Traditional Culture Encyclopedia - Traditional customs - Judging from the folklore of Chinese New Year, the good answer of China Year has been raised to 50 points.

Judging from the folklore of Chinese New Year, the good answer of China Year has been raised to 50 points.

New Year pictures are printed matter related to New Year customs, and they are also unique folk art during the New Year. New Year pictures are the image reflection of China folk customs and the typical embodiment of festival culture and customs.

Folk New Year pictures have sprung up due to customs and festivals, and they have pinned people's wishes for good weather, good harvest in agriculture, safe home and horses, praying for welcoming guests, and driving away disasters and evil spirits.

Folk customs of China New Year

The custom of Lunar New Year has been recorded in China for a long time. The word "nian" first appeared in Oracle Bone Inscriptions of Shang Dynasty from 16 to 1 1 century BC. The glyph is very similar to a person harvesting or carrying grain, so Shuo Wen Jie Zi says that the word "year" is "the five grains are ripe, since the five grains are ripe". After the Shang Dynasty, in the Zhou Dynasty, the year was marked with the word "year".

After the harvest of grain in the local area, a year passed and a new year began. Therefore, the Spring Festival is called "China New Year". In the ancient customs of China, some things to celebrate the New Year are called "Nian", such as greeting each other when they meet, painting on doors and walls, eating cakes, visiting relatives and friends, and so on.

The specific time of the Chinese New Year was officially determined by the state in the first year of the Western Han Dynasty. Liu Che, the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, ordered Tai Shicheng and Deng Ping to create the taichu calendar Law, and determined that the first month of the year was the beginning of the year, and the first day was called New Year's Day, and then it was called New Year's Eve. Since then, there have been more and more custom activities on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

The Evolution of Folk Customs of New Year Pictures

The origin of New Year pictures, like Spring Festival couplets, is related to ancient peach symbols.

For example, Cai Yong's Arbitrariness in the Eastern Han Dynasty recorded that in the Han Dynasty, "people often died in December, from Baili to Tonger, in order to drive away epidemic ghosts in the palace." . Peach arc, stab arrow (bow and arrow), earth drum, drum and shoot it. Akamaru planted grain to eliminate diseases and disasters. It has set up, health institute, Hunan, Hubei, Hunan and other units to carry out pilot projects. "

Cai Yong's Shen Tu and Lei Yu quoted Huang Di's book in Ying Shao's General Customs and Sacrifice: "In ancient times, there were two brothers, Cha and Lei Yukun, who were possessed by ghosts and stood under the peach tree on Dushuo Mountain. It is unreasonable to simply look at all kinds of ghosts, which is a disaster to people. Tea and Lei Yu are tied by reeds to eat tigers. Therefore, most county officials in the Han Dynasty "decorated peaches, hung reeds and painted tigers at the door" on the twelfth lunar month or New Year's Eve, all of which pursued the former to protect the fierce. "It can be seen that the custom of New Year pictures stems from the desire to resist evil spirits.

It is also recorded in the Biography of the Thirteen Kings of Han Dynasty: "It was widely spread that Hui Wang said that the door of the temple was painted by Cheng qin, with a short coat and a long sword." Yan Shigu's Note: "Cheng qin is also an ancient warrior".

In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Shen Tu and Lei Yu simply painted on peach boards. "The Story of Jingchu Times": "Make a peach board called Xianmu. Draw Er Shen, stick it left and right, with Shen Tu on the left and Lei Yu on the right, commonly known as the door god. " Someone wrote the names of Shen Tu and Lei Yu directly on the mahogany, which saved the trouble of drawing. Fu Tao developed late, and gradually divided into Spring Festival couplets and door paintings, among which door paintings are the predecessors of New Year pictures.

