The Spring Festival Memory of Confucius's 75th Generation Sun Kong Xiangsheng: Traditional Folk Customs Carry Authentic New Year Flavors

Confucius's 75th generation grandson Kong Xiangsheng wrote the Spring Festival On the spot, attracting tourists to stop and watch.　Photo by Li Mingrui

(New Year grassroots) Confucius's 75th generation Sun Kong Xiangsheng's Spring Festival memory: traditional folk customs carry authentic New Year's flavor

Zhongxin Network, Qufu, Shandong, January 25 Title: The Spring Festival Memory of Confucius's 75th Generation Sun Kong Xiangsheng: Traditional Folk Customs Carry Authentic New Year Flavors

Author Li Mingrui

Long tables are lined up, pens and ink are paved, brushes are dancing, and a series of Fu characters and Spring Festivals full of strong New Year flavor jump on the paper. Confucius Spring League is an indispensable part of the Confucius New Year, Confucius's 75th generation grandson Kong Xiangsheng began to write Confucius Spring League in the 1990s, and it has been nearly 30 years. In his view, the Confucius Spring League especially reflects the achievements of calligraphers, with strict forms and fixed words, which is "fine work" and high requirements.

On January 25 (the 23rd day of the lunar month), Kong Xiangsheng was busy in Kongfu as in previous years. Confucius New Year's Customs are rich and diverse, hanging sky lanterns, sticking Spring Festivals, steaming, dragon lanterns and so on. However, in particular, the characteristics of the Spring Festival are the most prominent, and the traditional New Year customs of Confucius, represented by the Spring Festival, always carry the people's expectations for the New Year.

"When I was a child, I couldn't wait to look forward to the New Year every day, and when I arrived at the Chinese New Year's Eve I was happy to paste the word Blessing and the Spring Festival." The family is happy and harmonious, gathers together happily, and happily pastes the Spring Festival lian, which has become Kong Xiangsheng's lingering Memory of the Spring Festival.

According to Kong Xiangsheng, before the Spring Festival in the old days, it was the busiest time of the year for the clerks of the Confucius Study and the Division, and they were responsible for writing all the Spring Festivals. Confucius Mansion was originally the residence of Confucius's eldest grandson, and is now listed as a World Cultural Heritage Together with the Confucius Temple and Confucius Forest. There are more than 560 buildings and halls in the existing Confucius Mansion, forming a nine-entry courtyard. According to the old system, each door had to be posted with the words "Spring League", "Door God" or "Fu", and now during the Spring Festival every year, the Confucius Government also posts more than 50 pairs of Spring Leagues. Kong Xiangsheng said that since the Restoration of the Spring Festival in 1998, the Spring Festival of Confucius has been written by Kong Xiangsheng.

Confucius Chunlian pays attention to the fine paper and ink, neat font, and duality. The Confucius Cultural Relics Archives still retains the spring festival of the 24th and 25th years of the Qianlong Dynasty, which records in detail the language, paper color, length and width of each door pillar, as well as the types of door gods posted on the door leaf. The content of the Confucius Spring Festival covers a wide range, and it is beyond the reach of ordinary people, some narrative lyrics, writing scenery and poetry; some praise the Confucius Fuwei, reflecting the style of the saint's house. Kong Xiangsheng said that the content written by Chunlian should strictly match the identity, status or function of the owner of the house.

"The traditional folk customs of Confucius house represent the family culture, there is a country to have a home, home and everything, I hope that by writing the Confucius Spring Festival, let tourists bring home the joy of the Spring Festival, so that excellent traditional culture in the new era will glow with new vitality." Kong Xiangsheng explained the reason why he insisted on writing the Spring Festival in the Confucius Mansion. (End)