Folklore experts said that as an ancient festival, "Ren Day" has a history of more than 2,000 years in my country. Folks have customs of eating Qibao soup to pray for Najib, and wearing lottery tickets to please people. Tianjin people have the habit of eating tofu on this day.

Today

The seventh day of the first lunar month

is the first day of work after the Spring Festival holiday.

It is also a person’s birthday. Folklore experts said that as an ancient festival, "Ren Day" has a history of more than 2,000 years in my country. Folks have customs of eating Qibao soup to pray for Najib, and wearing lottery tickets to please people. Tianjin people have the habit of eating tofu on this day.

Since it’s a birthday?

Why do you have to go to work!

No matter what

we have to say:

I wish you a happy birthday!

About the origin and customs of "Ren Ri"

We will tell you about it ~

The origin of "Ren Ri"

"Ren Ri" originates from ancient creation myths and legends. Columnist and Tianjin folklore expert Yu Guoqing said that there were no living creatures on the earth in ancient times. The world was originally created by Nuwa. She created a creature every day for seven days. In the first six days, chickens, dogs, pigs, sheep, cows, and horses were born. It was not until the seventh day that humans appeared. Later, the ancients derived other stories about the origin of human beings on this basis. In addition, supplementary sayings appeared among the people. For example, the ninth day of the lunar month was the "sun of heaven" and the tenth day of the lunar month was the "sun of the earth".

Ren Day, also known as "Ren Chen", "Ren Sheng Festival", etc., is one of the very important festivals after the New Year. The ancients believed in omens and believed that "everything in heaven must happen" and that there are precursors to both good and bad luck. According to various omens, the fate of future events can be predicted. Among them, days that are directly related to people are recorded as "human days" to warn people about what they should or should not do.

During the Han Dynasty , the day was integrated into the customs of the year and was officially designated as the seventh day of the first lunar month, becoming part of the New Year's divination. "Book of Divination" records, "One day is a chicken, the second day is a dog, the third day is a pig, the fourth day is a sheep, the fifth day is an ox, the sixth day is a horse, and the seventh day is a human being." In other words, the seventh day of the day is the day of occupancy. Probably because man is the spirit of all things, fortune-telling days are more important in the days of divination in the new year, and are gradually being highlighted.

As an important aspect of traditional Chinese culture, the concept of the correspondence between heaven, earth and man has always been respected. The ancients believed that the weather in the first month would affect the fortune of the year. The seventh day of the lunar month is no exception. On Human Day, people will get up early to wait and see. If the weather is fine, the population will be safe and the comings and goings will be smooth this year; if the weather is gloomy, it will be bad and everything will not go well this year.

Parents cannot teach their children today

The seventh day of the lunar month is a person’s birthday.

Everyone must be respected on this day. Even the government cannot execute criminals on this day, and parents cannot teach their children on this day. On this day, young people over the age of 16 are free to go out and play in the streets. There is a beautiful scene on the streets where "roosters don't crow, dogs don't bite, and eighteen-year-old girls run all over the streets."

There is another custom. In some places, men, women, old and young all use scales to weigh themselves on their birthdays. Since it is a person's birthday, it is natural to care about the person's physical condition.

What are the other customs on "Ren Day"?

01

Eating noodles

Today, people eat noodles, which not only symbolizes long distance, but also means wrapping the legs with years of noodles, which means longevity. In addition, in some places, the seventh, seventeenth and twenty-seventh days of the lunar month are divided into "little people seven", "adult seven" and "old people seven". It is said that eating noodles on these days can bring health and longevity, and rolling the noodles thin and long can bless health and longevity.

02

Eating Qibao Soup

"Jingchu Suishiji" records that on this day, each family will cut seven kinds of vegetables into small pieces, blend the five flavors, and cook them into a paste-like soup for consumption. Due to the different products in different places, the fruits and vegetables used in "Qibao Soup" are different, and the meanings are also different. Guangdong Chaoshan uses mustard, kale, leeks, spring vegetables, celery, garlic, and cloves; Hakkas use celery, garlic, onions, coriander, leeks plus fish, meat, etc.; Taiwan and Fujian use spinach, celery, onions, garlic, leeks, mustard, shepherd's purse, , cabbage, etc.Among them, celery and onions mean intelligence, garlic means calculation, and mustard means longevity.

03

Dai Huasheng

Today, everyone in Jiangnan also wears "人胜" decorations on this day. It is also called "Colorful Victory", "Huasheng", "Huasheng" and "Qiaosheng". It is a pattern or human shape cut out of colorful silk fabrics and colored paper. More advanced ones use gold foil to hollow out human shapes. In addition to being worn on the head, Rensheng jewelry can also be attached to screens and windows. They are very beautiful and are intended to ward off diseases, ward off evil spirits, ward off disasters, and bring good fortune in the New Year.

04

Climbing high to pray for blessings

Another common custom on Human Day is to climb high. Different from the passive avoidance of disaster concept of Chongyang Climbing , the human day climbing has more active content of blessing and praying. This should be the earliest spring outing after the long winter. was still very popular until the Tang Dynasty. On this day, some areas in southern China still have the custom of "fishing for fish" (similar to eating sashimi), which means that the higher you fish, the higher you rise.

05

Eating tofu

There is also a unique custom of eating tofu on the seventh day of the lunar month in Tianjin, which is "grinding small tofu in every seventh day", that is, eating tofu and bean porridge. There is also a Chinese New Year song from Tianjin that goes like this: "Wonton noodles on the first day of the lunar month; dumplings on the fifth and sixth day; pity on the dumplings on the fifth and sixth day; no pain in the head of seven small tofu; family reunion on the eighth day; reunion on the fifteenth day of the Lantern Festival."