Light the lamp, burn the incense, and fill the warehouse with grain
------------------------
Text/Figure Li Fulin
The Filling Cang Festival is a Festival of Han Chinese folk symbolizing the abundance of grains in the New Year. The so-called filling of the barn means to fill the barn, and the "filling festival" is also known as the "heavenly warehouse festival" because of the harmony between "filling" and "heaven".
Folk have a small filling warehouse and an old filling warehouse, the twentieth day of the first lunar month is "small filling", and the twenty-fifth day of the first month is "old filling". Many places, regardless of size, now celebrate the Warehouse Filling Festival on the 23rd day of the first month. In terms of its origin, some say that the Amakura Festival is the day of the star sacrifice, and some say that it is to sacrifice the land or sacrifice the gods.
Legend has it that in ancient times, the north had a continuous drought for three years, and the red land was thousands of miles, and there was no harvest of grains. However, the emperor did not care about the people's lives and deaths, and still forcibly requisitioned the imperial grain, so that there was famine for many years, and hunger was everywhere, especially in the New Year's Pass, and the poor were cornered. In this way, the barn official who showed the emperor grain resolutely opened the imperial barn, relieved the victims, and set fire to the warehouse on the twenty-fifth day of the first month and set himself on fire. In order to commemorate this warehouse official, every year on this morning, they use grass and wood ash to sprinkle a round hoard-shaped granary, some also inlaid with lace, auspicious words, and sprinkled five grains in the hoard, symbolizing the abundance of grain, to express the deep affection of people to fill the barn to save the barn. Now these customs have disappeared, but the good story of filling warehouses has been passed down from generation to generation, reminding people to clear warehouses and sweep stockpiles, dry seeds, renovate farm tools, and prepare for spring ploughing from this day on.
Later, the meaning of filling the position expanded, and people gave it various other meanings. In Beijing, the twenty-third day of the first month is "small filling", and the "big filling" is on the twenty-fifth day of the first month. This custom has been popular throughout the country, especially in the northern region.
There are three theories about filling a position. The first is that the day should be full and full, so that the year will not be hungry, it will be very smooth. In fact, it is filled with wine and food. The Qing Dynasty Fu Cha Dun chong's "Records of the Yanjing Years" quotes Lu Qihong's "Beijing Chronicles of the Chinese Years" of the Ming Dynasty as saying: "On the twenty-fifth day, people will eat beef and mutton in the city, and they will eat arbitrarily, and the guests will stay bitterly and will be full." It is called filling a position. ”
The second theory is that on this day, it is necessary to accumulate rice and collect coal, which is called "filling the warehouse". Pan Rongxi of the Qing Dynasty said in the "JiSheng in the Age of Emperor Jing": "The people of the Beijing Division do not cultivate and chisel, they are less covered, they are needed for daily use, and it is easy to go out of the city." When this new festival has passed, the warehouse is virtual, and it should be reset and realized, so it is called filling the position. "In fact, it is a reminder that it is not easy to live at home, and we must always pay attention to the necessary things to live a life, and do not live today and ignore tomorrow." This is the virtue of thrift and thrift that is characteristic of Chinese.
The third theory is that in the countryside, a little ash is sprinkled on the ground of the yard on this day, painted in the shape of a grain hoard, and a little grain is placed in it, symbolizing the fence, called "filling the warehouse". It is a ritual of expecting a good harvest. These three statements the common people prefer the first, it is more practical.
It is said that for breakfast on this day, to eat the best at that time, eat millet dried rice mixed noodles, metaphorically rich in diet, the stomach is full of food, there is the meaning of "filling the warehouse". Before eating, firecrackers should be set off to burn incense to worship the gods, and after the meal, the bricks that press the grain should be removed, and the chickens and dogs and other animals should be allowed to peck and eat, indicating that the grain is full of warehouses and is not afraid of chickens and dogs to eat.
At that time, the family's grain hoarded to add some grain, the tank was filled with water, and some coal was put at the door to make the town house. At night, the farm yard is full of candles to worship the god of the warehouse, and also with lanterns or flashlights in the courtyard house to find a variety of small insects that have been revived, found the more signs the better, then called "warehouse filling worms", some people also cut some colored paper small gourds, pasted on the doors and windows or felt hats, calling this day the Day of the Taishang Laojun Alchemy, can save the family from hundreds of diseases.
Folk warehouse filling festival, more ancient origin is believed to commemorate the god of the warehouse, who is the god of the warehouse? Jin Shu Astronomical Chronicle Yun: "Six stars in Tiancang, in Lounan, Gu Shou also." Later, the god Cangshen was personified and attached to historical figures. Qing Shao Gong 's Old Customs of Yanjing, Years, and Tim Cang" Yun: "According to legend, the god of Cang is Han Xin, the founding father of the Western Han Dynasty, commonly known as Han Wuye,...... Its deity is a young and handsome man, with a royal helmet and dragon robe, and a magnificent image. ”
It turned out that the cangshen was Han Xin, the founding general of the Western Han Dynasty, and his portrait was handsome and handsome, graceful and luxurious, which reflected the importance attached to grain in China's agricultural country and the lofty status of grain storage in Chinese life. On this day, grain-related practitioners and farmers are sacrificed to the god of cang, in order to ask the god of cang to bless cangxiao with peace.
Xijing customs refill the warehouse, early cooking cigarettes busy.
Do not teach a thousand bells to fill the old rats, but must exchange the grain for a new intestine.
The empty sac accumulation word He Can cook, the thin abdomen pile is not measurable.
