Spring Festival customs and habits in Cenxi, Guangxi

There is a festival, Niu Niang Opera, fireworks and lantern festival

"Niu Niang Opera" is also known as Niu Niang Opera, Ground Opera or Changsha Opera. After liberation, it was named Niu Niang Opera. , is a local opera with strong local characteristics in Cenxi City. The cowgirl opera includes talking, singing and acting. It is highly entertaining and is deeply loved by local farmers. Niu Niang Opera is based on the local folk song and dance "Dancing Spring Color". Every time before and after the Spring Festival, local people spontaneously carry out Spring Festival activities to pray for a good harvest and the prosperity of livestock. "Dancing Spring Cow" is the center of the activity. "Dancing the Spring Ox" consists of two to four people pulling an ox-shaped animal dressed in colorful cloth with patterns to every house to celebrate the New Year, dancing and singing at the same time. Initially, only some prayers were sung, with one person singing the lead, two or three people singing and dancing, and sometimes some impromptu performances. Later, it gradually developed in the direction of entertainment. The singing content was not only limited to praying to gods and blessings, but also compiled and performed some life scenes with storylines, usually showing the agricultural labor process, such as plowing, sowing, planting, etc., which was called "inserting opera" , began to develop from song and dance to drama form, but the performance of "Dancing Spring Ox" or "Dancing Opera" is inseparable from the two roles of Niu Gong and Niu Po. Later, the element of "Interrupting Act" continued to expand, and finally broke away from "Dancing Spring Color" ” and proceed independently. According to word-of-mouth information: During the Qianjia period of the Qing Dynasty, artists such as Liang Litang and Li Shizhao adapted and performed some Buddhist stories and wooden fish and Nanyin songs imported from Guangdong, and established the Liang Litang class. This is the earliest cowgirl troupe. Later, there were many class clubs gradually. In the last years of Guangxu (1908), the Jiqingtang troupe formed by Mo Huazhao was the most influential theater troupe. The famous artist Mo Yufang of this theater troupe (known as "Sister Yu") absorbed folk songs and minor tunes during her performances, enriching the The music of the cowgirl show. After the 1920s, some actors from Guangdong Cantonese troupe came to Cenxi and joined the Jiqingtang troupe. They taught the performing arts of Cantonese opera to Niu Niang opera actors. Niu Niang opera absorbed the performance routines and costumes of Cantonese opera, becoming more mature. stage development. In the 1940s, due to the government's ban on gambling, theater performances were greatly affected. After liberation, Niu Niang Opera was restored and developed. After the 1960s, a professional theater troupe was established and some new plays with modern themes were created. The influence of its performances is gradually expanding. The singing tunes of Niu Niang Opera are in the form of couplets, including a few singing tunes such as "Cacha Tune", "Chun Niu Tune" and "He Nian Tune" and simple gongs and drums. Since the 1970s, while creating and performing new plays, the Cenxi County Arts Troupe has continuously improved and innovated its music, changing the original single-sentence singing style of folk songs into two-sentence singing. The main singing tune is [Niu Niang Tune], and the sentence structure is mostly seven-character sentences, while a few are five-character, cross or long and short sentence structures. The commonly used "Luo", "Ya", "You", "Ge", "Du", " Lining words such as "Dao" and "You" have no clear meaning. They are just the actors' singing habits, but they appear to be more colloquial. After the singing reform in the 1970s, except for the word "Luo" added at the end of the previous sentence, all other lining words were cancelled. Originally, only gongs and drums were used to accompaniment to control the rhythm and enhance the atmosphere. Later, the flute, transverse flute, erhu, etc. were added based on Cantonese opera. In the 1970s, high and low erhu, flute, violin, sanxian and accordion were added. The band also changed from 3 people to a big band accompaniment. The customs and habits of Cenxi people - the Lantern Festival on the tenth day of the first lunar month - inviting relatives and friends to drink. Every year from the tenth to the sixteenth day of the first month (after the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day), it is a unique Lantern Festival in Cenxi City (some villages in Nuodong Town, In Anping Town, it is the ninth day of the first lunar month), that is, any family that gave birth to a boy in the previous year (if it was a boy born during the Lunar New Year that year, he will light the lantern again next year, or it is called the old lantern), the owner will go to the market to buy a lantern. A lantern (some people are willing to spend money to buy more exquisite colorful lanterns (the price is usually more than 100 yuan); some people just buy an ordinary lantern made of bamboo strips and paper (the price is usually less than 50 yuan), and invite relatives, friends, or neighbors Neighbors (usually one person per household, with children allowed) come to drink wine to wish their children healthy growth. In cities, it is usually held in hotels; in rural areas, if there is no time to drink on the 10th day of the lunar month, it is usually held at home. On the 16th night of the first lunar month, people drink wine. After drinking on this night, the drinking process ends. This is obviously a social phenomenon that favors boys over girls. However, it has become a custom of Cenxi people since ancient times.

For example, the family surnamed Chen on Nandu Street gave birth to twin twins last year (the year of Xu Zi). When they lit up the lanterns this year (the year of Ji Chou), the author was specially invited to write a poem couplet for twins to light up the lanterns!