What are the traditional customs of Chaoshan Lantern Festival?

1. Hang festive lanterns (lighting lanterns)

In Chaozhou dialect, "Deng" and "Ding" are homophonic, and lighting a lamp means Gading. Lights and chandeliers are on at the door of every household in Chaoshan at midnight snack. People will also carry lanterns and paper money and silver incense to the temples in the countryside to pick up the fire, and come back to hang them in shrines and bedside at home, which is called "hanging happy lanterns".

Appreciate the lights

The midnight snack is a full moon night. If the weather is clear and the bright moon is in the sky, the full moon is printed on the lanterns of hipsters, which is pleasing to the eye. In towns, counties and cities, light sheds are set up to hold light shows, and large lanterns and lanterns are hung in temples and ancestral halls in rural areas. Children carry small lanterns bought or made by themselves and cross the streets in droves to "camp and play lanterns", which is very festive. From the eleventh day of the lunar calendar, it is called "raising lanterns" (that is, "raising lanterns"). In those days, families with boys would go to the ancestral temple in the village to hang lanterns, which was regarded as a ceremony for newborn boys to join the clan. Every night, they hold their children to the ancestral temple to light lamps and receive congratulations from the villagers until 18.

Edible diced tea

In the past, families with men had to prepare refreshments and invite relatives to eat and drink. This is the so-called "drinking tea with a lamp". As long as you are in a good mood that night, even if you are not invited, you will be warmly received by your host.

Make a dining table

In rural areas, families of boys born the year before will hold a banquet in the ancestral hall to celebrate Ding, commonly known as Ding Table. There are two types of banquets. One is to put many square tables together to form a dragon boat and invite friends and relatives to have dinner, which is called "dragon boat banquet"; Second, both villagers and passers-by can come in and eat. After eating, they left. The next batch of guests will come up for dinner one after another, and the host will continue to serve food. This is called "riding the horse seat". Oh, I've heard of "wedding banquets" in other places.

sway

Swing, commonly known as "autumn climbing". Spring comes early because of the tide, unlike the Central Plains, which is not suitable for swinging until Qingming. On that day, some villages organized swing competitions or performances, and many villagers spontaneously tied up swings to play, and some even evolved strange customs. For example, in Taoshan Township, Jieyang City, men, women and children can swing in the first month, but on the Lantern Festival, men are forbidden to board the swing shed. In some villages in Chaozhou, there are swings under banyan trees at midnight snack, and villagers throw dung at young couples in order to have a boy that year.

6. Solve the riddle on the lantern

In the past, the solve riddles on the lanterns game in Chaoshan was only held at midnight snack, that is, a piece of paper with riddles was pasted on the lanterns for the lantern viewers to guess. With more and more literate people and the popularization of riddle knowledge, guessing activities are popular in various festivals, but the Lantern Festival is the most grand and lively, and hanging riddles has become a riddle quiz. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, lantern riddles became more popular in Chaoshan, among which Chenghai was awarded "the hometown of China folk art (lantern riddles)" by the Ministry of Culture.

7. Fighting Club Song

She songs are actually beautiful tea-picking songs introduced by She people. That night, the boys with fine features selected from the village dressed up as tea pickers, lined up, carrying flower baskets, singing and dancing, and performing the dance steps of tea pickers, all following the dance steps of the first two leaders, which were euphemistic and moving.

8. Quasi-Valentine's Day

In feudal society, unmarried women were locked in boudoir and were not allowed to go out freely. Only on major festivals can you travel together, so the Lantern Festival is often an opportunity for unmarried men and women to meet or lovers to meet. The Chao Opera "Chen San Wu Niang" tells the story of young men and women falling in love at first sight during the Lantern Festival.

9. Seek happiness

On that day, many villages set up altars to worship gods, and chickens, geese, ducks, sweets, candles and good luck on the altars were regarded as sacred objects. "Seeking a happy event" means praying for sacrifice after worshipping God. Men and women who visit the Yasukuni Shrine can bid for offerings to go home. These sacred objects can make their homes safe and increase their wealth. Those who bid for the sacred objects will give back the sacred objects according to the number of items promised in the next year's auction. Another person, taking advantage of the crowded opportunity, stole an altar offering and went home to eat it, saying that it was "prosperous."

10. To the Sugar Lion

In many villages in Chaoshan, Yuanxiao worships God, offering sugar lions to God and praying for good luck in the new year. People pour sugar syrup into the mold carved into the shape of a lion, and after casting, add color patterns to make a crystal-clear and beautiful sugar lion. Sugar lions are paired when they worship, and they can be eaten after they worship. There is also the custom of bidding for sugar lions. The winners of next year's Lantern Festival will be returned in full according to the size and specifications promised during the bidding. This is the so-called "sugar lion".

1 1. Throw a happy child.

In the Tenth Five-Year Plan, some towns and villages set up colorful sheds in ancestral halls and open spaces in the streets and lanes, and there was a huge clay sculpture of Maitreya Buddha with bare breasts in the shed. On its head, shoulders, navel and thighs, "clay children" appeared in different shapes, and people standing about 4 meters away were thrown copper coins. The person who hits it can take the "happy child" and hit it. It is said that winning the prize is a good sign. You can have a baby and get rich early.

