【Prelude to Spring Festival】Guess where this is a Spring Festival folk song from

The land of Qilu? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

The first day of the first lunar month is Spring Festival, also known as the lunar calendar year, and is commonly called “the New Year”. This is the most grand and lively of our country’s ancient traditional festivals. Among the people, the traditional Spring Festival runs from the Laba Festival on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, or the Kitchen God Festival on the 23rd or 24th of that month, all the way to the 15th day of the first lunar month, with New Year’s Eve and the first day of the new year being the peak moments. During the Spring Festival, the Han people and many ethnic minorities in our country hold various activities to celebrate. These activities mainly involve worshipping gods and Buddhas, paying tribute to ancestors, getting rid of the old and embracing the new, welcoming good fortune, and praying for a bountiful harvest, all of which carry a strong ethnic character. 　1. The 23rd day of the 12th lunar month: Known as \"Xiao Nian,\" this day is said to be when the God of the Kitchen goes to heaven, which is why sacrifices are offered to him. The 30th day of the year comes seven days after the Lesser New Year. The Spring Festival in our country usually begins with the ritual of worshipping the Kitchen God on the 23rd or 24th day of the 12th lunar month. There is a saying that goes \"officials do it on the 23rd, ordinary people on the 24th, and those who live by water on the 25th\" – that is, the government holds this ritual on the 23rd, ordinary families on the 24th, while those who work on waterways conduct it on the 25th. After the Kitchen God ceremony, preparations to welcome the New Year officially begin. From the 23rd day of the 12th lunar month to New Year’s Eve each year, this period is referred to by the people as the \"Spring Welcoming Days\". 2. The 24th day of the 12th lunar month: As the saying goes, “On the 24th, clean the house.” After holding the kitchen shrine ceremony, preparations to welcome the New Year officially begin. From the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month until New Year’s Eve each year, the Chinese people refer to this period as the \"Days of Welcoming Spring,\" also known as the \"Days of Cleaning Dust.\" Dust cleaning refers to the annual thorough cleaning; in the north it is called “sweeping the house,” while in the south it is known as “dusting.” Cleaning the house before the Spring Festival is a traditional custom among the Chinese people. Whenever the Spring Festival approaches, every household cleans its surroundings, washes various utensils, washes and repairs bedding and curtains, sweeps the courtyards, removes dust and cobwebs, and clears the open ditches and hidden channels. From north to south, everywhere there is a festive atmosphere of cleaning up and welcoming the New Year in a clean environment. 3. The 25th day of the 12th lunar month: On this day, people grind grains to make tofu. As the folk saying goes, “On the 25th day of the 12th lunar month, grind the beans to make tofu.” ” According to historical research, tofu was invented by Liu An, the King of Huainan during the Western Han Dynasty. In his poem \"Tofu,\" Zhu Xi of the Southern Song Dynasty wrote: \"When planting beans, the sprouts are sparse; exhausted and disheartened, I am. If only I had known the methods from Huainan, I could have sat back and reaped wealth.\" ” Interestingly, in some places there is also a custom of eating tofu dregs before New Year’s Eve. The reason for this is that according to local legends, after the Kitchen God reports to heaven, the Jade Emperor will descend to earth to investigate whether each household is living as described by the Kitchen God. As a result, households eat tofu dregs to show that they lead a simple life, thereby avoiding the Jade Emperor’s punishment. Legends are just that – legends. Eating tofu dregs was actually a result of low productivity in ancient times, when there weren’t many delicious foods available; it also reflects the frugal and thrifty virtues of our ancestors. 4. The 26th day of the 12th lunar month: February 2nd is the 26th day of the 12th lunar month. As the saying goes, “On the 26th day of the 12th lunar month, pigs are slaughtered to prepare the meat for the New Year,” indicating that this day is used mainly for preparing the meat needed for the festival. Slaughtering pigs means, of course, slaughtering the pigs that one raises themselves ； Buying meat means that people who don’t raise pigs go to the market to purchase meat for the New Year. The term “New Year meat” was included in New Year songs because, in an agrarian society with underdeveloped economies, people could usually only eat meat during the New Year festival; hence it was called “New Year meat”. 