The Spring Festival has arrived, how is everyone's holiday? Do you eat dumplings or receive red envelopes? Each place has a different annual custom, and there are many different new customs in the south and the north.
The author of this article is writing about the authentic Fujian New Year customs. Starting from his tail teeth, he wrote about sweeping patrols, opening seals, sacrificing stoves, dividing years, as well as anecdotes about worshiping dou, worshiping the heavenly prince, and attacking the cannon city. For contemporary people who are increasingly far away from tradition, this is a good way to evoke the memories of the old world. After that, we will also launch articles related to northern new customs, interested readers are welcome to continue to pay attention to our subsequent pushes.
Fujian's annual customs are actually the epitome of local annual customs. Through the customs of Fujian, we can also see the sophistication, gastronomic flavor and beautiful vision of the traditional Spring Festival.
01
Tail Tooth: The last yin god festival of the year
Lantern lantern in the ancestral hall of Western Fujian, photo: Chen Ruhui.
We all know that time is linear, but some nodes are artificially added to change the chronology. The Fujian custom takes the second and sixteenth days of the first month of each month as the "teeth", which is one day later than the day of the first fifteenth day of the first month, which is the day of worship of the yin god. The so-called yin gods are some spiritual ghosts, such as the earliest local residents "foundation lords", lonely souls who have no descendants to worship, and yin soldiers and yin generals, called "nether masters" according to Fuzhou, and there are so-called "nether masters do not go to the horizontal table (long offering table)" The saying, which means that these yin gods are not allowed to be formally enshrined on the offering table, and can only set up incense candles and sacrifices on the ground. Of course, the general people's families burned some silver paper for the "landlords before and after the house", and the merchants paid more attention to it; the palace temples in southern Fujian prepared wine and meat to reward the "officials" in the first twenty-six days, and even the war horses had hay, which was regarded as the top "tooth sacrifice".
The last tooth of the year, called the "tail tooth". People have worked hard for a year, and the yin gods have also been busy in the dark for a year. In the night of the tail teeth, the wine and meat will be much more abundant than usual; when the "good brothers" have finished eating, the sacrifices will not be wasted, and some good dishes will be added to the shop guys. Although there is no performance link at this "annual meeting", and even a certain guy may receive the hint of "not using it next year", this good meal will always have a good wine and good dish. After eating this meal, the annual leave has begun.
02
Sweeping Hall/Sweep: Sweeping at the end of the year
After the tail teeth are finished, you can choose a day to clean up the family. At this point, Fujian is the same as other parts of the country, but the name of the activity is different from place to place, such as Fuzhou called "Zhentang" and Putian called "Sweeping Patrol".
The "basket" is a brush that used to be made by splitting bamboo tubes into a thread, and it is used in many places to brush pots. In many places in Fujian, the house wood is not painted, retaining the original color of fir wood, at the end of the year to use the "basket" dipped in water to brush the beams and columns doors and windows clean, it is best to brush the wood grain clearly. The "sweeping patrol" in Putian requires that in november of the lunar calendar, a broom and other utensils with red paper should be prepared, and if it is late, the broom will become an iron broom, sweeping the family's wealth and wealth out of the house. On the auspicious day, in accordance with the order from top to bottom, from the inside out to clean thoroughly, leaving no dead corners, the broom can only be outward, not inside, this year's "obscurity" was driven to the door, leaving Behind is the home of Qing Qing Ji Ji.
Cleaning is tiring, but it's a really important thing and you have to do it yourself. I remember one year, my classmates complained in the group, saying that the crystal chandeliers at home were really tired to wipe, and I couldn't help but think that this was estimated to be the "Palace of Versailles".
Fuzhou "Three Mountains Awakening Hall" sealing ceremony, photo: Ni Tingzhen.
03
Seal/Seal: The annual leave of the gods
In the old days, the official government had a system of annual leave, from the twentieth day of the waxing month to the twentieth day of the first month, during which they did not listen to the lawsuits, and they also had to wrap the official seal and paste it with a seal, called "seal". When the next year's "opening printing" ceremony will be carried out, the office will officially begin.
