What are the customs and folk culture in Jiaxing?

Xitang temple fair

This is a lively scene of Xitang Temple Fair on April 3rd every year. On that day, almost everyone in Xitang will come out to see the seven masters in Tangxi Town. Only on that day will the seven masters sitting in the temple come out to visit the ancient town of Tang Xi, which has become the most lively cultural landscape in Tangxi Town.

It is said that there were even more bizarre scenes at the temple fair before liberation. Many loyal men and women follow the seven masters in various situations. According to their own wishes, they were tied up and stabbed, wearing more clothes, dancing and yangko. Now, those stupid things no longer exist, leaving only scenes of people celebrating happily, which is very interesting. ......

The temples are all the same. For Xitang Temple, the third day of the fourth lunar month is a bit special. This day is the seventh Master Tour Temple Fair, which is very lively and full of local characteristics. During the temple fair, there are also folk cultural activities such as running a circus, riding a white boat and swinging a lake boat. That day was also the opening of Xitang Annual Tourism Festival.

Wu Jie road

Lianwu Road, originally referred to as Lianwu Road's daydreaming, later evolved into Lianwu Road's God of Wealth. In the old society, after the Spring Festival holiday, merchants usually invited Wutong God of Wealth on the fourth night and opened the market on the fifth day for good luck. It is said that the fifth road is on the fifth day, why is it on the fourth night? It turns out that the fifth day is a positive day. Because everyone is eager for profit, they all want to see the god of wealth earlier than others, so this time it was a little early, even on the morning of the fourth day. Of course, this is against the rules. Later, the elders came forward and agreed to act together to see God on the fourth night.

shadow play

Shadow play, also known as sheepskin play, is a kind of paper-cut that makes sheepskin or cowhide into characters and animals. Artists stick it behind their backs with bamboo sticks and manipulate it on the screen with white light to perform stories.

Shadow play began in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. In the Western Han Dynasty, shadow play entered the palace. In the Tang Dynasty, the cutting and carving of shadow play became more and more exquisite, and it was used to tell history and inherit classics. Shadow play really became a kind of play among the hundred plays in the Song Dynasty. The prosperity of Bianjing Shadow Play was described in Ming Dow Magazine and Meng Liangzhi in Song Dynasty. The rise of Zhejiang shadow play is related to the southward migration of the Song Dynasty. A large number of Jinghua artists went south to Lin 'an to make a living, and the skills of the north merged with the culture of the south. Shadow play after the reform is very popular in Lin 'an, and some famous artists have appeared.

Tanbaichuan

The custom of boat racing in Tomb-Sweeping Day is spread all over the counties. Jiaxing is called stepping on a white boat, Haiyan is called jumping boat, and Pinghu is called rocking clipper, all of which are rowing competitions. At the Haining Regatta, contestants perform martial arts on the boat. "Jiaxing Records of Guangxu in Qing Dynasty" said: "Tomb-Sweeping Day, Wangdian River and Jianjing have the show of rocking clippers." In modern times, it is most famous for its three towers and white boats in the urban area, suburban tanker port, Jiashan Nanhui and Tianning Village. In the past, the annual white boat ride on the Santa Canal in the downtown area was extremely grand. Country rowing experts form a rowing team (each boat 10- 16 people). According to Jin Mu's five elements of fire, water and soil, flags of red, yellow, blue, white and black were planted, and the racers were also paddling in the river wearing the same color clothes. When the command is given, many ships will go into battle together, and the fastest one will win. In ancient times, walking on a white boat was mainly for offering sacrifices to the silkworm god. According to local legend, March 16 of the lunar calendar is the birthday of the silkworm king, so the white boat riding is held on the same day. The white boat on the Three Pagodas in Jiaxing will first focus on worshipping the silkworm god in front of the Tea Temple, and then give a thank-you banquet in front of the temple after the game. Whenever you set foot on the white boat, the audience on the canal pond is blocked and the atmosphere is warm. It is a local festival all year round. The activity of treading white boats lasted for centuries and evolved into production activities and sports activities. When raising silkworms, mulberry leaves often need to be bought from far away and urgently need to be transported. The purpose of rowing competition is to train rowing skills and improve sailing speed. It was held in front of Tomb-Sweeping Day. As a preparation for sericulture, it has the significance of cultural and sports activities. Some people think that stepping on a white boat is also military training. In the Song Dynasty, Tanbai was named the Water Army, and Yue Fei once unified the army. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Wu Risheng swung against the Qing Dynasty in Changbai, dispatched troops and dispatched soldiers, and trained rebels with white boats. All these can be mentioned, and their origin probably comes from the evolution and expansion of the worship of silkworm god.

