Folk customs in Huangcai town

Marriage: commonly known as "red marriage". Before the May 4th Movement, marriage was arranged by parents and arranged by matchmakers. The bride and groom met when they opened the bride's red silk skull at the time of marriage. After the May 4th Movement, the matchmaker led the man to see the woman, which was called "blind date", and the parents went to each other to learn about the situation, which was called "visiting relatives". After the procedures of "eight characters", "biography", "announcement date", "media introduction", "welcoming relatives", "receiving relatives" and "visiting the church", gifts can be made. In the old days, there was a custom of making a sedan chair for weddings, that is, the sedan chair carried by the sedan chair swayed badly. If the bride gives a red envelope or a gift, the sedan chair will be lifted smoothly. Therefore, before the bride gets on the sedan chair, she usually hangs porcelain on the top of the sedan chair as a gift to the sedan chair bearers to prevent them from shaking the sedan chair. You can still see the grand wedding of sedan chair in market towns such as Huangcai. At the wedding, there is a custom to make trouble with "Ye Jia", also known as "fireman". When the scene was noisy, Jia Weng had a big face painted on his face, a special high hat on his head, a big fork on his back, and a portable gong. He was escorted by a friend and shouted the declaration of "fireman" while beating the gong. The atmosphere is very lively. On the wedding night, guests and friends laughed and laughed, commonly known as "noisy room". According to the custom, "three days regardless of size", except pregnant women (commonly known as "four-eyed people") are forbidden to enter the wedding room, and they are informal, but they are forbidden to say unlucky words. When the bridal chamber is in trouble, there is a "praise tea" program. The bride and groom bring tea with tea trays, commonly known as "end-plate tea". Guests must praise the tea before drinking it. For example, "If you want me to praise you, I will praise you and give birth to a fat doll next year ...". Holding a wedding is commonly known as "holding a happy event". Friends and relatives prepare gifts and compliments, which is called "eating a wedding banquet". At the wedding reception, the bride's parents call it a "big kiss", and the bride's parents sit as the guest of honor, commonly known as "sitting on the big side" and "sitting on the head". Any elder should give way to accompany him, commonly known as "accompanying the elder", which is also commonly known as "mother uncle", so the groom's uncle should also sit on the big side. Grass carp is not allowed in wedding dishes. On the third day of the wedding, the bride and groom go back to their mother's house to visit their relatives, which is called "going home". When returning home, the bride's family prepared a banquet for relatives and friends. The groom called it a "new guest" and was allowed to sit on it. When the wedding is held, tea is also very particular. There are people who specialize in making tea. The first tea of "Big Kiss" is red ginger tea, the second is sesame bean tea, the third is red jujube sesame cake tea, and the fourth is longan boiled eggs. After the founding of New China, the old marriage customs were basically abolished. As long as you are in two of a kind, you can register for marriage.

Funeral: It used to be called "white wedding". Handle funeral, funeral service, funeral service, memorial service, funeral service and other formalities. The dutiful son must wear hemp and be filial. When greeting mourning relatives and friends, the dutiful son must kneel on his knees. Ask a Taoist to do something called "Dojo". Relatives and friends prepared a libation ceremony to show their mourning and called it "Dojo". No guests are invited to dinner during the mourning period, and beets are not allowed on the table to show their condolences. The main course is tofu, commonly known as "eating tofu". The funeral is called "going up the mountain", and Lingshu goes on the road to do the Dojo on the mountain. There are bands and lions, drums and firecrackers are ringing, flags are flying, and it is very lively. The funeral procession took a detour instead of a shortcut. Many relatives and friends fired guns along the way, and some even set up road sacrifices. At this time, the dutiful son had to kneel down and prepare towels and other gifts to thank him. The new society changed customs and advocated simple funeral and cremation.