12. fragrance delivery ship

Sending incense boats is sending athel loren. The ceremony in Chaoshan is the same as that in other parts of the country. This is the custom of "paper boats burning candles". "Fragrant boats" are made of bamboo paper paste, some are directly tied into boat shapes, and some are made into puffer fish with big mouths and sharp teeth. On that day, the villagers also seriously invited relatives and friends from other places to send incense boats, which was very lively.

13. banyan tree

In the previous Lantern Festival, several mascots were inserted on the lintel of Chaoshan people, such as banyan leaves, bamboo poles, pen carts and Du pens. It means "inserting banyan trees to strengthen dragons", "inserting bamboo poles to fatten chickens", "inserting cowpens to feed big pigs" and "inserting Dolby granaries to overlap". In some places, women put banyan leaves on their heads, while children put banyan leaves in their ears for good luck.

14. Hangguo Bridge

On the Lantern Festival, some places in Chaoshan have the custom of crossing the bridge. For example, in Jieyang, all the bridges in Rongcheng are decorated with colored lights and flags. Men, women and children are scrambling to cross the bridge to pray, and the Stone Monkey Bridge on Tong Jie Street is the most lively bridge. People were lucky enough to touch the stone lion at the bridge. In Hongyang, Puning, the Taiping Bridge with a history of more than 400 years is the "head bridge", and there are two stone lions at the bridge head, which is said to be a child's "plastic lion nose, writing elegant characters"; The young man "touched the lion's stomach and married an elegant wife"; A woman "touches a lion's ear and gives birth to a son." Also, don't look back when crossing the bridge, or it will be unlucky.

15. The Temple of Roots

In the past, village regulations and folk conventions in some places required brides who got married that year to go to the ancestral temple to see the lights, which was called "Brides leaving the ancestral temple". After the brides go to the ancestral hall to burn incense and pray, they have to walk around the hall for a week, watch the lanterns screen by screen, and then watch the "foreplay" in front of the ancestral hall. This is not only a blessing, but also for the villagers to watch and know. This custom is rare.

16. Sitting on a big plate

At midnight snack, unmarried girls in some places will take concubines to other people's gardens quietly and then sit shyly on mustard. This folk custom of "sitting on a big plate tomorrow and choosing a good husband" is gone now.

17. Holding a big pig

The old custom of "holding a big pig for fifteen nights" refers to housewives in Chenghai, Jieyang, Puning and Chaoyang. In the evening, they have to carry a large clod commonly known as "Tian Tu Huan" in the field, and in some places, they have to carry stones on their backs, quietly put the clod in front of the pigsty (circle), paste it with golden flowers and red silk, and worship it devoutly.

18. Shen Ying

During the Lantern Festival in Chaoshan, there are many activities to visit the gods, that is, the journey of carrying the gods, commonly known as "the camp owner". Most of the dates are between the 12th and 18th of the first month. During the fugue period, there were a sea of people, mostly gongs and drums, and the tide was melodious. Some are held at night, and the fire is bright and fragrant all over the world. There are two kinds of "camp owners": "Wen camp" and "Wu camp". "It is to invite idols to sedan chairs, cruise around the community and then return to the community. In fact, "Wuying" means "Walking the Master", and "Walking" in Chaoshan dialect means "Running". "Go, Master" means to put the idol in a sedan chair and tie it tightly, with several people carrying it or being tied behind their backs by able-bodied men.

19. Baisha Championship

Tournaments are meetings where many worshippers gather to compete and observe before God. Some districts and counties in Shantou will hold pig races, goose races and duck races.

There are activities such as calligraphy and painting, antiques, bonsai and agricultural products array in Hongyang, Kunshan and Jiexi Mianhu in Puning. Puning Hongyang Society Day is the 18th day of the first month. On this day, all the married daughters go back to their parents' homes to watch the fun, so they are called "going to the society". Jiexi Mianhu is called putting antiques and scenery.

Jiedong New Hennessy is sweet, and some towns have the custom of going to Huang Qishan.

20. Characteristic customs

For example, there are different square animal dances in different places, such as lion dance, dragon dance, dragon dance, lobster dance, goose-biting dance, unicorn parrot fish dance and so on. There are gongs and drums, flags and flower baskets. Dongxi Village, Zhanlong Town, Puning City, has a Lantern Festival pier jumping activity. The atmosphere is warm, very ornamental and shocking.

For example, brides in Puning Hakka area will go to the bamboo forest next to the village to shake bamboo and say, "Don't worry about not shaking the bamboo head;" Shake the bamboo tail and raise a turtle at the end of the year. "There will be picking bamboo leaves and sticking them in your head, and so on.

Lantern Festival, also known as Shangyuan Festival, is a very important traditional festival. On this day in Chaoshan, there are various folk activities with Chaoshan characteristics. This is because Taoism believes in the three official gods (heavenly officials, local officials and human officials), and takes the fifteenth day of the first month as the celestial official season, which is called Shangyuan Festival, hoping that heavenly officials will bless the people. Most activities of Chaoshan Lantern Festival include hanging lanterns, swimming lanterns, lion dancing, solve riddles on the lanterns, eating soup and medicine, etc. Its main content is lanterns, so it is also called Lantern Festival. It has the strongest entertainment color, so it is called the Lantern Festival. [1] Lantern Festival, with its unique artistic atmosphere, pours the simple feelings of working people and radiates the unique brilliance of modern folk art..

References:

Baidu Encyclopedia-Chaoshan Lantern Festival