What are the customs of festivals in Taiyuan?

There are festivals in life, and there are folklore in the programs; customs make festivals passed down from generation to generation, and festivals make life colorful. In the old days, Taiyuan region, month after month there are festivals, and the most grand, the most lively, the flavor of the strongest to be counted on the New Year's. The first day of the first month of the old calendar year. The first day of the first month of the old calendar year, the folk said the New Year, in order to distinguish from the New Year's Day of the Gregorian calendar, later also known as the New Year. In the old days, after the Lunar New Year Festival, people in Taiyuan were busy preparing for the New Year, and the atmosphere was as thick as one day. Twenty-three sacrifices to King Zaobao, twenty-four for the day of cleaning, commonly known as "Hu cleaning day". From this day onwards, the preparations for the New Year culminated. In the past, there was a proverb in Taiyuan: "Grind tofu on the 25th, rush to do work on the 26th, go to the market on the 27th, paste stickers on the 28th, go to drink wine on the 29th, and make dumplings on the 30th." (Paste, refers to a variety of couplets, New Year's paintings, window, the god of the door, etc.) Every day something to do, day to day arrangements, busy until the afternoon of New Year's Eve, and then cleaned up the outdoors, that is, began to point out the new clothes and hats, wrapped dumplings, and prepare to welcome the god of incense, lamps and other items.

On the night of New Year's Eve, families stay up all night, commonly known as the "violent festival". When the rooster crows, they begin to burn incense, light lamps, place offerings, set off fireworks, receive the gods, and worship their ancestors, and then the families pay their respects to each other. Children kowtow to their elders and the elders give them New Year's money for good luck. Traditionally, breakfast is eaten before the sun comes up. After breakfast, go out to pay tribute to the New Year, the relatives of the hall, the sparsely cast prick, met on the way, bowing and nodding, exchanging words of good luck, nothing more than "congratulations on the New Year," "congratulations on the wealth," "a year as you wish! "and so on. Merchant families in the New Year's period of the God of Fortune's most devout worship. Before the end of the Qing Dynasty, every year on March 15 and July 22 for the day of sacrifice to the God of Wealth. After the Republic of China only in the New Year's Eve in the money stacks, money cabinet or dedicated shrine to the god of sacrifice, incense burning guns, offerings to chickens, ducks, pigs, goats. Sacrifice after the God of Wealth, the party went to the home of the merchants to buy and sell to pay tribute to the New Year.

Old New Year's Day, the time dragged on a long time, has lasted until the 25th day after the day warehouse festival. The fifth day is commonly known as broken five, folk saying "broken five do not go out", the sixth Li travel, to the sixth businessmen held the opening of the market, the residents began to visit their families. The seventh day is commonly known as the day of man, said the day is clear and bright is good for population reproduction. After dusk on the eighth sacrifice to the Star God, seven lamps in the courtyard, symbolizing the Big Dipper seven stars, face north to worship, in order to take a year of good luck. The tenth is commonly known as "ten immovable day", according to legend, is the day of the mouse to marry. Thirteen to sixteen for the Lantern Festival, within a few days, the night lights, social fire rice-planting, very lively, commonly known as the "Festival of Lights. Twenty is commonly known as "small Tim Cang", twenty-five for the "old Tim Cang", East and West rice market set up Cang Guan God, the crowd to the sacrifice, burning sparks. After the day warehouse festival, the New Year's bustle came to an end. Suburban farming New Year's Eve than the city has a different flavor. Jinyang area, New Year's Eve to build a strong fire, bundles of strong grass, the door inserted cypress leaves. Want fire with charcoal base into a tower, the night bell rang, ignite the fire, through the village illuminated, symbolizing the days of "fire". On the first day of the year, it is customary to eat boiled pumpkin. It is called "eat turnover melon". At the end of the year, with millet boiled, held in a bowl, used to worship ancestors, commonly known as "every other year fishing rice". The first five days of the year, sweeping the courtyard, cleaning up the garbage, commonly known as "sweeping the poor on".

