Folk Culture of Dikengyuan

The Yellow River gave birth to the Chinese civilization, and Dikengyuan is the hotbed where the ancestors on both sides of the Yellow River flourished. There are many cultural sites scattered in the area where the ancient and magical kiln-hole dwellings are distributed. For example, the Yangshao Culture Site in Mianchi County, the Miaodigou and Sanliqiao Culture Sites in Shanxian County, the Yellow Emperor's Mausoleum in Lingbao City, and the Casting Plateau in Lingbao City all fully reflect the splendid ancient civilization that has been nurtured on this piece of land. As a symbol of the living culture in western Henan, this kind of kiln-style residence of Dikeng Yard contains strong cultural deposits and rich cultural connotations, reflecting a certain social and historical stage, people's religious beliefs, social conditions, and the level of economic development. Pit kiln courtyard construction is very clever, quite ingenious, the kiln and the earth connected, lying in the earth, with the earth pulse beating, the practical value of earthquake-proof function. Artistic function from the top to the bottom, the entire kiln yard for the square, standing in the middle of the yard to see the sky, the sky is like a vault, is the epitome of heaven and earth, reflecting the beauty of the square garden, is the ancient Chinese "unity of man and nature" philosophical response, is a typical example of people and nature and live in harmony, harmony **** life. Although the pit kiln yard is a small farmhouse, but by the historical and traditional cultural influences, the construction is still very elaborate. Which contains both scientific ingredients, but also a lot of feudal superstitious colors. In the local customs of the yellow earth, the construction of pits kiln yard called square yard, is a relationship between the rise and fall of the family, children and grandchildren reproduction of the major events. Therefore, before moving the earth to please know the yin and yang gossip feng shui Mr. phase house, create terrain, set the seat to the amount of size, under the line of fixed piles, choose an auspicious day to break the ground. Where the house behind the mountains and beams of loess, known as the "back of the mountain thick", as the saying goes, "back of the Jinshan face south, grandparents out of the big officials (eaten)"; house behind the ditch without dependence on those who do not support, known as the "back of the mountain empty ", the proverb says "back no dependence, the God of Wealth is not (see)", more taboo. On the day of the groundbreaking, the foundation ceremony, firecrackers, house owners burn incense to bow to the land god (master), to welcome the god of good fortune, this custom stems from the ancient cult of the land of mankind. Then dig three shovels in the center and four corners of the foundation site, called the "broken earth", after the broken earth, you can start the earth (work), the existing "groundbreaking work" said.

The construction of the pit yard by the influence of traditional culture gossip, the villagers to build kilns before the yard must ask Mr. yin and yang look, according to the terrain of the home base, the area, around the yin and yang fish of the eight directions, according to the I Ching gossip to decide to build a form of the courtyard. Based on the south, north, east, west, four different azimuth orientation and the main kiln hole is located in the direction of the pit, the kiln were called East Zhen House, West Dui House, South away from the house, the North Kan House. Among them, Dong Zhen Mansion is considered to be the best orientation.　　Dong Zhen Mansion: rectangular, 8 holes in the kiln, the main kiln is the east kiln, the southeast kiln is the kitchen kiln, the southwest kiln, the west kiln is the guest kiln, the south kiln is the doorway kiln, the southwest and northwest corners of the kiln are for the five ghosts kiln and the thatched latrine. Nan Li Mansion: rectangular, 8 - 12 holes in the kiln, the south kiln is the main kiln, the southeast kiln is the kitchen kiln, the southwest kiln, the west kiln is the guest kiln, the northeast and northwest corners of the kiln are for the five ghosts kiln and the thatched latrine, and the east kiln is for the doorway kiln.　　Xitui Mansion: square, with 10 holes cut into the kiln, the main kiln in the west, the kitchen kiln in the southwest corner, the guest kiln in the northwest corner, the kiln in the north, and the kiln in the west of the south, the Wugui kiln and thatched latrine in the southeast corner and the east, and the doorway kiln in the northeast corner.　　Beikanjia: rectangular with 8 - 12 holes cut into the kiln, due north is the main kiln, the kitchen kiln is the due east kiln, the northeast kiln is the guest kiln or Wugui kiln (livestock kiln), the northwest kiln and the south kiln are the guest kiln, the southwest kiln is the guest kiln or the Wugui kiln, the kiln in the southwest corner is the thatched latrine, and in the southeast is the door-dong kiln.

