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The origin and custom of March 3 in Guangxi

The Origin and Customs of March 3rd Festival in Guangxi

"March 3rd of Zhuang Nationality" is not only an important traditional festival of Zhuang nationality in Guangxi, but also an important traditional festival of Han, Yao, Miao, Dong, Mulao and Maonan nationalities. The following is my careful arrangement about the origin and customs of the March 3rd Festival in Guangxi. Welcome to draw lessons from and refer to. I hope it helps you.

The origin of March 3 in Guangxi

The third day of the third month of the lunar calendar, also known as "March Song Festival" or "March Song Festival", is a traditional song festival of Zhuang nationality. There are several fixed folk song gatherings of Zhuang nationality every year, such as the 15th day of the first month, the 3rd day of March, the 8th day of April and the 15th day of August. Among them, March 3rd is the biggest.

On the third day of the third month of the lunar calendar (hereinafter referred to as "March 3"), spring returns to the earth and the shadow shifts in spring. In some areas of China, the Han nationality and some ethnic minorities celebrate this traditional festival in various forms. March 3rd originated from Shangsi Festival in ancient China (the first day of the third lunar month was called Shangsi Festival in ancient times, also known as "Rest Day"). This is a festival for Chinese people to pray for disaster in the Zhou Dynasty. The original intention of Shangsi Festival is a custom activity of proposing marriage and seeking fertility based on witchcraft belief, and later it evolved into a song festival of men and women falling in love in ancient China. In the Han Dynasty, the first episode in March was designated as a festival. After Wei, Shangsi was officially designated as the third day of March in the summer calendar.

① Spring Wedge is an important festival in the middle of each year. By the Jin Dynasty, Shangsi Xiuji had evolved into an entertainment festival of spring outing and waterside feasting. During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the last spring outing gradually gave way to Tomb-Sweeping Day, and the wedge game was not limited to March 3rd. On March 3rd in Guangxi, some places are also called "March 3rd Song Festival", which is a traditional song festival of Zhuang people. In some places, ancestor worship and mountain worship are traditional festivals with different styles, origins and customs.

There are several legends about the origin of the Zhuang people's "March 3" song meeting (or song meeting): first, it is said that singing can entertain the gods, eliminate disasters and solve problems, and the weather is good, and later it developed into a regular March 3 song meeting. Second, a long time ago, there was a pair of young men and women who loved each other since childhood. They are very good at singing folk songs, and their love is expressed by folk songs. However, due to family opposition, the two could not get married, so they both fell in love. In order to commemorate this loyal couple, young people focus on singing folk songs every year on the day of their double suicide, and gradually formed the March 3 rd Song Festival. Third, in the Tang Dynasty, a fairy named Liu Sanjie sang folk songs to praise labor and love and exposed the sins of the rich. As a result, the rich people held a grudge, and when she went up the mountain to cut firewood, she sent someone to cut off the vines, causing Third Sister to fall to the mountain and die. In order to commemorate this fairy, later generations sang folk songs for three days and three nights on the third day of the third lunar month, that is, the day when Third Sister died, and the song meeting was formed.

Twenty-four said that in ancient times, a family had three beautiful daughters, and people came to propose marriage in an endless stream, but their parents didn't like it. Later, my father thought of an idea-let the descendants who proposed to me sing on the spot, and whoever sings best will marry a beautiful daughter. As a result, all three daughters found suitable husbands through singing. Since then, singing has become a form of male courtship and has developed into a market.

(3) Although these legends are not recorded in the official history, they are in line with historical materialism.

In the traditional March 3rd Song Festival, different forms of Song Festival were held all over the world. Some people hold songs on the slopes of caves. Some set up karaoke bars at the head of the village to meet singers. Some people hold songs on roads and in the countryside. Around Xu Ge, vendors gather and folk trade is active. Thousands of men, women and children came from dozens of miles away in Fiona Fang to attend a larger concert, with a sea of people, singing one after another and being very lively. According to preliminary statistics, among the 642 song festivals in the whole region, 96 took March 3 as the song festival day, accounting for 14%. It is distributed in 22 places in Donglan, 20 places in Wuming County, 0/9 places in Du 'an/KLOC, 7 places in Xincheng, 6 places in Mashan and Longzhou, and 5 places in Bama. There are few in western Guangxi and only two in Jingxi County.

