In Doushuiping Village, Shuidong Town, the "Night Story" folk activity is held every year on the first day of the second month of the lunar calendar. Villagers play opera roles, mythological figures, etc., praying for smooth wind and rain and prosperous days.
In Doushuiping Village, villagers are wearing makeup and changing costumes to prepare for the "night story" in the evening. Among them, there are both elderly "night stories" who are over seventy years old and young people who are participating for the first time.
Luo Dongju is the inheritor of Linwu's "Night Story" culture, and since she was 13 years old, she has been learning to sing and perform "Night Story" with her parents. Today, at the age of 65, she is still passionate about this folk activity.
Luo Dongju introduced that when she was a child, she was very curious about the programs and characters of the night story, and as she slowly grew older, she understood the meaning of this.
At night, the villagers held torches and braziers, walked on the laneways of the village, and performed "Fan Lihua", "Mu Guiying", "Three Qi Zhou Yu", "Lin Chong Night Run", "Night Over Bazhou" and other programs, and the whole village was very lively and festive.
The origin of the "Night Story" folklore in Doushuiping Village can be traced back to the middle of the Qing Dynasty, when the villagers lived in hardship and were eager to change the status quo, they selected and adapted local folk operas and mythological stories, combined with local customs such as ancestor worship and exorcism, and performed them through singing, acting, and confessing. With up to 108 shows, each villager can play and participate in them, and get a sense of spiritual comfort from it.
Luo Dongju told reporters that the night story contains a lot of traditional culture in it, but also the painstaking efforts of the older generation, and each program has its own exquisite and moral meaning.
Sun Wenhui, a researcher at the Hunan Provincial Academy of Arts and a national first-class screenwriter, introduced that this is his sixth time to come to Wu, but watching the night story is still the first time, he said that Linwu has a long history, the night story has a long heritage, the mass and participation are relatively strong, and the program is lively and very unique.
After hundreds of years of continuity, "Today, Night Story" has become an important emotional bond between local villagers. In 2021, "Night Story" was included in the fifth batch of intangible cultural heritage list in Hunan Province.
"Combining Qi opera with stories and becoming an intangible cultural heritage item that people like and like to hear is very worthy of inheritance." Sun Wenhui, a researcher at the Hunan Provincial Academy of Arts and a national first-class screenwriter, believes that under the strong promotion of the county party committee and the county government, in the future, the night story, a characteristic intangible cultural heritage, will surely develop better and better, further help rural revitalization, and drive the development of the local tourism industry.
The simple and vivid and allegorical "night story" can not only enable the people to draw positive spiritual strength from it, but also enrich the spiritual and cultural life while pinning everyone's simple emotions and yearning for a better life.
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