Time flows through a cycle of endless changes. Folklore is brewing in the years of succession and innovation. In traditional culture, what is the beautiful meaning of Yinhu? Historically, how did Jiangnan people celebrate the New Year? In the digital age, why do we still need traditional customs?
"Chinese's emotional interpretation of the tiger is strong, and there is a sense of awe and contradiction."
Shangguan News: In a few days, we will usher in the Lunar Year of the Tiger. You happen to belong to the tiger, is there any other feeling in this year?
Zhong Fulan: Entering the lunar year, I have grown another year, which is really lamentable that "the flowers are similar every year, and the years are different." On the occasion of the new year, on the one hand, I especially miss the relatives and friends who have passed away, and I feel that time passes too quickly, on the other hand, I have many good wishes and blessings for the vibrant new year.
Shangguan News: Does the tiger harmonic sound "Fu" mean that the Year of the Tiger is blessed? In your opinion, what is the cultural symbolism of the tiger?
Zhong Fulan: In the traditional culture of Chinese, the tiger is a symbol of bravery and strength. The image of the tiger has always symbolized strength and courage in the folk, the dragon is alive and the tiger is alive, the dragon leaps and leaps, and the tiger nourishes the national spiritual character of the Chinese in many ways with its brave self-improvement, firm atmosphere, and tiger vitality.
For thousands of years, folk beliefs about tigers have gradually become a powerful force of habit. Folk artworks with tigers as the theme are dazzling, and various folk works with the theme of "tigers" are also wonderful. In Chinese, there are many idioms with the word "tiger", such as raw dragon and live tiger, such as tiger adding wings, tiger roaring dragon yin, tiger dragon disk, tiger leaping dragon dragon, dragon walking tiger step, dragon tenghu leaping tiger leaping, tiger head tiger brain and so on.
Shangguan News: It is not difficult to find that there are both "tiger roaring dragon groans", "like tiger wings" and "tiger heads and tiger brains" in idioms, but there are also "skin with tigers" and "release tigers to return to the mountains", Chinese seems to have some complicated feelings about tigers?
Zhong Fulan: It should be noted that Chinese's emotional interpretation of the tiger is strong. Chinese has always had a reverence and ambivalence towards the tiger. On the one hand, it is believed that the tiger is a spiritual divine beast, so it uses its image to ward off evil spirits and eliminate disasters and seek refuge; on the other hand, it is believed that the tiger is a man-eating beast, so it feels afraid.
"The tiger is the yang, the chief of a hundred beasts, can fight and defeat sharpness, and eat ghosts." The tiger evolved from the animal worship of the ancestors of ancient society as the tiger god. In medieval society, the tiger evolved from a "divine tiger" and a "beast" to a protective god who protects the heavens. This shift from fear to reverence has played an important and positive role in ethnic unity and national cohesion. The connotation and meaning of tiger culture, through vicissitudes, are becoming more and more abundant today, and have become a symbol of folk culture that is generally recognized by Chinese.
Shangguan News: What folklore related to tigers reflects the connotation and meaning of tiger culture?
Zhong Fulan: In many places in traditional society, there is a custom of the grandmother's family to send cloth to the newborn; when the child is full moon, the uncle's family will send a tiger made of yellow cloth, and when entering the gate, the tiger's tail will be broken and thrown outside the door. Sending a cloth tiger is to wish the child to be as brave and powerful as the tiger when he grows up; to break the tiger's tail is to hope that the child will grow up without any disaster. In addition, there are customs for children to wear tiger head shoes, tiger head hats, tiger belly pockets and so on.
In some places in the northwest, the marriage custom of "hanging tiger buns" is popular. Before the welcome, the man's uncle's family should steam a pair of tiger buns and tie them together with red ropes. As soon as the bride arrived, she hung the tiger bun around her neck, took it off after entering the door, and shared it by the bride and groom, indicating that the couple was of one heart and one mind. Interestingly, this kind of bun is also male and female. The male tiger bun has a "king" on its head, indicating that the man should take responsibility and support the family; the female tiger bun has a pair of birds in her forehead, which means that the husband sings with the woman and the family harmony. Now, I will deliberately add a few more small tigers to wish the new people an early birth of noble children and more children.
Shangguan News: A few days ago, as soon as the stamp of the Year of the Tiger was unveiled, how the "Tiger Wei" behaved triggered discussion on the Internet. What do you think?
Zhong Fulan: On the bright side, the small party zodiac stamps can cause heated discussions, and the interpretation of the tiger image and the dissemination of tiger culture are meaningful, and they are also a reflection of the traditional cultural fever and even cultural self-confidence.
