Ningbo Local Folklore

The 23rd day of the 12th month of the lunar calendar is known as the "Little New Year" to the Ningbo people. It is said that this day is the birthday of Zaojun Bodhisattva, every family should use "sacrificial fruit" for Zaojun's birthday that night, Ningbo people also call this also "sacrificial night". In fact, "Zaosheng fruit" is unique to Ningbo, it is made of frozen rice sugar, foot bone sugar, red ball, white ball, hemp ball, oil fruit and other mixed. When the candles on the offering table are about to burn out, the adults invite the Bodhisattva Zaojun down from the shrine on the kitchen stove and send him to heaven together with a "Zao Ma", which is lit by the candle flame. Then, the children are given the "Zaosai Fruit" to eat. According to the common people, the Zaojun bodhisattva, after going up to the heavenly palace, will say good words to the Jade Emperor in order to bring good luck to the next year.

A year ago, there was another big event is "thank you year". "Thank you for the year" is to express the Ningbo people to the nature of the end of the year thanks to the ancestors of the consolation, but also to the next year of good luck and hope. "It is also called "New Year's Thanksgiving Soup and Rice". The average family uses five sacrificial plates. The plates are red, round wooden plates, slightly smaller and shallower than a washbasin. Offerings on the plate, the middle plate is a pig's head, known as "Lishi", is the meaning of good luck. If you can't get a pig's head, use a cut of rib meat instead. The other plate is a large rooster, or two smaller roosters, but no hens are used. The above two plates are cooked food, and the remaining three plates are raw materials: one plate is two chub fish, symbolizing that there are fish (yu) in every year; one plate is ark shells, symbolizing that this is a pair of li; and the last plate is a rice cake, symbolizing that life is high in every year, which is stacked in rows of three or four in a criss-cross pattern. In front of the table, there are incense burners and candlesticks, as well as "Yuanbao" made of rice cake powder. Around the table are wine glasses and chopsticks. The whole table is full.

The first day of the first month is the Spring Festival.

On this day, people get up early and put on new clothes, hats and shoes to say goodbye to the old and welcome the new. It is said to wear new shoes that have not been on the ground, the new year can be light feet and hands. The host gets up, read the words first open the door, put the cannonballs in the door, said "open the door cannon". Open the door cannon generally put three, to "bring four put three", leaving a "preparation for the gun", Ningbo language "preparation for the gun" from the dictionary. The higher and louder the firecrackers are set off, the more auspicious the New Year will be. If it is a "second, second, second" dud, then it is unlucky and a replacement is immediately released.

On this day, we eat soup dumplings in the morning to symbolize the reunion. The most important feature of the custom of this day is to let the family daily utensils "rest" for a day, in fact, let the housewife rest, do not sweep the floor, do not beg for fire (do not light a fire to others, light cigarettes), do not kill livestock, do not move the knife scissors, do not pour the toilet, do not wash the clothes, but also do not scold the children, do not speak unlucky words. Before going to bed, they put on "closed door cannons". At night, do not go out, commonly known as the "peace night".

The New Year's greetings usually start at home, then relatives. Generally first to relatives after distant relatives, according to the proximity of kinship, first worship near relatives after worship distant relatives. Speaking of New Year's greetings, the Ningbo people have a familiar saying, very interesting that is: "Worship the age of worship mouth, lard dumplings scalded chin".

The Lantern Festival

The 15th day of the first month of the lunar calendar is the Lantern Festival, which is the earliest time of the year when the moon is full, and is therefore known as the Shangyuan Festival.

The 13th is the "Night of the Lanterns" and the 18th is the "Night of the Fallen Lanterns", which is the "Festival of Lights".

On the night of the Lantern Festival, the people of Ningbo ate lulin soup and fruits. Fourteen night, there is a "light snake worm" custom, is the day, the farmers in the field, Tiancheng fire burning weeds "to drive away evil spirits", commonly known as "drive brilliant insects", Tiancheng hay burning like a fire dragon, so it is also known as "Tan Tan hay". Therefore, it is also known as "Tan Huo Long". This is a combination of yearly customs and agricultural production in addition to the pests of a custom.

