Worship at the end of Chaoshan

Worship ends in Chaoshan, and Chaoshan people have two kinds of ritual feelings in their lives. The first is drinking tea. Chaoshan people are simply uncomfortable without tea for a day. The other is to worship God, which is also the belief of people in Chaoshan area.

Worship at the end of Chaoshan 1 Chaoshan is notoriously grand, and the end of the year is the peak season for worship. At this time, every household, old and young, should be busy, and the old heat is comparable to the Spring Festival.

Sacrifice at the end of the year was originally a custom of northern ancestors, which existed in the pre-Qin period. At the end of each year, after the crops are harvested and scraped, it is a ceremony to thank God for his gift. The ancestors of Chaoshan people migrated from the Central Plains after the Jin Dynasty to avoid the war in the north. Because of their remoteness, they are less influenced by foreign cultures. Therefore, many customs have been passed down from generation to generation, and worshipping God has become the most solemn, important and indispensable activity for every family in Chaoshan.

Do a lot of cleaning work before worshipping God, and wash everything at home. Men need a haircut and a shave, and those who go out should come back as soon as possible. Moreover, there are many taboos. For example, worshipping God must not be ambiguous with weddings, funerals and weddings, women should avoid coming to their official holidays, family members should be beaming, and they should never say disrespectful words to God, and debt collectors should avoid making noise. The deities worshipped are: Jade Emperor, Tian Xuan God, Chen Nan Beidou, Sanshan King, Shuangzhong Wang Sheng, the gods, Master Fude, the Pearl Empress, and the unique "grandfathers" and "uncles" in various towns and villages. There are about twenty to forty or fifty people. Worship of God can be divided into two categories: general "worship of God at the end of the year" (commonly known as "worship of God") and "worship of God".

Generally, there are two kinds of year-end offerings for poor families: pork, chicken (Bai Yudi is a rooster, but not limited to others), ducks, fish (generally mullet or pomfret), oranges, needle vegetables, fragrant shavings, fungus, fried peanuts, three cups of tea, three cups of wine, two sugar towers, four bowls of ginger and potatoes, and so on. Products include Mi Yang with a diameter of more than 60 cm, big bread with a diameter of more than 60 cm, medium bread, small bread, red peach, "dough head" and so on. All kinds of auspicious paper-cuts with corresponding patterns should be pasted on the food. The types of mounting include: large and small coins, coins, ingots, gold bars, stickers, incense, candles and so on.

A god provides food and paste sacrifices. Prominent gods, such as Jade Emperor God (called "God" in Shantou Ren Chao), include chicken, duck, pork, fish, sugar tower, tea, wine, needle vegetables, fragrant shavings, fungus and the biggest piece of food. The pasting sacrifice includes: four pairs of big money (about 90CM×40CM), which are written with affection, peace, seeking wealth, blessing and so on. , three pairs of bills, each about half a catty, a big ingot, a paste, three incense sticks, a pair of big candles (should be more than half a catty), one hundred and twenty gold coins, a string of firecrackers, etc. Generally speaking, this deity eats less fish, one piece of meat, one piece of paste, three sticks of incense, one pair of candles, four pairs of sticks (the content is the same as that of big sticks), three pairs of small coins, one ingot of ingots and thirty-six gold coins. When you worship God, you should also put on a Chaozhou opera record, the content of which is the "Loutai Club" in the Chaozhou opera "The Story of Colorful Buildings". A slightly richer family also needs people to compete for food, and the competition for food is based on the "shed". At least four "sheds" and a dozen to dozens of "sheds" are needed. Just a fight costs 1000 to several thousand yuan.