Why did the ancients put up doors? It is said that the ancients believed that ghosts came out at night, and if they painted or pasted a door idol of a military commander, they could sleep peacefully under the protection of the patron saint. In the Jin Dynasty, there was a custom of "painting a chicken at the door of the New Year's Day", because when the chicken crowed, it lit up and the ghost disappeared. This statement can be found in Wang Jia's Notes on Stories: "In the seventy years of Yao's reign, a country supported by his family presented a two-eyed bird, which looked like a chicken and sang like a phoenix. When it dropped its feathers, it flew away. It can fight for beasts, tigers and wolves, so that evil spirits can't do harm ... Now every year, someone casts gold or pictures for chicken carving wood, and this portrait is also. "

Draw a chicken on the door, so that evil spirits and evil groups can't do harm, and expand the theme of door gods in New Year pictures. Up to now, this painting form has been handed down from generation to generation in some early door paintings in the origin of New Year pictures.

After the Song Dynasty, the portraits of the valiant soldier and Weichi Gong in the door gods' paintings also evolved from this.

The custom of pasting New Year pictures in the Spring Festival varies from place to place. In Foshan, before the Ming Dynasty, people used to put carved tigers and lions in front of their doors to show exorcism. Since the rise of New Year pictures and after the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, people began to paste couplets and door paintings, commonly known as door stickers, for exorcising evil spirits and praying for blessings.

The content of New Year pictures is closely related to folk customs.

New Year pictures often show folk customs by reflecting local folk customs and celebrations. Many New Year pictures reflect social changes or people's activities such as food, clothing, housing and transportation, and consciously or unconsciously show the fashion of the times and social customs, leaving a lot of valuable video materials for researchers. For example, the costumes in some New Year pictures are real and reliable materials for studying the changes of costumes; Farming in New Year pictures and farm tools in pictures are important materials for studying the historical evolution of farm tools. The wedding scenes are reflected in the New Year pictures. In ancient times, the wedding paintings were all "Dragon Cars in Heaven and Earth" or "Two Immortals in the class". On the case, bows and arrows, grain barrels, flower and fruit bottles and other objects were placed, which was related to the legendary story of Lady Peach Blossom breaking the Duke of Zhou.

In the late Qing Dynasty, Wuqiang New Year pictures printed some New Year pictures, such as Ten Thousand Children Practicing Martial Arts and Children Gymnastics, which reflected the new knowledge provided during the Reform and Reform Period. The scenery changed the learning environment of the old school and showed the theme of self-improvement. From these New Year pictures which reflect the theme of education, we can see the evolution of China's education system in the past hundred years, as well as the social changes influenced by western customs, such as gender equality, open atmosphere and so on.

In the past, New Year pictures not only appeared in rural markets and the streets of towns at the end of the twelfth lunar month, but also appeared in ordinary festivals, weddings and funerals. You can still see New Year pictures with different themes, such as getting married, having children, studying, taking exams, getting promoted, accepting apprentices, thanking the gods, profiting from sericulture, harvesting, hunting safely, moving in peace, and thanking doctors for hanging plaques.

Therefore, the art of New Year pictures is closely related to folk customs. In ancient times, there were no movies, newspapers, and modern media such as the Internet. Therefore, as the only media with the largest circulation and the widest coverage, New Year pictures reflect almost all the contents of folk culture with their popularity.

Landscape New Year Pictures in New Year Customs

Chunniutu

In the past, there was no almanac in the countryside, and the New Year picture workshop printed the pictures of spring cattle before winter. Under the picture, a man looks like a boy, holding a short whip to symbolize the arrival of spring. The boy leaned against a lying cow with the word "spring" in his hand. The map is printed with monthly and daily tables of the 24 solar terms in a year, as well as Poems of Six Lang and Mu Jing, for farmers to act according to the solar terms on the map when farming.

From the sentence in Liu Kezhuang's poem "No one sent a desk calendar this year, and looked at the murals on the trees", we can see that "the picture of spring cattle" has been deeply rooted in the folk in the Song Dynasty. Spring Cattle Map, also known as Mangshen Spring Cattle Map, and Land: Suzhou New Year's "Round Wonder in the City" is especially sought after by tourists. Painting sellers gathered in Sanqing Hall, and the countryside competed for the "Mangshen Spring Cattle Map". "

There are many kinds of pictures of spring cattle. The composition of New Year pictures varies from place to place, but the theme is the same.