Lantern night, lanterns, firecrackers, eat dumplings. ZhenHaiXing eat "girl soup", similar to the current hundred fruit soup. It is said that one year on the night of the Lantern Festival, Zhenhai after the street has a large family, masters, wives, young masters, young ladies have gone out to watch the lanterns, leaving the maids at home. The masters were so excited that they didn't come home until midnight. The maids were sleepy and hungry, and didn't dare to go to bed without their masters, so they looked for something to eat in the kitchen. As a result, they found a lot of things, what dates ah, peanuts ah, silver fungus ah, lotus seed ah, and all kinds of fruits ...... The girls put all of these into the pot to cook, almost, and put in the New Year's Eve leftover glutinous rice flour rolled into a round, into the sweet wine wine, into the sugar, and then beaten with egg, and sprinkled with osmanthus flowers. The girls were about to taste it when it was ready to be served. Just as the maids were about to taste the food, the master, the wife, the young master and the young lady came back, and as soon as they entered the door, they all shouted that they were hungry and wanted to order some food. The maids immediately brought the freshly cooked sweet soup for the masters to enjoy. After eating, everyone praised the taste of this sweet soup, asked, what is the name? The maids could not answer. The master said: "then called 'girl soup' it!" In this way, the Lantern Festival to eat "girl soup" slowly spread from the back streets. The first is the "Yatta Jelly", which is the name of the "Yatta Jelly", and the second is the "Yatta Jelly".

On this night, young girls meet in the toilet, pigsty to welcome the sacrifice of the purple nun, also known as welcome the sacrifice of the toilet nun, and planchette to divine the wisdom of the grown-ups and marriage. Legend has it that the toilet aunt He Mei, Shandong Shouyang Li Jing's concubine, because not allowed to Lee's wife, often serves as an obscene thing, so the day died of grief and anger, after the toilet aunt, Ningbo people commonly called "defecation tank girl". Therefore, to welcome the sacrifice of purple nuns also called "please defecate tank girl".

Remembering the dead words Qingming

Ningbo Qingming folklore emphasizes the "gratitude to the deceased, to promote the protection of the newborn" as the main theme of Ningbo custom heavy sacrifice, especially on the graves of the ancestors, do Qingming soup and rice for the important, domestic and foreign travelers Qingming festival more than the hometown of the graves.

The Ningbo people believe that: the graves, mainly a spiritual comfort, not only to the living, but also to the deceased; Qingming Festival for the "prudent end to catch up with the distant". The "prudent end" is seriously for the father or grandparents to do funeral; "far" is to hold a festival, memorial ancestors have merit, reflecting the moral consciousness of gratitude not forgetting the original, help in the ancients and the present, the predecessor and the descendants of the establishment of harmonious intergenerational relations, and thus promote human beings, human beings and nature. In turn, it promotes the harmonious relationship between man and man, man and nature, which is the pillar of the harmonious and stable development of our Chinese nation for thousands of years.

Ningbo people on the grave festival food for the green patties, mochi (rice) cake, mochi to cut into diamond-shaped. When going to the grave, remove weeds, shoveling new soil to press the top of the grave, inserted with a paper ball hanging Shin bamboo tips, to show that future generations of children and grandchildren have done filial piety to their ancestors, but also implies that the ancestors blessed the whole family with peace, prosperity and development.

Dragon boat racing words Dragon Boat Festival

Duanwu Festival on the fifth day of May, for the traditional folk festival, the name of the end of the five, also known as the end of the sun. Each doorstep inserted calamus and Ai, commonly known as "bushy sword to cut a thousand demons, Ai flag to attract a hundred blessings", some also hang a garlic head under the Ai flag.

According to legend, it is the day for the Chu patriotic poet, Sanlu Dafu Qu Yuan threw Miluo River death day, to commemorate Qu Yuan, the folk have hanging bags of incense, eat zongzi, the custom of dragon boat races. Fragrance bag, said Qu Yuan's moral integrity fragrance overflowing world; Zongzi, originally to prevent the fish to Qu Yuan's body to eat, and then evolved into a festival food; rowing dragon boat, is expressed in the race to rescue Qu Yuan.

Ningbo folklore, is the day the girls, busy making tiger-shaped, human child-shaped, chicken heart-shaped, zongzong-shaped, diamond-shaped, embroidered ball-shaped and other colors of the bag of incense, stuffed with cotton mixed with incense powder, hanging in the children's chest or hanging in the bed net or cradle, said to drive away evil spirits.

