Festivals in Guangzhou: from the Chinese New Year to the Mid-Autumn Festival

□ Ye Shuming

The biggest and longest festival of the year is the New Year. Ask a Guangzhou person what his impression of the New Year is, and you may answer: many, many flowers. The first day of the first lunar month, known as New Year's Day, Shuo Dan, Zheng Dan, etc., is the beginning of the year, the three yangs cross the Thai, spring warm blossoms. Thousands of families greet the New Year with flowers.

Any festival needs certain rituals to maintain, these rituals include what can be done, what can not be done, what should be done, there are rules and regulations, there are first and then, not chaotic. Guangzhou people's New Year actually begins on the 23rd day of the Waxing Moon, which is called "entering the New Year". This day is the day of the stove, offering pork, rice, sugar and other things, burning incense and burning paper, and sending the stove to heaven. After the ceremony, the rice is placed in a rice jar, which is called a "moraine urn" (pressed urn). At the time of the sacrifice stove, there is the so-called "official three people four five" saying, that is, the official eunuch family is twenty-three, the common people twenty-four, the people twenty-five. The Twenty-fourth Day of the Waxing Moon was fried, and the Notes on Eastern Guangdong recorded: "The custom of Guangzhou, at the end of the year, opens the glutinous valley with a fiery fire, known as the Cannon Valley, thinking that it is fried with a heap of heart filling; the frying heap, with the glutinous powder as the size of the circle into the frying, to the ancestors and relatives and friends, and also with the glutinous rice plate to knot the flowers into the oil frying, known as rice flowers; with powder mixed sugar into the lard frying, the name of shammer." "The 25th steamed rice cake and radish cake of the waxing moon mean that it rises every year."

From the day of the xie stove, every household was cleaned up. There is a song "Sweeping The Dust song of the Spring" that sings: "On the twenty-third day of the Waxing Moon, the clothes are washed; on the twenty-fourth day of the Waxing Moon, the house is cleaned; on the twenty-fifth day of the Waxing Moon, the house is dusted; on the twenty-sixth day of the Waxing Moon, the livestock house is washed; on the twenty-seventh day of the Waxing Moon, the inside and outside are washed into one; on the twenty-eighth day of the Waxing Moon, the house is wiped; on the twenty-ninth day of the Waxing Moon, the dirt is removed." "People buy flowers from the market, decorate their homes, and their mood blooms like flowers, and the Qing Dynasty's "Bamboo Branch Words" sings:

Yangcheng world flowers, but also buy flowers to spend the years.

Chinese New Year's Eve desks are offered together, and the incense breeze warms the people's homes.

The New Year is Chinese New Year's Eve night, the family is reunited, rejoicing and eating the New Year's dinner. In the suburbs of the countryside, in the Chinese New Year's Eve night (as well as the Dragon Boat Festival, the winter solstice night) there is also the custom of "shouting" for children. In the past, all children who talked about dreams, cried, and got sick were considered to be frightened and wandered out of the body, so they had to ask some old women with moral deeds to "shout and frighten" and summon the soul back. The "shouting" of Chinese New Year's Eve night is to shout to all children, whether they are sick or not, and they are called "shouting peace and alarm". Some families even have to "shout" for all the men, women and children in the family.

On the first day of the first lunar month, everyone closed the door to thank guests, eating at home, flowers and candles, offering gods and ancestors, the younger generations of the family worship the elders and express their blessings, and the elders speak auspicious words of encouragement to the young people. The second day of the first lunar month is the "opening of the New Year", burning incense to worship the gods, slaughtering chickens and ducks, feasting in a row, and then going out to worship the New Year, relatives and friends greeting each other; the married woman returns to her mother's house on this day. The third day of the New Year is "Chikou", folklore, this day to meet easy to attract words and wrong, so everyone stays at home, cleans the court, sweeps out the garbage at home, called "sending poor ghosts"; the fourth day of the new year to receive the god of Vesta; the fifth day of the new year to receive the god of wealth, commonly known as "broken poverty day", also known as "broken five", which means that the year is over.

The real climax of joy is that during the New Year, the city set up a stage, performed acrobatics, the golden drums were noisy, the songs were sung, the officials and the people were happy, and there was a jubilation, and men, women and children crowded the streets full of pits and valleys. In the early morning of the first day of the first year, the government held a ceremony to welcome the native cattle and mango seeds in the eastern suburbs. When it passed, the crowd threw rice millet at it to pray for a good year and spread the plague.

