With the arrival of the Lantern Festival in the Year of the Tiger
Xigu District Hekou Ancient Town South City Moat Ancient City Wall Ruins
The 2020 yarn lights are on
For visitors to see
It means that the ancient town of Hekou is red and auspicious
Estuary yarn lamps have a long history
Hekou Ancient Town was once a famous land and water pier in Longshang. In the past, there has always been a tradition of making yarn lamps here, and the yarn lamps in Estuary are exquisitely made and rich in culture. However, with the development of the times, the yarn lamp gradually faded out of people's sight, and even faced the serious problem of loss.
"I used to hear my fathers say that in the past, the ancient town of Hekou had a tradition of putting river lamps, using a white porcelain bowl as a base, tying beautiful lotus flowers on it, lighting candles in the middle, and a beautiful river lamp was completed." Zhang Zhenxiang, the inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage of Lanzhou, said, "When I was a child, my father took me to the old artist who was engaged in paper tying at the mouth of the river to watch how to make paper lamps, and at my request, the old artist made a goldfish lantern. This lantern is moving and vivid, and I was very impressed. When I got home, I made the same lantern from memory. Since then, I have been out of control, and I often use my free time to make some of my favorite handicrafts. ”
According to records, most of the traditional yarn lanterns in Hekou were made in the late 19th century, and the lanterns are flanked by traditional Chinese classical masterpieces such as "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "Dream of the Red Chamber", "Journey to the West", and folk tales circulating locally in Hekou such as "Liu Xiu and Jujube Tree". Every New Year's Festival of hanging lights, from the tenth day of the first month of the first month, the four streets in the mouth of the river set up a lamp stand, every few hours to set up a lamp stand, each hanging 3 lights, hanging yarn lights on both sides, hanging lanterns in the middle, east, west, south and north four streets, each set up 30 lights, each 3 lights, a total of 120 shelves, 360 lights in the whole street. The twelfth day of the first month is "on the lamp", the fourteenth and fifteenth of the first month are "positive lights", and the sixteenth day of the first month is "the lamp is defeated", a total of 5 nights, that is, the meaning of "five grains and abundance", also known as "five nights lantern".
Innovative yarn lamp craftsmanship in the heritage
"The most traditional yarn lamp is the sheep fat lamp. After the lights are lit at night, under the evening wind, the sheep fat lamp flickers, and the characters have a flexible state under the light." Zhang Zhenxiang said that at the beginning of the production of traditional yarn lamps, there was no teacher and books, so he visited old folk artists and studied the historical materials of yarn lamps, in addition to dismantling the old yarn lamps and restoring them step by step, slowly accumulating production experience, and also understanding the true artistic connotation of yarn lamps from historical materials.
"The yarn lamps and their craftsmanship that have been fortunately preserved are very precious." After Zhang Zhenxiang joined the work, he engaged in propaganda work in the Hekou Village League Branch, and when he went to the countryside, he saw a beautiful traditional yarn lamp, coupled with the memory of his childhood, he was deeply attracted and decided to restore this traditional craft. Now, his biggest wish is to slowly pass on the yarn lamp craft through his own hands and better show the beauty of the yarn lamp.
"Yarn lamps are a collection of carpentry, carving, lacquer and painting art as a whole, through processing, molding, painting, painting and other processes to make." Zhang Zhenxiang gradually developed a set of processes for making yarn lamps, of which only the painting part includes the steps of accounting yarn, drawing, gluing, line drawing, background color, dyeing and finishing.
In recent years, the yarn lanterns in hekou ancient town have also become one of the characteristics that attract tourists. Zhang Zhenxiang and some craftsmen make yarn lamps in the folk museum in Hekou Town, each lamp is made in strict accordance with traditional techniques, and the four lamp faces are connected by a mortise and tenon structure to form a yarn lamp. "It's easy to disassemble, and the lamp face of each lamp is painted with a historical story, which perfectly shows the wisdom of the ancestors on the yarn lamp." Zhang Zhenxiang said.
In 2013, Zhang Zhenxiang restored and manufactured more than 200 ancient yarn lamps, not only retaining the original technical style of the ancient yarn lamp, but also innovating on the basis of the original yarn lamp picture, using modern technology, showing elements such as the Chinese dream and the new "Twenty-four Filial Pieties" on the ancient yarn lamp and displaying it at the Xigu Red Jujube Festival. Subsequently, these yarn lamps were hung on the four main streets of Hekou Ancient Town for tourists to enjoy the style of ancient yarn lamps. It can be said that from the external exquisite and inner cultural value of the yarn lamp, it can be seen that the traditional Lanzhou craftsmen's pursuit of a better life, the estuary yarn lamp is the crystallization of the wisdom of the traditional craftsman, so that the colorful yarn lamp that condenses the past is more brilliant in the new era.
Source: Lanzhou Daily all-media reporter Teng Xiaohong
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