Dingxiang folk custom

1, Spring Festival

The first day of the first lunar month is called the Spring Festival, commonly known as "Chinese New Year" and "Lunar New Year". The original meaning of the word "nian" is that everything is mature, but now it is extended to the main expression time, and it also means to say goodbye to the old year and celebrate the beginning of the new year.

Since ancient times, folk songs have said that the Chinese New Year, which ordinary people say, began with the Laba Festival in the first year. There is a preparation stage before the Spring Festival, and a celebration stage after the Spring Festival, which lasts until the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first month. Even "the dragon heads up in February" (1), there is a saying among local people: the twelfth lunar month is busy, and the first month is noisy, which will be put off until February. During the festival, there are many festivals, but no matter how long the days drag on, the most grand and important thing is the Spring Festival.

Many ancient books in history have recorded activities to celebrate the Spring Festival. Wang Anshi's poem "January Day" in the Song Dynasty said: "Firecrackers are one year old, and the spring breeze sends warmth into Tu Su. Thousands of households always exchange new peaches for old ones. " It depicts the folk customs full of vitality and hope at the end of the year and the beginning of the year.

According to the general tradition, the Spring Festival officially begins on the first day of the first lunar month. At that moment, people who are watching CCTV Spring Festival Gala will run out of the yard and fire firecrackers to congratulate them.

The first thing that the local Ming Dynasty celebrated the Spring Festival was called "receiving the gods". It is said that the gods reported their achievements in the past year to the Jade Emperor on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month. Then return to the world in the early morning of the first day of the lunar new year and enjoy the incense. Therefore, the couplets in front of the kitchen god are often: Heaven says yes, go back to the palace for good luck. "Dingxiang County Records" records: "On the first day of the New Year's Day, Su Xing burned fire, cypress wood and set off fireworks." Wang Huolei is in the local hospital (2), which should be ordered by the parents themselves. It means to be prosperous and rich in financial resources in the new year. After the fire is lit, the housewife cleans up the housework and arranges sacrifices for the gods and ancestors of heaven and earth. In fact, "receiving god" is mainly to arrange sacrifices. The main objects are gods, such as heaven status, soap throne, land location, door gods and the spirits of their great-grandfathers, grandfathers and fathers. This is the biggest activity in the folk custom of the Spring Festival. Sacrificial offerings are also very particular. The whole sacrificial process is to put offerings and light red candles first. Then burn incense and live one by one from the street gate; Then burn paper, also from the outside to the inside; Finally, shoot. Now, due to the relatively developed economies in various places, there are many types and quantities of shooting, and the cost is not small. Sooner or later, the time for each family to ask God is slightly different. The sound of the cannon means the end of this procedure. At that time, from four o'clock in the morning to dawn, the sound of guns continued, and fireworks in the air came and went, which was also a factor for children to look forward to the New Year. There are many taboos about receiving God, such as not talking loudly and unlucky words, not opening boxes and cabinets before dawn, and saying hello to God in everything. For example, when a child goes to the toilet, he says, "Grandpa's house (3) I have to pee." Of course it's a joke. Among the gods, there will be a buzzer (4) to play. If you catch up with the sacrifice, you will give them a lot of money. If you complete the sacrifice, you will give them less money. Therefore, many local people who can play a little will drive this place to other villages to make money and earn a lot of money. Every family regards "buzzer" as an honor and doesn't care about spending money.

Breakfast on New Year's Day is usually rich before the sun rises, and New Year's Eve is not celebrated locally. So "New Year's Eve" generally refers to breakfast or lunch. Most people want to cook jiaozi to eat, and some people want to drink "longevity noodles" (5). After dinner, the main thing is to pay New Year greetings, which is another main content of Spring Festival activities.

Rural people called New Year greetings "kowtowing", and the old society really knelt down. When kowtowing, face the kitchen god, kowtow and shout the names of elders, such as "grandpa, uncle" and so on. The elders should give kowtow money (lucky money) or candy, walnuts and the like. Kowtowing is not popular now, but there are still some New Year greetings. Go to the elder's house and say hello. Children wearing new clothes are always thinking about how much lucky money they have earned, which is another reason why they look forward to the New Year.

In the past, after the New Year, we were going to "worship the clouds". The so-called "cloud" is a big family tree of Zhang. On the first day of the lunar new year, the name of the boy born in the old year is added to the designated place to take the meaning of Kading's import. Families that don't increase their population often go to sacrifice, where there are their ancestors, and some families go to visit graves to worship their ancestors on New Year's Day.

From the first day to the third day of the Lunar New Year, there is delicious food every morning. On the first night of the first day, the fire will be rekindled and the god of wealth will be picked up on the first day of the next year.