The fifteenth day of the first month is the Lantern Festival. The tradition of lanterns in Guangzhou has been prevalent during the Southern Han Dynasty and has lasted for thousands of years. The Qing Dynasty's "Yangcheng Bamboo Branch Words" depicts the scene of the Lantern Festival in the fire tree and silver flower in that year:

The fish lantern shines in the sky, and the hot Lantern is everywhere.

The top horse lion dragon character is good, and Qu Song Lane dances all the children.

Guangzhou folk customs, the first ten months of the first month to the Lantern Festival to "turn on the lights", all the ancestral hall gates, the center of the shrine and both sides, are hung lotus lamps; the stove king, the "bed head" god seat, the land temple are also lit up. On the night of "turning on the lights", relatives and friends gather together to "drink the lamp wine". The thirteenth day of the first month is "test light", that is, the meaning of pilot lanterns. On the eve of the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, the streets have set up lantern sheds, tied flowers, drums in unison, dragon and lion dances, rehearsal lantern programs, street vendors also bid for all kinds of paper lamps, competing for beauty; vendors selling "Grandma Lanterns" also carry their burdens and sell along the streets. People are also pleasant, the city is also bustling, and the infinite joy of spring returning to the earth makes the city come alive.

When it comes to Guangzhou flower lanterns, many people will think of frangipani lamps. Guangzhou people wrap frangipani flowers around the lamp wall, carved jade and ice, exquisite four photos, beautiful. The frangipani flower has a short flowering period and is used to decorate the lamps, which shows its luxury and luxury. Qu Dajun wrote about this kind of lantern in the "Guangdong New Language": "'Everyone is beautiful around the bun, and everywhere the light is worn. 'Flowers should also be used as lamps, carved jade and ice, exquisite four photos. The yogya is to guide the car and the horse, so Yang uses Xiuyun: the frangipani lamp in Guangdong, the most beautiful person in the world. "Frangipani flowers bloom in summer, and can be used as flower lanterns for Tanabata and Mid-Autumn Festival, but they can't make Lantern flower lanterns."

Flowers are indispensable to every festival. Women especially love flowers, frangipani flowers to pick before dawn, covered with a damp cloth, can not let the sun directly, so that the flowers will not bloom at once. Each city gate is a market for selling flowers, like the flower world embroidered in the golden sky, frangipani flowers, jasmine flowers, hanging bell flowers, daffodils, colorful turns, endless hopes, flowers bloom like snow, fragrant into clouds, covering the whole city.

Women are the biggest patrons, they buy frangipani flowers, not ten flowers and eight flowers, but in liters, the whole basket to buy home. In addition to making flower lanterns, it can also be made into flower balls, suspended at the head of the gate, placed in the embroidery tent, on the side of the pillow, and full of fragrance. Poor women only have the ornament of jingbu, and they will also use flowers to decorate themselves, making flower hairpins, flower crowns, flower pendants, flower necklaces, walking on the street, dressing and silk, adding infinite spring colors to the city. Without women, the city is a pool of stagnant water, there are some festivals, even specially designed for women, the Seven Beggars Festival in July, is a woman's festival.

The origin of this festival is only that the sun is good on this day, and the women will dry their clothes and bedding, beat a dozen, remove the musty smell, and beat off a few lice by the way; the students also take the opportunity to move the books out to dry, so as not to feed the silverfish. Later, it gradually evolved into a kind of comparison with each other, to see whose clothes were more beautiful and expensive, and who had more books. This custom was already very popular during the Southern and Northern Dynasties.

Society's demands on women's "female morality" sometimes reach the level of absurdity. The Western Han Dynasty's "Huainan WanbiShu" has been recorded: "On the seventh day of July, the yin and dry of the palace were collected, and the rule was combined, with jinghua water and tu female body, there was an article." That is to say, those who do not go are not adulterous, and those who go are adulterous. "The shougong is the gecko, and the jinghua water is the water drawn in the early morning, and the people at the time make them into something with witchcraft colors to test whether a woman is chaste." The love story of Tang Xuanzong and Yang Guifei in the Tang Dynasty's "Long Hate Song" is set in the "Hall of Eternal Life on the Seventh day of July", which also contains the connotation of "female virtue".