Play lantern painting

In the folk, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month is regarded as the Lantern Festival, and lanterns are hung on the streets of the city to celebrate the festival. In the countryside, a square lamp holder is tied with straw, and a paper picture of "lamp square" printed with woodcut is stuck outside.

This lamp is painted with four pictures, printed with various local operas, and each picture is engraved with a riddle, such as "Little people are useless" (drug name one), and the answer is "being a gentleman"

There is also "Yuanxiao", which was cut by a knife and horse carved by a New Year painting workshop. The Lantern Festival method is to tie a square or round paper lamp with a bamboo stick, cut out a color printing knife and stick it on a paper wheel. The wheels are dry and can turn freely. Common images include martial arts scenes in novels such as Three Wars of Lu Bu, Cut off the Dragon Robe, and Capture China.

Zhai Zhen zhong kui

Zhong Kui is an early theme in folk woodblock New Year pictures. Zhong Kui had printing and sales in the Northern Song Dynasty, but it was hung on New Year's Eve. Ye Mengde's Yan Yu in the Stone Forest: "In my dream, Zong Shen (Zhao Yong) suddenly got a portrait of Zhong Kui painted by Wu Daozi. Because the plaque was given to both houses, it will be given next year. " It reflects that Zhong Kui in Song Dynasty, like the keeper, always appeared on the wall or door during the Spring Festival.

Until the end of the Ming dynasty, it was still "a peach board by the door, and a general charcoal attached to the door." Paintings such as Shen Fu, Ghost Judgment and Zhong Kui are hung indoors (see Deliberately Recorded by Liu Ruoyu). After the Ming Dynasty, the custom of hanging Zhong Kui on New Year's Eve was gradually moved to the Dragon Boat Festival in May, and it was hung in the hall to "hang Zhong Kui in January to ward off evil spirits" (see Lu).

There is no ghost-catching plot of Zhong Kui in folk New Year pictures. Only Zhong Kui was wearing a Jinshi scarf, a round neck official uniform, thick-soled boots and a sword, holding a bat in his finger, or the words "attracting blessings into the hall", or "hating blessings for coming late", "blessing in sight" and "blessing from heaven", and borrowed the words "bat" and "blessing".

1999 map for eliminating cold

The "99 Cold Map" is one of the month cards in folk New Year pictures, and it is also one of the early forms of New Year pictures. The earliest painting in existence is 1999' s "The Picture of Eliminating Cold", which was carved in Shaanxi in the first year of Hongzhi in the Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1488). This picture shows a garlic-shaped vase with a broken plum blossom with petals ***8 1. Around the plum bottle, different solar terms from cold to warm from 1999 and various customs and activities of people's farming and drinking are painted.

Ming has a building called "A Brief Introduction to the Scenery of the Imperial Capital": "On the solstice of winter, draw a plum blossom, one petal in 80 miles, and dye one petal every day. In 1999, the petals came out and the spring was deep. " It can be seen that in the Ming Dynasty, plum blossoms were painted in the form of "Nine Nine Cold Pictures".

There are many forms and patterns of "cold-dispelling pictures" in Qing Dynasty New Year pictures, and there are also doll themes. In the picture, a child draws a fragrant spectrum printed with nine double-hook characters, each with nine strokes, such as "fragrant tea is sent to the front of the court to entertain guests" and "weeping willows in front of the court to cherish the spring breeze", and some people write beautiful sentences such as "flying south to yehliu and sprouting for spring".