Chunniuhui

Also known as playing spring, whipping spring and playing spring cattle. This custom has been circulating for a long time, and playing spring has become synonymous with beginning of spring. Jiaxing held this grand ceremony in the old days, which lasted until the late Qing Dynasty. According to books such as Miscellaneous Knowledge of Ancient Crops in Qing Dynasty, the government tied the skeleton with Sang Mu in winter, molded it into a mud cow, and painted the cow with different colors according to the New Year's heavenly stems and earthly branches. The day before the spring, the magistrate of a county led the gentry to line up in sedan chairs, fired guns and played music, went to Dongta Temple to worship the "Mang God" and marched back to the department. In Dongta Temple, beggars dressed as spring officials knelt on the side of the road to meet them, male and female farmers with farm tools were invited to the scene, and children were asked to perform rocking boats and picking diamonds. Young adults carry mud cows, and hundreds of people run across the street. Residents along the street throw cows with fruit Mi Dou, and the winner is lucky. This is called "playing with spring". The next day, at the beginning of spring, officials beat cattle with colored sticks in the government hall, which is called "whipping spring". The villagers scrambled to collect clods around the roots of mulberry trees, saying that it would make mulberry leaves flourish. The Spring Cattle Festival in Jiashan is different from that in Jiaxing. At the beginning of spring, the official government held ceremonies, set off firecrackers, played music, welcomed healthy live cows prepared in advance to go home, and worshipped them in the fields. This custom reflects the feudal society's emphasis on agriculture, taking cattle as a symbol of agriculture and using spring cattle to mean "welcome the spring and wish a bumper harvest".

Open and close the seedling door

Transplanting is the beginning of rice cultivation. The first day of transplanting is called opening the seedling door, which is what farmers value most. In the old days, there was a rich diet, and farmers set up three sacrifices to "plow the fields" at home, eating jiaozi and cakes, which implied a family reunion and a "step-by-step" farming life. They also eat thrush and throw thrush bones for divination to make the weather clear. When opening the seedling door, farmers have many taboos, such as not opening their mouths when inserting the first row of seedlings, not handing seedlings to each other, and not throwing rice seedlings at others. After transplanting to the head of the field, the rest of the seedlings are planted on the ridge of the field, indicating that there will be more grain this year (it is also used to supplement the seedlings when ploughing).

The end date of transplanting is called Guanmiaomen. Transplanting must be arranged before this evening. If manpower is too late, you must ask for help. If it is black, it is considered unlucky. Jiashan invited Tian singers to sing on the same day. Those who hire people to farm must set a table of dining tables and eat "Guanyangmen wine" on Guanyangmen's day. After closing the seedling door, the married woman went back to her family to visit relatives. As the folk proverb says, "plant yellow seedlings and visit your parents."

Put on a silkworm flower show

Many villages in Haining, Tongxiang and Haiyan. Will perform a silkworm flower play to worship the gods before and after Tomb-Sweeping Day or after cocoon harvesting every year. Most of the villagers raised funds to hire sheepskin artists to perform shadow play in the village, and the young and old gathered to watch. After the whole play, there will be an additional performance of "A?vagho?a King and Bodhisattva". On the paper screen of the shadow play, a woman rides a horse, and the artist sings "A?vagho?a". The folk song "King Bodhisattva" contains the myths and legends of sericulture in ancient times. After the performance, silkworm farmers asked artists for cotton paper to make paper curtains, called "silkworm flower paper", which were used to paste silkworm plaques, meaning bumper harvest. The wick used to light a lamp for acting was given to silkworm farmers by artists, and it is called "silkworm flower wick", which means that it can ensure the smooth development of silkworm affairs in the silkworm room.

Lotus birthday

The ancient custom of "Lotus Birthday" on June 24th in Jiaxing, also known as Leizu Day, prevailed in the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China. It was a day when Japanese citizens could visit South Lake without paying ferry fees. Farmers go to Leizutang (Leizutang) next to Yanyu Building to make pilgrimages. On this day, there are hundreds of cruise ships in South Lake. There is a "screen boat" in the ship, commonly known as "double lane" and "single lane", which can be used as a dining table. The ship covers the canopy and transports passengers. At night, lotus lanterns are put on the south lake, tied with paper, tied with sawdust, lit with red candles and floated on the water, up to 1000 lanterns. Yanyulou served tea, wine and pasta all night, and Kunqu Opera Society hosted a concert on the lake.

Marry Sambo

1, dyed red eggs: On the wedding day, the woman's mother will put the dyed red eggs in the new toilet, which means that it will be passed down from generation to generation and future generations will be prosperous. 2. Return the carp: On the wedding day, the woman should leave five of the six gifts (chicken, carp, meat, wine and gift money) sent by the man and return the carp to the man to show that there are still contacts between men and women after marriage. 3, Evergreen: When getting married, the woman's family should let the bride bring a strong evergreen to get married and plant it in the man's house to show that the love between the two sides is evergreen and auspicious.

Wuzhen in Shui Ge

Like many water towns in the south of the Yangtze River, streets and houses are built along streams and rivers, which is the so-called "people do their best to pillow the river". Wuzhen is unique in that some houses along the river extend to the river surface, the bottom of which is hit on the riverbed with wooden stakes or columns, and the beams are put on the shelves, which is called "Shui Ge", which is a unique feature of Wuzhen. Shui Ge is a real "pillow river" with windows on three sides. With windows, you can enjoy the scenery of urban rivers, dream back at midnight and listen to the sound of running water below, which is quite interesting. Mao Dun once described Shui Ge in his hometown in "Mountains and Rivers": "Ah ... outside the back door is a river, standing at the back door (that's Shui Ge's door), you can draw water with a bucket, and when you wake up in the middle of the night, you can hear the sound of rushing water and drift over ..."