What are the folk customs in Pinghu?

In the old society where there was no rain, there were rain-begging activities everywhere. Pray for rain around Jiaxing in ancient times, taking "dragon" as the object, reflecting the worship of the legendary dragon in primitive beliefs. During the ceremony, the dragon is invited to bask in the sun (if the prayer fails, the statue of the dragon king will be exposed) and the dragon will be returned (if it rains, the dragon will be held to send the dragon back to the temple). In the suburb of Jiaxing, the Longwang Temple in Santa Shunji held a rain-seeking activity. Later, idols changed, and some places also asked "General Liu Meng" and "Guan Gong" for rain. Before liberation, Liu Meng will be in the whole pond of Pinghu. He will patrol from the coastal beach to the Jiuquan side of Chenshanlong in Zhapu, where fish and shrimp will be thrown into the spring to worship the gods. In Wuzhen area, Guan Yu carried the statue of Zhou Cang, planted willow branches, and was exposed to the scorching sun. Jiashan Dayun and Huimin. Are drying the brand of the dragon king; In Xie Qiao, Haining and other places, monks and nuns hold wooden statues of Guanyin, knocking wooden fish and cymbals to beg for rain along the street. In the old society, people's begging for rain reflected their dependence and helplessness on nature, while officials and superstitious professionals used it to fool the masses, expand superstition, and even take the opportunity to collect money, which became a bad custom. In the old days, when it rained, the peasant woman cut the paper into the shape of a woman holding a broom and hung it under the eaves for sunshine, which was called "sweeping the floor". This custom dates back to the Yuan Dynasty. Being a cooperative is the legendary land god, and offering sacrifices to it is a natural worship of the land. It has been circulated since the Xia Dynasty, which is an ancient custom of the Chinese nation. In the Spring and Autumn Period, sacrifices were held on the fifth day after beginning of spring and beginning of autumn, which were recorded in the Book of Songs, The Book of Rites and other ancient books. According to books such as Huai Nan Zi in the Western Han Dynasty, every social day, four neighbors form an association to offer sacrifices to social gods, perform divination in the coming year, and have dinner together with songs and dances. Most of this custom has disappeared in modern times, and Pinghu and Haiyan still retain its legacy. This is the so-called society, also called association. "Pinghu County Records" in the Qing Dynasty recorded that "in the spring, the Tian family held money for the meeting, and sacrificed the mash to the gods, praying for a bumper year. In Qiuzhi, the family also gave money for meetings ... praying for a good year. " Its general pattern is similar to that of ancient times, and the god it worships has changed from a social god to a complex god system. The modern Pinghu Society was founded from the second day of the first lunar month to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, and it was called "Yuanxiao Society", "Niu Society" and "Chunmiao Society". From the seventh day of July to the twentieth day of July, Autumn Society, also known as "Autumn Miao Society" and "Taiping Society", seems to still follow the calendar of the Zhou Dynasty, and its ritual feature is that the ancient religious profession "Mr. Taibao" is a tribute. Associations are generally based on natural villages, with seven or eight households to twenty or thirty households. Every household takes turns to be the owner, also known as the pawn club, responsible for sacrifices, wine gifts and gifts. L Yi (that is, there are as many as 36 statues, mixed with Confucius, Jade Emperor, Guanyin, Guan Yu, God of Wealth and so on. , but there is no Buddha statue), incense foil, etc. And she took music to worship in a nearby community temple and shared wine and meat snacks the next day. On this day, the host held an activity for the party, and Mr. Taibao was regarded as a god. During the ceremony, Taibao led the way, led the people to salute, sang "Please" to invite the gods, and the middle Taibao (in the host's house) sang gongs and drums to entertain the people, saying "talking about cause and effect", "sealing the list of gods", "talking about the Tang Dynasty" and "talking about Yue", as well as the bibliography of talented people and beautiful women, were not ancient contents. Taibao sang "Song to God" again, burned paper ingots, delivered a speech by supermom, and ended the ceremony. Taibao is in a prominent position in the custom of being a social worker, and Taibao should be a rumor of ancient Taibao. In China, Taibu has been in charge of divination since Shang Dynasty. Taibao is also a wizard's deformation, which is called the communication between ghosts and gods. The combination of social work and divination must have existed since ancient times and has been passed down to this day. To modern Pinghu, there are still people who take Taibao as their profession. The famous leader of the "First Army in the World", Taibao Asu, is rare in the country. There is only one spring club in Pinghu, with four villages producing ginger, and there is also a club when ginger is ripe in autumn, which is called "Green Ginger Club", not "supermom". After liberation, many temples were destroyed, and the ceremony of running a cooperative was held in the owner's home. 1962 or so, this custom finally disappeared. In the old society, pigs and sheep were sacrificed on New Year's Eve in Jiashan and other places, and a square stool was put in the pigsty for sacrifice, named "pig basin"; Prepare eggs, fish, etc. when raising sheep or getting sick for the first time in Tongxiang, Bai Tao and other places. All show the desire of small farmers to pray for the safety of raising livestock. In the old summer, on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month, farming was a little idle, farmers rested and ate wonton and pumpkin, and married girls went back to visit their parents. Now that the farming system has changed, it is easier for rural areas to rest after "double robbing". "Bathing cats and dogs" is an ancient custom, and in some places it is called "the birthday of cats and dogs". Social custom is the carrier of tradition, the accumulation and precipitation of history and culture, and the reflection of economic base. Some of Jiaxing's customs and habits are created by working people, some are established by official promotion, and some are distorted in the process of inheritance, so there are both essence and dross. Through investigation, we can see traces of historical and cultural accumulation and changes. Jiaxing has developed agriculture, and there are many folk customs around rice farming and water conservancy, especially the custom of sericulture, and some handicrafts have left some customs. Spring cattle will also be called spring beating, whipping 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. The mud cows were carried by young adults, and 100 people competed to cross the street. Residents along the street throw cows with fruit Mi Dou. The winner is lucky, so it 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". Torch throwing, also known as "burning silkworms in the field", "setting a night fire", "lighting silkworms in the field" and "firewood party in the field", is usually held at the evening of the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. Farmers bundle straw into sticks, which are held high by teenagers, lit into torches, run in the fields, throw them up and shake them down; There are also people who burn thatch, English grass and water chestnut leaves in the fields; Some ran around the field with torches, shouting, "There are three stones and six shells in my field, three mussels in your field, white rice piles in my field and chaff piles in your field", which reflected the selfish psychology of small-scale peasant economy. Throwing torches is a legacy of slash-and-burn in ancient society, which is passed down to future generations with the meaning of praying for a bumper harvest and entertainment. At the same time, people believe that burning torches can kill overwintering pests. This custom was popular in the Song and Yuan Dynasties at the latest. Ming Chongzhen's "Jiaxing County Records" contains: Before and after the Lantern Festival, "villagers tied grass and firewood, rose silks, planted trees in the fields, sounded golden drums and burned them at night to pray for the New Year, and burned silkworms in the fields." This custom has not been abolished since liberation. During the commune period, some teenagers in the production team also lit torches, and the significance of entertainment has been put in the first place. After the household contract responsibility system was implemented, it was gradually abandoned. However, in Haiyan and other places, weeds are still collected in the fields in winter and spring and burned at night, which is not limited to midnight snack. Sacrifice silkworms for fasting days.