What is the folk custom in Dingxi?

Twenty-three of twelfth lunar month

Send the kitchen god on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month. There is a folk song "On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the chef goes to heaven". At about 8 o'clock in the evening, every household prepared recipes in advance (write the family name and date of birth on yellow paper), cookcandy (malt candy and bean candy), dried cookfood (pancake) and cookhorse (horse with saddle printed on yellow paper), and prepared a plate of broken wheat straw, mixed with a few beans, which were burned in front of the kitchen god tablet, meaning to send the kitchen god to heaven. According to folklore, jujube is the head of the family. Report to the sky on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month and return to the house on the 30th of the twelfth lunar month. Sacrificing the stove is to pray for jujube to "speak well from heaven and return to the palace for good luck." After the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, it is close to the Spring Festival. Every household buys new year's goods, cooks, undresses, cleans up the house and prepares for the New Year.

Mid-Autumn Festival

August 15th of the lunar calendar is the Mid-Autumn Festival. On this day, every household in urban and rural areas steamed moon cakes to show family reunion. Wuwei people's moon cakes are steamed with steamed noodles. For example, there are many kinds of inverted washbasins, such as layered moon cakes, twisted moon cakes, divided moon cakes and Gui Xiang, all of which are delicious. There is a saying that "the table is served on August 15th", which means that the autumn harvest has come to August, and the food is abundant. Relatives and friends give mooncakes to each other, which means keeping up with the joneses. On the evening of August 15, the bright moon Ran Ran rises, and every family is in the yard, setting up incense tables, offering sacrifices such as moon cakes, melons and fruits, lighting candles and incense, and the whole family is sitting around to enjoy the moon. A little, housewives cut moon cakes and watermelons; The family is eating melon and moon cakes, talking and laughing, which is quite interesting. According to legend, the watermelon dedicated to the goddess of the moon must be cut into two serrated petals. If there are pregnant women at home, you can predict men and women by counting the number of melon teeth.

Dragon Boat Festival

The fifth day of the fifth lunar month is the Dragon Boat Festival, also called Duanyang Festival. It was early in the morning, and willow branches were planted at the door of every household, which meant to summon Qu Yuan's soul and avoid the plague. Children tie colored cotton or silk ropes on their wrists, sachets and wallets, and coat their mouths, noses and ears with realgar wine. It is said that this can avoid the five poisons (snake, scorpion, gecko, toad and centipede). There is a saying in Wuwei that "Dragon Boat Festival comes out in May". Boys and girls are wearing fashionable summer clothes and having a good time. Young women pay attention to embroidered vanilla wallets, decorate them with tassels and give them to relatives and friends. In the past, unmarried girls put their wallets in skirts or braids to lure them away. If they don't take it off, they will feel ashamed and ugly. On that day, every household ate zongzi or oil cakes and burritos, and relatives and friends fed each other. In the afternoon, urban and rural residents went to visit old temples and Haizi in droves. Now that the seas are dry and the rocks are rotten, and the temples have been destroyed by the earthquake, I will visit the Confucius Temple, the ancient bell tower, Leitai, the sea burial park and Xijiao Park. Children climb trees and break branches in the wild and weave wicker hats to prevent heatstroke.

Qixi Festival

The seventh day of the seventh lunar month is the "Begging for Cleverness Festival". Legend has it that the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl meet at the Magpie Bridge. In the old days, on this night, girls and young daughters-in-law sat under the moon and put on needles to see who was wearing fast, much and skillfully. It is said that this can make people with clumsy hands practice dexterity. This custom no longer exists. Only the troupe in the city performs the drama "Tianhe Match" as usual every year. Residents from four townships flocked to the venue and the performance stopped in late July.

Qingming Festival

Qingming is one of the 24 solar terms in the lunar calendar. This is a day to sweep graves and worship ancestors, which is called "Spring Festival". Wuwei urban and rural customs, whoever has a grave, must go to the grave one or two days before Qingming Festival to pay homage, burn paper money and add soil; Those who have no graves burned paper money in the suburbs or in front of their homes or in the streets and lanes the night before in Tomb-Sweeping Day. It is forbidden to go to the grave and burn paper in Tomb-Sweeping Day that day. Legend has it that the paper money burned that day became iron money, and the deceased could not use it.

Cattle driving: that is, start driving cattle to farm and sow in spring. Most areas in Dingxi begin around the beginning of February in the lunar calendar, so the second day of February in the lunar calendar, commonly known as "the dragon looks up", is actually "agriculture". In the past, on this day or before sowing, an auspicious day was chosen as the broadcasting day. Cattle (donkeys and horses) are driven to the ground, and the cows are put on the plough. On that day, people and animals faced the western gods, burning incense, making paper and kowtowing as sacrifices. Then plow a word "Tian" on the flat ground, symbolizing grain storage, indicating that spring sowing is about to begin, indicating a bumper harvest of grain that year. This custom has ceased.

Farming: Farming in time in the dog days after summer harvest is an important part of agricultural production, so there is a folk saying: "It's better to plow a few plows in autumn than in dog days", "It's a rafter in dog days, and it will stand in autumn for half a year". This means the importance of plowing in dog days. Plow the land 1-2 times in dog days in Dingxi county. The masses called for drying the soil to accumulate water, to ensure a bumper harvest in the coming year, and plough it again before the autumnal equinox to save water for the winter.

