What are the folk customs of Changting?

Changting has simple folk customs. Hakka people are hardworking and kind, advocating morality and paying attention to etiquette, especially respecting teachers and being hospitable. Teachers and old people are respected in people's hearts, whether in cities or villages; No matter where tourists come from, they feel at home. This is directly related to Changting's long-standing traditional culture and Hakka's yearning for knowledge, charity and the future.

The folk customs of Hakka in Changting, regardless of food, clothing, housing and transportation, weddings, funerals and celebrations, are compatible with the inheritance of the Central Plains and indigenous customs, and are rich and colorful, just like a colorful folk picture scroll.

18 years old custom Spring Festival

The Spring Festival begins at midnight on the first day of the first month. Hakka people in Changting believe that the Spring Festival is the real Spring Festival. Headed by a century, we have infinite hope for the new year. Spring Festival travel rush is divided into three stages: the preparation stage is from the beginning of the year to New Year's Eve; New Year's Day to the fifth day; Lunar New Year's Day to Lantern Festival is the afterglow stage. Entry boundary: Lunar calendar1February 24th is the entry boundary. After entering the New Year's Eve, we will actively prepare for the New Year's Eve, such as giving gifts, cleaning, washing and drying bedding and clothes, getting a haircut and taking a bath, and buying new clothes.

Steamed rice for the New Year: Steamed rice on the day before New Year's Eve will last for several days, meaning "there is surplus food in the New Year". Steamed again on the third morning. You can't put rice into the pot until the fifth day of the Lunar New Year. Chinese New Year: On the night of New Year's Eve, families get together and have a drink, which is called "Eating New Year's Wine", which means "Chinese New Year". On New Year's Eve, couplets are posted in front of doors and halls, and red paper is posted on household appliances, which is called "sealing the year" and "putting red".

Shou Sui: After the New Year's Eve dinner, the whole house is brightly lit until dawn, which is called "Year Fire". Relatives at home get together and the whole family gets together and stays up all night, which is called "Shou Sui". The elders give their children red envelopes with red paper, which is called "New Year's Eve". Put the red envelope on the altar and call it "lucky money".

Get off to a good start: in the early morning of the first day of the first month, when choosing an auspicious day according to the General Book, open the door, declare that "all is well, everything goes well, and all sides will benefit", set off firecrackers, bid farewell to the old and welcome the new.

New Year's greetings: On the first day of the first lunar month, people open their doors to welcome guests and choose auspicious directions to show that they are "out of the Arabian Nights" to welcome the Western gods. At the same time, go to relatives and friends' homes to pay New Year greetings and wish each other a happy New Year.

Entertainment: Traditional entertainment activities are quite rich during the Spring Festival. Folk activities such as pedal lights, dragon lanterns, lion lanterns, walking on stilts, playing lanterns, playing flower drums, acting, marionettes, etc. are all over urban and rural areas and are very lively.

Beginning of Spring

Beginning of spring, a Hakka in Changting, is having sex. Because it is the first of the 24 solar terms in a year, it is highly valued. At that time, incense tables will be prepared, incense and candles will be burned, firecrackers will be set off, and red notes such as "Spring Festival" and "Spring Festival" will be affixed, which is called "Spring Festival". the Lantern Festival

The Lantern Festival of Changting Hakka is also called "the first half of the first month", which is the first festival in a year. Eating "Yuanxiao" and "No Yuanxiao" are made of glutinous rice flour, brown sugar, peanuts and sesame seeds. To wish the family a reunion and harmony. People hold all kinds of lanterns, play with lanterns and enjoy them, which is very lively, commonly known as "Lantern Festival". Lanterns are especially famous in Fangtu, Nanshan, Hotan and Sanzhou.

Awakening of Insects

On this frightening day, Hakka people in Changting fried beans, fried wheat, or cooked taro with hot water; Sprinkle quicklime on cabinet feet, table feet, column feet and wall feet. These two practices are called "frying insects" and "mixing insects with insects". When hibernating insects begin to revive, Hakkas advocate early extinction.

Spring sacrifice

Hakka people in Changting have the custom of offering sacrifices to land gods and valley gods on social days. The fifth day after beginning of spring every year is the Spring Festival society. Hakka people dress up as characters and stories. They march to meet the gods and pray for a bumper harvest, but it is not common.

