Wei County Warm Spring Ancient Town hit the tree flower
Playing trees and flowers is a unique folk activity in The ancient town of Nuanquan, a famous historical and cultural town in China, which has a history of 500 years. In 2021, "Hitting Trees and Flowers" was included in the fifth batch of national intangible cultural heritage list in Hebei Province, and was praised as "the world's most extraordinary". Today (February 15) is the fifteenth day of the first month, walk into Wei County, Hebei Province, where the golden "flowers" bloom, and feel the charm of intangible cultural heritage.
Ulsan hit the tree flowers. Hebei Daily reporter Zhao Yonghui photographed
It is said that there were many pig iron foundries in Nuanquan Town, and every New Year's Festival, the rich people set off fireworks to celebrate, and the blacksmiths were also eager for a lively celebration. But the blacksmiths could not afford fireworks, and they took inspiration from the sparks that splashed around when the pig iron was molded, and spilled the molten pig iron water on the brick walls above the castle gates, like fireworks. This special "fireworks" attracts more and more ordinary people, and its lively and festive atmosphere is not inferior to the rich people who own fireworks. Therefore, there is a folk custom of "rich people setting off fireworks and ordinary people beating trees and flowers" every New Year.
Wei County Warm Spring Ancient Town hit the tree flower
The preparation before the tree flower performance was also careful. Spoons made from willow roots must be soaked in water for a few days, and then dried over a slow fire so that the spoons are not burned by molten iron and the spoon handles are not too hot. The craftsman wears a sheepskin jacket and a bucket hat, which is anti-scalding. Despite all the caution, after a performance, the performer will still be more or less burned by the splashing Mars, so the back of the craftsman's hand is always covered with old scars and new hot blisters. The flower of the tree, the flower of the ancients, is the flower of the hearts of the craftsmen.
Ulsan hit the tree flowers
According to the division of labor, the tree flower is divided into two parts: "palm furnace" and "palm spoon", the person in charge of the furnace is responsible for smelting and carrying the molten iron, and the person in charge of the spoon is responsible for the performance of the tree flower. On the afternoon of the performance, the people in charge of the furnace will perform the "sacrificial stove" ceremony to pray for the safety of the people of Guotai and also to bless the men who beat the trees and flowers to perform smoothly. After nightfall, the furnace bearer puts the pig iron into the iron-making furnace, melts it into molten iron at 1600 degrees Celsius, and carries the molten iron to the front of the castle with a special refractory pot. At this time, the men who beat the tree flowers were about to go on the field, they wore sheepskin jackets, wore felt hats, held a willow spoon soaked in cold water, and sprinkled a spoonful of molten iron on the brick fort wall, and the hot molten iron met the cold brick fort wall, and in an instant, they burst out of the golden flowers, like waterfalls pouring down, and like beads falling on the jade plate, they made a crisp sound, because the scattered iron flowers were like a big canopy, and they got the name of "beating the tree flowers".
In order to better pass on this traditional folk custom, in recent years, the local government has invested more than 60 million yuan to specially repair the "World's First Fort Tree Flower Square" for performance, and created a large-scale live folk performance "Fire Tree Golden Flower", which combines the performance with local folk customs characteristics with the beating of tree flowers to give people a beautiful visual enjoyment. (Edited by Cao Qinyu)