In the old days of the provincial capital of Fuzhou, the people learned from the common people and gave annual leave to the gods in the temple. After all, the image of the gods also comes largely from the old officials. However, some people asked, God is on holiday, is he not in the temple on the first day of the New Year? Some people say that "God's eyes are like electricity" can be seen, some people say that the traffic is convenient to come and go freely, and some people say that it is actually the "secretary" under his hand who is collecting incense on behalf of him, adding a lot of jokes. But on the twentieth day of the waxing moon, the directors of the Fuzhou Temple still gathered together, solemnly pasted the temple with a red paper with the words "Seal Daji", wrapped the big seal in the temple with yellow cloth, affixed a seal, and then had a dinner in the temple.
Chinese sense of festival ceremony is largely maintained by eating, and the temples in Mindi are "eating tables" all year round, and various ritual activities and birthdays of the gods must be eaten. If you have friends who know each other well, you can also buy a meal coupon to eat together, and you will definitely be able to eat the most authentic local flavor.
I have seen some temples, obviously there is no god in the temple, but they still have to set up a table on his birthday, in my opinion, this is not piety, it is the "hungry worms" moving.
Zhangzhou's god-sending gold paper and "cloud horse", photo: Yang Hong.
04
Sacrificial stove: In some places, the gods are facing the sky
Vesta is a small god whose status is only higher than that of the foundation lord in the family of Fujian - the main god of the family is often enshrined in the shrine in front of the Taishi Wall of the hall, only the foundation lord and the vesta god are not in the right place, and it has not been heard of the vesta god being counted as the "lord of the hall". However, if you change the name of the god of Vesta, "East Chef Si Ming Lord", it will look quite "tall", just like the lives of a family of old and young.
In the past, there was often a tablet in the old mansion in Fuzhou, with the name of "Si Ming Zao Jun, Lady Dingfu" written on it. Nowadays, people's kitchens do not have so much space, and they often have idols posted behind the side of the gas stove. The Vesta god in Fuzhou is the image of an elderly couple, and as far as I know, the vesta god in most parts of the country is also like this. But the interesting thing is that the vesta god of southern Fujian is a white-faced beardless young man with no spouse.
The time of the sacrificial stove is similar to that of Fujian and many other places in the country, and it is divided into the 23rd "sacrifice official stove" and the 24th "sacrifice stove" of the Waxing Moon. In the past, it was said that the families of the "sacrifice official stove" were such as Liu, Li, Zhao, Zhu and other emperors who had the surname of the emperor. This point is not very true at least in Fuzhou, and some friends say that in their single-surnamed village, half of the rich households in the south are twenty-three sacrificial stoves, and the poorer ones in the north are twenty-four. The family in the same village can also make a "chain of contempt", and it can only be said that there are indeed many rules that have no reason in the old times.
When fuzhou sacrifices the stove, several sweets are placed on the stove top: vermilion fu oranges, sugar cane with heads and tails, seasonal water chestnuts (Fuzhou dialect is called tail pear, as the saying goes, "tail pear tip, stove ascension to heaven"), and "Nian Sugar Nian Cake", which brings together a variety of local cakes, such as swastika cakes, mouse boys, inch dates, horse riding crisps, fried rice, etc., and only one or two pieces in a large bag are "red paper bags" printed with the image of the god of vesta, which is the most delicious peanut crisp, and children often occupy them exclusively because of adults, carefully open the red paper, Eat it carefully, I am afraid that I will be even more drunk than today's Vesta.
The stove festival in southern Fujian is not only a day for the god of stove to "say good things from heaven", but also a day for "the gods to go to heaven" to make annual work reports. On this day (usually the twenty-fourth day of the waxing moon), a special kind of "sending god horse", also called "cloud horse", is burned as a means of transportation for the gods, and the pattern of horses and palanquins is printed on it. Wait until the fifth day of the first year, then welcome the gods back, and then burn the matching "receiving god horse". Although there is no etiquette for opening and sealing, this is equivalent to giving God an annual holiday.
Furnishings of traditional halls in Fuzhou, photo: Zhang Jizhou.
