Handling a "into the folklore, into the traditional culture" theme class meeting.

"Four Seasons and Eight Sections" is a catchphrase often said by local people in Yiyang.

Originally, the four seasons of the year - spring, summer, fall and winter - are the "four seasons". What about the "eight seasons"? It does not refer to the twenty-four seasons in the spring equinox, autumn equinox, spring, summer, summer solstice, east solstice, autumn, winter, but refers to the popular folk of the eight major traditional festivals. They are the Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, Qingming Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Yuan Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Winter Solstice (Chongyang Festival), New Year's Eve (New Year's Eve).

Two, New Year, Spring Festival customs

Spring Festival, commonly known as New Year. Originally only refers to the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar. Now refers to the lunar calendar from December (formerly known as "Lunar New Year") on the 24th day of the "small year" to the first month of the 15th day of the Lantern Festival before the end. Spring Festival is the Chinese nation's grandest traditional festival. Its characteristics have four aspects: First, it is widely spread in the Han, Zhuang, Meng, Manchu, Dong, Yao, Bai, Li, Naxi and other nearly 20 nationalities; Second, a long history, long history, old and new era of festivals and activities; Third, the customs are simple and old-fashioned, frequent rituals, the form of diversification; Fourth, the festival is a long time, before and after the year-end and early years of the *** up to more than 20 days, every day is the Spring Festival Festival, and the atmosphere is warm, festive and peaceful, mesmerizing. Joyful and peaceful, intoxicating.

There are many ceremonial customs and activities during this period, now summarized as follows:

1, home to do the New Year's goods

2, household cleaning

3, worship the Goddess of the Stove

December 24th of the Lunar Calendar (also known as the "Festival of the Little Year" or "Festival of the Stove"), the Chinese New Year is the most important day of the Chinese New Year. "Zao Festival", "New Year") on this day, the old custom of "sacrificing to the God of the stove". It is said that the God of the Zao (also known as the "Bodhisattva of the Sifu") is the god of good and evil sent by the Jade Emperor to the earth to supervise and reward and punish people. Every family has one, and every year, on the night of the Lunar New Year, he goes to heaven to report to the Jade Emperor on good and evil on earth. Buddhism and Taoism, the townspeople set up sacrifices to see them off, called "sacrificial stove". 4, posting spring couplets

Spring couplets, is China's earliest and one of the most widely used form of couplets. Mostly used to express the joy of people in addition to the old and welcome the new and the spirit of struggle. Whenever the Spring Festival is coming, every family should be in the door on both sides of the pasted a spring couplets (now where there are windows and doors are pasted couplets), as well as the horizontal cape. This adds a more festive atmosphere to an otherwise lively and peaceful holiday.

Chinese New Year couplets are a common form of couplets, door pairs. In ancient times, there are "peach symbols", "door stickers". In ancient times, limited to people's level of understanding, and therefore the natural phenomena or natural disasters can not be correctly understood. Once encountered natural and man-made disasters, it is always believed that there are ghosts and gods at work. So, in the waxing moon most people with two pieces of mahogany cut into one or two inches wide, seven or eight inches long wooden strip, painted above the image of God, Yu Shi two gods, hanging in the door side. This is actually the door god and spring united in one piece.

5, hanging New Year's paintings

When the Spring Festival is approaching, the people of the Lake Country, in addition to posting Spring Festival couplets, there is a traditional custom of hanging New Year's paintings. One of the poems describing New Year's paintings is particularly interesting: "Orchids, lotus, chrysanthemums and plums bloom all over the wall, and the house seems to smell the fragrance of flowers. It attracts sparrows and swallows to the eaves, shaking their wings straight inside the house." This poem depicts the new atmosphere of the Spring Festival when the folk generally hang the New Year's paintings.

6, eat New Year's dinner:

Waiting for relatives from abroad to come back home, every family on the day of the New Year at noon to prepare a particularly sumptuous feast. Chicken, duck, fish and meat, sea food and other more than ten pots of delicious food, set the big round table. White wine, beer and drinks are available. The whole family seated around the table, eating and drinking, called "eating New Year's dinner".

7, keep the New Year's Eve, close the door:

Day of the New Year, the New Year's Eve dinner is generally eaten slowly and eat a lot of time stretched out over a long period of time. Some people eat on 2~3 hours do not break up. Therefore, usually people blame others for eating slowly, the analogy is that he is "eating New Year's Eve" - slow and deliberate, not at all anxious. After the New Year's dinner, the sky is getting late, then every family will pile up pieces of firewood in the hall or fire room to burn a big fire, all the lights inside and outside the house are lit. Chixian Lake area farmers popular saying: "thirty of the fire, fifteen of the lamp".