Sowing: the agricultural proverb is "99 Canadian dollars 19, cattle are everywhere"; "Cattle don't stop after the vernal equinox" means that spring sowing has started in an all-round way. Due to different regions, climates and natural environments, different crops have different sowing times, which are generally advanced according to seasons. Proverbs that do not violate the farming season are: "Huma Grain Rain Valley, the king of the earth"; "Small hills and mountains cover the soil in long summer"; "One scoop and two scoops (wild strawberries), buckwheat grown in the mountains", "dogs are bright, oats grown in the mountains".

Harvest stubble: An agricultural proverb says, "It is better to apply more manure than to plant stubble"; "stubble is like dirt"; "Stubble does not fall, food does not eat"; "Millet stubble highland barley, sparrows can't feed". Reasonable stubble cleaning is an important way for farmers to get a bumper harvest. The best way is to switch to leguminous crops and gramineous crops in the next crop, such as broad beans and lentils to grow wheat. In some places, three crops are the best.

Rotation fallow: In places where the land area is large and the mountains are high and the roads are thin, which is not convenient for farming, local farmers often use rotation fallow, that is, after the summer harvest, the stubble is turned over in the summer, and then the rice is turned over, and no crops are planted in the next year. When the soil fertility is restored, they can plant crops in the third year to ensure a bumper harvest, which is commonly known as "bedding". There is a proverb in agriculture: "When wheat is sown, wormwood (rape) is sown, and there are many bags of fruit."

Drive the wheat field: the maturity time of wheat yellow in northwest China is gradually extended from east to west. When the wheat in Guanzhong area of Shaanxi Province was ripe and mowed, the wheat in Dingxi was in the filling stage. Therefore, in the old society, people gathered in groups to form wheat harvesting teams and went down to Shaanxi to work for those who "harvested wheat in full swing" and snatched food from the gate of death. This was called "driving the wheat field" and calling the driver "Maike".

Raising livestock: Dingxi people attach great importance to the fine varieties of livestock. Most rural people choose the first child when buying cattle, the second child when buying horses, and the third child when buying pigs. As the saying goes, "one cow, two horses, three litters of pigs." It is considered that the livestock selected in this way is easy to raise, with high survival rate and convenient service. Some farmers still have many taboos about livestock and poultry. On the fourth and sixth day of every month in the lunar calendar, we pay attention to not buying, selling, slaughtering or exchanging, so there is a saying that "four or six don't break the circle". Although this custom is rare, it is still taboo among some elderly people. And the custom of trading. When buying and selling large livestock, the seller will definitely bring back the original halter. Buy a horse or mule to avoid a pinch of hair on your head, thinking it will bring bad luck; Buy cattle to avoid long hair on the front shoulders, thinking it will bring bad luck.

Smell the cock crow or cock crow on the first night, think it is ominous, and kill it at any time; Smelling a dog howling like a wolf is an ominous sign, except for it.

Servant: Farmers or foot households attach great importance to and care for livestock, and often say, "The tiller has his cow, and his life depends on it." Therefore, cattle are only allowed to plow fields, not to ride horses. It is not allowed to hit livestock with wooden sticks, thinking that "it takes a winter to lose weight; Hit two, and break the tendons. "Abide by the commandment of" not afraid of ten ambassadors, but most afraid of being tired in a day "in service. Cattle are often raised in dry soil, while horses are raised in sheds. As the saying goes, "Cows are afraid of wet horses and fishy". Stop using cattle and horses at the right time to save energy or prevent diseases and keep fat. For example, the 23rd day of the first month is the rest day for cows and horses. As the saying goes, "On the 23rd day of the first month, old cows and old horses have a day off". During Tomb-Sweeping Day, Grain Rain and Dragon Boat Festival, we should try our best to let everyone have a rest and feed them with clear oil, which is called "eliminating injuries and tuberculosis". As the saying goes, "The old ox and donkey have a hard time, and Qingming Grain Rain looks forward to the fifth day of May".

Sleeping wheel: After the crops are ground, if many people use the same place, farmers collectively cook and eat, wishing a bumper harvest in one year, which means that the farming is over, and all the wheels in the field are put in a corner for next year, commonly known as "sleeping wheel".

Craftsman:

All kinds of craftsmen have their own customs and taboos, such as carpenters' axes, Mo Dou and crutches, which are called "three-piece sets". It is generally not easy to borrow people, especially to avoid women's touch. Carpenters usually don't show their eyes easily when making the "bottom" and "seam" of furniture.

When the bricklayer digs the kiln, he hates the interference of others and asks the surrounding environment to be quiet to prevent loud noise and vibration. Avoid saying such unlucky words as "broken", "collapsed", "fallen" and "injured".

Miners call mice "big masters", not only do not fight, but also give them protection. They think that workers will feel safe when mice run on the road. The coal behind the lower kiln is called "roadway walking", the collapse is called "roof caving" or "spalling", and when the light goes out, it is called "thanks". It is forbidden to slaughter cattle in the mining area, and it is believed that the kiln god Taishang Laojun is riding a green cow. Don't cry, make a noise or shout in a strange tone when you go down the well.

Masons chisel and grind, first chisel the upper fan, and then chisel the lower fan. Don't say anything with the word "broken" or "broken" when talking with ...

Blacksmiths are disgusted with other people's comments and gossip while the iron is hot. Women are forbidden to stand or interfere with the stove while the iron is hot.

When building a house, you should choose auspicious days, hang red cloth (red satin quilts are often used now), stick couplets, set off firecrackers, burn incense and kowtow.