05
Year: The total thanks of the ancestors of the gods of heaven and earth
Because there is no such thing as "the gods are going to heaven", the gods other than the god of Vesta still stay in people's homes, so the people of Fuzhou will perform the ceremony of "dividing the year" on the day between the 25th and the Chinese New Year's Eve of the Waxing Moon, placing meat offerings and lighting incense candles to thank the gods and ancestors for their care for the family. After the year of the year, there was nothing important in the past year, just like Mr. Lu Xun's "only feeling that the saints of heaven and earth have enjoyed cattle and cigarettes, and they are all drunk and waddling in the air."
Here we should summarize the "etiquette" part of fujian folk houses, in order to better restore the scene of the year with words. As mentioned earlier, the main gods of the family are in the shrine in front of the Taishi Wall of the hall, which may be Guanyin, or it may be a common god such as qi tian dasheng or the land god, and some people do not have a god statue, a portrait or a red paper with "Heaven and Earth King's Master"; the front or bottom of the shrine is a long offering table, and there is also an eight immortal table in front of the long offering table, which is used to decorate incense burners, candlesticks and offerings. In Zhangzhou, during the Chinese New Year, the local specialty - daffodils are indispensable on the table. The side of the shrine, usually on the right-hand side, is the position of the ancestral tablet or the ancestor's relic.
But we have not yet spoken of the most honorable "Heavenly Father". The Min people believe that the "Heavenly Gong" is supreme, should not paint its image, nor should it be enshrined in the house (even in ordinary temples), only an incense burner (called "Heavenly Furnace") is set up in front of the hall to see the sky, looking outward to worship, and the offering table must also be set up outside. Minnan also hangs a special "Tiangong Lantern" to show respect.
In the traditional society that attaches importance to etiquette, the ritual function of human settlements cannot be ignored.
06
New Year's Eve: Is there a place that is not in the first year of the first year?
Starting from the tail tooth, the Fujian people have been busy for half a month for the big and small gods, and by the time of the big Chinese New Year's Eve it is finally the family that has passed by itself. In the past, this day was the best day to eat the whole year, but now it is rich in materials, and there is no need to look forward to the New Year. However, many of the dishes that the Chinese New Year's Eve eat have auspicious meanings, so they have been preserved for many years. For example, the whole root of green vegetables (mustard greens and leeks) in southern Fujian, which symbolizes the peace and longevity of the New Year, the Taiping Swallow in Fuzhou (be sure to put two duck eggs with a harmonic sound of "pressing chaos"), and the blood cockles that are everywhere, because the sound of cockle shell friction is particularly like a string of copper coins ringing, which also symbolizes a particularly good color head.
After eating the reunion dinner, the vigil until the time of the confession, many people went to the temple with a strong tiredness to burn incense. Sleeping until dawn, the first meal is often a line surface with "good intentions". This was followed by a day of visiting relatives and friends to celebrate the New Year, which is no different from other places, so I will not repeat it.
However, in Putian, the official big Chinese New Year's Eve is the fourth day of the first year, commonly known as "doing the big year". This is because in the winter of the forty-first year of Ming Jiajing, Wu Kou attacked Putian, burned and plundered, and the dead were not counted, until the first day of the first month of the following year, they were recovered by Qi Jiguang's army, on the second day of the first year, everyone buried the dead (so the second day of the Pu custom was not allowed to pay homage to the New Year), and only settled down to make up for the New Year on the fourth day of the first month, and passed on this custom to this day as a long-term memory of the local "painful history".
Fighting at the Fuzhou Worship Ceremony, Photo: Zhang Jizhou.
07
Worship: Chinese New Year Blessing Ceremony
Beijingers go to the Baiyun Temple "Shunxing" on the eighth day of the first lunar month, and Fuzhou people perform worship and fighting ceremonies in various palaces and temples, which is a different form of ancient star worship in various places.
Worship is worship the Big Dipper. Taoism worships the Seven Stars of the Big Dipper (seven Yuanjun) and the mother of the Big Dipper, the Mother of the Dipper, the Yuanjun, believing that they can dispel disasters and alleviate misfortunes and protect the peace of the family. Worship and dou rituals are popular in Taoism throughout the country, but the popularity in Fuzhou is particularly high, and the most participatory Taoist ritual is the "Vault Jade Bucket", which is often set up for both the birthday of the gods and the Pudu Festival. If there is a group worship in the New Year, most of them will be arranged on the seventh day of the first year.
