In the spring of this year, Jianguomen Street carried out the "whipping spring cow" activity for the 14th consecutive year Photo / Reporter Wei Tong
In the spring of 2008, Jianguomen Street held the "Whipping Spring Cow" activity for the first time under the ancient observatory Courtesy photo / Jianguomen Street in Dongcheng District
Chase the four "cows" in the news
The Year of the Ugly Cow is celebrated together, and there are many "cows" in the news. This year's Spring Festival holiday, the reporter of Beijing Youth Daily combs and tracks a cow that has been "hotly speculated" by the news every day for you, and adds a "cow spirit" to your festival from the perspective of news.
"One dozen Guotai Min'an, two dozen wind and rain, three dozen three sheep Kaitai, four dozen four seasons of peace... Ten dozen perfect!" On February 3, 2021, it was the spring day of the 24 solar terms, and the traditional "whipping spring cattle to welcome the spring" activity in Jianguomen Street in Dongcheng District was launched as scheduled. In the sound of good wishes, the whip spring people hold the wicker with red ribbons in their hands, and hit the spring cow's body at once, which has the meaning of "urging the old cow to go to the field to cultivate the field", and there is also the meaning of smooth wind and rain and abundant grain. In Jianguomen Street, Dongcheng District, the custom of whipping spring cattle on the spring day has been carried out for 14 consecutive years and has become an iconic folk culture activity in the street.
Lichun is the first of the twenty-four solar terms in the Tiangandi calendar. Standing means "beginning"; spring, which represents warmth and growth, means that a new cycle of reincarnation has begun. Looking back at history, China's traditional Spring Festival event has a history of about 3,000 years. Gao Cheng's compilation of the "Chronicle of Things" records that "the Zhou Gong began to make spring soil cattle, and built out the soil cattle to show that farming was early and late", and by the Han Dynasty, the custom of whipping spring cattle had become quite popular.
In the Republic of China period, the government adopted the Gregorian calendar, and the festival commemoration of Spring Day gradually faded from people's vision. The last recorded Spring Festival ceremony in Our country was in 1911, a hundred years after that. Fan Xiaolan, deputy section chief of the Community Construction Office of Jianguomen Street in Dongcheng District, introduced: "Jianguomen is located in the southeast of Beijing, and the Ming and Qing dynasties held spring activities and spring cattle parades through the Jianguomen area. On The Spring Day of Lichun in 2008, after the demonstration of folklore experts, Jianguomen Street held a whipping ceremony for the first time under the ancient observatory, reproducing the traditional customs of the capital that have been extinct for nearly a hundred years. This restoration has brought back the scene of the ancient people's poetry 'children whipping the earth cattle, and the learner beating the spring first' has returned, and this activity has been included in the list of district-level intangible cultural heritage. At present, the event has been held for 14 consecutive years. ”
According to reports, after more than ten years of development, the content of the activities is more abundant, the form is also constantly innovating, in 2009, the first introduction of cow children, 2011 into the old object exhibition, 2019 to increase the spring ceremony ... Nowadays, an activity system integrating shouting spring, primrose spring, fighting spring, biting spring, and making spring has been formed. For example, in the "shouting spring" link, the street mobilizes children to act as "messengers of spring", while walking the streets and alleys, while singing nursery rhymes, giving spring grain, sending blessing bags, and conveying the message of "warmth, beauty and vitality" in spring. In the "Primrose" link, the Primrose people report the specific time of the spring day of the year, and look forward to the arrival of spring with the residents. "Fighting spring" is to whip spring cattle, and "biting spring" is to mobilize residents to make spring cakes, spring rolls and other seasonal delicacies, taste food together, and welcome the new year. In the "Spring Festival" link, there are more colorful New Year entertainment parties and performances, which mean that life in the coming year is lively and prosperous.
Folklore expert Wang Zuoyu spoke highly of the "Whipping Spring Cow" activity: "The Spring Day activity has a deep historical origin and strong Chinese cultural characteristics, is a complete inheritance process, and can keep pace with the times in the inheritance. The event combines tradition and modernity to build a platform for the people to get close to folk culture. It should be said that whipping the spring cow is a kind of promotion for the development of the culture of the villagers. "Text/Reporter Jiang Ruojing