8, New Year's Eve:

New Year's Eve is the most popular during the Spring Festival and extremely humane traditional rituals. At the beginning of the new year, people help old and young, go out to visit relatives and friends.

9, playing dragons, lions and drums:

10, Lantern Festival

The 15th day of the first month of the Lunar Calendar is the first full moon of the New Year, known as "Shangyuan" (ancient name "Shangyuan Festival"), also known as the "Lantern Festival", also known as the "Lantern Festival". "The Festival of Lights.

Three, March 3

The third day of the third lunar month is China's ancient "on the Si Festival (also known as 'repair chiseling festival')". Legend has it that this is the birthday of the Queen Mother of the West, the ancient lunar calendar in the first half of March Si day for the "on the Si", after the Wei and Jin dynasties began to be set as the third day of March lunar calendar. Southern Song Fan Ye in the "Later Han Book - rituals" on the record: "Star and moon on the Si, officials and people are clean and east stream on the water, said the washing and plucking, to go to the hostile phlegm, for the big clean." Said the ancient people in this day to wash in the clear water river, the purpose of health and health care, and later evolved into a waterfront banquet, spring excursions in the countryside of the festival. Wu Zimu in the Song Dynasty in the "Mangliang Records - March" in: "given a banquet Qujiang, pouring all the wedge drinking, trekking. Now, China's Han Chinese and many ethnic minority areas are still inherited "March 3" this traditional festival.

Four, Qingming Festival

Qingming Festival (also known as Treading Green Festival) is around April 5 every year (the fifth of the 24 lunar calendar). As a traditional folk festival began in the Spring and Autumn Period. Later, it was gradually integrated with the "Cold Food Festival "1, which was held on the first two days before it, and became a festival for memorializing ancestors, paying homage to ancestors and sweeping tombs, as well as trekking in the spring.

V. Dragon Boat Festival

The Dragon Boat Festival is also known as the "Dragon Boat Festival", the "Dragon Boat Festival" or the "Festival of the Sky". On the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar, it is a grand traditional festival of the Han Chinese folk.

Sixth, Tian Kuang Festival

On the sixth day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar, people simply call it "June Sixth", as "Tian Kuang Festival". It started during the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of the Northern Song Dynasty (998-1022), "Tian Kuang" means "Heavenly Bestowal". Emperor Zhenzong designated the sixth day of June as "Tian Kuang Festival" when he sent down the "Book of Heaven" to various places for the second time, and built "Tian Kuang Hall" in Dai Temple.

VIII. Beggar's Day

"Beggar's Day" is also called "Maiden's Day", "Women's Day", or "Tanabata Festival". ". On the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar. Derived from the ancient folk myths and legends - "Cowherd and Weaver Maiden heavenly river meeting" story. It was first recorded in "Shijing - Xiao Ya - Da Dong".

Every year on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, it is said to be the day when the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden meet at the Magpie Bridge in the Heavenly River. And it is only once a year. People in a clear night, the cowherd and the weaving maiden two stars to see. Because the Weaving Maiden is skillful, women on earth hope to beg for wisdom and skill from the Weaving Maiden on this day. During the festival, there are folk customs such as tanning things and begging for wisdom. During this festival, people in ancient times also built colorful buildings in the courtyard, which was called "Begging for Tricky Handicrafts Building". Women set up incense, display fruits and melons, threading needles and begging for wisdom.

There are many ways to beg. Some climbed the colorful building, to the moon, with colorful thread wearing nine-hole needle. The first to wear a good called "get Qiao", after wearing a good called "lose Qiao". In some places, a bowl of water is placed under the sun at noon on that day, and embroidery needles are placed on the water surface, and the shadow of the needles on the bottom of the bowl is used to determine whether they are lost or gained. In other places, this day is celebrated as "Maiden's Day". Young girls held "Muxian Fest". Jiangnan area, in this day to untie the children on the neck of the five-color silk, thrown on the roof, said to send Jian rope. The Guangzhou area is very important to the Tanabata Festival. Households display fruits and melons, as well as various colors of fragrant flowers, make-up products, young girls in full costume, under the moon to pay homage to the Seven Sisters (Mao Lan seven sisters). People in Guangxi and other places store water on this day, which is called "Double Seven Water". It is said that bathing in this water can ward off evil spirits and dispel diseases, and achieve the effect of cleansing and beautifying the body. In ancient times, people in Taiwan and Fujian took the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar as "Valentine's Day".