The most interesting thing about worship is that the believers have a strong sense of participation. Everyone should hold a four-square "bucket" (occasionally round), it was first a container for measuring rice, and now there are finished products in the incense candle shop, which is used to symbolize the universe; the bucket is filled with rice, symbolizing the stars, and sprinkled with red dates, melon seeds, peanuts, guiyuan, and chestnuts, which means "five sons of Dengke"; the four sides of the bucket are inserted with rulers, rod scales, mirrors, and scissors to symbolize the green dragon, white tiger, suzaku, and Xuanwu; in the bucket, the incense candle is lit, and then red chopsticks are inserted around the area, and red ropes are wrapped, and this set of "small universe" is completed. Taoist priests were responsible for building altars and making "doumen"—usually an arch made of verdant bamboo leaves and red cloth. When baidou enters the "round bucket" link, the Taoist priest and the devotees holding the bucket pass through the "doumen" in turn, symbolizing entering the world of "harmony with the Tao". Some temples are small in size and cannot accommodate so many believers, so people hold vermilion buckets, with hot air in their mouths, and in the chant of the Taoist priest "Turn the bucket to the east, and the Eastern Dou Xingjun turns the bucket to the east", they circle and circle again, as if the good fortune of this new year all depends on the concentration of this moment.
08
Bye-Tiangong: The last day pigs and sheep want to encounter
The ninth day of the first month is the birthday of the Jade Emperor, which is called "Heavenly Gongsheng" in southern Fujian, and it is in the early morning of the day, and every household sets up incense cases to worship the air outwards. A small number of palaces and temples dedicated to the Jade Emperor, such as the Lingyun Hall in Putian, the Xuanmiao Temple in Quanzhou and the Yuzun Palace in Zhangzhou, were extremely popular at this time. In recent years, the grand ceremony of the Yuzun Palace in Zhangzhou has often appeared in the media because of its extremely grand scene, with more than 400 tables of offerings and more than 100 pigs and sheep placed in front of the temple to sacrifice the heavens.
The sacrifice ceremony is the most solemn sacrifice in China's agrarian society for thousands of years. Pigs and sheep are collectively known as "less prisons", plus cattle as "too prisons". The sacrifice ceremony of the heavens should have reached the highest level of "too fast", but in the old folk, cattle were an important means of production, and private slaughter was strictly prohibited, so all pigs and sheep were the biggest gifts.
Some places in southern Fujian and Chaoshan have also evolved another New Year ritual cultural custom, "Sai Da Pig". Each family carefully feeds the "god pig", strives to make it fatten, weighs before the sacrifice, and whoever raises the "god pig" can be draped in red and colored, placed in the front row, and the owner is also very honored. With the help of this folk activity, it is also possible to urge villagers to improve their skills in feeding livestock, which can be described as "meritorious donation".
09
Siege of The Gun City: The Ancient "Military Sport"
In the first month of the first month, minnan has a special activity "attacking the cannon city", which is a "cannon city" made of bamboo paper hanging on a high pole, built-in fireworks and firecrackers, and everyone throws them with lit firecrackers, and igniting the "cannon city" is a winner and can get a rich bonus. Under the heavy reward, there will be brave men, men, women and children will fight together, and the smoke of war will fill the air, which is comparable to a real battlefield. However, it is not easy to capture the "cannon city", first of all, it is not easy to overcome the psychological obstacle of grasping the ignited firecrackers; secondly, the accuracy and strength of the throwing must be very exquisite. Therefore, if the "cannon city" is not broken, the organizers will have to lower the cannon city, but correspondingly, the bonus is not so much.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, Fujian experienced many wars, and the folk martial arts atmosphere was greatly promoted and remained in many folk customs in various places. For example, the "stone throwing as a play" in Fuqing, Zhangzhou and other places, the "rattan dance" in Zhangzhou, Yongchun, Pingtan and other places, the "Song Jiang Array" in southern Fujian and the three-eyed rifles fired in many local folk activities are all derived from the training of troops and martial arts in the war era. "The great affairs of the country are in the worship and the rong", the spirit of advocating culture and martial arts, which is vividly reflected in the annual customs.