The water of Tanabata can not only test the virginity of women, but also has a special function. In the early morning of Qixi, the people of Guangzhou have already set out one after another, carrying large barrels and small barrels, waiting for the well and the river, and as soon as they hear the chickens crying, they immediately draw water as fast as they can. It is said that the water at this time, which weighs a few pounds more than usual, is stored for many years without changing its taste, and the more it is put in, the more sweet it is, it can treat fever, which is called "holy water", or "Tiansun water". The water that is drawn by the chicken twice does not have this effect. There is a song in the anecdote that sings: "The Tanabata River is competing for water, and the three Akita are competing to burn salt." ”

After the Jin Dynasty, the story of the cowherd weaver girl began to be associated with Tanabata. The Weaver Girl is said to be the god of weaving, and the needle is one of the important criteria for measuring whether a woman is virtuous and capable. The Jin People's Zhou "Record of Customs" describes the scene of the folk Tanabata Festival: "On the seventh day of July, its night sprinkled in the court, Lu Shi feasted, set up wine and fruit, scattered incense powder on the river drum, weaver girl, said that the two star gods should meet." The night watchman has a private wish, or the clouds see that there is Yi Yizheng white qi in the heavens, and there are five colors, which is a sign. He who sees him will worship, and may he beg for the rich and beg for life, and beg for a sonless man, but he shall beg for one, and shall not ask for both. This is very close to the Tanabata Festival of the hereafter.

Most of the unmarried women, the main activity of Tanabata, is "begging". Starting from the evening of July 6, all kinds of kit-kats are displayed outdoors, and all kinds of pocket flowers, fruits, ladies, utensils, palaces, etc. are made of grass, colored paper, sesame seeds, rice grains, etc., showing off the delicate and skillful; there are also all kinds of flowers, melons, cakes, baits, drinks, etc., and even miscellaneous women's things such as needles, fat powder, antiques, and rare plays, which are put out, and some large households can put on ten tables and eight tables. On the night of Tanabata, the girls burned incense and candles, prayed to the air, and prayed to the weaver girl to give her a pair of clever hands. Eating Tanabata cakes is a custom of the people of Guangzhou, which has been maintained until the modern era. Tanabata cake is also called "Seven Niang Cake", because it is shaped like a chess piece, it is also called "chess piece cake".

Begging activities, there are many different forms. Some women first put the basin water outdoors, after a period of time, the water surface forms a thin film, the embroidery needle (fine grass can also) lightly placed on the membrane, if the shadow at the bottom of the basin is cloud-like, flower-like, bird-like, shoe-shaped, scissor-like, etc., it is a coincidence; if the needle shadow is as thick as a mallet, as thin as silk, straight as an axis, it is not coincidental. Some women keep the spider in a small box, and the next day to see if it has a web, and the knotted web is more and the round one is a coincidence, and the one who does not weave the web is a stupid woman. Some women wear needle holes with silk threads in Tanabata competitions to see who can wear them quickly and accurately.

For the women in the palace, begging is naturally not for the sake of begging for needles, but just a simple amusement activity. The day before tanabata, the palace had set up a melon and fruit feast on the Danxia floor, prepared wine and food, jade bowls and golden urns, and several cases of light reflection. Downstairs, a scaffold is used to set up a bustling street market, with colorful lights, flowers paving the way, a variety of shops, stalls, and a variety of "goods". The concubines dressed up in commoners' green clothes and dressed up as vendors, and the emperor dressed as customers, "shopping and shopping", bargaining with each other for fun. The emperor would also invite some ministers to participate in begging activities in the palace. There is a poem that reads:

The moon on the side of the Danxia Building is like a hook, and the dew before the melon and fruit feast is autumn.

The curtains of the wind are still swaying on the good night, and the ten thousand wines have not stopped.

Deng Erya, a scholar of the Republic of China, wrote the "Bamboo Branch Words of Qixi Qixi": "Paper drunken gold fans fight skillfully, and folk customs still imitate the deep palace." Change the Tanabata from the sixth day of the first month, and the southern Guangdong still has five generations of wind. He added at the end of the poem: "Tanabata was changed to Six Nights, beginning in the fifth generation, and the ministers of Tanabata were required to go to the palace to beg for a chance." "It can be seen that the Qixi activities of the Southern Han Imperial Palace have a great impact on the people.