Nowadays, the Chinese people more commonly designated the seventh day of the seventh month as China's "Valentine's Day".

The people of Qixian Lake like folk tales and legends, and it is said that the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden were married by the Qixian Lake and gave birth to children, therefore, the story of the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden is told by everyone in a colorful manner. Every year on the evening of the seventh day of the seventh month, many people will naturally gather together to watch the magpies build bridges and the cowherd and weaving maidens meet ......

People tell the ancient and magical love story while they are enjoying the cool air. The pleasant evening breeze takes away the blazing heat of the day, and the magical stories express people's infinite longing and desire for a better life. The Tang Dynasty poet Lin Jie's poem "Begging for Coincidence" is the most famous, please see:

This evening, I watched the blue sky, and the weaving maiden crossed the river bridge.

Every family begs for coincidence and looks at the moon in autumn, and wears out tens of thousands of red threads.

Nine, the Mid-Autumn Festival

The Mid-Autumn Festival is also known as the "Mid-Autumn Festival", "reunion festival". It is an ancient and traditional festival of the Han Chinese people. On the 15th day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar. This day coincides with the half of the three autumns, so the name "Mid-Autumn Festival". Ancient emperors had the ritual of sacrificing the sun in spring and the moon in fall. In the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival had already begun. In the Tang Dynasty, there were the customs of watching the moon on the platform, enjoying the moon in a boat, and drinking wine to the moon. During the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Northern Song Dynasty (988-1003), the 15th day of the 8th month was designated as the Mid-Autumn Festival. It is customary to worship the moon, admire the moon, and eat moon cakes. Nowadays, it is one of the three major traditional festivals in China, together with the Spring Festival and the Dragon Boat Festival. The festival is also prevalent among many ethnic minorities.

Mid-Autumn Festival is a time of high and refreshing autumn weather, fragrance of cinnamon and ripening of fruits, and the moon is the closest to the earth at this time of the year, which is why there is a feeling of "one night of the moon is more than one night, and the moon at the Mid-Autumn Festival is extraordinarily bright". Therefore, the Mid-Autumn Festival is characterized by the "full moon and flowers". The festival's festivities and folklore are extremely sentimental and poetic. Although different regions and different ethnic groups have different customs, many aspects are generally the same.

①Moon Worship and Appreciation: Whenever the moon rises and the clear light fills the earth, people set up tables and chairs in the open air or under the osmanthus tree, and bring round fruits (apples, grapes, jujubes, etc.) and round foods (moon cakes, candies, etc.) to the table. The whole family gathers around the table, looks up at the bright moon in silence, and stands solemnly for a few moments to offer and worship the moon. Afterwards, the whole family sits around the table and enjoys the delicious food and the clear light of the moon. Literati or elegant people will often be poetic at this time, searching for intestines, reciting poems and singing pairs. For some reason can not go home to reunite couples, couples, in a foreign land, looking up at the full moon, evoking the feelings of infinite nostalgia for their loved ones in their hometown. Su Shi, a great poet of the Song Dynasty, "Wish for a long time, thousands of miles **** Canyuan Juan" is undoubtedly the most beautiful blessing to all the lovers in the world who can not be reunited as scheduled. "People are close to their hometowns, and the moon is bright in their hometowns". People take the Mid-Autumn Moon as a symbol of reunion, so those who are "alone in a foreign land as a stranger" will always "suspect that it is frost on the ground" whenever they see the "bright moonlight in front of their beds" on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, and then they can't help but to feel the frost on the ground. "Then they can't help but "raise their heads to look at the bright moon, and bow their heads to think of their hometown". Undoubtedly, the Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai's song "Silent Night Thoughts" expresses the infinite longing for one's hometown and loved ones since ancient times, and profoundly reveals people's deep yearning for a happy life.

② tasting moon cakes: the custom of eating moon cakes on Mid-Autumn Festival began in the Song Dynasty, popular in the Yuan Dynasty. According to legend, the end of the Yuan Dynasty, all over the disaster is serious, the people do not want to live, people have risen up against the government. In order to secretly contact the uprising civilians, Taizhou Zhang Shicheng wrote a secret leaflet about killing the enemy and uprising on August 15, and put it inside the mooncake and gave it to the civilians. After eating the mooncakes, the civilians knew the time and place of the uprising, and thus responded to the call for a national uprising and won the victory. Later, the custom of giving mooncakes to each other and eating mooncakes was popular on the 15th day of the 8th month to show remembrance of those who had gone before them and to wish friends and relatives well for the festival.