This hot discussion also shows that the tiger, as a folk symbol, carries the feelings of countless people. Since it is a symbol that expresses folklore, it is endowed with specific emotions and connotations, which is slightly different from the works of artists that show their personal talents. From this point of view, zodiac stamps should have the space to "go to the next level".
Bus No. 71 Bund Station is illuminated. Photo by Li Maojun
"The traditional customs accumulated over a long period of time are the concentrated embodiment of national vitality, creativity and cohesion"
Shangguan News: The Spring Festival can be said to be the most important festival in contemporary Chinese. But it is said that the ancient Spring Festival and the New Year are not the same thing?
Zhong Fulan: Indeed, the word "Spring Festival" has different specific meanings in different historical periods.
Around the Neolithic period, the ancestors of the mainland discovered the law of the alternating seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter according to the growth cycle of crops, which gave rise to the concept of "year". During the Han Dynasty, people called the first spring of the twenty-four solar terms the Spring Festival; during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, people called the entire spring Spring Festival.
After the Xinhai Revolution, the Provisional Government of Nanjing, in order to "follow the agricultural time" and "facilitate statistics", stipulated the use of the summer calendar in the private sector, the implementation of the Gregorian calendar in government offices, factories and mines, schools and groups, and the first day of the first month of the Gregorian calendar as The New Year's Day. Because the first day of the first lunar month is usually around the beginning of the spring, this day is set as the Spring Festival. In 1949, the first plenary session of the Chinese Political Consultative Conference passed a resolution on the "use of the Common Era Year", which was also officially determined as the "Spring Festival" on the first day of the first lunar month.
Shangguan News: For the Chinese nation, what is the significance of the Spring Festival?
Zhong Fulan: The significance of the Spring Festival is that it is the symbol of our Chinese nation. Whether it is an emperor or a pawn, it is necessary to celebrate the New Year, and it is better for thousands of years. The Spring Festival has become the coordinates of our national culture. The cultural imagination generated by the Spring Festival is itself a manifestation and return to traditional Chinese values.
In the concept of Chinese space-time, the folk festival is a hub or node. The Spring Festival is both the end of the year and the beginning of the year, and the cycle begins again and again, and everything in Vientiane is renewed, which forms a circle in people's psychology. This cyclical view of circular time can break the linear fear of individual life from birth to death.
In addition, I think that the significance of the Spring Festival is to regulate three kinds of relationships - the relationship between man and nature, the relationship between people, and the relationship between man and self. Therefore, regarding the Spring Festival, I once tried to express it in sixty-four words: "The unity of heaven and man, harmony and nature; welcoming the spring and blessings, tending to auspiciousness and avoiding evil; removing the old cloth and the new, a beautiful beginning; understanding family affection and condensing emotions; gratitude and repaying the society; solemn ceremonies, precious memories; entertainment and wonderful displays; relaxation and regulation, peace of mind." ”
Shangguan News: Some people may wonder, it is already the 21st century, why do we still need the Spring Festival formed in the era of farming?
Zhong Fulan: Some people believe that in today's industrialized and information-based China, the symbolic significance of the Spring Festival is greater than the practical significance. But I believe that these three relationships still exist between man and nature, man and man (i.e., society), and man and himself; it is also human nature to avoid evil and seek harmony in the coming year.
Every New Year's Festival, the family eats a reunion dinner and touches a cup together, and even if there are any bumps and bumps in the past year, when the wine is hot, the contradiction will be resolved. Going to relatives and friends' homes to pay respects to the New Year and move around can also regulate the relationship between people. As for the balance of the individual's body and mind, at the end of the year, there will always be people who succeed and some people who are not so smooth. The Spring Festival is a strong psychological implication to oneself: all unpleasant things will pass, and the new year is another beautiful start. Everything starts from scratch and has a vision for the future, which can play a certain role as a "psychological pressure relief valve".
In addition to the individual perspective, from the macro level, the traditional customs identified and accumulated in the long-term historical process are the quintessential ideas of maintaining, coordinating and promoting the survival and development of the nation in traditional culture, and also the concentrated embodiment of the vitality, creativity and cohesion of a nation. In recent years, with the gradual enhancement of China's economic influence and more and more Chinese going abroad, the traditional festival of the Chinese nation, the Spring Festival, has gradually formed a certain influence in some cities in major countries in the world, and has become an important expression of China's soft power.
Professor of School of Social Development, East China Normal University, Zhongfulan, President of Shanghai Folk Culture Society