Seven seedlings began to be sold in the market. From the beginning of June, the countrymen began to soak the grain, breed them into seven seedlings, and after the Tanabata worshiped the heavenly immortals, they were dried and sold in the city. Women know a secret recipe, the seven niangs with malt, chicken gold, sugar orange cake, hawthorn, silkworm, boiled into tea soup or thin porridge, specializing in the summer heat of children. This is the last afterglow of Tanabata, and then we will have to wait for next year's Tanabata.

After Tanabata, a series of festivals followed. The 15th of July, the 24th Birthday of the City of July, and the Mid-Autumn Festival of August 15th are all days of rejoicing. The custom of the Mid-Autumn Festival, some people say that it only appeared in the Song Dynasty, in fact, it began to form in the Tang Dynasty, Tang Xuanzong wanted to build a "lookout platform", and the prime minister Su Yong put wine on the night shift in the palace on August 15 to admire the moon, which is a widely circulated story. Many Tang Dynasty poets wrote poems titled Mid-Autumn Festival.

The mid-autumn festival of moon appreciation slowly spread from the circle of bureaucrats and literati to the ordinary people. The Tang Dynasty Pei Ling legend "Wen Xiao" wrote that in Zhongling County, Jiangxi Province, "every year until the Mid-Autumn Festival rises, the Wu, Yue, Chu, and Shu people, not far away and carry their best incense, precious fruits, embroidery, money, set up a jai, ask for blessings, the clock tomb is tens of thousands, the cars and horses are noisy, the soldiers and women are compared, and the tens of miles are like a lot of people." Even lingnan people are not far away, rushing to Zhongling to join in the fun, which shows that the atmosphere of worshiping the moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival has spread widely.

The Southern Han Dynasty has always admired the culture of the Tang Dynasty, and many regulations have copied the Datang, and even the construction of palaces and suburban altars must follow the style of the Tang. As early as the Tang Dynasty, climbing Yuexiu Mountain on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival to admire the moon has become a custom in Guangzhou, and the "Nanhai County Chronicle" of the Qing Dynasty Guang Dynasty wrote: "Wanshan Temple, in Yuexiu Mountain, there is the former site of Yuewangtai, built in the south, and the Tang people often climb here to play the moon." "With the influx of a large number of northern refugees, the Mid-Autumn Festival customs in the Central Plains, spread from Lingbei to Guangzhou, aroused the homesickness of many officials and ministers from the north, and this day has become more and more valued." With the encouragement of the imperial court, the Mid-Autumn Festival gradually became an annual fixed festival.

On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Longevity Temple held a lantern hanging activity at the Thousand Buddhas Pagoda. From the top of the tower to the bottom floor, countless lamps and candles are lit, and the entire Thousand Buddhas Pagoda emits light throughout, and the huanghuang Ye Ye, competing with the moon, known as the "Golden Lantern of the Moon Race", in order to be a mega year. Longevity Temple is a place where the clan daughters practice, and this event reflects the importance that the imperial family attaches to this festival. The people went to see the lanterns in droves, inside and outside the temple, the black pressure was pressed, the water was not clear, it was impossible to tell who was the rich man, who was the cold door lang, no one cared about this, everyone temporarily forgot the difference in identity, and squeezed into a ball, just like being stirred by a whirlpool of joy.

The children of the Fourth Qu Eighth Street, stacked with tiles and firewood into a tower, set fire to burn, and the flame of "beeping and peeling" jumped up a few feet high to illuminate the dark sky. Walking in the workshop, almost every street and alley, there are such fires, mirroring each other, very spectacular. Children gathered around the fire, cheering and screaming. The sound of the intersection flowed out of the streets and alleys, like a river overflowing the river, spreading everywhere.

Guangzhou people's Mid-Autumn Festival, later more and more grand, the day before the Mid-Autumn Festival to greet the moon, the Day of the Mid-Autumn Festival to enjoy the moon, the second day of the Mid-Autumn Festival to send the moon. Some people "keep vigil" on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival. They believe that when the moon is at its roundest and brightest, the gates of heaven are wide open, the moonlight bodhisattvas descend, and those who see it ask for blessings and seek wealth. Therefore, in the middle of the night, there are many people sitting around under the dissolved moonlight, frying field snails, boiling chicken porridge, and eating mooncakes and fruits. Children played with lanterns and sang the nursery rhyme of "visiting the garden to play with the lights, and swimming in the fire-burning house", which was very happy.

(Excerpted from Ye Shuming's new book "Guangzhou Biography", the title was added by the editor)