In order to keep a low profile, the Song family replaced the child's gold bracelet with a silver bracelet so that it would not be so conspicuous.
The third item was combing hair. Lin Qingqing used a peach wood comb to gently comb the hair of the four children.
Grandma Song sang a blessing: "One comb brings wisdom, and the baby will be smart and cute. Two combs bring wealth, and the baby will be rich..."
Lin Qingqing combed her hair four times, and Grandma Song sang four times calmly.
The fourth item is blessing. The mother gives blessings to the baby. The mother touches the baby from the head to the feet, from head to toe.
Every place you touch has a good meaning.
The fifth item is to add auspicious dots. Grandma Song and Mother Song dip their index fingers in ink and place dots between the baby's eyebrows.
It means good luck is coming.
The sixth item was stepping on a golden beetle, in which Song Yiyuan held the child and stepped on a small golden beetle.
This means that the child will live a long and prosperous life.
For the seventh item, printing, Song Yiyuan took out the ink pad and blank photo frame that he had prepared beforehand.
Apply ink on the soles of the child's feet and leave the child's footprints at this moment of the day in the photo frame.
It means to be content and down-to-earth.
The eighth item is to seal the wine. Each child gets three jars of wine, and the word "sealing the wine" is written in advance by Grandpa Song.
The three bottles of wine are: the 18th-year-old coming-of-age wine, opened on his 18th birthday; the second bottle is the top-scoring wine, opened on the Gaokao; and the third bottle is the wedding wine, opened on the day of the proposal.
The four treasures sealed twelve jars of wine, which would be buried in a house in the Lin Qingqing Military Region compound, and would be dug out one by one when the children reached a certain age.
The eighth item of the New Year’s Day ritual is the New Year’s steamed bun. Prepare a dozen steamed buns and place them around the four children.
Just yesterday, Zhaodi and a few others came over to help steam the steamed buns.
There are four types of 䀱日馍, shaped like a lucky bag, a koi fish, a lucky peach, and a lion.
Each style has a different good meaning.
The four treasures were placed side by side. Zhou Yingying and Zhuang Chaoyue brought out a large basin of steamed buns. Grandma Song and others took out the steamed buns and placed them around the children, stacking them into four layers.
Lin Qingqing found it very interesting, so she took out the camera from her bag, stood on a chair, looked down at the child from a high place, and took a photo.
After the steamed buns were laid out, Grandma Song recited many words of blessing and then placed the steamed buns in a large basin. The steamed buns were to be distributed to the visitors.
Wu Fangnian came in with a tray of food, including steamed eggs, rice, stir-fried vegetables, steamed minced meat, fish, apples, noodles and cakes.
These dishes are served in small bowls, which at first glance resemble the scene of eating in Kimchi Country.
This is the last item of the Spring Festival ritual: eating meat.
Lin Qingqing handed this task over to Grandma Song and Mother Song. They took their chopsticks, dipped a little soup from the dish, and gently wiped it on the child's lips.
As soon as the child's mouth touched the chopsticks, he stretched out his little tongue and licked them greedily.
It made the adults laugh.
"Greedy cat, you just drank a big bottle of milk, and now you're acting like you haven't eaten all day."
Grandma Song scolded with a smile.
The last item was almost finished, and the whole process took more than half an hour.
It's almost half past seven now.
Song Yiyuan cleared out the things in the room, and then Grandpa Cai and Grandpa Tong, who were waiting downstairs, heard that the Tiantian ceremony was over, and they came upstairs to hold the child.
Seeing that the four treasures were all wearing bright red clothes and there was a red dot between their eyebrows, I felt very happy.
Grandpa Tong: "The child is very pretty. He looks even prettier in red clothes than the dolls in New Year paintings."
Grandma Song looked at her four great-grandchildren and nodded: "They are indeed prettier than the New Year dolls."
After the morning ceremony, several adults wrapped the babbling children in blankets and went downstairs to sit in the living room.
At this time, the Lin family had already arrived.
When Song's mother saw her in-laws at the door, she warmly invited Lin's mother and others in.
When Mother Lin saw the baby wearing white clothes under the blanket and four red dots on his forehead, her eyes lit up.
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