What are the customs of Leizhou

Leizhou Peninsula has a very special geographic location - about 130 kilometers long peninsula into the South China Sea, the whole territory belongs to the tropical region; Leizhou Peninsula is a frontier, to the north of the mountains blocking, to the south of the sea, so Leizhou Peninsula late development, in a long period of history, most of the Peninsula alone development. These geographical factors, so that the Leizhou Peninsula has given birth to a distinctive, unique Leizhou culture.

"No day without thunder" and the worship of the god of thunder

Leizhou Peninsula is named after "thunder". From scientific research, Leizhou Peninsula is at the edge of the tropical climate zone, bordering the South China Sea, the air is humid, the weather is complex and changeable, especially with the strong convective weather, which leads to the Leizhou Peninsula thunder and lightning frequently - more than 200 days of the year thunder, including more than three months of thunderstorms, ranking first in China, the world's second (first is the Indonesia). "Thunder" has become synonymous with the Leizhou Peninsula. Residents of the peninsula who have grown up listening to the sound of thunder can best understand what "thunderous momentum" means. It is difficult for outsiders to imagine the reverence for thunder and lightning here, and the Leizhou Peninsula has been branded with thunder everywhere, forming a unique "thunder god culture".

Shrines and temples dedicated to the "God of Thunder" used to be all over the Leizhou Peninsula, and the specifications of the rituals were second to none among the various deities. Feng Menglong of the Ming Dynasty once recorded in the "Alert to the World": "Never said that there are four great things in the world, but Leizhou drums, Guangde buried, Dengzhou sea market, Qiantang River tide." The "Leizhou Drum Exchange" refers to the annual festival of the God of Thunder.

The Leizhou Drum Festival is usually held at the beginning of the lunar calendar. At the time of the festival, the people first build an altar outside the Lei Shen Temple, on which the master of the festival recites an ode to the God of Thunder. Below the altar, the people are set up with copper drums gossip-shaped thunder drum array, the center of the placement of large copper drums, struck in unison 108 times, imitating the heavenly thunder to sacrifice to the God of Thunder. The sound of drums sometimes majestic and sometimes clear, rhythmic and orderly, majestic and high, can be heard for hundreds of miles. And this is only the main drum ceremony, in addition, supplemented by honoring the thunder Nuo dance, long dragon dance, copper drum dance, fire dog dance, frog dance, etc., to create a warm and extraordinary atmosphere.

The Leizhou Peninsula's Thunder God ceremony has flourished since ancient times. From Suixi in the north of the peninsula, to Leizhou in the center, to Xuwen in the south, the ceremonies are very different in style depending on the region, but most of them retain the links of going up the ladder of knives, crossing the sea of fire, and rewarding the god with a hundred rags, etc. In particular, the "crossing the sea of fire" is the most important part. In particular, the "sea of fire" - that is, a large number of wood pile burning, the fire coals spread on the ground, the participants from the blazing flames running through, only to see the smoke and inflammation Zhang Tian, sparks flying, but the people were unharmed, the scene is extremely shocking.

Stone dog: Leizhou Peninsula of the ancient totem

Many places in our country, since ancient times, guarded in the public **** occasions as well as the family's ancestral hall, the people's home door are majestic stone lions, but came to the Leizhou Peninsula, the lions disappeared, the people were invited to the stone dog.

Why in Leizhou Peninsula will appear so many stone dogs? According to scholars speculate that this is related to the peninsula ancestors of totem worship. Leizhou Peninsula's ancestors for the "Baiyue" people, the Sui and Tang dynasties also known as "Slang Bureaucrat" people, they *** with the custom is to worship "Pan gourd" (ancient mythological figure, in the guise of a gold dog) The first is that the Chinese people have a long tradition of worshiping the god Pan-gou, who is believed to have blessed the clans with prosperity, and to this day there is a Pan-gou song that has been passed down in the countryside of the peninsula in praise of the god.

In ancient times, dogs were so revered by the ancestors that even if they killed someone's father, they could atone for their sins by dedicating a dog to his mother - "The mother was thanked for the dog, and no longer held a grudge." The many stone dog carvings that remain to this day are the best expression of the ancient "Discus Totem Worship". Totem is sacred, for people to worship, but now Leizhou Peninsula residents are addicted to eating dog meat, the dog has long gone down the altar, become a delicious meal on people's tables, which is why?

This interesting phenomenon, folklorists gave us an answer: the worship of Discus has lasted for thousands of years, and now it has gradually declined, and the descendants, although they will still be affected by its influence, but it is no longer possible to worship it. In particular, there have been many immigrants to the Leizhou Peninsula throughout the ages, and they have not taken the dog as a totem custom, seeing the Leizhou Peninsula dog more, they will be the wind of eating dog. From the lofty gods, to go on the dinner table, Leizhou stone dog has subsequently become an interesting cultural phenomenon.

The Leizhou Opera in the "Oasis of Opera"

Leizhou Opera is a unique type of opera that has only been passed down on the Leizhou Peninsula and in the Leizhou dialect area, and it has strong and distinctive local characteristics.

The history of Lei Opera on the Peninsula is more than 400 years old, and it is generally believed that its development is divided into four stages - girl's song, persuasive song, Daban song (later known as Leizhou Opera), and Lei Opera. The girl's song arose at the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the persuasive song began in the Qing Dynasty during the Qianlong and Jiaqing years, and gradually evolved into a type of opera during the Daoguang years of the Qing Dynasty - Leizhou Daban Song, which was later renamed Leizhou Opera, and in 1964, it was named Lei Opera.

Even in modern times, this ancient form of entertainment is still thriving. According to incomplete statistics, today in the Leizhou Peninsula, just the folk professional Lei Opera Troupe has more than 100, an average of more than 5,000 performances a year, the audience reached tens of thousands of people, no wonder some people say that the Leizhou Peninsula is an "oasis of opera".