You can get up later the next morning. After the fire is lit, you should mainly meet the god of wealth, commonly known as the "Ming God of Wealth", and you should also seriously worship sacrifices, similar to the Chinese New Year. After breakfast, people visit relatives in most cities and bring many gifts. At this time, children can get a lot of lucky money From the second day to the fourth day, all kinds of vehicles come and go on the road between villages, all to visit relatives.

2. Send the poor festival

On the fifth day of the first lunar month, it is called the Festival of Sending the Poor, which means to drive away poverty and pain far away. Commonly known as "breaking five" in the local area. Breaking is breaking, and breaking the fifth day is the day of the fifth day. It is said that brooms are not moved in the backyard during the Spring Festival. It was not until the fifth day that the bustling shelves were removed, the yard was cleaned and the room was cleaned. The locals also pay attention to not washing the pot on the fifth day of the fifth day, and they can't eat every meal. Therefore, there is a saying that "lazy women look forward to the first month", and of course it is not just that. On this day, some places are still used to burning incense in Wudao Temple. "Breaking the Fifth Day" in the first month is also a small festival, and it is generally not out of the village to burn incense and paper.

3, stone inspection part

The tenth day of the first lunar month is the Stone Appreciation Festival. People call this day the day when mice marry their wives. On the Stone Festival, people are forbidden to carry stone tools, unlike stones. After putting couplets on the stone mill, stone mill, stone cone and mortar on New Year's Eve, it is forbidden to use stone sacrifices before. After the Stone Festival, it is no longer forbidden.

On the tenth day of the first month, people are used to eating oat noodles or sorghum noodles, that is, kneading noodles with their hands on the chopping board. At night, people should light lamps, burn incense and burn paper to congratulate the mice in the corner, corner and water urn, but in some places, they should avoid lighting and talking at night, so as not to disturb the mice's marriage and endanger the whole year. Children who are not sensible often believe it and don't sleep. They want donkey dung balls in their mouths, sheep dung balls in their ears and chicken dung pieces on their eyelids. When the sky is full of stars, they crouch in the "eye-grinding hole", listening to the sound of mice beating gongs and drums to marry their wives, and watching the warm scene of mice marrying their wives. Of course, children nowadays can't do such a thing, so they can only sleep.

4. Lantern Festival

The fifteenth day of the first lunar month is usually called the Lantern Festival. It is the biggest collective entertainment festival in China during the Spring Festival, and foreigners regard it as the "carnival" in China.

Lantern Festival originated from China ancestors' worship of fire. On the fifteenth day of the first month, we played Lantern Festival, Yangko and Shehuo, and everyone had a good time together. The reason is related to the harvest celebration in ancient times. "Dingxiang County Records" records: "During the Lantern Festival, lights are lit in the countryside, and the city is full of colorful lights, mountains and seas, yangko, social fire, boat running, dragon dancing and other entertainment and noisy streets and lanes. Friends and relatives have already traveled, and all the illnesses will be removed after fifteen days. "

Today's Lantern Festival is more colorful. Watching lanterns is still an important activity of the Lantern Festival, and the city's lantern show is very colorful. Every household hangs lanterns during the Lantern Festival in the countryside. Women are used to making lanterns with embroidery, steaming them, lighting them with oil, and putting them in places such as land gods and door gods, hoping to get a new wife. They pay attention to stealing lights on the fifteenth night of the first month, commonly known as "end lights". It is said that there will be children if you steal the burning lamp back.

On the fifteenth day of the first month, the rural yangko team should concentrate on the county seat or important market town to perform. Yangko social fire team, mostly in the form of dragon lanterns, lions, stilts, scratching pavilions, dry boats, big-headed dolls, flapping yangko, phoenix yangko and so on. Now folk song and dance classes, small troupes, waist and drum teams and prestige gongs and drums teams are also very popular.

During the Lantern Festival, county towns and other places are used to setting off fireworks. Whether in towns or villages, streets and alleys should be decorated with archways to create a prosperous future. Shooting at night, watching lanterns, offering sacrifices to athel loren during the day, and showing movies to celebrate. People put steamed spaghetti on the fire and bake it in turn. They can't eat it until it is roasted by fire for 9 times. It is said that eating it can last for a long time. As the saying goes, "After eating a baked bun, God will help you for a year." Lantern Festival is celebrated for three days on the first day of Lantern Festival. There are lanterns, fire, shooting and entertainment every day. Young people are even more reluctant to go home early, waiting for the booming fire to go out quickly. It is said that the fourteenth day of the first month is to celebrate "peace in the world"; Celebrate "population security"; Sixteen years old is a "bumper harvest".

In the Lantern Festival, in the old society, people ate more cakes, which became higher and higher. Nowadays, we eat more Yuanxiao, also known as "Tangyuan" and "jiaozi", which originated in the south. Because it was the seasonal food of the Lantern Festival, it was later called Yuanxiao.