It is a long and extensive custom to pay New Year greetings. Children pay New Year greetings to their parents, and younger generations pay New Year greetings to their elders. I remember that as soon as I could walk, I followed my parents to pay New Year greetings to my elders and uncles. Nowadays, although this custom is changing quietly, its cultural connotation has not faded, and that beautiful memory is deeply in my mind.
In my hometown, Yimeng Mountain, after eating Chinese New Year in jiaozi, the first important thing for the younger generation is to put on new clothes for the Chinese New Year, dress up in a straight manner and be full of spirits, and pay a New Year call to the elders, but also take advantage of "early". Every family is a stone-built house and courtyard wall. Most of Westinghouse’s younger generations live in it, while the East House is a cooking pot house, and the elders live in it. During the Chinese New Year, it is snowing heavily, freezing in the cold, and the temperature of the cooking pot house is high, which is the first choice for New Year greetings. Families should prepare some rare things such as fried peanuts, melon seeds, candy bars and cigarettes. Older people sit cross-legged on the warm kang, and when the younger generation offers their blessings, they kowtow and bow, thank their ancestors and enjoy their family. When the elders meet unfamiliar people, they have to drag their voices and ask, "Whose daughter-in-law is this?" "Whose child is this, and what’s its name-?"
When I was a child, just after eating jiaozi, people came to pay a New Year call at home. My father was busy handing out cigarettes and tea and greeting and thanking me, while my mother was busy taking candy, holding peanuts and handing melon seeds. Grandpa, sitting on the kang, spread his face wrinkled and his beard cocked up with laughter. He said happily, "Happy Chinese New Year! Let’s have fun. The more people, the better."
I have to take my younger brother and sister with me to pay a New Year call to the elders near the door. The old man repeatedly told me who to go to first, then who to go to, and don’t forget who to go to. The younger generation pays New Year greetings to the elder, and the elder will give the younger generation "lucky money", which is the reward and blessing of the elder to the younger generation. It doesn’t matter whether you have more money or less, it’s the heart that counts.
Welcome New Year, Chinese New Year and New Year greetings every year. I have experienced a historical change in the way of New Year greetings. From bowing and kowtowing to New Year’s greetings by letters, telegrams and greeting cards, from telephone, pager messages and mobile phone messages to Weibo, WeChat and online video … New Year’s greetings are changing, and the enthusiasm for New Year’s greetings is undiminished. On New Year’s Eve, families eat New Year’s Eve together, watch the Spring Festival Gala, and pay New Year’s greetings by SMS and WeChat. From time to time, there will be video calls: "Congratulations, Happy New Year!"
The sound of New Year’s greetings conveys the anticipation and hope of the new year, full of prosperous and delicious hopes …