Praise the worship of Chaoshan people

1. What do Chaoshan people want to do to worship God? It is a common folk phenomenon in human social life.

Every country in the world has its own traditional festivals. There are some differences between eastern and western festivals.

People in China attach great importance to festivals. In the book The Origin of Chaoshan Culture, it is mentioned that the origin of festivals is related to the four seasons in a year. The origin of festivals is related to primitive worship, related sacrificial activities and taboo behaviors. The combination of seasonality and primitive worship produces festivals.

These words are absolutely right. Especially in Chaoshan area, the introduction of Taoism and Buddhism brought new contents to the original festivals and customs of the Han nationality, and also made people add some new festivals and taboos.

Here, I mainly talk about the eight major festivals in a year that Chaoshan people attach great importance to, especially Chaoyang, and talk about the etiquette and activities of some important festivals. The "eight festivals a year" mentioned by Chaoshan people refer to eight important festivals: Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day, Dragon Boat Festival, July 30th, Mid-Autumn Festival, Winter Solstice and New Year's Eve.

The custom that these eight festivals must follow is to worship ancestors or Buddha. Moreover, Chaoshan people will do different activities in different festivals and have never changed.

On New Year's Eve, this festival lasts from the night of the last day of the old year to the arrival of the new year. Chaoshan people call it "New Year's Eve". This day is the most important day before the Spring Festival.

In this festival, Chaoyang people will worship Gong Zu's mother-in-law. The sacrifices used are mainly three sacrifices and some fried noodles, and there must be glutinous rice cakes. Of course, there are also exquisite people who use four oranges, mainly because it symbolizes good luck.

A family composed of men, women and children will have a haircut, take a bath, then put on new clothes and begin to worship their ancestors. We must clean the floor of the whole house this morning. Of course, Chaoshan people have the custom of washing and decorating their houses before the Chinese New Year, but it is unlucky to wash the floor again on this day in order not to wash the floor on the New Year's Day.

Then the New Spring Festival couplets, commonly known as "Tao Yifu". We also need to buy new year's goods, mainly some desserts and refreshments, and put them in fruit bowls for the guests who come home for tea and New Year's greetings.

In the afternoon, I was busy "surrounding the stove" at night. Chaoshan people pay great attention to the New Year's Eve dinner, and they will start preparing early and buy some better things. After the Lunar New Year meal, the whole family will get together to celebrate the New Year.

At this time, the younger generation should wish the elders a happy New Year. Elders will give lucky money to children.

Old people will also receive lucky money from their children who can make money. This custom is called "waist pressing". In the evening, people in Chaoyang and Haimen will clean the stove and leave it empty as much as possible, then put a lamp on the rice stove and a turtle-like shell made of flour shell, called turtle shell.

According to the custom, the "master" will come to touch the rice barrel in the middle of the night, which is a sign of peace in the coming year. During the Spring Festival, Chaoshan people call it "Chinese New Year".

This is also a very important festival in China. In the early morning of this day, women will worship the door gods first and insert incense.

Then, sacrifice ancestors with clear dumplings. Generally, jiaozi is eaten by the whole family for breakfast, and everyone should drink some for safety.

On the first day of New Year's Day, ancestor worship began in the morning, and vegetarian dishes were mainly peanuts, fungus, rotten branches, mushrooms, gold needles and glutinous rice balls. Of course, some people will worship their ancestors again with meat dishes on the second day of the second year, but it is less. The main activity of this day is to visit relatives and friends and pay a New Year call to relatives and friends.

Chaoshan people always bring olives and Chaozhou oranges as gifts during the New Year's greetings, and it is also auspicious to "exchange oranges" with relatives and friends after the New Year's greetings. Chaoshan people pay great attention to eating olives. Due to different varieties, some "three-pointed olives" cost thousands of dollars.

Paying New Year greetings is nothing more than giving welfare to children, and then when adults meet, they will send each other auspicious words of "promotion and wealth". In addition, there are activities such as drilling wells in some places.