④ On March 3rd, the famous traditional song festivals were Wuming County in Yang Na, Ningwu in Lu Xiao, Sanka 'ao in Donglan, Yongzhou in Mashan, Panyang River in Bama, Huadong in Jingxi, Mianshan, Ji Fa in Du 'an, Rongshui Sanfang, Sanfeng in Xincheng, Xiajian in Yishan and Yufeng Mountain in Liuzhou. There are competition songs and appreciation songs at the traditional song meeting; There are also young men and women who make friends with songs, touch eggs, talk about love, give each other tokens and make love with things. In addition, there are entertainment activities such as throwing hydrangeas, touching eggs and performing Zhuang opera, which are spent by men, women and children in a lively and extraordinary festive atmosphere.

Some contemporary songs on March 3rd are held regularly by the government every year. For example, Nanning International Folk Song Art Festival, Wuming, Bama, Long 'an, Huanjiang, Liujiang and other counties hold song concerts or the Zhuang March 3 Tourism Festival every year. For example, since 1985, Wuming County has held the Songzhuang Festival every year, with thousands of performances and competitions, the third Guangxi Song King Competition, national sports competitions, square cultural performances, tourism and food festivals, etc. For example, Shanglin County has successfully held the sixth "Shimen Dragon Mother Festival" on March 3rd since 2006. In addition to the official camp, more people spontaneously organized the March 3rd Folk Song Festival. Such as Yashan Scenic Spot in Liucheng County, Wudeng Village in Lipu County, Poxin Village in Paoli Township of Fengshan County, Balong Village in Bai Le Village of Changzhou Township, Fangcun Village in Beijing Township of Dahua Yao Autonomous County, Dushi Village in Pingshan Town of Luzhai County, etc., the March 3 rd Song Festival is not only held in Guangxi, but also in other places. Such as Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. The Zhuang people also hold various kinds of activities on March 3rd every year. Shanghai is the largest and best managed city. Since 2009, our city has successfully held five consecutive series of activities, namely, "March 3rd Song Festival in Guangxi Singing Big China". It's true: the motherland smells songs everywhere, and romantic songs pervade China.

March 3rd is a traditional song meeting of Zhuang people and a traditional festival of Han, Dong and Miao people in Guangxi. In Yulin, a city in the Han nationality area, in recent years, the folk also spontaneously held the March 3 rd Song Festival, which has been held for five consecutive years, and the March 3 rd Song Festival resounded through Nanliujiang. In Fulu Miao Township, Sanjiang Dong Autonomous County, fireworks-grabbing activities are held every year on the third day of the third lunar month. So far, the129th national traditional fireworks festival has been held continuously, which is a unique traditional cultural activity in Dong Township with a history of 300-400 years. During the festival, there are traditional dragon and lion performances, Lusheng stepping on the hall, Dong folk songs, folk songs, colorful tunes, Guangxi opera, Dong township movies, Dong opera, traditional storytelling, bonfire parties and many other performances. In addition, there are thousands of people drinking tea, fighting cocks, fighting birds and other performances, as well as strange stone exhibitions, national costume exhibitions, commodity fairs, Dong Xiangyou tea and other food exhibitions.

The "March 3rd" in Guangxi is not only a song festival, but also a grave-sweeping festival for the ancestors of Zhuang nationality. On that day, every family of Zhuang compatriots in Chongzuo, Baise and other cities and counties in western Guangxi held a grand annual ancestor worship and grave sweeping activity. The so-called grave sweeping means that all families and clans are centered on the graves of their ancestors. Zhuang language in southwest Guangxi calls sweeping graves "visiting graves" or "monument graves". Tomb-Sweeping Day is the most grand and solemn festival of Zhuang nationality every year. People think that the third day of the third lunar month is the most important festival, and people from far away will go back to their hometown to sweep their graves. This day is the day when the most people get together in a year. Among the Liao songs circulated among the Zhuang people for thousands of years, "March Song Steamed Black Rice to Worship the Mountain" sings: "On the third day of March, every family steamed black rice and gave me one or two groups to worship the grave mountain." This is a record of Zhuang people's custom of sweeping graves on March 3. Zhuang people sweep graves, which is very rich in content. Usually, young people and old people come to the cemetery with sacrifices. Their rituals mainly include weeding and adding soil, trimming the cemetery, burning incense to the grave, offering sacrifices, bowing down and toasting, burning money, hanging money, setting off firecrackers and praying for ancestors to bless their families' happiness and well-being. Whenever I was in Tomb-Sweeping Day, most of western Guangxi was covered with Shan Ye, with money hanging in front of the grave and firecrackers ringing off the hook. It is not only an annual gathering to worship ancestors, but also an outing in spring.