The "Cold Map of 1999" carved in wei county, Shandong Province, is printed with the words of solar terms and monthly construction for one year. The eight diagrams are carved in nine groups, with nine articles in each group. There is a poem at the bottom of each group, which implies the injustice of inequality between the rich and the poor, such as: "Four or nine floors are spread everywhere, and the wind and the sun are shining;" Don't be too cold to Zhu Di's son. Some woodcutter walk barefoot. " In ancient times, the winter solstice festival was as important as the New Year.

the God of Wealth

Among folk New Year pictures, there are most New Year pictures about the God of Wealth. There are different modes of God of Wealth in different places, some are God of Wealth, some are Wu Caishen, some are God of Wealth, some are God of Wealth couples, and some are God of Wealth who go to Shangguan (official) to make money (Guan Gong above, God of Wealth below). Guan Gong is also a god of wealth. Guan Yu values righteousness, because righteousness is more important than money, so Guan Yu is above the god of wealth.

In fact, loyalty is also to make money, because only honesty can make more money.

Zaowang

There is a folk saying that "Yangjiabu comes first, then Kitchen God". In Yangjiabu family New Year pictures workshop, a large number of Kitchen God New Year pictures are printed every year. Such glossy paper New Year pictures can be printed 300 times a day, and up to 700 times if you work overtime day and night. Kitchen God's New Year pictures have 5 to 6 editions, and they are painted 5 to 6 times, which is equivalent to printing 1500 to 4,200 times a day. Just look at the hands of craftsmen who are working at full speed every minute, and you can imagine the hardships of folk New Year artists.

Kitchen King New Year pictures are also called Kitchen God, Kitchen King and Kitchen Palace. The custom of sticking to the kitchen god has evolved for 1000 years. Kitchen God Ma (Fu) has printing workshops all over the country, as far away as Naxi, Bai, Yi and other ethnic minority areas in Yunnan, with different colors or ink lines. The forms of images are sitting, standing (the boiled gentleman is a statue), sitting alone, sitting with his wife, sitting in the middle of the incense table, and separating the left and right ladies. This kind of cooking gentleman is only popular in wei county and Liaocheng, commonly known as "three-headed chef".

As the name implies, the new year pictures of the kitchen king are posted on the kitchen stove, which means that fires are being made all year round, and the kitchen stove is full of fire and food is available. This expresses the simplest wishes of the people at the bottom. Therefore, Kitchen God is one of the most printed New Year pictures, especially Yangjiabu. Almost every New Year picture workshop prints Kitchen God, with the largest sales volume.

New Year pictures are the "religion" of the ancients.

Why were New Year pictures widely circulated in ancient times? Through the research and analysis of a large number of New Year pictures collected in various places, we can think that in ancient times, New Year pictures played a "religious" role for ordinary people.

Westerners have religious beliefs, and China has the tradition of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, but these are not religious beliefs, so folk New Year pictures have become a religion of China people to some extent, or a belief.

For example, the door-sticking god is to exorcise evil spirits and avoid disasters and welcome auspicious blessings; Sticking Guanyin means being kind. The difference is that western religions are purely spiritual, while Chinese religions are actually utilitarian. If you are obsessed with the god of wealth, it is seeking wealth.

There are a large number of Qing Dynasty New Year pictures in Weixian County. For example, there is a picture that says: Please invite the God of Wealth to my house and pile up glittering silver. There is also a picture of "there is a cash cow at home", which shows the picture of ancient life, and some interesting words are printed on it: "there are cash cows at home and many jewelry stores; There is a wealth-gathering stove at home, and the fortune is more than enough. Many mules and horses, cows and donkeys, jade and pearls, and many treasures filled the house. This family is really good, and all ages are happy. Be a rich old man, a history book, an academy, a governor, a descendant, and read poetry books. "

As can be seen from this New Year picture, people's yearning for secular happiness and material pursuit far exceed the spirit.

The disadvantages of "modernization"

New Year pictures have several versions, several colors, and several versions need to be printed several times. Only in folk New Year pictures workshops can people deeply understand the true meaning of the ancient man-made word "printing". In fact, there is a brush before the seal, while the modern printing house uses Heidelberg wheel printing, and there is no brush but printed matter.