It is said that this wellhead was sealed on New Year's Eve, and it was to be dedicated to Ma Jing, Gong Jing during the Spring Festival, and then opened in Kaifeng. It is forbidden to drill rural public wells on the second day of the first day.

However, in Chaoyang, it is not so "exquisite". Generally, a lunch box is inserted by the well, and the fragrance is inserted, which is a sacrifice. The first day to the third day is the most lively festival. The streets and alleys are full of gongs and drums, and all kinds of auspicious songs come and go.

Of course, there are lion dances in some places, English songs, gongs and drums, and the custom of holding flags, carrying guns and parading the streets. Chaoshan people call it "camp big gongs and drums"

This is mainly organized by some local people, mainly veteran cadres, who will pay people, such as some young girls and children, to take pictures, bring guns and invite local song and dance teams. These people must be trained and put on makeup before they take to the streets.

But in Houxi, some people have to pay to participate in the parade, because the local custom says that after a day's walk, there will be good luck in the coming year. After the parade passes, wealthy families will set off firecrackers to welcome them.

On the fourth day, the god in heaven "blessed" and then came to earth. At this time, every household should put away the "turtle shells" (these are generally not eaten, thrown to feed pigs or numbered for the elderly), and then prepare sacrifices to welcome the owner to "fall from the sky".

The main thing is to prepare a big bowl of water and glutinous rice balls and fragrant paper money. When people sign "knowing" that the master is back, they will burn paper money and the sacrifice will be over.

During the Spring Festival, there is also the activity of "Camp Grandpa". Chaoyang mainly adopts the practice of cultural camp.

That is, before the master comes, put a mahogany table with some offerings on it (the offerings are not uniform and exquisite), and then some "big brothers" in the temple will invite the master to get on the sedan chair, including things in this "master" temple, such as magic pens. Carried by the selected Ding Zhuang and led by ceremonial drums, they walked through every alley in the community, and wherever they passed, married women would bow their heads and kneel in the street.

When Master walked to the door, he took the offerings on the table and went to a nearby temple to worship, and then set off firecrackers. Lantern Festival, on the fifteenth day of the first month.

In this festival, if you worship your ancestors, you mainly use cauliflower and potatoes. Because you are not very particular about it, it doesn't matter much if you eat it before worship, so there will be no blasphemy. This day mainly varies from person to person, and some people have the custom of worshipping, making it more grand than the Spring Festival.

Fireworks are mainly set off at night to solve riddles on lanterns. However, some people choose to drink tea and enjoy lanterns outdoors.

In some places in the countryside, there are also film screenings. It is to manipulate the characters in the shadow play with three iron chopsticks, and to show the appearance and posture of the characters vividly.

In Qingming, Chaoshan people are commonly known as "hanging paper", "going to the grave" or "kneeling paper". In the next few days, people will go up the mountain to worship their ancestors.

Mainly to bring dry food.

2. Composition "Let's Chaoshan People" There are many traditional cultures in Chaoshan, not only famous Chaozhou opera and porcelain, but also many interesting traditional customs, among which one custom called "Old Hot Camp Master" interests me the most.

It is said that "Old Hot Camp Master" has another story! Once, the Jade Emperor became a mortal to see how people lived. Who knows, the jade emperor accidentally fell into the river and was rescued by an old man who just passed by, taking care of him day and night. After the jade emperor returned to heaven safely, he was very grateful to the old man, so he sent someone to take him to heaven. The jade emperor wants to turn the old man into a god and let him enjoy happiness. When the old man saw the person sent by the Jade Emperor and knew that the person he saved was the Jade Emperor, he thought: The Jade Emperor must have thought that I could only give him sauerkraut and rotten water, so he sent someone to arrest me and go to eighteen levels of hell. The old man thought and immediately started to run. The old man ran to this man's house and then to that man's house. The old man hid in the forest, and the people sent by the jade emperor shouted outside the forest, but the old man refused to come out. At this time, a man came up with a bad idea of burning the forest. When the forest was burned down, those people went in and saw the old man holding the tree in his hands, and his whole body was burned to ashes. When the Jade Emperor learned of this, he was very sad, so he regarded the old man as a god and ordered people in coastal cities to choose a day to visit the old man in a lively way every major festival, which is also commonly known as the' camp owner'. Chaoshan people are superstitious. Every time the "old camp owner" is very lively, there will be many sacrifices on the table, and each sacrifice has a beautiful symbol. For example, there are fish that are more than one year old, apples that are safe and sound, oranges that are auspicious, candies that have many children and grandchildren, and dried beans that relatives can be officials. ...

