Grass Dragon Dance of Dongguan Qishi Autumn Maple Cultural Festival. Photo by Su Shi Ri
The National Day Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, and many shop lanterns are beginning to heat up. Nandu Infographic
Villagers in Huangdong Village, Jiangmen, dance a fire dragon. Photo by Ou Ruirong
Friends and family drink freely, villagers gather to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, are those exclusive Mid-Autumn Festival memories still swirling in your mind?
Dongguan
Grass Dragon Dance
In Dongguan, it is mainly distributed in Qishi, Hengli, Fenggang and other towns, and there are performances every Mid-Autumn Festival, represented by the grass dragon dance in Shangdong Village, Qishi Town, which embodies a spirit of living dragons and tigers. As early as 2010, it was a provincial intangible cultural heritage project.
Straw filled with incense sticks danced, the stars flowed, and the villagers would beat gongs and drums, and throw cannonballs to the surrounding areas, and everyone prayed for abundant grain. The fire dragon is very beautiful like a cloud driving a fog. It is worth mentioning that the performance has a plate, roll, swim, flip, jump, up, volt, grab and other actions, there are jumping dragon gate, crossing the dragon bridge, worshiping the four sides, walking the dragon cloud, wearing the dragon belly, licking the dragon's back, looking for dragon balls and other routines. There are also dragon walks, golden dragon drill stalls, head and tail drills, dragon spit color, golden dragon string pillar, fire dragon swing tail, dragon play waves, one pillar optimus prime and other shapes.
Zhongshan
Hang up the marquee
In zhongshan's Mintian cash crop area, on the night of the 15th mid-autumn festival of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, most of them are dancing salons, hanging horse lanterns, playing with dragons and phoenixes, guessing lantern riddles, zagong lamps, dancing cranes, dancing phoenixes, boating under the moon, and putting paper boats. In Sha Tin District, there are many lotus lanterns, singing folk songs under the moon, putting paper boats, pickpocket boats, and there are also customs of guessing lantern riddles. In the Hakka area, it is mainly based on dragon dances, big plays, singing mountain songs, guessing puzzles, and playing stilts.
Jiangmen
Dancing "Fire Dragon"
Every year on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Dawu Village, Zhangcun and Shrimp Village in Kaiping, Jiangmen have the custom of dancing fire dragons.
Dawu Village is the ancestral village of RongGong, the ancestor of the Kaipingguan people, and the local custom of dancing fire dragons was brought from the Central Plains with the southward migration of Ronggong in that year, which has a history of hundreds of years. In the old days, the body of the fire dragon was made of straw, covered with banana leaves, and then inserted with incense sticks. With the development of industry, the fire light on the dragon has also evolved from a simple incense to an electronic glowstick and diode.
Yang Jiang
Put a hole lamp
In terms of Mid-Autumn Festival folklore, Yangjiang Mid-Autumn Festival is also quite exquisite, buying sweet sugar chicken, pinning on the yearning for a sweet life in the future; setting off Kong Ming lanterns and praying for the future days to rise every day. In rural areas, there are also ways to express the pursuit of red-hot days through kilns and barbecues.
Zhanjiang
Weaving a pig cage
Mooncakes made into the shape of piglets are packed into small cages woven in bamboo, and during the Mid-Autumn Festival, red threads are worn on children's chests, necks or small bamboo poles, and one end of the cage is red and green, and some are also tied with ribbons or flowers, which is both the seasonal food of the Mid-Autumn Festival in the old times and the plaything of children.
Maoming
Do the annual routine
During the Mid-Autumn Festival, Maoming has many areas to do annual examples, such as Huazhou and some towns and villages in Dianbai. Among them, the annual routine of Ma Ta Town in Dianbai District is the most lively.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is the "first festival" in Ma Ta Town and is the most grand festival of the year. On that day, the most interesting program was "Sending Cannons". Early in the morning, the villagers began to make preparations, there were a variety of floats, floats with children dressed as cantonese opera in the various Hua Dan, as well as lion dance team, dragon dance team, bunting team, colorful team, honor guard and so on. When everything was ready, the sound of fireworks sounded, the mighty procession crossed the streets and alleys, and the sound of gongs and drums spread to every corner of Mata Town.
