Cultural activities in Wuchuan Years

In addition to the festive activities seen in "Looking at Nian Li", Wuchuan's "Eating Nian Li" (treating relatives and friends to a Nian Li banquet) is even more famous far and near.

When Wuchuan people make annual rituals, they often do it in a whole village. People in the surrounding villages are not allowed to watch and add to the fun. Every household holds a banquet to entertain relatives and friends, so "making annual rituals" is also called "Eat Nianli". In the 1960s and 1970s, the annual regulations were once regarded as the "Four Olds" and were temporarily discontinued, but the "eating" content of the annual regulations was still retained.

The annual banquet is the highlight of the annual banquet in Wuchuan. The Wuchuan people who value face and love pay special attention to the "performance" of the annual banquet. They are willing to make money throughout the year and spend it every year, even if they are short of money. It is common for those foremen, bosses, and wealthy families to spend tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of yuan to set up dozens or dozens of banquets to entertain one or two hundred people, and feast on delicacies from all over the world. The purpose of doing Nianli is to attract more relatives and friends to come and join in the fun. The more people who come to eat Nianli, the more beautiful cars parked at the door, and the more respect they have. To eat the New Year's Rules, you only need to pass on a message, no invitations are needed, and guests do not need to give gifts. Some wealthy people even send "red envelopes" to relatives and friends who eat the New Year's Rules. If you have something to eat, something to watch, and money to send, why not make a calendar? Therefore, many people will come every time, uninvited, and even invite friends and companions to join in the fun of the host. The host spends money to gain popularity. As long as there are many people and it's lively, he feels decent. He doesn't care who you are and whether you recognize him or not. As a result, many people made a joke about "I don't know who to invite after eating Nianli".

Wuchuan people are hospitable and generous. They are famous in western Guangdong for their sumptuous festive banquets. The annual banquets are also the same. Each banquet has one to twenty dishes, in addition to the traditional fried chicken and fish balls. , waist rolls, eight-treasure rice, five-spice braised pork and other dishes, cashew nuts, precious mushrooms, ginkgo candy, prawns, freshwater fish, sea cucumbers, scallops, white pomfret, abalone, shark's fin soup are also common dishes in the year, and some There are also steamed lobsters, original cups of snow clams, several hundred yuan a bottle of famous wines such as Moutai and Wuliangye, as well as foreign wines such as Hennessy and XO. What’s more, there is also a cup of Cordyceps sinensis stew per person! It is common for each banquet to cost one or two thousand yuan. The annual banquets in Wuchuan are astonishingly high-end and sumptuous, and are unique in western Guangdong. Some wealthy families in Wuchuan even invite chefs and complete sets of tableware from large hotels to host a buffet at their own homes during the New Year feast for relatives and friends. A full range of Chinese delicacies (including shark's fin soup) and Western pastries are provided. Eat as you like, "eat as much as you want", taking the annual banquet to a new level. The Lantern Festival is the most concentrated and lively time of year in Wuchuan. The large-scale and lively celebration of the Lantern Festival and annual activities in Meiyan, an urban area, have long been famous in western Guangdong. Every year from the 14th to the 18th day of the first lunar month, the Lantern Festival is an annual festival in Meihang and surrounding places such as Wayao, Gehai, Getang, Meiling, and Meihangtou. Every time during this season, these communities and villages will make clay sculptures, build flower bridges, archways, flower pagodas, and make floating colors. They will be viewed by people starting from the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month, and they will also organize several festivals on the 16th and 17th day of the first lunar month. Thousands of honor guards, float teams, and folk art teams carry out a grand parade around the city, attracting hundreds of thousands of people from all over the country to watch every year, forming the brand of Wuchuan's Lantern Festival celebrations and the unique Wuchuan that is well-known both inside and outside the province. Nianli culture has created the golden sign of "the hometown of Chinese folk culture and art".

Wuchuan Urban Area - Wuchuan Lantern Festival and Meihang Town are famous for their folk art. The Guangdong Provincial People's Government awarded Wuchuan City the title of "Hometown of Folk Art" in Meihang Town. The "Four Wonders" of folk art in Meijing Town are: floating colors, clay sculptures, flower bridges, and flower towers, which have attracted countless tourists from home and abroad over the years. The origins of the "Four Wonders" are closely related to the "Nianli" of Meijun Town, because in the "Nianli", various traditional Han arts must do their best to perform for the gods. The "Nianli" of Meijun Town is the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth day of the first lunar month. Therefore, Meijun Town has developed the "Four Uniques" of Wuchuan folk art from the historical origins of worshiping gods in the "Nianli". The Bodhisattva comes out of the temple and tours various villages in the "social environment". Each village is not allowed to have one or several places to "place cups". This is the highlight of the "annual ceremony".

Several square tables are placed on each "cup setting place". The villagers pick the best fruits and cakes from their homes, put them in basins, and place them on the square tables for the Bodhisattvas to "enjoy". In the old days, there were still Taoist priests throwing "cup jiao" (cutting a wooden log in half into two pieces and throwing it on the ground when asking for help. The two slices facing up are called yang jiao, and the two slices facing down are called yin jiao. One up and one down is the holy comparison).