Depending on the nature of the orientation of the mansion, it was determined that the main kiln would be dug in the middle of one of the cliff faces for the elders. The main kiln is 3 to 3.2 meters high and can be installed with one door and three windows, while the rest of the kilns are partial kilns, which are 2.8 to 3 meters high and have one door and two windows. The door of the kiln is mostly two sets of doors, the one facing inward is the old door, and the one facing outward is called the wind door; the old door is strong, and the wind door is light-permeable. The main kiln is wider than all other kilns to show the owner's honorable status. Some dugout courtyard main position direction to excavate two kilns, can not determine the main kiln, in order to remedy the main house kiln, and then in the middle of the two kilns half-cliff excavation of a small kiln, symbolically as the main kiln of the house, also known as the sky kiln. The Five Ghosts Kiln (also known as the Kiln of Destiny) is vicious and is considered the worst kiln in the whole kiln compound, and is often used for keeping livestock, grinding flour and putting farm implements and sundries. Because the stone mill is the star of the White Tiger, it can suppress evil spirits.

According to Feng Shui, the construction and use of the ground pit courtyard is very concerned about the coordination of yin and yang, pay attention to the five elements of the phases of life, each construction of a ground pit courtyard must first be considered with the homeowner's life whether or not the phases of the phases (never phases of the grams) and then according to the phases of the phases of life to determine the construction of what type of mansion. Such as: wood life, should build a north-based or east-based patio courtyard, because the north is water, water can support wood, the east is wood, wood can help each other, of course, the construction of the northeast of the Burgundy House patio courtyard is also OK. Must require the main position to be high, the other parties down to the direction of the higher terrain for the Yang, the lower terrain for the yin, the master of the house should be occupied in the Yang position, the other members of the long time from the high to the low arrangement of the occupation of the yin position, the other to do the latrine, cow house, mill, etc., it is the pattern of the use of the arrangement of the strict requirements, in particular the door to the main stove, that is, the kiln which hole kiln is the main kiln, which holes kiln for the stove, which holes kiln door openings and so on can not follow your heart, and kiln use to determine guidelines, the main kiln is the main kiln, which holes kiln for the stove, which holes kiln open door, and so on can not follow your heart. And the use of kiln to determine the guidelines are determined by the type of dugongyuan. For example, the Tui Mansion in the Jing Mansion (i.e., the West Tui Mansion). Suitable for homeowners for the gold fate of the person, build and live in this mansion, the west high east low, the main door stove should be the west for the husband position, do the main kiln; Northeast Yan Nian to do the doorway, Southwest Tian doctor to do the stove house, Southeast six kill to do the latrine, so that with the yin and yang of the mansion and peace and harmony, the residents can be grandparents to live in peace and happiness, rich and developed. According to the gossip big tour of the year map to determine the yin and yang orientation of such homes, that is: due east for the extinction (yin), southeast for the six kill (yin), due south for the five ghosts (yin), due north for the scourge (yin) west for the husband position (yang), southwest for the heavenly doctor (yang), northeast for the prolongation of life (yang), the north-west for the life of the angry (yang). Different types of patio courtyard yin and yang orientation varies, but there is a basic requirement, yang position terrain to be high, yin position terrain accordingly to be lower, to maintain the strong yin and weak situation. Bagua will be eight directions are given to the yin and yang positioning, that is, the position of the husband (on the main position), the absolute life (under the main position), woe, five ghosts, heavenly medicine, angry, six kill, the extension of the year, of which the heavenly medicine, the extension of the year, the angry, the position of the husband for the Yang, the six kills, the five ghosts, the woe, the extinction of the netherworld, a patio courtyard if the Yang position is too strong, that is, the main door and stove in three directions is too high, then the family is not prosperous, although the money and wealth but no one to enjoy the descendants; On the contrary, if the Yang position is too low, the life is not smooth, accidental injury, offspring is not smart, family members, especially women are sick and disaster, grandchildren have no wealth, yin position must only be low, not high, four yin position if you do not pay attention to, there is a yin position bias high, the house owner and his family will be the mouth of lawsuits constantly, disease after disease, accidental injuries and deaths, disability, grandchildren incompetent. Dikeng courtyard not only pay attention to the yin and yang within the boundaries of the house with the yin and yang to maintain peace and harmony, but also demanding mansion around the terrain and buildings, within one hundred meters of the terrain, buildings, trees, etc. have a great impact on the prosperity of the house, must pay attention to strong yin and yang weakness of the situation. If within the boundaries of the house, the head of the family can not be in the yin position to increase the soil, building tall things, and if the house outside the boundaries of the land and just in the yin position of high buildings or high trees, high ground, etc., the head of the house should be in the house of their own position on the yang position of the remedies. It is important to emphasize here that these are superstitions, and it is not advisable to understand them only.