Five-colored glutinous rice is a necessary sacrifice for the Zhuang people to worship their ancestors on March 3. There are four legends about the origin of the five-color glutinous rice on March 3: First, it originated from the small snake in the legend of Zhuang nationality. Small snakes have five colors: black, red, yellow, purple and white. Therefore, in order to commemorate the filial piety of this little snake, people dyed glutinous rice into five colors with maple leaves and other plants on March 3, and formed five colors with white glutinous rice. The second is to commemorate the strong man Wei. After Wei was persecuted to death by the landlord, Zhuang people often took glutinous rice to worship his grave. One day, during the memorial service, there was a sudden storm and thunder rumbling, and the juices of all kinds of plants on the grave fell into the glutinous rice, which was dyed colorful. Wei broke through the ground and became a dragon. Thirdly, a filial young man takes care of him with his disabled mother on his back every day when he goes to the mountains to get firewood. But the monkeys on the mountain always take away the rice balls that the young man prepared for his mother. In order not to let his mother starve, the young man tried to dye the rice ball with maple leaves, but the rice ball was never taken away by the monkey. Later, people dyed rice balls with various plants. Fourth, a young couple heard all kinds of grains in the laundry list complaining that all kinds of plants have beautiful flowers and clothes to wear, and the color of rice is monotonous and ugly, so they picked all kinds of plants on March 3 and cooked glutinous rice to please the god of grains and reap a bumper harvest every year. Judging from these four legends, their themes are feeling the achievements of ancestors, honoring parents and praying for a bumper harvest. These themes are the important contents of ancestor worship of Zhuang people, so five-color glutinous rice is an indispensable sacrifice in ancestor worship on March 3.

The origin of March 3 in Guangxi

Some scholars have summarized the origin of the March 3 festival of offering sacrifices to ancestors and sweeping graves into two types: one is the festival of offering sacrifices to the Zhuang snake totem. On this aspect, Mr. Qiu Zhensheng discussed it in the article Textual Research on the Snake Story in Zhuangxiang. He believes that "the worship of the Zhuang people on March 3 is actually a kind of snake god, which comes from the sacrifice day of the snake totem". There is a saying in Zuojiang area and Daming Mountain area called "March 3rd, Longbai Mountain". There are two stories among the Zhuang people: in ancient times, there was a village called Sangkazhai, where an old Zhuang man named Li Tishi lived. He dug mountains and hunted for a living. He worked hard to raise a white snake. Later, the viper grew up, shed a layer of skin, became a big dragon, and left the old man. When the old man died, Daqing Longfei came back to mourn, and the old man's coffin was buried before flying away. After that, on March 3 every year, Daqinglong will fly back to sweep the grave for the elderly. The villagers also came to accompany them, and "March 3, Longbai Mountain" was passed down from generation to generation. There is a similar story, saying that a lonely old mother kept a five-flowered snake (called Tequ in Zhuang language, meaning short-tailed person) as a companion. On the day of her death, there was a strong wind in Turku, and the old man's body was buried on the rock. After that, Tequ came to visit the grave on the third day of March every year. In fact, this is the sacrifice day of the snake totem. The second is to sacrifice to Thor. Mr. Qin believes that March 3 comes from offering sacrifices to Thor. Longsheng Zhuang people have the custom of killing pigs to worship Shennong on the third day of March; On this day, the Zhuang people in Wenshan, Yunnan Province will sacrifice to Raytheon, praying for good weather and abundant crops, so it is also called Raytheon Festival. The sacrifice to Thor is also recorded in Buluotuo.

Why is it that on March 3rd, some Zhuang areas in Guangxi are Gewei Festival and some Zhuang areas are Tomb-Sweeping Day? Mr. Qiu Zhensheng's answer is: Because people's awareness of snake totem has faded, the snake totem sacrifice day on March 3 has gradually become a day to hold a song, so that future generations simply forget that it was originally a snake totem sacrifice day. Professor Liang also thinks that it actually originated from "ancestor worship on March 3rd". The author thinks that the "root" of Tomb-Sweeping Day on March 3rd originated from the snake totem sacrifice day of Zhuang nationality and absorbed the essence of Chinese filial piety culture. As Professor Weng said, Shangsi Festival on March 3rd was very prosperous from pre-Qin to Tang Dynasty. Since the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the three festivals, Cold Food Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day Festival and Shangsi Festival, have shown a trend of integration and confusion. Finally, cold food has been incorporated into Tomb-Sweeping Day, and thinking has been hidden in Tomb-Sweeping Day. Qingming has a prominent position in traditional festivals, which is manifested externally as ancestor worship and grave sweeping, but internally it is still the content of courtship, trial marriage and seeking children. Shangsi Festival has retreated from the central area of the Han nationality to the surrounding areas, and still retains rich and colorful contents in ethnic minority areas. Therefore, folk wisdom and folk strength are fundamental to the protection of traditional culture.