Before worshipping God, everyone should bathe and change clothes, and women should wear tunics. The head of the family lights candles, presents three incense sticks first, and then the women begin to worship. I saw the worshippers holding incense in their hands and muttering to themselves. The content of reading is to report the course of the past year to God, pray to God, make a wish, and make a wish when worshipping God in the new year. I saw that I kept reading as soon as I knelt down, but I didn't stand up for half an hour, and some even fainted when I stood up. While worshipping, others are also burning and offering sacrifices. After worshipping a person, they burn a paste and load a sacrifice. It takes more than two hours just to burn and load a sacrifice. I wonder if the gods have the heart to listen to the long prayers of good men and women. Maybe the fairy was listening and unconsciously fell into the depths of the dream? After worshipping God, the offerings should be distributed to relatives, friends and neighbors, and each household should give one.

So at the end of the year, it will cost a lot of money and be busy for many days. It costs at least seven or eight hundred yuan to buy a pasting sacrifice. It takes thousands to two thousand for poor families to worship God, and at least thousands to tens of thousands for rich families. Families with low incomes will spend their income in recent months by worshipping God at the end of the year.

There are countless products such as whole pigs, whole sheep, chickens, geese, ducks, fish, etc., and there are also many kinds of paste sacrifices, such as a robe as high as a house and a hat more than one meter long. , and the light framed sacrifice will cost 10 thousand to tens of thousands of yuan. It is also necessary to wrap incense in the temple to ask the gods, and hundreds of people (all men) should bring incense with them. Give everyone in the entourage a gift, at least an umbrella and a towel, and the most important thing is a high-end suit and a pair of high-end leather shoes. We should also invite people to build a theater shed and invite the Chaozhou Opera Troupe to perform. After worshipping the Great God, we should send a big gift package to everyone who participates in the invitation to God.

After Chaoshan, I went on a business trip to the south to worship God on weekends and went back to my hometown in Chaoyang to worship God.

In my impression, I have worked in Beijing for more than 30 years only two or three times and participated in worship. The custom of worshipping gods in Chaoshan three cities has lasted for thousands of years, among which Chaoyang, Chaonan and Dachao are notoriously grand. By the end of the worship season, all families, old and young, should be busy, and the excitement is comparable to that of the Spring Festival. How many people know the ins and outs of such a grand sacrificial culture?

The origin of worship

Worship at the end of the year was originally a custom of northern ancestors, which was first seen in the pre-Qin period. At the end of each year, after the harvest, it is a ceremony to thank God for his gift. The ancestors of Chaoyang migrated from the Central Plains after the Jin Dynasty to avoid the war in the north. Because of their remoteness, they are less influenced by foreign cultures. Therefore, many customs have been passed down from generation to generation, and worshipping God has become the most solemn, important and indispensable activity for every family in Chaoshan.

Sacrifice at the end of the year was originally the custom of northern ancestors in the pre-Qin period. At the end of each year, after the harvest, people thank God for his gift. The ancestors of Chaoshan people migrated from the Central Plains in the late Jin Dynasty to avoid the war in the north. Because of its remote location and little external influence, many customs brought by ancestors have been passed down from generation to generation.

The worship of God in the north has long faded, and the worship of God and gratitude to God have become the most solemn, important and indispensable activities for every family in Chaoshan at the end of the year. Chaoshan people worship the gods, first of all, inheriting the worship and memory of ancestors and roots by the descendants of the Yellow Emperor. The gods worshipped by Chaoshan people are basically people, with names and stories. They are national heroes who have devoted their efforts and even their lives to the inheritance and development of the descendants of the Yellow Emperor in their lifetime. It is one of the quintessence of China literature that Chaoshan people pay homage to the sages' merits from generation to generation, and now it embodies a spiritual sustenance of praying for blessings.

Worship god's instructions

First of all, choose an auspicious day of the zodiac that is consistent with the whole family. Some families are accurate about auspicious times. Before worshiping God, we should do a lot of cleaning work, wash the dishes inside and outside the house and worship God, men should have their hair cut and shaved, and those who go out should come back as soon as possible.

If you worship God, you must not have an affair with red and white things;

Women should avoid menstruation;

Family members should be happy and never say anything disrespectful to God.

Debt collectors should also avoid it, and there should be no noise.