Built the pit kiln yard has three to, is the main kiln, door kiln, stove kiln location is very important, also pay attention to the balance of yin and yang, figure a lucky. The number of holes in the kiln is also much to pay attention to, there are five dark six contain eight seal nine said. Nine for the big, so nine-hole kiln compound most. Kiln courtyard built a lively and grand ceremony for the joint dragon mouth. Kiln dug when, craftsmen in the middle of a hole in the top of the kiln to leave only one brick or a stone cavity, tied with a red cloth or colorful lines of brick or stone masonry, and then set off firecrackers, hosted a banquet, *** wishing the host peace and good luck. Moving into the new kiln yard family and friends also prepared gifts to congratulate, drink wine, for its "warm kiln", some call it "step on the yard".

The kiln is leaning on the kiln mouth plate kang for "through the stove kang", some kiln plate before and after the double kang, the front kang sleeps the children, the back kang (in the bottom of the kiln) sleeps the old man. In winter, the fire is used for cooking, and the kang is hot when the food is cooked. The kang is made on a certain day with a "seven", and the size of the kang is made with a "seven". For example, it is six feet seven inches long and four feet seven inches wide. The word "seven" and "wife" sound the same, meaning "sharing a kang with one's wife and growing old together for a hundred years". The chimney of the stove fire leads to the ground through the kang, which is called the smoke hole. The God of Stove is worshipped in the cupboard kiln, and the couplet is often written as "Good things are said in heaven, and good fortune comes down in the palace". In the doorway of the pit yard, the passageway is made of brick masonry in the shape of a ladder. Doorway with brick masonry, commonly known as "poor yard, rich doorway". Planting flowers and trees in the courtyard is an essential process for the owner of the courtyard to decorate the courtyard. Spring blossoms, people as if living in the flowers, in which there is a kind of tranquil farmhouse mood, extraordinarily bright mood. The yard and then planted a few fruit trees, summer can be cool, fruit season there are fresh and delicious fruit to eat. Pit yard tree planting is particularly delicate, to "not planted in front of the mulberry, not planted after the willow, when the yard is not planted ghosts clap hands (poplar). Because "mulberry" and "funeral" homophonic, willow for the funeral with wood, poplar tree leaves are blown by the wind sound horror, are considered unlucky. "Pear tree in front, elm tree in the back, and a pomegranate tree in the yard. Because "pear" and "profit" homophonic, elm tree called money tree, pomegranate seed (son), all take the meaning of good luck. Next to the doorway planted a big acacia tree, called "a thousand years of pine and cypress, ten thousand years of ancient acacia", meaning happiness and long-term well-being.