Birth: When a baby is born, firecrackers should be set off in front of the shrine to give good news to the ancestors. Neighbors' wives will come over to express their condolences and congratulations when they hear firecrackers, and send them eggs, brown sugar, dried bean curd and dried bean curd to promote lactation. After giving birth, the placenta should be buried in a clay pot on a nearby mountain, which means that the blood of parents will never leave the land of their hometown. The baby's father will bring firecrackers and a chicken to his father-in-law's house to report good news, the boy will bring a rooster and the girl will bring a hen. The Yue family knew that they would have a boy and a girl without asking. On the third day, the son-in-law took his father-in-law to "make three dynasties", which was called "soup cake party" in ancient times. Grandparents brought the baby's crib, sitting post, etc. That's ready. Generally, a pair of baby cotton-padded jackets, cotton-padded jackets, undershirts, cotton skirts, cotton skirts, shoes and hats will be provided. People lament that "grandma is hard to do"! Some still stay to take care of the parturient, which is called "accompanying the moon". On the third morning, older women cooked mugwort leaves, maple balls and eggs to bathe their babies, which was called "washing three dynasties". After washing, roll eggs for the baby, dispel wind and bless health. Relatives and friends wrapped their congratulations in red paper and went to the soup cake party. This is called "playing three dynasties". The host family boiled eggs, painted them red and distributed them to everyone. That's called eating red eggs, and it's also called eating ass eggs. There are also full moon wine, hundred-day wine and one-year wine. Babies kiss babies with carp and feed them soup every day, which is called "ending the meat-free diet" At the age of one, some put stationery, needle and thread, lipstick, calligraphy and painting on a plate, and let the baby grasp and play to test their interest, which is called "grasping the week".

Birthday: Every birthday will be called "Long Tail", and parents will always have poached eggs. As the saying goes, "Adults have a meal on their birthdays and an egg on their birthdays". 10 years old and 20 years old are called "whole life" and "whole life". In the local birthday celebrations, it is said that "men are full of women", that is, men are nominal years old and women are real years old. The celebration of the 60th birthday is considered to be reopened and especially grand, and it is called Shouxing Palace and Shouxingpo. Some people set the birthday table, Chen Shoutao, light birthday candles and sing ancient paintings. The longer the firecrackers are set off at this time, the better. When hosting a banquet, you should eat longevity noodles, which are slender and symbolize longevity. Therefore, it is called "birthday meal" locally. For those who celebrate their birthdays before the age of 50, there is a saying that "men don't do three, women don't do four", that is, men don't celebrate their birthdays until they are 29, and women don't celebrate their birthdays until they are 40. Some people go out to avoid guests on their birthdays, which is called escaping from life. Qingming: It is an ancient custom to climb and hang mountains on Qingming. According to local custom, a few days ago in Tomb-Sweeping Day, elders would gather their families, hang mountain banners with red and green colored paper, or make colorful flags. On that day in Tomb-Sweeping Day, firecrackers were set off for sacrifice, and the elders led them to the graves of their ancestors, uprooting the thorns and weeds on the graves one by one and strengthening the soil. Everyone put up a mountain sign at the top of the tomb, and then put three sacrifices in Baiping, lighting incense sticks, burning paper and burning firecrackers. It's called the Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival. When they came back from the hanging mountain, some people even held a family dinner to commemorate them.

Changxia: There is a local habit of eating long-summer japonica rice, also known as japonica rice lump, which is made of glutinous rice flour mixed with rat grass and tastes fragrant and soft.

Summer solstice: At the age of Jingchu, there was a record of "eating brown on the summer solstice".

Ups and downs: there are ups and downs in eating chicken locally.

Winter solstice: start curing pork on the kang for four or five days, and then hang it in windy places, which is called "winter solstice meat", referred to as "solstice meat" for short, also called wind-blown meat. Then use sawdust, chaff, orange peel, peanut shell and so on. You should smoke it, or hang it on a wood stove or stove and smoke it until it is golden red. It has a unique flavor and can be left until next summer. There is a local habit of eating dog meat and glutinous rice with red dates and lard in winter solstice, or killing chickens and ducks, which is called winter solstice tonic.

March 3rd: There is a local custom called "March 3rd, boiled eggs with vegetables". Rapeseed is a shepherd's purse, which has the functions of improving eyesight and regulating the spleen and stomach.

Duanyang Festival: When local people cross Duanyang, calamus and mugwort are hung at the door of every household to ward off evil spirits. At the same time, I prepared a lot of steamed buns, zongzi, salted eggs and drank realgar wine. Sprinkle wine in the corner after dinner, and wipe the child's forehead and navel. Married daughters send cattail leaf fans, zongzi, steamed stuffed buns, etc. Go to their parents' house. Men and women put on festive costumes, go to grandma's house or other relatives' houses to send festivals and watch dragon boats. After lunch, connect the dragon king to the bow and start the game. Accompanied by the rhythm of gongs and drums, the athletes on the boat suddenly paddled under the bow, raised their arms and raised the waves, rowing harder and harder, and bravely competed for the first place. The two sides of the strait are like the stands of a stadium, crowded with people, with little space, loud guns, shouting and shaking, and men, women and children jumping with joy. In the evening, the competition is still going on. Locals are used to burning incense, atractylodes rhizome and rue in Duanyang to ward off epidemics and evil spirits. Boil broad beans or eggs with licorice, honeysuckle, poria and other drugs. Huangcai Reservoir has held several Dragon Boat Festival, which has a certain influence in the local area.

