The New Year is approaching, and it's time to visit friends and relatives. However, it's important to remember that during this time, you should pay extra attention to your health. Traditional Chinese medicine reminds you: avoid overeating and excessive drinking.
Traditional Customs of the Spring Festival
1. Posting Couplets
Couplets, also known as door couplets, spring couplets, parallel couplets, or peach symbols, are a unique literary form in China. They use neat, balanced, concise, and delicate words to depict the background of the times and express good wishes.
During the Spring Festival, every household will post couplets to celebrate the arrival of the new year.
2. Dusting
"The 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, dusting and cleaning the house." According to the book "Lüshi Chunqiu," China has had the custom of dusting during the Spring Festival since the era of Yao and Shun.
Dusting is meant to sweep away all bad luck and negative energy, hoping for a better life in the coming year.
3. New Year's Greetings
On the first day of the new year, people wake up early, dress in their best clothes, and visit friends and relatives to exchange New Year's greetings, wishing each other good luck.
4. Staying Up Late on New Year's Eve
In Chinese folklore, it is customary to stay up late on New Year's Eve, known as "staying up for the year."
Staying up starts with the New Year's Eve dinner, which is enjoyed slowly. Some families continue eating until late at night.
5. New Year's Eve Dinner
The New Year's Eve dinner is the most joyful and lively moment for every family during the Spring Festival.
A table full of sumptuous New Year dishes, gathering with family, and enjoying the reunion dinner, creates an indescribable sense of fulfillment.
6. Setting off Firecrackers
Firecrackers are known as the "opening firecrackers" in Chinese folklore. It is the first thing every household does to welcome the new year, with the sound of firecrackers driving away the old and ushering in the new.
Firecrackers are a Chinese specialty, also known as "fireworks," "poppers," or "firecrackers."
Don't Overeat and Overdrink during the Spring Festival
Aside from the joyous celebrations, gatherings inevitably involve eating and drinking. When faced with a table full of delicious food, can you control yourself?
If excessive joy is combined with overeating and overdrinking, then you must be careful, as your heart may not be able to handle it!
Being too happy can lead to scattered heart energy, and if you eat too much at the same time, your digestive system will rely on the energy of the heart to digest the food.
If you already have a heart condition, excessive happiness will further weaken your heart energy. The burden on your digestive system will be overwhelming, and it will have to "borrow" energy from your heart to digest the food.
As a result, your heart energy will inevitably be depleted, and heart disease patients (especially the elderly) are prone to sudden heart problems during this time. That's when joy turns into sorrow.
