Lantern Festival on the twentieth day of the first lunar month at Xifeng in Qingyang

All Chinese celebrate the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, but Xifeng, located in the hinterland of the Loess Plateau, has always had a folk custom of celebrating the Lantern Festival. Why do people in Xifeng want to make a fuss about twenty? There are generally three theories about its origin:

One is the theory of mending the sky. On this day, farm women will bake several pancakes before dawn and place them in front of the Zao Lord's memorial tablet, on the ground and in the center of the yard, which means to mend the sky and cover the earth. Wang Jia of the Eastern Jin Dynasty recorded in "Shi Yi Ji": The 20th day of the first lunar month was the day of the sky. Pancakes were tied with red threads to place pancakes on the house and floor, which was called mending the sky. According to legend, Nuwa used this day to mend the sky.

The second is about temple fairs. The reason is that the twentieth day of the first lunar month is the birthday of Zhao Gongming, the God of Wealth. A few years ago, there was a God of Wealth Temple in Xifeng, which was very popular. People gathered in the temple on this day to burn incense, watch plays, read local stories, walk on stilts, shadow puppets, perform juggling, etc. during the day. People watched lanterns and plays at night, which was very lively. Later, the temple was destroyed, and although there was no idol to respect, people still deliberately passed down the custom of playing social fire to this day.

Three days of war. During the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, ethnic wars occurred, commonly known as the Huamen Rebellion. Dong Zhiyuan suffered numerous casualties. In order to avoid the disaster of the war, people had to leave their homes and flee for their lives, leaving only nine rooms empty. After the war subsided, people who returned home had missed the Lantern Festival that year, so the twentieth day of the first lunar month was used as a compensatory event and it has been passed down to this day. Use the time from the eleventh to the fourteenth day of the first lunar month. On the evening of the 15th day of the first lunar month, the performers dress up and go to temples (halls, courtyards, halls) and other places with gods to perform entertainment. The purpose is to pray for the gods to bless disasters and avoid disasters in the coming year. A good harvest and a healthy life are one of them. On the other hand, the reason is to invite the gods here, which means to let the gods attach themselves to one's body, because many of the characters in the Shehuo performance are gods or immortals in Taoist stories. If mortals want to act out the stories of the gods, they must You have to ask a spirit to possess you. After leaving the temple, performances are usually given to wealthy merchants and gentry first, with the wealthy merchants handing out money and the wealthy gentry taking care of the food. There are also villagers who invite people to perform in houses to build houses and move into new homes, which is called the Nian Yuan. However, performances at this time are only available in the evening. On the 19th day of the first lunar month, the performance is switched to daytime, which is called Liangshehuo. On the 20th, various social groups officially took to the streets for exhibitions and competitions, making this the most interesting day in Xifeng’s Spring Festival culture.

In recent years, the twentieth day of the first lunar month has become even more lively. On this day, the city's four township communities gathered in the market area. Floats, model teams, and yangko teams from all units, enterprises, schools and counties in the city came to Xifeng to perform. They walked and performed while marching through the streets. The lineup was huge and unprecedented. , with an audience of over 100,000. In the evening, various cultural and entertainment activities such as street stalls, fire lantern shows, opera and movies are held all over the market lanes. Therefore, the twentieth day of the first lunar month at Xifeng has become a beautiful scenery for Qingyang Spring Festival cultural activities.