June 6th: It was called vendor's day in ancient times, commonly known as "Cup official's birthday". Scholars uncover paintings and calligraphy, and women turn over precious clothes. The ancestral hall of this temple is also called the solar spectrum festival, because of its genealogy and bodhisattva robe. As the saying goes, "on June 6, people dry their clothes."

Mid-Autumn Festival: July 15th is called Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as Ghost Festival and ancestor worship festival. It's a big festival for ancestor worship. According to folklore, from the first day to the fifteenth day of July, the king of Yan opened the door of hell, and the ghosts in the underworld learned to return to the dead to enjoy sacrifices. So there is a saying: "In July and a half, ghosts wander around." No matter whether the local people are rich or poor, from the tenth day of July, every family burns incense and sets off firecrackers, and some bow down outside the door to "meet their ancestors", which is called "meeting old customers"; Some invite ancestral tablets to shrines and provide them with three meals a day. /kloc-On the evening of 0/4, we burned the set meal "Send Old Customers" and called it "Recommended Set Meal". Take it to the seaside, pay tribute to it, and then burn it. River lanterns are also popular along the river. River lanterns are made of leather paper or bamboo leaves. They are shaped like boats or lotus flowers with oil lamps on them.

Mid-Autumn Festival: The local people eat moon cakes, peanuts, enjoy the moon, and have the custom of "stealing melons to send children". In the moonlight, teenagers steal pumpkins or wax gourd from other people's gardens and send them to the beds of newly married couples or infertile couples who have been married for a long time, which is called "touching autumn", meaning that melons have many children and grandchildren.

Double Ninth Festival: The ancients believed that nine belonged to Yang number. On September 9, the sun and the moon belong to the sun, hence the name Chongyang. More wine is made on this day, which is called chong yang wine or chrysanthemum wine. There is a move to climb mountains and pick flowers nearby. The custom of Double Ninth Festival is related to longevity, so it is also regarded as a festival to respect the elderly. Pilu Peak, behind the Miyin Temple, once carried out the activity of "Climbing on the Double Ninth Festival".

Spring Festival: The most important festival among traditional festivals, which lasts for more than half a month, that is, from the 24th of the twelfth lunar month to the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month of the following year.

The 24th day of the twelfth lunar month: commonly known as "off-year", families rest and have dinner, resign and cook. People want to do a general cleaning the day before, which is called "dust removal". Personal hygiene is also very important.

The last day of the Lunar New Year is New Year's Eve. Locals call this meal on New Year's Eve "reunion dinner", which generally refers to dinner. After dinner on New Year's Eve, the whole family stayed at home, playing chess, playing cards and watching CCTV's Spring Festival Gala, waiting for the arrival of the New Year. When the New Year bell rings, local firecrackers and fireworks are everywhere, which is deafening and filled with a strong atmosphere of saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new.

Paying New Year greetings is another custom of the Spring Festival. The local New Year pays attention to "the first day, the second day and the third day". On the sixth day of the sixth lunar month, many businesses will choose this day to open their doors, and some people who work in other places will also choose this day to go out to work. On the eighth day of the seventh day, Changsha people pay attention to "seven don't go (pronounced" guest ") and eight don't return". On the eighth day, "eight" means "hair", the factory goes to work, the merchants open the door, and all activities return to normal. Later, acquaintances met and said to each other, "Please pay one year late!" 15, generally not mentioned in New Year's greetings. On the fifteenth day of the first month, it was called Shangyuan Festival in ancient times, also called Lantern Festival. There is a saying in Changsha: "The fire of thirty nights is the light of midnight snack". In the local lantern market, there are many kinds of paper lanterns, or hung houses or listed streets. On this day, every household lights candles, cooks Yuanxiao, and urchins play with lanterns. What is more lively is to catch up with temple fairs, sing big plays, play lion and dragon dances, and ride bamboo and horses. At this time, the cultural activities of the Spring Festival reach a climax, often noisy all night, hence the name Lantern Festival. One of the most common is the dragon lantern, and the rural dragon dance team often comes to the city to perform. Wherever the "Dragon" goes, drums and firecrackers are everywhere, so it is often wrapped up.