"Rolling lights" in the countryside of Qingliu Wenjiao, photo: Chen Ruhui.
10
Shangyuan Lantern: One Night Fish and Dragon Dance
Since ancient times, the Lantern Festival has been a festival for viewing lanterns, and Fujian is no exception. The local Lantern Lantern is roughly divided into two categories, one is the dragon lantern and the other is the flower lantern.
Dragon lanterns are found everywhere, mainly bench dragons, small lanterns are installed on benches, head and tail are connected to each other in the shape of dragons, circling the village and even over mountains and mountains, like star han, quite spectacular. In some places, there are also "incense fire dragons", which are made of straw into the body of the dragon, and the incense is full of lit incense, and the bright stars are also very interesting.
Zhuangyuan riding lights, rabbit lights, lychee lamps and other flower lanterns are common children's toys throughout Fujian, and large flower lanterns, the best done is the Hakka area in western Fujian, first tie the skeleton, and then paste various colors of paper-cut, or make into vase shapes, or make a variety of animals, and even make a string of "sub-lanterns" of the Big Aoshan Lantern, glittering, breathtaking. The flower lanterns in western Fujian are often carried out to tour the village instead of contemplating, and in the alleys of the ancient village, all kinds of lanterns and colorful fish pass by, which really makes people have the reverie of "heaven on earth".
Wenjiao in Qingliu County has a unique "rolling lamp", which is a large wheel made of moso bamboo with a diameter of three or four meters, which is lit by lights and played music in the ancient village, which is a miracle.
The Lantern Festival in Fuzhou, photo: Zhang Jizhou.
11
Lantern Festival: The biggest carnival of the year
Fujian seems to be wandering all year round, but before and after the Lantern Festival is the most, and the time of each village community is staggered, which can occupy a whole month. There are many wanderers who have lived overseas for a long time, do not go home for the Spring Festival but go home to participate in the tour, after all, the Spring Festival is their own home, not lively enough, but the god of tourism is a collective activity, it is really lively. In some dialects, the activity of wandering the gods is called "making a fuss".
There are many temples in Mindi, many temples have jurisdiction over certain areas, Fuzhou and Ningde are called "jing", Quanzhou has "paving" in the "realm", Putian and Zhangzhou are accustomed to using "she", in short, the jurisdiction is roughly the same size as the village or block. The idol is lifted out of the temple and paraded around for a week, called "circumnavigating the realm" or "touring the community". There are also those who carry the idol to the ancestral temple to "enter the incense" or "ask for fire", and like the Olympic flame, the incense invited from the ancestral temple is installed in the "incense bearer" and burned all the way back to the respective temple.
The procession of the wandering gods is roughly the same as the honor guards who went out on official patrols in the old days, with large lanterns as the guide, followed by deacon cards, honor guards, followed by shrines, and other folk advocates such as Juban, Ten Tones And Eight Music, and Nanyin. This is only a basic configuration, and many tricks have been added to the top according to their own habits. For example, fuzhou will have many "soap classes" wearing big hats and soap clothes, as well as large god dolls with bamboo skeleton wooden brain shells swaying and walking as a guide; in some places in Putian, there are horses draped in embroidery "Xinghua White Jade Lion" traveling in teams; Zhangzhou has a "Song Jiangjing" martial arts team and lion dances along the way, and will also carry the shrine barefoot over the fiery red charcoal, the scene is extremely exciting. As for the "prison carts" and "prisoners" who are still willing to play in some places, it is even more as if Mr. Lu Xun's "Five Rampant Society" is alive. If you write out the various conditions of the wandering gods in detail, I am afraid that I will not be able to write a book.