Zhaoqing
"Fire Head"
Every year on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, in the Baishi Residents Group of Huanggang Community under Huanggang Street in Duanzhou District, Zhaoqing, residents stage a lively traditional custom "throwing fire head" (i.e. " fire dragon dance) to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. During this period, only to see one "crackling" sounding fire head rolling up and down with the rotation of the performer's body, the fireball drifted out of the wind several meters long flame, the flame stained the sky red, the scene is very spectacular.
Qingyuan
Weaving fire dragons
The fire dragon dance is a characteristic folk custom of the Mid-Autumn Festival in Xingzi Town, Lianzhou City, Qingyuan Province, and has a history of hundreds of years. At that time, the villages of Xingzi Town will hold a dragon dance activity for three consecutive nights, and more than 10,000 people will gather to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival.
That night, the villages of Xingzi Town were intensively weaving fire dragons and gathering incense from house to house. After the "loading of the dragon", the drum sounded, and the young and strong boys of each village began to walk the village alleys, and finally gathered in the Xingzi Town Cultural Square. At the scene, the young men danced with the dragon head dragon body, not afraid of firecrackers, but felt that the more they were "welcomed" by firecrackers, the more lucky they would be in the future.
Chaozhou
Taro ancestor worship
There is a proverb in Chaoshan that says: "The river is to the mouth, and the taro boy eats to fear." "In the mid-autumn of August, the sky is high and the moon is bright, and the Milky Way is brilliant." In the Milky Way, the Chaoshan people call the river, in August, it is the harvest season of taro, and farmers are accustomed to using taro to worship their ancestors. Although this is related to agricultural affairs, there is also a widely circulated story: in 1279, the Mongol army destroyed the Southern Song Dynasty, established the Yuan Dynasty, and brutally ruled the Han Chinese. Ma Fa held Chaozhou to resist the Yuan, and after the city was destroyed, the people were slaughtered. In order not to forget the "suffering of hu rule", posterity will take taro and "Hu tou" harmonic sound, and shaped like a human head, in order to pay tribute to the ancestors, passed down through the generations into the wind, still exists today.
The Story of the Slaughter of Tartars on August 15 was also widely circulated among the Chaoshan people, and the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty stipulated that each family should live with a Mongol soldier, be supported by the Han people, monitor the movements of the Han people, and only allow the three families to share a kitchen knife. The people could not bear the bitterness, so they took advantage of the opportunity to eat the moon cake on August 15, and put the note of the meeting to kill the thief in the moon cake filling, so that the night was a success. Therefore, posterity regarded this day as a memorial day for resisting oppression.
Unveiling the sun
Moontime nostalgia
In Jieyang, the traditional Mid-Autumn Festival, moon appreciation, moon worship is essential, in rural areas "sense of ceremony" is stronger, some villages have villagers will be the table concentrated in the empty space, the villagers together to enjoy the moon, chat, the scene is very lively.
In the countryside, some skillful women will make pineapples, lotuses and flower baskets before the Mid-Autumn Festival to add a festive atmosphere to the festival. Looking at these exquisite "crafts" when "moon worship lady", neighbors will also praise each other and exchange production experience. Adults are chatting outdoors watching the moon, and children are playing together with flower lanterns, which is very warm. Neighbors drank kung fu tea, ate mooncakes and melon fruits, chatted about home cooking, and enjoyed good times.
Clouds float
"Mid-Autumn Festival"
In Yunfu, the Mid-Autumn Festival has a traditional custom full of interest, called "Mid-Autumn Festival in the Tree". The tree is also vertical, that is, the meaning of the lights are erected high, so it is also called "vertical mid-autumn". Every Mid-Autumn Festival, each family should use bamboo strips to tie lamps, the rows of lamps are diverse, fish and dragon lamps, bird and animal lamps, flower and fruit lamps, etc., can also be built into "He Mid-Autumn Festival" and other character lights. At night, candles are lit in the lamp, and many small lamps, bunting flags, silver bells, etc. are connected below, and the rope is tied to a bamboo pole, high on the tile eaves or the terrace, or the small lamp is used to form a glyph or various shapes, and hangs it on the high side of the house.