Qingming Festival

During the Qingming period, the Hakkas in Changting visited graves to worship their ancestors, from the vernal equinox to Qingming. Sacrificial activities are very particular. During this period, many families who went out rushed home to worship their ancestors.

Dragon Boat Festival

The Dragon Boat Festival, also known as the May Festival, is one of the three major festivals in a year: May, August and twelfth month. Besides following the custom of wrapping palm seed with bamboo leaves, eating realgar wine, racing dragon boats and hanging calamus, men, women and children also need to take a bath with "medicine" on the fifth day of May. The "potion" is made of herbs that can be used as medicine in the mountains.

Enter the hottest day of the year.

Hakka people in Changting eat "fairy jelly" on the day of crouching. According to custom, it is good to eat "fairy jelly" on a hot day. "Fairy jelly" is mainly fairy grass, which is made of starch.

June is new.

Hakka people in Changting "eat new" means tasting new rice. Generally speaking, after the summer heat, you should "eat something new" every day. In the countryside, rice is cut and ground into new rice, and cooking is to worship the grain gods and ancestors.

Ghosts'Festival

The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, while the Mid-Autumn Festival of Changting Hakka falls on the 14th of July. According to legend, at the end of the Song Dynasty, when the Hakkas were preparing for the festival, Yuan soldiers suddenly invaded, so they sacrificed their ancestors one day in advance to avoid being disturbed by the soldiers. On July 14, ancestor worship was held, and on July 15, "Wild Ghosts" were held.

Mid-Autumn Festival

The custom of Hakkas celebrating Mid-Autumn Festival is roughly the same as that of Central Plains. However, the Hakka people in Changting still retain the custom of "Yue Hua". According to folklore, people keep the "moonlight" until the Tianmen is wide open, the moonlight is strange, and the Moonlight Bodhisattva comes. Those who see it seek happiness and wealth, so some people keep the moonlight until late at night.

Double Ninth Festival

The ninth day of the ninth lunar month is the "Double Ninth Festival", which is commonly known as the "September Festival" by Changting Hakkas. Every household cooks bean jelly, makes rice cakes, kills chickens and ducks, buys pork and entertains relatives and friends. There are also activities of climbing mountains and enjoying chrysanthemums. September 14

September 14th of the lunar calendar was originally a temple fair in Changting City. In ancient times, it was very grand to greet God and worship Buddha. The streets are crowded and every household is full of guests. All kinds of Quyi performances stayed up all night and were lively for three days. Now it has become a material exchange meeting in Fujian, Guangdong and Jiangxi provinces 14 counties.

Winter solstice

The winter solstice was originally a solar term for farming, but Changting Hakkas called it the "winter solstice". Hakkas have always had the custom of tonic in winter solstice. Tingzhou (Changting) hakka yellow rice wine has always been redeemed from winter to the sun, because the wine redeemed from winter to the sun is good in color, aroma and taste, and it will last for a long time.

marriage customs

Hakka wedding customs in Changting basically retain the legacy of ancient wedding customs, namely, "accepting talents" (proposing marriage), "asking names" (asking birth date), "Naji" (both parties divining marriage), "Na Wei" (the man sends bride price to the woman's home) and "inviting the day" (the man informs the woman's home of the selected wedding date). At present, there are six kinds of wedding ceremonies for Hakka people in Changting: proposing relatives, asking names, giving dates, reporting dates, giving dowry and receiving relatives.

Funeral custom

The funeral custom of Hakka in Tingzhou (Changting) still retains the legacy of "five-service system". Filial piety can be divided into: beheading (the most important filial piety), mourning together (the second most important filial piety), meritorious service (the second least filial piety), meritorious service (the second least filial piety) and numbness (the lightest filial piety). Filial piety is divided into three years, one year, nine months, five months and three months, basically following the funeral system of the Han nationality in the Central Plains.

Funeral process: mourning, mourning hall, wake, mourning, burial, mourning, offering sacrifices to three dynasties, May 7th, finishing 7th, and taking clothes. In addition, the Hakka people in Changting also have the custom of "picking up gold", which is also called second burial.

Fertility custom

Hakka customs in Tingzhou (Changting) generally include: giving birth, confinement, giving good news, giving Yan, having a full moon wine, having a meat feast, shaving your head, keeping your name safe, crossing the border for 100 days and so on.