爱不释口。

Traditional customs such as wearing sachets, hanging calamus etc. are rarely seen in Singapore these days. The remaining customs of eating “ZongZi” (Meaning: Rice dumpling) and dragon boat racing etc. are still well preserved up to this day.

Guangdong lye rice dumplings: The cooked lye rice dumplings appear light yellow in color, which looks very attractive, tenacious and full of fragrance, which people love it.

4）中元节 Hungry Ghost Festival

烧腊：在广东人的祭祖习俗中，烧腊是其中的重头戏，少不了整只烧鸡烧鸭和足重的烧肉或叉烧，甚至整只烤乳猪也是必备，几乎是每家每户都少不了的应节之物。在使用乳猪祭完先人后，亲戚们聚会大吃一顿，分享整桌的丰盛美食。

Roasted meat: In the Cantonese custom of ancestor worship, roasted meat is the highlight. The worship cannot do without the whole roasted chicken and roasted duck, and full weight roasted meat or barbecued pork, and even whole roasted suckling pig is a must. Almost every family cannot do without the above mentioned items. After sacrificing the suckling pigs to the deceased, the relatives gather together and divide the table of sumptuous delicacies.

5）中秋节 Mid-Autumn Festival

• 吃月饼

• 玩花灯：中秋也要把彩灯高竖起来。小孩子们在家长协助下用竹纸扎成兔仔灯、杨桃灯或正方形的灯，横挂在短竿中，再竖起于高杆上，采光闪耀。

• “耍绿仔”：过去，中秋节十分流行的儿童游戏，以柚子壳刻通花，中可悬灯，儿童提着成群结队游乐。

• Eating mooncakes

• Playing with lanterns: The lanterns should also stand tall during the Mid-Autumn Festival. With the help of their parents, the children use bamboo paper to tie them into rabbit lanterns, carambola lanterns or square-shaped lanterns, hang them horizontally on short poles, and then stand them on high poles to sparkle.

• “Green Boy Game”: A very popular children's game in the past during the Mid-Autumn Festival. The grapefruit shells were used to carve through the flowers, and the lights can be hung in the middle. The children would carry it in groups for fun.

6）冬至 Winter Solstice

• 吃汤圆

• 拜祖先

• Eating of dumplings made of glutinous rice flour served in soup

• Worship ancestors
  

7）婚姻 Marriage

过大礼：也被称为纳彩，就是将彩礼送到女家，表示求婚。除了聘金，送给新娘家人的礼物也包括黄金首饰和食物如桔子（大吉大利）婚礼蛋糕、酒、传统喜饼、红枣（早生贵子）、桂圆（圆圆满满）莲子（莲莲生子）、百合（百年好合）、冬瓜糖（白头到老）和冰糖（甜甜蜜蜜）。在新加坡，由于不同方言群的风俗，每个方言群会再过大礼时送不同的食物。广东家族会要求龙凤饼和海味。以上的食物都是成双成对地准备的。过大礼当天，新娘的父母会把一部分聘金和聘礼送回给新郎，表示分享福气，也代表结缘的意思。

Betrothal: also known as “Na Cai”, is a formality performed by the groom to bind both families together, and it shows the sincerity of the Groom to the Bride’s family. Other than dowry money, gifts to be presented to the bride’s family include gold jewellery and auspicious food items such as oranges, wedding cakes, alcohol, traditional biscuits and candy, grains such as red dates （早生贵子）, longan （圆圆满满）, lotus seeds （连连生子）, lily bulbs （百年好合）, winter melon sweets（白头到老）and rock sugar（甜甜蜜蜜）. In Singapore, due to our diverse roots from different dialect groups, different food items are used by the different dialect groups for betrothal. Cantonese will request for Dragon and Phoenix Cakes (also known as Happiness Cakes) or seafood. All of the above mentioned food items will be prepared in pairs. After receiving the gifts, the bride’s family will return a portion of the dowry money and food items, as a gesture of goodwill and to share the good fortune between the two families.

8）满月生日 Full Month Birthday 准备红鸡蛋：是对于家族子孙满堂和宝宝的最美好的祝福，也是一种表达喜庆的方式。

Prepare red eggs: It is the best blessing to the family's children and grandchildren, and it is also a way to express joy.