Holy name

Jade Emperor, God, Beidou, Sanshanwang, Shuangzhong (Zhang Xun and Xu Yuan in Tang Dynasty), Mazu (Song Dynasty), Wang Hai (middle), Wen Caishen (east), Guan Yu (west), (south), Zhao Gongming (north), immortal, Lord Ford,

Classification of worship

Worship of God can be divided into two categories: general year-end worship of God (commonly known as "worship of God") and "worship of God". Worship of God is more grand. A few days in advance, women have to do a lot of work and prepare two kinds of offerings, called offerings. There are three kinds of food: pork, fish (usually mullet or grass carp), chicken (the jade emperor must worship rooster, and others are not limited to worship), plus lobster and sheep, which are collectively called five animals; Five kinds of fruits such as citrus; More than six kinds of vegetarian dishes, such as needle vegetables, mushrooms, fungus, fried peanuts, yuba and dried bean curd. White sugar tower, ginger and potato sweet soup; Fried sweet potato Lua and oil cake; All kinds of rice flour products.

Paper-cuts with auspicious patterns are pasted on the food. There are also cigarettes, tea, wine and flowers. The offerings of paper paste are: big money (about 90cm×40cm), which reads Weijia Qian, money for peace, money for wealth, money for blessing and so on. Big money pairs, big ingots, red stickers, incense, candles, small money (the same as big money), small money pairs, ingots, gold companies and so on.

Of course, the specific varieties and quantities of the two types of sacrifices are different in Chaoshan and every household. What is even more amazing is that the huge market demand has now spawned a long and considerable industrial chain and created a large number of jobs.

When you worship God, you should also put on a Chaozhou opera record, the content of which is the "Loutai Club" in the Chaozhou opera "The Story of Colorful Buildings". Rich people also want to invite the troupe to perform Chaozhou opera and invite Shen Han to play tricks. Acting and fighting skills are based on "sheds", and at least four "sheds" are needed, ranging from a dozen to dozens.

Worship etiquette

Before worshipping God, all family members should take a bath and change clothes. On this day, a table or a dozen tables of Eight Immortals will be carried out, and curtains of Eight Immortals with auspicious and exquisite patterns will be tied on the table of Eight Immortals. When the auspicious moment comes, the head of the family will light candles and incense. Then, the hostess made a grand appearance, bowing down, holding three incense sticks and red stickers, muttering something, and reporting the wishes made on the first or ninth day of the first month of that year, the changes at home in the past year, and today's wishes. I don't think she can stand up for half an hour. Then burn incense and bow down in turn according to the age of men and women. Relatives and friends who come to congratulate will also be invited to offer pilgrimages. The gods listened patiently to the prayers of good men and women for hours.

After worshipping God, we will burn paper and load sacrifices that night, and send food sacrifices to relatives, friends and neighbors the next day to share blessings. Worship at the end of the year, more than a dozen altars stand side by side, and three fragrant flowers are ok! The poor are diligent and thrifty, receiving hundreds of dollars of gratitude, the working class is careful to save thousands of dollars to make a wish, and the official and the rich are willing to sacrifice tens of thousands or hundreds of millions. Wealth is not the same, but sincere.

After worshipping God, we will burn paper and load sacrifices that night, and send food sacrifices to relatives, friends and neighbors the next day to share blessings. Worship at the end of the year, more than a dozen altars stand side by side, and three fragrant flowers are ok! The poor are diligent and thrifty, receiving hundreds of dollars of gratitude, the working class is careful to save thousands of dollars to make a wish, and the official and the rich are willing to sacrifice tens of thousands or hundreds of millions. Wealth is not the same, but sincere.

When I was a child, the sacrifices were basically prepared by the family. My father kills chickens and fish, and he always cooks chickens with clear water. While we are studying at hand, my mother grows rice, steamed all kinds of zongzi, fried dumplings and sweet potato Lua. After school, we all went into battle to help or help, and we were very happy. The happiest thing is to print the pole money with a semicircular steel knife and write it with a cinnabar pen, saying it's a little bit of mine. At present, most of the sacrifices are purchased, so adults save trouble. After 90 s and 00 s, I have seen it, and I have no skills. In the past, worshipping God required three sacrifices and five sacrifices. Now, many families only use flowers and fruits to worship God, and the ceremonies are constantly being simplified.