Ningbo's countryside and eat "five yellow six white" custom, cucumber, egg yolk, yellow fish, yellow eel, yellow clam called "five yellow", tofu, wild rice, cabbage, white fish, white chicken, white cut pork called "six white " (slightly different places).

Duanwu Festival families are wrapped in zongzi, Ningbo custom, is wrapped in quadrangular alkaline water zongzi, glutinous rice in the appropriate amount of alkaline water, with the old yellow Ruo shell wrapped. Cooked glutinous rice into light yellow, dipped in sugar to eat, fragrant and delicious.

In addition, the Dragon Boat Festival Ningbo folklore and "Dragon Boat Festival stretches". That is the day son-in-law more than prepared "Dragon Boat Tantalum", gift to the parents-in-law home. "Duanwu Tan", less four-color, more eight-color, in which the fish to become a pair, goose head and neck painted red color, the road goose called the louder the better, said the more called the more hair, said "utter goose".

The description of the Dragon Boat Festival tiger, do cloth tiger is Ningbo Dragon Boat Festival another folk custom, is the "king of beasts," the tiger to suppress snakes, centipedes, lizards, spiders, scorpions, "five poisons". Is the day, with the yellow in the forehead of infants written on the "king" word (show the king of beasts), there are children wearing tiger clothes, sewing cloth tiger and tiger pillows, said "every year Dragon Boat Festival on May 5, peeled over the dumplings to do the cloth tiger". Slightly different with other places, Ningbo's Dragon Boat Festival tiger engraving and printing color, in about four or five inches square of paper, painted with a tiger a child, a tiger two children, a tiger three or four children, two tiger a child, two tiger two children, two tigers three or four children, tigers, children with different postures, there are still Li Cunxiao, seven years old, fighting the tiger, Yang Xiang tiger under the story of the father and other charts.

August 16 words Mid-Autumn Festival

August 15 Mid-Autumn Festival, the whole country, is a big festival, only Ningbo Xing 16 days for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

There are many versions of the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival in Ningbo. One of the legends is that August 16th is the birthday of King Goujian's mother. There is an ancient city of Jiuzhang southwest of Cicheng, where King Goujian's mother lived for a long time. On the 16th day of the 8th month, King Goujian would celebrate his mother's birthday with her. The content of the birthday party was not a banquet with songs and dances, but the mother of King Goujun taught her son about his faults, and then the mother and son enjoyed the moonlight together. Once the story spread, the 16th day of the 8th month was regarded as a day of filial piety to listen to the teachings of the mother and enjoy the moon with the elders. Until today, it has been nearly two thousand years. According to Cixi County Records - Records of the Years and Seasons, "Yue Wangmu was born on the 16th day of the 8th month, and Gu Simei took the 16th day as the Mid-Autumn Festival."

Mid-Autumn Festival to eat mooncakes to show reunion, Ningbo mooncakes to moss, crystal mooncakes unique flavor. At this time the new duck fat and tender, whole duck stew taro carrots for the new delicacy, commonly known as "duck taro". Folk have eaten "duck taro", water tow cake and other customs.

Climbing the mountain to climb the word Chongyang

The first nine days of September for the Chongyang Festival. China is a country that pays great attention to the use of harmonics, nine nine harmonics for "long time". In this way, Chongyang has the meaning of "long life" and "praying for a long and healthy life". Therefore, Ningbo people have always respected and celebrated the longevity of the elderly on the Chongyang Festival.

As for the activities of the Chongyang Festival, there is a folk ballad that summarizes the activities of the festival clearly: "In September, September 9, climb the mountain and drink chrysanthemum wine, wear cornelian cherry to avoid evil, and eat the flower cake for a long life." The custom of eating Chung Yeung cake, there is a cake and high resonance, meaning high meaning. Climbing, in the mountains is easy to do, but in Ningbo there are many plains, no mountains to climb, eat Chung Yeung cake just to meet the psychological requirements of the people in the plains to climb. People in the plains and those who can't climb up for various reasons borrow the meaning of high through the cake, so that eating Chongyang cake becomes another expression of climbing up.

Finally, I would like to end this article with the words of an anthropologist. Anthropologists have long pointed out clearly to us that traditional culture is a form of established existence that preserves the achievements of the ancestors and adapts the succeeding generations to the society; if there is no traditional culture, the modern man will never be more intelligent than the apes.