Han Festival: Flower Festival custom (a traditional festival in China)

Watching flowers is an elegance in life. People in China have accumulated rich folk cultural achievements in flower viewing, such as the flower fairs popular in urban and rural areas in the old days.

In mid-spring of February, the wheat straw is in full bloom and the green branches are full of flowers, which provides a rich natural background for the activities of the Flower Festival. On this day, flower sellers usually tie flowers with red strips of cloth or red paper. Many flower farmers also hang colored silk and red paper on flowers, which is called "appreciating red" or "protecting flowers". The poem says, "When spring comes to bloom, the flowers are dyed green, the branches are cut, and the east wind blows. Steamed clouds and five colors fly to the sunny dock, and the pavilion is opened to help enjoy the red. " It is the realism of this custom. Many flower farmers, flower vendors and farmers engaged in other planting industries will gather in front of flower beds on this day to offer sacrifices and fruits to wish God's birthday, or perform entertainment performances to attract crowds of tourists to watch and form a lively temple fair scene. The busybody or the Garden Pavilion Resort will hold a "flower fight" or "butterfly fight" similar to today's flower show, or gather people to carry lanterns at night, which is called "lantern". In Longzhou, Ningming and other places in Guangxi, young men and women still gather in Pingba to sing at the Flower Festival. There must be some praise for the flower fairy in the song. When the feelings are deep, they throw hydrangeas at each other and are lingering.

The traditional flower show has now become a more dazzling seasonal flower show, and the trend of mass flower viewing often lasts for several months, far exceeding the ancient one-day period. However, if we trace back to the origin of this traditional custom, it is ambiguous.

According to the records of Mo Han Ji and Qin Zhong Sui Ji cited in Guang Fang Qun Pu, there was a custom of Flower Festival in Chang 'an and Luoyang in Tang Dynasty. Bo Yi Ji and Zhen also provide a beautiful legend for its origin: during the Tianbao period of the Tang Dynasty, there was a flower fan named Cui Xuanwei, who was famous far and near. One February night, a group of gorgeous women transformed by the essence of flowers came to their garden and told him that they wanted to meet the blooming spring, but Shen Feng couldn't stop them, so they asked him for help. Cui Shi listened to his advice, prepared colorful silk and drew the sun, moon and stars on it. On February 2 1 day (12), at five o'clock, he hung colorful silk on the flowers in the garden. It was really windy at that time, but all the flowers on the branches were protected by colored silk, and none of them were blown away. People who love flowers flock to them, because it is a custom. Because the time for hanging colored flowers must be arranged in the fifth watch, it is called "Flower Dynasty".

According to the above explanation, the Flower Festival should be a festival to commemorate Cui Xuanwei's hanging flowers and protecting flowers. However, in some historical and geographical customs since the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the Flower Dynasty is a sacrificial festival to celebrate the birthday of the flower god, that is to say, the meaning of hanging colored flowers is not to protect flowers, but to celebrate birthdays. For example, Volume 4 of "Casting Ding Yu Wen" quotes He Zhi's cloud from Xinyang, Kunshan: "February 12th is the birthday of the flower god, and all flowers are rewarded with red flowers." Lu said, "February 12th is Baihua's birthday. Huqiu Flower Temple offers sacrifices to wish the immortal a birthday, which is called' Flower Dynasty'. Wu Biao, a colorful cloud, says,' It's not half spring in bloom when flowers are in good season. Colorful, very not easy to decorate the flower god. ""In the notes of the Qing Dynasty and festival notes, Empress Dowager Cixi also cut the ribbon at the Summer Palace to watch the' Flower God's Birthday' at the Flower Festival. As for who is the flower god, there are different opinions. The Record of Hua Mu says that "Mrs. Wei's disciples are good at planting flowers and are called ancient paintings". "Month Order Generalized Year Order 1" states that "female foreigners are compulsory gods in spring and summer, that is, flower gods". The tenth volume of Yi Jian Zhi Zhi also describes the flower god, three gorgeous women in red skirts. The goddess of flowers is a female image.

In addition, some people think that the origin and development of Flower Festival is closely related to Buddhism. "Xi Chao Le" in Rucheng, Tian Ming, says: "February 15th is the Flower Festival, which is a secular saying ... There was a scene of butterflies flapping in the Song Dynasty. Although it is not mentioned today, nirvana will be held in the temple to talk about the Peacock Sutra, and people who burn incense will worship, which is still a legacy." It can be seen that this festival is related to Buddhist ceremonies, and worshipping Buddha in court is an important activity during the festival (Qian's Buddhism and China Festival). Accordingly, the Flower Dynasty was once again classified as a religious festival.

Li Zong and Liu Qun's "Folk Gods in China" have monographs on flower gods and flower festival customs. Critics believe that one of the contents of early human nature worship is plant worship. After "natural religion evolved into man-made religion", this form of worship gradually died out. However, the concept of animism has not been completely eradicated from people's minds, so there is the belief of the flower god and the emergence of the birthday of the flower god. This statement is concise, but it is still unable to obtain evidence from historical materials, outlining the tortuous footprint from ancient plant worship to the formation of flower festival customs. In this way, the origin of the flower festival still failed to get a convincing answer.