In the past, the hostess used to wear a special apron when she worshiped God, which was called a worship skirt, but now it is simplified. In the past, I invited friends and relatives to drink the wine after the sacrifice to God, but now it's simple.

Chaoshan worship has continued to this day, and people born after 30 ~ 70 still attach great importance to it. It will be increasingly ignored in the minds of some born after 80 and most born after 90 and 00. Should traditional culture be promoted or bad habits be gradually simplified?

The End of Chaoshan Worship 3 "Ritual Sense" of Chaoshan Worship

Part number 1

Drip tea+worship = Chaoshan people

Chaoshan people only need to do two things in their life, drinking tea and worshiping God:

Worship the Jade Emperor (God) on the first and fifteenth day; Worship the landlord (uncle) on the second day and sixteenth day; Worship Mazu on the third and seventeenth days; Worship the god of wealth on the fourth and eighteenth days; Worship the grain mother on the fifth and nineteenth days; Worship the Pearl Empress on the sixth and twentieth days; On the 7 th and 21 ST, I worshipped the king of Sanshan; On the eighth day and the 22nd day, the birthday boy was worshipped. Worship Guanyin on the ninth and twenty-third day; Worship Buddha on the tenth and 24th days; Eleven, twenty-five worship "public"; 12, 26 worship the mother fairy; Thirteen, twenty-seven worship He Xiangu; Fourteen, twenty-eight worship Taibai Venus ...

Three days of small worship, five days of worship, in addition to the collective worship programs organized by towns and villages on holidays, privately each family should worship different "masters" according to their own preferences and needs. The seven-day holiday during the Spring Festival is not enough for Chaoshan people to worship one-sixth of the gods.

▲ Chaoshan even formed a "temple street" in some places.

The gods worshipped by Chaoshan people are extremely diverse, including natural phenomena such as the sun, moon and stars, ancient sages, national heroes, and even Li Bai, Lu Ban and the Monkey King ... All kinds of objects can be made to worship as long as the reality requires.

The worship of gods by Chaoshan people transcends the differences among Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. Whether it is the founder of Sakyamuni and Dharma in Buddhism, the jade emperor's mother and Guan Gong in Taoism, or the king of the three mountains, the "uncle" of the village head and Mazu, the "landlord" of our family, all live in harmony and stand side by side.

▲ The grand occasion of Chaoshan people worshiping God

Like Qingyun Rock in Shantou, there are both Buddhist Heroes Hall and Xuanwu Hall dedicated to mysterious gods. Panlong Pavilion in Puning is a Taoist temple, and the Buddhist temple next to it is called Panlong Pavilion. Xuanwu Temple in Lufeng was originally an orthodox Taoist temple dedicated to the northern emperor Xuanwu, but a Buddha statue was placed in front of Xuanwu God, and its name became "Yuanshan Temple".

For Chaoshan people, worshipping God is an arbitrary thing, which is tantamount to forwarding a wish to koi fish.

the second part

Worship God and a sense of ritual.

Although it seems to be "casual" and "a little casual", it has not affected the solemn sense of ritual when Chaoshan people worship God.

Open some tables in your own hall, and then set the chairs on the big table. The men in the family will be invited to Gong Zu Furnace, and then the doorkeeper will be invited. Finally, they will bow down and burn incense one by one according to the size of their generation, and report the results of their work to the immortal master. The general situation may be like this:

The player introduced to our ancestors now is the most worrying mistress in Lao Li's X generation. I am 24 years old and graduated from college for two years. Not only did she not get into the civil service, but her mother and fetus are still single. Please take care of your ancestors. ...

In addition to this kind of incense-burning "asking God", Chaoshan people have also developed a whole set of systematic rituals of divination and asking God, that is, Chaoshan people's "throwing cups": "Cut two pieces of wood into crescent shapes, which protrude outwards into a flat shape, and protrude into yin and yang. Old people over 70 years old in the village will throw cups out to test the number of" yin and yang ".