5. The 27th day of the 12th lunar month: February 3rd is the 27th day of the 12th lunar month; as the saying goes, \"On the 27th day of the 12th lunar month, people slaughter chickens and go to the market.\" On this day, every household not only slaughtered their own poultry but also went to the market and shops to make bulk purchases. Unlike the regular market days whose main purpose is to buy what is needed and sell what is in excess, the market on the 27th day of the 12th lunar month is primarily for buying and selling items for the New Year, such as firecrackers, Spring Festival couplets, sacrificial animals, incense and candles, paper offerings, beef and mutton, various toys and gifts for children, and various hair ornaments for girls, among others. On this day, markets everywhere were very bustling and lively. On the 28th day of the 12th lunar month, the dough is mixed to start fermentation; on the 29th, steamed buns are made. On the 28th, the dough is prepared for use as staple food. In the past, there were no quick-acting leavening agents, and ordinary flour didn’t ferment easily, nor did it spoil quickly. That’s why dough was fermented on the 28th to prepare staple food for the period from the 1st to the 15th day of the first lunar month. Sometimes the dough was already fermented by the 27th, and on the 28th, steamed buns filled with dates were made. According to traditional custom, from the first day of the lunar new year to the fifth day, it is not allowed to use fire for steaming buns or cooking dishes; therefore, old Beijing residents are used to preparing staple foods on the 28th and 29th days of the new year. Since it is taboo to use methods such as steaming, stir-frying, frying, or baking during the Spring Festival – as these methods share homophones with words that carry negative connotations: steaming relates to \"striving,\" stir-frying to \"argument,\" frying to the fourth tone of the character for \"explode,\" and baking to \"fall\" – old Beijing residents would steam enough steamed buns for the whole family to eat over a week’s time before the festival; this practice was known as eating them in the following year. Among the steamed dishes for the New Year, in addition to steamed buns, there are other types of pasta products as well. Wanyan Zuoxian, a descendant of King Sejong, listed in his work \"Research on Customs, Anecdotes, and Decorative Items from the Kangxi Era\" various steamed dishes that are part of the Manchu New Year’s menu, including steamed buns, steamed pastries, steamed flower-shaped rolls, steamed dates-filled pastries, steamed red bean paste dumplings, steamed buns symbolizing descendants, and steamed Ruyi-shaped rolls, among others. During the Spring Festival, the steamed buns are marked with red dots using cinnabar to symbolize good fortune. Now, with fewer taboos, it’s possible to buy steamed buns at any time if one wants to eat them during the Spring Festival. People hope for harmony and success in their families during the new year, so they deliberately avoid anything that sounds like it has an unpleasant phonetic meaning. Although steaming buns with fermented dough is a bit troublesome, many people still prefer to uphold this New Year’s tradition passed down from older generations. 7. On the night of the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month, it is a time to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. People often stay up all night, eager to witness the arrival of the first day of the new year; hence the saying, \"Stay up all night on the 30th.\" ”

As a person from the south, I really don’t know how to make sugar melon candies or sugar melon paste

Here in our area: Hubei New Year songs – on the 23rd, we clean the house; on the 24th, we send off the God of the Kitchen; on the 25th, we make tofu; on the 26th, we prepare fish and meat; on the 27th, we bathe; on the 28th, we cut up chickens and ducks; on the 29th, every family prepares something special; on the last night of the year (pronounced as “yā” in the local dialect), we have a big New Year’s dinner. On the first day of the new year, one bows as soon as the door is opened; on the first day, prayers are offered to the family; on the second day, prayers are offered to the deceased; on the third and fourth days, prayers are offered to one’s father-in-law.

That’s basically what people in the north say, not referring to a specific province.