Kiln window window decals (also known as paper-cutting) is a traditional folk custom. More out of women's hands, the old girls grew to twelve years old, in addition to labor, sewing work, but also to learn to cut paper. The production of the window is very delicate, divided into painting, cutting, fumigation, dyeing, sticking five steps. (1) Painting. The first step is to draw a picture of something familiar or imagined. (2) Cutting. The more delicate the flower, the better. (3) Kaori. This is a scientific method of reprinting, in which the cut pattern is pasted on a stack of window paper, put on an oil lamp and fumigated, and then the pattern is removed, revealing the black background of the white flower. This can save the tracing procedures. (4) Dyeing. That is, coloring (in the absence of multi-colored paper before), the cut pattern painted in various colors, so that the lines are clear and nice. (5) Paste. Take to get good window flowers pasted on the window paper, that is completed.

Window cutouts are seasonal and non-seasonal. In the past, the Spring Festival is the best time for women to show their skills, kiln windows, homes have become an exhibition room for paper-cutting, the newlywed daughter-in-law will also give their relatives and neighbors to send their own paper-cutting to show their dexterity. Next is to get married or do happy events, not only the window stickers on the paper cuttings, and kiln walls are stickers to beautify the room to add a festive atmosphere.

Because the circle of women's lives in the old days was confined to indoor chores, the content of their paper cuts are mostly "magpies", "dragon play beads", "peacock screen", "Heaven's daughter scattered flowers" and a variety of flowers, flowers, insects, fish, birds, animals and other kinds of patterns, reflecting the people are also mostly fat dolls. In addition, there is good luck, wealth and longevity, six animals prosper, grains and cereals, to avoid the evil spirits of the demon category of paper cuts are also more popular. These big red paper cuts are full of folklore, with a strong local flavor, reflecting people's aspirations for a better life, for the desolate and barren soil kiln cave added color and spring. The wedding and burial customs of Dikengyuan are very unique. Men on horseback, women in sedan chairs, the front of the honor guard is playing hemp umbrellas (actually yellow umbrellas, but the folk can only be called hemp umbrellas). Next is to play the flag, up to eight flags. After that is to play the lantern, and the same number of flags. Behind the lanterns are the signboards, on which are written auspicious words, with green onions and bottles of wine tied on both sides, the green onions being smart and the wine meaning long-lasting. Behind the signboards are gongs. Behind the signboard is the gong. Behind the gong is the band, with suona, sheng, clappers, and small gongs. Behind the band are the groom's horse and the bride's sedan chair.

All the relatives of the woman's family follow her at the wedding and give the man's family a flower face. According to analysis, playing the flower face is an ancient "bride kidnapping" custom remains, in Shaanxi County, Lingbao, Lu, Luoning area have this custom. The earliest is supposed to be the male side of the bride, afraid of female family members recognized, so the face all black. Later it evolved into a kind of playful jostling, and the face was not completely blackened, but artfully painted with oil colors.

The wedding procession first to the cliff (called nai in the vernacular), the bridegroom worship bride is called worship sedan chair, and then the in-laws out of the two women to the bride out of the firecrackers, firecrackers, the bride out of the sedan chair before stepping on the feet in the "grains of plenty," the basin (which is loaded with peanuts, cotton). Red felt on the ground, red felt from the cliff until the groom's house. Into the bridal chamber, into the bridal chamber when the bride and groom to grab the door, the groom to go out, the bride to go in, indicating that the man is the main outside, the woman is the main inside. Newlyweds to eat first, the bride ate first, the groom ate in the kitchen. Sixteen lotus petals of the flower buns, the bride to break open, eat half, to the groom to eat half. The bride will also eat bean sprouts, "first eat bean sprouts, after the birth of small children," said early roots. After eating the bride's family left, the bride and groom and then worship. First worship ancestors, and then worship parents, husband and wife to worship. Worship on the table put bucket, a bucket is 30 kilograms, the bucket put grain, insert a scale, the scale hung on the mirror, the mirror is a demon mirror, meant to drive away the evil spirits to suppress the demon.

The pit yard burial customs still pay attention to feng shui, the dead pay attention to the "top of the head of the Gold Mountain, footsteps rice boat, two hands pouncing on the silver mountain", or in order to give the descendants to seek a good luck. But also to the dead "light", the dead lying in the coffin, the lid open, filial sons take turns to take cotton dipped in water, wipe their faces. Is to bless the descendants of "eyes bright heart bright" meaning.