Omit as much as possible, and only ellipsis can be efficient, which is related to the fast pace and high speed pursued by modern society. The so-called scientific and technological progress is to omit the process and go straight to the result. It's fast, but the experience is gone.

For example, in modern tourism, when you come to a famous mountain, you can reach the top of the mountain in ten minutes by cable car, which saves the process of climbing a Tianshan Mountain, and the fun of sightseeing disappears, without spiritual experience and spiritual pleasure.

Another example is drinking tea. Ancient people drank tea, not only the choice of tea was painstaking, but also the choice of tea set was very particular. There are many kinds of teapots, besides teapots, there are cups for drinking tea and cups for smelling incense. What materials are used to make teaspoons is exquisite, not to mention many procedures and exquisite of ancient people.

Pay attention to the choice of water for soup and tea, it must be clear spring water or snow water somewhere, which needs to be boiled repeatedly, and each time it is mastered deeply. Now there are bags of tea, which can be drunk by pouring boiling water. What's more, even the process of boiling water to make tea is omitted, and canned tea can be drunk when opened.

Back to the production of New Year pictures, the New Year pictures printed by modern rotary machines are only printed, but the speed is very fast, and hundreds of thousands of pictures can be printed a day. However, the traditional woodcut watermark color matching New Year pictures, from drawing, engraving to printing, take dozens of days or even months to complete a New Year picture. Zhang Dianying, a master of Weifang New Year pictures, spent four months printing a woodblock New Year picture of Nongjiale, and the whole creation process of this New Year picture took eight years, and finally created "the best New Year picture in the world".

As a collection appreciation, printed matter is worthless. Only hand-made woodblock New Year pictures have artistic charm, and they are also works of art that can be collected and appreciated slowly.

How to Integrate Folk New Year Pictures into Contemporary Life

Now all the producing areas of New Year pictures are making a big fuss with the help of New Year pictures, hoping to save folk culture and develop local economy by saving New Year pictures.

Some experts suggest that we can make a fuss about this kind of cultural resources, such as packaging New Year pictures, product names can be named accordingly, and New Year pictures festivals can also be named by enterprises. Since New Year pictures are rooted in the people and come from the public, they should not be the pets of a few creators, collectors and players. They used to be, and have always been, an indispensable part of people's lives. They should come from and belong to the people, so that more people in society can participate in the management and the artistic life of New Year pictures can last forever.

In fact, many enterprises and businesses have set foot in New Year pictures or created commercial value with the help of New Year pictures resources. This brings two realities. First of all, New Year pictures have been passed down more widely through commodity circulation. Second, New Year pictures are tainted with commercial flavor, which reduces the cultural taste. Whether happy or sad, the flow of time will dilute our confusion.

Folk customs are endless, and New Year pictures are endless.

The era of New Year pictures has passed, but folk culture has been integrated into people's blood and is endless. Some places that make New Year pictures hold large-scale New Year pictures every year. For example, Mianzhu New Year Painting Festival has been held for five times from June 5438 to1October 18, 2006, and the annual parade has a theme. For example, in 2004, the theme was "Spring Festival", showing the scenes of ancient Mianzhu New Year pictures, while in 2005, the theme was 56 ethnic groups.

At Mianzhu New Year Pictures Festival, people fully felt the reservation of China ancient folk customs in the origin of New Year pictures. On the streets covered with lanterns and colorful decorations, crowds surged, enjoying New Year pictures on antique streets and watching river lanterns by Mawei River, which made people linger.

Nowadays, urbanites no longer stick woodblock New Year pictures, but they still have the custom of sticking printed New Year pictures and Spring Festival couplets. In many supermarkets, Spring Festival couplets, lanterns, New Year pictures, firecrackers and other folk new year goods have become highlights. In many cities, we can see printed New Year pictures, Spring Festival couplets, folk paper-cuts and other works reflecting folk customs in the annual New Year Carnival and Spring Festival. In recent years, folk woodblock New Year pictures also have special display cabinets.