However, I would like to write here in light of the current situation and talk about the current situation of wandering in the current modern society. Many of the traditional customs mentioned earlier can be continued as long as there is a heart at home or can be organized in the temple. But you need to be well organized, well-funded, and staffed, and you can't support it alone. In the past agrarian society, people did not have much entertainment and their faith was also pious, which was not very problematic. But now the city is expanding, which challenges the soil to which the wandering gods and folklore are attached. When the residents of the "realm" and "society" move out of the work, and even if the original community is demolished and relocated, it is difficult to gather manpower and funds for the activities of the gods, so it is inevitable that they will weaken or even die out year by year.
The old-school Fuzhou tourist gods (putian and Quanzhou and other places have a similar practice) are to carry the idols into the halls of each house and sit in the right seat to enjoy the feast, called "eating feast". Because band performances and worshippers take a lot of time, a "feast" is often as long as an hour, and if the village is larger, the time of one day is not enough, so in recent years, it is often simplified to a rare sight. Previously, there were only a few places in the suburbs of Fuzhou that still retained the ancient custom of "eating and feasting" in ancient houses. For example, in the northern suburbs of Xiafang Village, on the fifteenth and sixteenth days of the first month, Lady Linshui and the Marquis of The Protector of the Country went out on a tour in turn, preaching in unison all the way, and every time they arrived at a household, someone burned incense and burned paper to worship, and then invited an incense from the incense burner to go home (called "changing incense"). In this way, walking and stopping, when we arrived at the old house where the banquet was held, the soap class and the band entered first, and were divided into two sides, and the yellow-clad caravan carried the shrine across the specially opened screen door into the patio, and held the statue into the hall where the lights were illuminated. In the hall, several eight immortal tables are arranged into a long strip, and the left and right rows are placed with candlesticks, and in the middle are tea, wine and meat offerings. During the band's rotational performances, the descendants of the old house came to the hall in turn to prostrate themselves, which was the only time of the year when they gathered. After the gods were "drunk and full", they set off again and gave the Blessings of the New Year to every household.
In 2015, I recorded the scene of the gods in Xiafang Village. The people in the temple said that many years had passed since their last visit to the gods, and they hoped that I could give them a souvenir, so I washed a set of photos and sent them, they had to pay, I only asked for a New Year's peace charm in the temple, and the right to pay for it was still exchanged. After a few short years, Xiafang Village was demolished, not only did the wandering god "eating feast" become a masterpiece, but the warm moments in the memory were difficult to find again.
Although, in the city built of reinforced concrete, the gods of tourism are also carried out, and some communities with the majority of original residents will also hold "eating banquets", but it is definitely less of the taste in the old streets and alleys, and I can only think of "courtesy and loss of the wilderness" and "there is still true love in the world", which comforted me.
Xiafang Village's former tourist god "Eating Feast", photo: Zhang Jizhou.
After the Lantern Festival, it seems that the fireworks have dissipated, and the month-long New Year's Festival has come to an end.
If you have ever lived in Fujian, you may understand that once the new moon with flowers and flowers and fiery cooking oil has passed, life is as usual, and the rest is lonely mountains and seas, and the heavens and the earth are empty. Surrounded by mountains, arable land is scarce, and natural disasters occur frequently, in the past people had to cross the ocean to go to sea and work hard to live, and their desire for their hometown and their belief in the gods were therefore even stronger.
A long time ago, I wrote a comment for Jay Chou's "Train Nagging Position": "I like to be lively, like firecrackers, like to blow, the thorn balls of the children, the shaking palanquins, the red charcoal, the rotating umbrellas, in fact, because the background space of Fujian is silent, especially in the hot summer, the colors of the mountains and seas are becoming more and more distinct in the sound of cicadas, and you know that the typhoon is coming again." Nanyin or Songzai drama, there is a tone with mourning, that is the voice of the heart, when the 'hot' is gone, looking at a place of firecracker paper, the ears are empty, it will be more lonely than no 'hot'. ”
But Fujian people are still willing to: toil the terraces, to fight in the commercial sea, to leave their hometowns overseas to work, and even to fight with the terrifying waves on the sea for a whole year, just to be able to have money to go home to live a grateful year, a traditional Fujian year that is more wonderful and glamorous than in previous years.
"There is only one kind of heroism in the world, that is, to love life after recognizing the truth of life."
Author: Zhang Jizhou
Editor: Lee Shane Walk away
Proofreader: Chen Diyan