The marriage and funeral customs on the yellow earth show the scene, the atmosphere, etiquette, with the kiln, the old tree, window, square cloth, tangible cultural assets and intangible cultural resources, including people's values, lifestyles, and the aesthetic realm, together with the genes that constitute the folk culture ecology. Folklore of the seasons and festivals is closely accompanied by people's production activities and the development of social history and is constantly formed and developed. Although the forms of expression are different, most of them are characterized by joyful celebrations. The most important seasonal folklore of the people living in Dikeng Yuan is the social fire performance during the Spring Festival, in which people walk on stilts and run dry boats to celebrate the festival, wishing for a bumper harvest, prosperity of the six animals, and longevity of the people in the coming year.

The most important part of the fun is that people play a variety of roles to link their unique stories. There are the following main types of fireworks: (1) mythological and legendary characters. These roles are performed as "gods and goddesses", which means "blessing the people and giving blessings and longevity". Their costumes, props, and singing form their own traditions and tend to be standardized. (2) Historical story characters. Such characters have names, historical origins, and specific examples, but after artistic processing tends to be more figurative and typical. For example, Liu Bei, Zhao Yun, Zhao Kuangyin, Bao Gong and so on. (3) ugly characters. As the saying goes: "no ugly theater", social fire is no exception. Funny, funny, hilarious clown characters, such as the "fat lady", etc., can be very good to set the mood of the festival, unique style. (4) Typical animal images. Social fire in the use of symbols of good luck, good people, drive away the meaning of the animals, a wish, send thoughts; the second is to add fun to the festival. For example, "Dragon Dance", "Lion Dance", "Bamboo Horse", "Catch the Bear" and so on. The cultural folklore of Dikengyuan villages in western Henan includes the following types of opera: (1) Yu opera: also known as Henan Bangzi and Henan Gaozheng. Because of the early actors with the voice singing, start and close with falsetto turn high end with "Acura", also known as "Henan Acura". In the western region of Henan, the performances are based on the mountains and the flat earth for the stage, locally known as "leaning against the mountain roar". (2) Opera: formed in the 1920s, but the singing of the song, the Ming and Qing dynasties has been widely circulated in the folk, **** about two hundred, can be described as young and old. The music of opera belongs to the music of folk songs, or the music of the "songboards". Each song is characterized as a multi-functional, multi-purpose single body, with a clear, strong independent personality. It has a rich variety of songs, styles and modes, such as the lower body, the three-sentence body, the four-sentence body, the five-sentence body and the multi-sentence body, etc. Its modes are divided into three types: Gong mode, Shang mode, and Zheng mode, etc. It is long in lyricism, clarity, and clarity. It is long in lyricism, clear, simple, lively and bright, with the excitement and exuberance of northern music, but also with the elegance of Jiangnan music. It is simple and friendly, easy to understand, rich in local flavor, and fascinating to listen to. (3) Pu Opera: Puzhou Opera, commonly known to the locals as "messy play". It is named after the area of Puzhou in Jinnan, Shanxi Province. Pu Opera has a high-pitched and impassioned tone, a beautiful sound, and is good at showing passion, and the singing voice, due to the habits of the local people and the relationship between the tone of the language, has a large melodic jump (usually one degree or even fourteen degrees of jumping), a high tone, a high accent, a high board, ups and downs, and is good at expressing the emotions of the agitation and misery.

The village folklore of Dikengyuan includes the following: (1) shoe soling. Half-practical, half-decadent, shoe-knitting has become a relaxing task for women in Dikengwon, so they have time to think about the patterns and styles of the soles, with contrasting red and blue being the most common colors for the soles. (2) Spinning and weaving. In the old days, most women in Dikeng Yard knew how to spin and weave, and in their spare time, especially in clear and sunny days, the women would move their spinning wheels to the courtyard, enjoying the sunshine while spinning, with a dog running around beside them, which painted a unique landscape of Dikeng Yard. Nowadays, the pit yard can spinning, weaving more and more people to come less and less, many old looms, spinning wheel are idle in the kiln.