Chaguan Plain is a diner, and it is no harm to feed with others.
This poem is a "filling poem" by the Qing Dynasty literary scholar Kong Shangren. From the verses, it can be seen that every family cooks tobacco early, cooks food, and eats a full meal for the whole family.
During the Warehouse Filling Festival, many folk activities are closely related to eating habits. In the Northern Yanbei region of Shanxi, it is customary to steam the noodle nest, taking its shape like a grain hoard. Using soba noodles as a pill and placing it in the hollow place of the noodles is called filling the warehouse. People in the Jinzhong area take a little of the lamp-smoked wall soil in the granary every day, which is called "filling". In the Jinnan region, thin noodles are spread into extremely thin noodles, wrapped in dishes, and eaten in rolls. If a new daughter-in-law is married, the new daughter-in-law will personally place the pancakes in the granary.
Warehouse filling festival, folklore pays attention to the joy of entering and getting out. On this day, grain should be added to the hoard, water should be added to the tank, and some charcoal should be placed at the door to town house. As the old custom was, farmers did not sell grain on this day, but grain banks were most happy to buy grain on this day. Therefore, the owner of the grain store also set up a banquet with wine on this day, and warmly welcomed the farmers who came to sell grain. Some poor peasants who are forced by life can't care about the taboos, and they also sell grain on this day, and they can earn a good meal anyway.
When offering sacrifices to the god of the warehouse on the night of the Cangcang Festival, all places related to food and drink are placed with lamps, lamps, and sacrifices to pray for a good year. On that day, lights should be lit inside the house, outside the door, slot head, chicken nest, stone child, water tank, etc., if there are newlyweds in the family, they should light the lamp in the cabinet, several cases, beds, and beds in their houses, and wish them an early birth of a noble son.
In the countryside of northern China and the suburbs of Beijing, this warehouse filling festival is popular. The custom in Beijing is that the twenty-third day of the first month is "small filling", and the twenty-fifth day is "large filling". There is a folk proverb in Beijing: "After the New Year, twenty-three, fill the barn with rice noodles to make lamps." Take a dustpan, sweep the east wall, and pick up insects to test the harvest year. He also said: "Tiancang, Tiancang, rice and rice noodle soup", "Light all the lamps, burn all over the incense, and fill the warehouse with grain." These proverbs have been passed down to this day.
Indeed, fragrant rice and silky noodle soup are the good meals of northern people' families, which are better than gourmet meals, reflecting the good atmosphere of hard work and frugality in northerners.
In Tianjin, filling a warehouse is also known as hoarding. During the Spring Festival in Tianjin, there is a custom of pasting "hanging money" on doors and windows (that is, a kind of window-like thing carved on red paper). In the early morning of the twenty-fifth day of the first month, each family should remove the hanging money attached to the doors and windows, wrap some grains and grains in a small circle drawn the first day, and then press a brick to symbolize that the granary has been filled, so that a daytime time is saved, and finally the hanging money is gathered together and burned. Some people will directly wrap up the hanging money that has been removed, and wrap some change in it, and then place it in the corner of the cabinet, under the bed and other places that are not often encountered, store it for a year, wait until the next year to fill the warehouse, and then replace it with the newly unveiled hanging money.
The custom of filling the warehouse in the Lüliang area of Shanxi is the most typical, on the same day, each family member should be given a noodle to pinch a life lamp, and then pinch two dogs, a chicken, a fish, as well as a population plate, a warehouse official, silver coins, yuanbao, a charcoal donkey and a wine cup, a wine pot, etc., and these face lamps will be lit with oil during the evening sacrifice. Honmei lamp is placed on the kang in the home, the dog is placed at the gate, the chicken is placed in the courtyard, the fish floating tank, the donkey stands in the livestock pen, the barn official hangs in the skylight, and the rest is placed in the house.
When placing the face lamp, the mouth should also shout the corresponding auspicious words, such as: "Han Wangye, fill the warehouse, the grain yuanbao fills in our family", "Black boy, rush the car, the yuanbao grain rushes to the family", etc., these are the good wishes and simple feelings of the people looking forward to a rich life.
"Tiancang" was originally the name of the stars in the sky. The ancients believed that there were countless gods in the night sky, there was a star and a god, and the Celestial Star was regarded as the earliest warehouse god because of its name similar to the granary in the human world, in charge of the grain warehouse hoard in the human world. Later, there were cangshen who were served by historical figures, such as the famous han dynasty general Han Xin, who was called "Han Wangye", and was molded into a handsome young man wearing a helmet and a robe. Legend has it that the 25th day of the first month is the birthday of the god Cang, and on this day, the people of Jiexiu, Shanxi, will make a face like the god of cang and set up a hoard for people to worship. The barn god in Haiyang and other places in Shandong Is "Man Hoard Aunt", and people offer buns and noodle fish in front of the grain hoard, called "insurance fish for many years". However, because the common people have grain hoards in their homes, no matter who is the lord of the warehouse, they just have to sacrifice it. Not only the common people, but also the grain merchants and rice sellers will also sacrifice to the god of the warehouse on this day and ask him for his blessing.
On the 25th day of the first month, the Warehouse Filling Festival drew a satisfactory end to the Spring Festival, and people began the hard work of the new year with the hope of a good harvest.
With the progress and development of the times, the people's lives have become more and more abundant, and the custom of filling in warehouses and hoarding has slowly disappeared. However, good folklore is a part of folk culture, and in a certain aspect, it can play a role in stabilizing the mind, optimizing the mentality, adding interest, and promoting cohesion.