If you throw a yin and a yang, it is "winning the cup", which means that the gods think that what they want can be realized; Er Yang is a "laughing cup", and your request is probably 50% possible, but if you throw it at Er Yin, it is a "stable cup", and your wish is difficult to realize.

▲ Er Yang is a "laughing cup"

In addition to the universal incense burner and platform, Chaoshan people will also carefully prepare "the support of love". No wonder there is always endless "tip of the tongue" material in Chaoshan area. After all, people's standards for producing food are directed at worshipping God, which is a great effort.

For example, the mousetrap on New Year's Eve, the hearts, the An Zai in the Mid-Autumn Festival, the sharp shoulders and ears of grain on Mother's Day, and other festivals, such as hair, rice, vegetables and table tennis.

▲ Fried peaches.

I want to show that my village worships the best products provided by its owners, and there is also a food competition for offerings between villages. Competition activities such as "Big Pig Race", "Big Goose Race" and banquets have produced countless classic Chaoshan delicacies. For example, the most famous red roast goose in Chaoshan, after decades of optimization of the "Big Goose Race" activities, flew from the altar to the homes of ordinary people.

In order to make the "grandfather" happy, Chaoshan people also developed various traditional dramas, such as Chaozhou opera, iron puppet show, song and dance ... a string of firecrackers crackled.

▲ Performance of Chaoshan pilgrimage.

the third part

In Chaoshan, your mother may be the closest person to God.

In Chaoshan, it is not your mother or your grandmother who plays the role of daily worship, pilgrimage and pilgrimage. Some people say that Chaoshan men drink tea and water all their lives, while women worship God all their lives.

▲ Chaoshan girls worship God since childhood | Image source: Weibo screenshot

As a teenager, Chaoshan's daughter would follow her mother to learn how to make "clothes" to worship the gods. As soon as Chaoshan's daughter-in-law entered the house, she inherited her mother-in-law's mantle and the tradition of "worshipping God", ensuring that the names and main functions of each owner could be clearly stated, and also rationalizing the relationship and demands of the old and young at home. When children grow up, they should pray for a good marriage when they worship God. There are new members in the family, and we should tell the ancestors in the ancestral hall. ...

"Do a good job of matching meat and vegetables, not all wet and dry, not singular and not heavy, and you must be able to say auspicious words to God." Remember and worship every day. After two years in Chaoshan, your daughter-in-law will definitely practice the stunt of "worshipping God".

▲ Chaoshan women who are busy going to worship God | Image source: Weibo @ Jingjing Jingjing Jingjing Jingjing Jingjing.

part four

Why do Chaoshan people like to worship God so much?

Although worshipping God is the custom of people in the north and south of China, few people like Chaoshan people can do it.

Chaoshan area faces the South China Sea and has five ridges on its back, which is different from other inland areas. For Chaoshan people, the sea is both a "desperate situation" and a "living path". Chaoshan people often call fishing in the sea "begging for the sea", which means fighting for their lives. In this dangerous and accidental area, entrusting yourself to unknown gods naturally becomes the best way to resolve fears.

▲ On the eighth festival of the year, Chaoshan people will worship their ancestors and gods.

Although Chaoshan people are good at worshipping God, they are "not superstitious" and attach great importance to "practicality":

In the eyes of Chaoshan people, no matter whether you are natural or man-made, as long as you can tell stories and have any "performance", you can be worshipped, which is not much different from the status of Buddha and Jesus in the hearts of Chaoshan people. If it's simple, you can burn incense and whisper on the column, and if it's comfortable, you can make a big offering. You do your best, not bound by fixed etiquette, but you can be sincere.

▲ The gods are surrounded by people's respectful incense.

Therefore, for Chaoshan people, worshipping God is a habitual action integrated into their bones. They deeply understand the mystery of god-making, and they can make whatever they need. All kinds of gods do their jobs and bless Chaoshan people to live smoothly.