What an interesting Chaoshan custom! Are you more interested in Chaoshan after listening to my introduction? If so, come to Chaoshan, a good place to know!

3. Chaoshan people worship their elders, and pig's feet pose to worship their elders. "It is a traditional folk custom in Chaoshan area and a ritual activity for the gods."

It has a long history, many sacrificial objects and wide influence. Due to thousands of years of folk worship and deification, as well as the noise and use of rulers in previous dynasties, the worship of the Lord and his place (the palace of the Lord) have been shrouded in mystery.

Speaking of Chaoshan people's "learning from teachers", they are too knowledgeable. There are different "masters" to worship in different seasons. The scope is wide, involving many immortals, which is beyond ordinary people's imagination. In addition to the landlords who worship at home on the 15th day of the first month, there are also providence (Jade Emperor), Buddha (Tathagata), Guanyin, land father-in-law, God of Wealth and Moon Mother in a year.

4. The deities worshipped by temples in Chaoshan area.

Chaoshan people believe in many gods and buddhas. In addition to Buddhist temples and temples in county towns, there are gods everywhere in urban and rural areas. Moreover, it is not a single Buddha and Tao, but a combination of Buddha and Tao.

The most frequently believed gods are: Tian Xuan, Sanyi Emperor (Liu Bei, Zhang Fei, Guan Yu), Guan Laoye, Sanshan King, Wind and Rain Sage (in charge of good weather), Earth God, Anji Wang Sheng, Lucky Master (usually kept in shops or at home), Compassionate Empress, Seven Saints, Empress, Pearl Empress, Notre Dame, Heaven and Earth Parents (in temples). The gods of each family are: landlord (placed behind the door), heaven and earth, kitchen god (placed by the stove), in-laws (placed by the bed), well man and well woman (placed by the well), janitor and grain woman (placed on the dining table of the person in charge of crops or on the head of the rice bucket). These gods belong to Taoism, as well as water buddhas, Guanyin bodhisattvas and water buddhas. These are the gods that Chaoshan people have generally believed in since ancient times. The time of worship can be burning incense every day, worshipping on the first and fifteenth day of the first lunar month, celebrating the holidays, or celebrating the birthday of a god. However, the gods worshipped in every place are not the same. For example, Cao Wei's deities include: ancient saints, Grand Palace, old uncle, Goddess of Notre Dame, Goddess of Pearl, Goddess of Guanyin, while the Cheng Deshan Temple is dedicated to Grandpa Song Dafeng, Tathagata and other deities.

These gods also have their own management (blessing) scope, some of them protect the safety of people and animals in a certain urban and rural area or a certain area, and some are the protectors of a certain industry or certain things. Therefore, there is a saying in Chaoshan: "You can stay in the graveyard, but you can't stay in the temple", which means that ghosts in the graveyard will treat newcomers as guests, and the gods in the temple don't welcome outsiders, especially Sanshanwang Temple, because of their certain management scope. Ha ha! I also heard it from the older generation. In fact, the worship of gods in Chaoshan area is not completely feudal superstition, but also a traditional custom. Due to its unique geographical location, Chaoshan is almost completely surrounded by mountains, so it has been isolated from the outside world for a long time. Before the opening of Guangzhou-Meizhou Railway, there was only one national highway 324 connected to the outside world, and it was close to the sea, so there were many people and few places. So many people have to leave their homes to make a living, do business or go fishing, while those who stay at home can only pray for the blessing of the gods.