3 gift worship: Mid-Autumn Festival this day, the folk prevailed in visiting friends and relatives, giving each other gifts, especially young men to take advantage of the Mid-Autumn Festival to pay a visit to the Lord in-laws. Gifts are not bound to be light or heavy, but the moon cake is not less. There are also candies, alcohol, fruit, pastries and so on. Preferably in pairs, to indicate good luck. Contemporary moon cakes such as "seven stars with the moon", "Eight Immortals reunion", "nine dragons playing pearls" and so on. All are even number, and is a famous brand, the price is not expensive yo.

4 Mid-Autumn Festival Rally: Every year, the Mid-Autumn Festival, modern people will gather in the city square, or public **** green space, held a large-scale rally. The contents include cultural performances, martial arts competitions, bonfire evenings, couples' masquerade parties, and collective wedding assemblies. There are also places where you can camp by a mountain lake, hold a self-service barbecue on the waterfront, and hold open-air night food and clothing trade fairs. The content is rich and varied, and it is a sight to behold. The scene is grand and lively. Some local festivals gatherings to entertain themselves, all night long, and enjoy themselves.

Ten, Chongyang Festival

The first nine days of the ninth lunar month is the Chongyang Festival. Also known as the "Festival of the Nine", "Cornucopia Festival". I Ching" in the nine as the number of Yang, two nine overlap for "heavy nine". The two yangs overlap as "Chongyang". The word "Chongyang" was first mentioned in Qu Yuan's "Chu Rhetoric" during the Warring States period. "The Chongyang Festival was held in the Imperial Palace, and it was the first time that the festival was held in the Qingdao City." It can be seen that the Chongyang Festival in the Warring States period has formed a custom. By the Han Dynasty Chongyang Festival was popular among the people. At first, the theme of the Chongyang Festival was only "climbing up to take refuge". In the process of inheritance from generation to generation, its content continues to become colorful.

September 9 of the lunar calendar, is the sky high clouds, high and refreshing autumn season. People like to take care of the old and the young on these days, climb up to see the boundless autumn scenery. They fly kites, enjoy chrysanthemums, eat Chung Yeung cakes, drink wine and sing songs. "Picking chrysanthemums under the east hedge, leisurely seeing the south mountain" is exactly the depiction of the beautiful scenery of autumn. On the day of Chung Yeung Festival, some places organize temple fairs, fairs and other activities. Some schools organize hiking activities for students. Some units also organize workers or retired elderly people to climb mountains, climbing competitions and other activities.

According to the suggestion of the Oriental Fitness and Longevity Center, the State designated the Chung Yeung Festival as the "Elderly People's Day" in 1986. On this day, each unit to carry out activities to honor the elderly, and mobilize the whole society to create a good living environment for the elderly and social environment, really "old people have a sense of support, old people have a thought, old people have something to do, old people have fun". Respect for the elderly has become an important new content of the festival activities.

Eleven, Lahai Festival

The eighth day of the twelfth month of the lunar calendar (known as Lunar New Year), is a traditional Han Chinese festival. There is the custom of eating "Lapa congee". In the Han Dynasty, after the winter solstice, the third e day for the "waxing day", the North and South Dynasties was changed to the eighth day of December, called the "Laha Festival". People perform rituals on this day to pray for a good harvest and good luck. Laha congee practice: red beans, walnuts, pine nuts, persimmons, corn, yellow rice, glutinous rice, millet, rice, peeled jujube puree, etc. Boiled in water, plus peach kernels, almonds, melon seeds, peanuts, and white sugar, brown sugar, and so on.

This day is also a Buddhist festival - the "Festival of the Path". According to legend, Siddhartha Gautama was saved by a shepherdess in distress near the Nilian River in Bihar and attained Buddhahood under the Bodhi tree. Since then, Buddhist disciples have been practicing sutra chanting on Rakhi. And with dried fruits and cereals cooked into "Laha congee". Later, the folk competed with each other to follow suit, the family gathering food, but also gifts to friends and neighbors. Today, the vast majority of northern areas and parts of the south, especially in the southern Dongting Lake area people still retain the Laha Festival, eat "Laha congee" custom. Although there are some changes in the raw materials, but the concept of nutrition and fitness more and more y rooted in people's hearts.