In the Gujiao mountainous area, the Spring Festival is the richest activity. On New Year's Eve, the hanging scroll of the ancestors, all households within the clan to send an offering, that year, the boy's home to provide a chicken, the girl's home to provide a pot of wine. On the morning of the third day of the Lunar New Year, the whole clan gathers to *** to offer sacrifices to their ancestors, and the younger generation kowtows to the elders, commonly known as the "plate generation number", and then gathers together to eat the offerings. In the afternoon, send the hanging scroll at the entrance to the village, facing the ancestral tombs, burning incense and kowtowing, sounding firecrackers, commonly known as "send God'". "every other year fishing rice" custom and Jinyang is different, the end of the year with millet half a bowl of boiled, fished in a bowl, on the set of walnuts, for the Soap God, until after the second day of February, the party poured out of the sun, stirred in the feces, it is said that you can worm disaster. The fifth day of the first month for the "send poor day". In the afternoon of the fourth to clean the indoor courtyard, the fifth day of dawn will be sent to the village outside the dirty, burn incense three columns, sound firecrackers, said to send away the poor gas. This day's meal for the steamed oat or steamed buns, commonly known as "distillation of poor gas". Early in the morning on the tenth day of the first month, in the courtyard offering oat flour made of grain-like food, incense and paper, firecrackers, praying for heaven and earth, praying for a bumper crop. Some places have to be weighed first five grains each one, wrapped in paper, at the same time for the yard. After the supply and weigh, such as a certain amount of food increased, commonly known as the best harvest. This customary phenomenon, commonly known as "receiving seed head" or "grab seed head". To the first month of the fifteenth, in addition to the Festival of Lights activities, there is the custom of sending the God of Plague. Villages in the five temples or crossroads for the God of Plague tablets, base tower tower fire, for oil noodles and steamed bread. At the beginning of the event, beat gongs and drums, carry a basket and bucket to collect a handful of grains and cereals from each household, tear a piece of cloth or cotton wool from clothes and cut paper figures according to the number of people in each household, and place them in front of the God of the Plague tablets. In the afternoon, the tablet and the collected items are sent outside the village, incense is burned and firecrackers are set on fire, meaning that the god of pestilence is sent away, people and animals are safe, and all diseases are prevented. On the 25th day of the first month of the Tim Cang Festival, the common use of grain flour or soft rice flour pinched into the shape of the Cangguan master, grain hoard, granary and various livestock and poultry lamps, inside the package of boiled jujubes and beans, the wick of fine grain stalks wrapped in cotton made. At night, the lamps were filled with oil, and the granary lamps were placed in the grain storage area, the cow lamps were placed in the window sill of the cattle pen, the chicken lamps were placed at the head of the kang, the dog lamps were placed at the top of the door, and the cat lamps were placed in the corners of the walls and so forth, and each of them was lit one by one. Cangguan master lamp five inches high, wearing a red tasseled hat, the left hand holding a dustpan, the right hand to take the bucket, riding a horse, the horse on the body of a number of pockets. Cangguan lamp will be placed in the bowl, floating in the water urn. When you put it on, you should read: "Grandpa Cangguan drink horse to come, silver money grain (or hemp, black beans) pack to come, hemp fried oil, black beans fed cattle." In order to beg for good weather and good harvest.

Customs around Qingxu County, before the New Year's Day to prepare offerings "jujube mountain" (steamed with noodles and jujube). Before the God of the stove for the offerings made of glutinous rice flour, rectangular, divided into twelve compartments (with a leap month plus one compartment), each compartment planted a date, commonly known as "grain root". Another offering with a pot of millet rice, plus a persimmon and jujube, commonly known as the "next year fishing rice". The family also offers to the whole animal sheep, pig head, as well as fruits, walnuts, persimmons, oil noodles (fried with the starting surface), sticky and so on. The first day to welcome the gods and other places are different. According to the direction of the god of joy contained in the book of the time constitution, with cypress leaves, charcoal picked up on a long pole, standing on the house, and at the same time with red paper pasted on the new broom put on the house. The house in front of the god with red paper strips plus cross on the charcoal, between the two pieces of charcoal sandwiched between a hundred bundles of incense, lit, commonly known as "tender incense", said to welcome all the gods of good fortune. Lantern Festival cultural activities from the first month of the fourteenth day, the village stilts, running boats, push floats, dance dragon lanterns, base tower tower fire, playing the swing, tour of the nine songs, some of the large village towns and back stick, iron stick, table stick, lifting the cabinet, playing a variety of opera characters stories on the street performances, sophisticated production, decorative and beautiful, beautiful and moving dance skills.

Not only urban villages, the temples in the New Year also lively. Jin Temple temples in the five night gates open, lights and colors, burning cumulative salary, welcome God, set up cake bait jujube pear sacrifice. In the old days of New Year's Eve, Taiyuan, there are still many customs and stories, showing that people then busy, cumbersome, superstitious mentality.

Datong Spring Festival fire

Datong area is relatively rich in coal resources, it is bound to have a variety of links with the local people's food, clothing, housing and transportation. Therefore, the role of coal has penetrated into the customs and folklore as far back as ancient times, in which making a fire is a local custom. Every Spring Festival New Year's Eve night, in front of the courtyard of every house to use a large piece of coal into a tower, the name is Wang Huo, for good luck, congratulations on the meaning of prosperity throughout the year. Inside the firewood, written on top of a large red note "Wang Qi Chong Tian". When the firecrackers go off at midnight, the fire is lit. When the fire is lit, flames come out from countless small holes, resembling a floating picture, which is not only warm, but also spectacular. Adults and children gather in a circle, some play games, some set off firecrackers, and men, women, and children of all ages come to roast the fire in an attempt to "make the fire go up to the sky". Children can also walk the streets and alleys to observe the size of the comment fire, who's fire is big, with a strong, whose family's prosperity is also big. As the Qing Dynasty "Datong County" said: "New Year's Day, the family chiseled charcoal payroll base high up, like a small floating map. In time to send it, the name is wang fire, that is, the provincial capital Dada fire also."

Today, the custom of the fire, in Datong and development. Not only in the New Year, even on weekdays to do wedding and funeral events or major festivals are born, some in the winter in order to keep warm; some in the summer for good luck. If the scale of the fire on the grand scale, the shape of the elaborate, when the wai ren wang fire for the most. It has four major features: First, the selection of coal. In the Lantern Festival before the pre-selection of high-quality raw coal, with mechanical or artificial digging out, and then carefully cut into neat squares; Second, beautiful shape. Must hire smart masters will be wang fire base into the bottom small, big belly, top, empty bottle shape, only then, in order to achieve the burning net exhaust and wang fire does not collapse; Third, year by year increase. In order to achieve a year like a year of the metaphor, the requirements of the base of the fire, each year than the previous year to increase some of the size of the specific increase in the size of the master's heart expectations; four, the scale is huge. Every year, the streets of Huairen County have to build fifty or sixty huge fire, the largest of which is built with 80 tons of coal, as high as three zhang, can be described as a huge scale