There were fireworks and a lion dance performance at the ceremony. At noon on the day of the annual ceremony, the wandering gods and "Jiao" are also held. The form of "setting up a Jiao" is the same as "setting up a cup", but the difference is that the offerings are changed from fruits, cakes, and sugar to "three animals" (chicken, pork, and fish). In Meilutou Village in Wuchuan, every year on the 18th day of the first lunar month and the fifth day of the third lunar month, there is a Pixiu dance performance.

This custom comes from an ancient legend. It is said that a long time ago, people here lived a peaceful and peaceful life. One day a ferocious beast Pixiu suddenly appeared. It is said that Pixiu looks like a lion, but is more ferocious than a lion. It eats birds and beasts when it sees it, and bites people when it sees it, which makes people talk about "Pixiu" in disgrace. One day, a woodcutter went to the mountain to chop wood, and was overtaken and eaten by Pixiu. This happened to be encountered by Tu Tu Gong. He desperately stepped forward to save him, but unfortunately his skills were not enough, and Tu Tu Gong was defeated within a few rounds. Later, he reported Pixiu's evil deeds to Emperor Xuantian of the Arctic (Northern Emperor), and the Northern Emperor sent a boy Ziwei holding a golden seal to fight against Pixiu. Although Ziwei boy has strong martial arts skills and boundless magic power, he is no match for Pixiu. After dozens of rounds, he gradually loses ground. In desperation, he made a plan to fake failure and let Pixiu eat him. Ziwei boy, who was in Pixiu's belly, kicked and beat him desperately, causing Pixiu to roll on the floor in pain. Pixiu had no choice but to beg for his life and was willing to surrender. Ziwei took it as a mount. Since then, peace has returned to the mountains and forests. Ziwei surrendered to Pixiu. This day happened to be the fifth day of the third month of the lunar calendar. In order to thank Beidi for sending Ziwei boys to eliminate harm to the people and facilitate work, the local people designated this day as Beidi's birthday. The process of Ziwei subduing Pixiu was also choreographed into a dance. Every year on the 18th day of the first lunar month and the 5th day of the third lunar month (the birthday of the Northern Emperor), a dance is performed to commemorate it. The Nianli of Wuchuan people have strong cultural taste. In addition to lion dances, Pixiu dances, and floating color parades, folk songs, puppet shows, and dramas are also performed.

In the old days, some villages invited people to sing folk songs. Wuchuan folk songs are composed of seven-character quatrains, rhymed, and the language is popular and simple. When singing, set up a singing platform and invite three people to sing, a singer and a singer (women are called girls or singing girls. Before liberation, they were played by lepers, and in the early days of liberation, they were mostly blind girls). At the beginning of the song concert, the singer and the singer came to the singing stage, first sang a song to celebrate the gods, and then they sang in duet. The songs sung are roughly divided into lovesickness songs, ancient people's songs, word songs, object songs, spinning stories, Luonan stories (referring to going to Southeast Asia to make a living), etc. After singing, sing duet with "Ge Nu" (Ge Nu is a person among the crowd who likes to sing and is very talented. The singer and Ge Nui sing in duet, which is the climax of the singing party). When the author was a child (in the late 1960s), a folk song festival was held in Nianli, my hometown, and I still remember it freshly. Unfortunately, the folk song festival has also disappeared in Wuchuan.

Puppet shows were also performed in some villages in Wuchuan years. People in Wuchuan call puppet shows "Gui Zai Xi" and "Gui Er Xi". There are three types of puppet shows in Wuchuan: one is a single puppet, popular in Changqi, Qianshui, and Lanshi areas; the other is a small group of puppets, which is popular in towns in the southwest of Wuchuan, singing Wuchuan mountain songs; and the other is a large group of puppets. Puppet, also known as Cantonese opera puppet, sings Cantonese opera tune. Some large classes have puppet performances at matinees and actors at night, so they are also called yin-yang classes. Small-class puppets and large-class puppets have basically disappeared, and there are still a small number of single-person puppet classes, and the actors are mostly veteran artists in their sixties or seventies.

Play a big show. Wu Chuanliu is known as Cantonese Opera as "big opera". Theater has a broad mass base in Wuchuan. In the 1960s and 1970s, almost every village had a theater troupe. After the reform and opening up, every year, almost every village puts on a big show. At the end of every year, the government organizes a Cantonese opera spring troupe booking meeting, and performance agents from Guangdong and Guangdong Cantonese opera troupes fill the venue. In some wealthy villages, the provincial Cantonese opera troupe, which costs nearly 100,000 yuan per performance, can perform for ten nights in a row; some villages invite two Cantonese opera troupes to "double stage" at the same time to perform for several nights in a row.

Although Wuchuan's ancient annual activities have a strong superstitious color, its positive significance cannot be ignored. It not only connects family and friendship, adds a festive atmosphere, and promotes traditional local culture. It also stimulates the growth of exaggerated consumption and promotes economic development.