What are the unique Lantern Festival customs in Chaoshan area?

Lantern Festival is one of the three traditional festivals in China, and various activities are held all over the country to celebrate it. Because the customs of a place are determined by its natural and social environment, the Lantern Festival in Chaoshan area also has some interesting customs different from those in other places.

Let's talk about the custom of hanging joyous lanterns first. In the ceremony of offering sacrifices to the gods, the lamp is a symbol of light and joy. From the 11th to 18th of the first month, especially the Lantern Festival, every household in Chaoshan has the custom of playing lanterns and hanging chandeliers. Because Chaozhou dialect lights are homophonic with Ding, and lighting is close to Jiading, Chaoshan people think that lighting is a good omen for Jiading.

On the Lantern Festival, people carry lanterns, prepare paper and silver incense sticks, light them at temple fairs in rural areas, and come back to hang them in shrines and bedside at home. This is called hanging happiness lanterns.

In addition, if a boy was born after the Lantern Festival last year, on the thirteenth day of the first month, the family would poke a pair of red lanterns, write their names on the red paper under the lamp, and happily hang them on the lampstand of the ancestral hall of the clan in the countryside as a symbol of adding to the family.

Every night, the family will take their children to the ancestral hall, light candles in lanterns to make them red and accept congratulations from the surrounding villagers. Midnight snack is solemn and lively.

Chaoshan people also have the custom of making ding tables during the Lantern Festival. In Chaoshan village, the family of the last-year-old boy will hold a supper party in the ancestral hall to celebrate Ding's birth, commonly known as Ding Table.

There are two kinds of banquets, one is called dragon boat banquet, which means that many square tables are connected together and guests are surrounded by two sides to eat, just like rowing a dragon boat; The other kind is called Malaxi, which means that everyone you know or don't know can come in for dinner. After eating, the host will once again put on various dishes to entertain another group of guests, one after another. The latter type of banquet is usually held by richer and more generous families.

After the founding of New China, due to the progress of the times and ideas, Chaoshan people still have the custom of setting the table for the Lantern Festival, but most of them do it in their own homes, which is limited to entertaining relatives and friends, so people are rich and thrifty, and no one cares.

Seeking happiness is also a major custom of Chaoshan people's Lantern Festival. On the Lantern Festival, there are many ancestor worship activities in the countryside. Temples and ancestral temples are brightly lit and smoky, and good men and women are scrambling to pay homage, which is extremely crowded and lively.

Sacrificial products such as chicken, goose, duck, candy, rice fruit, candle, Daji and Chaozhou orange placed in front of the altar are regarded as sacred objects.

Both men and women who visit the shrine take sacrifices home, which is called asking for blessings. People think that using these sacred objects can make the family safe and increase wealth.

Those who bring the holy things home will return them more or less next year. So someone took advantage of the crowded opportunity to secretly take the sacrifice in front of the altar and go home to eat, which means to eat it.

Throwing happy children is also a major custom of Chaoshan people. On the Lantern Festival, most people in rural areas set up colorful sheds in ancestral halls and open spaces in streets and alleys, in which a huge Maitreya Buddha was molded with clay, with bare breasts and a big smile. The exposed head, shoulders, navel and thighs of Maitreya are decorated with mud for boys and girls.

People stood outside the bamboo railings more than ten feet away, aiming at the mud on Maitreya with copper coins. If the winner likes children, it belongs to him, but in some hard-to-hit parts, such as the top of the head and ears, the winner gets two or three gifts. Those who fail to win will belong to the owner of the tent where Maitreya Buddha is placed. This is an activity suitable for all ages.

During the Lantern Festival, most Chaoshan people have the custom of crossing the bridge, which is also recorded in the old local chronicles. According to records in Chaozhou, Shunzhi, and Jieyang, Ganlong, Qing Dynasty, women in Shang Dynasty threw blocks across the bridge, which was called "crossing the city".

In Jieyang, Lantern Festival, men, women and children compete to cross the bridge, and young men pray for a good wife in the future; The girl prayed for a good husband and a boy; The old man prayed for health and longevity; Children pray to grow up.

In addition, during the Lantern Festival, some places in Chaoshan will pick banyan branches and bamboo leaves and put them in lintels, stoves and poultry houses to pray for the safety of the population and the prosperity of the six livestock.

In some places, newlyweds have to swing under the old banyan tree in the village and let the villagers throw feces on it, saying that the more they throw, the more boys will be born this year.

In some places, farmers have to pick up the gray bricks or clods outside the house or in the field and put them in the pigsty, saying that they are holding big pigs on the night of the fifteenth day of the first month and praying for raising pigs to make a fortune.

In some places, girls secretly go to the vegetable garden to sit on mustard greens, saying that they will sit on big dishes in the future and marry a good husband; The young men secretly pushed down the toilet wall and said that they could marry elegant girls in the future. In some places, there will be pig races, duck races, goose races and chicken races, and there will be soul wandering activities in the evening.

In Haifeng County, Guangdong Province, there are many ways to celebrate the Lantern Festival.

First, hang lanterns. Lantern Festival lanterns are hung in ancestral temples all over the county. Some of them have set up light sheds and hung large and exquisite Aoshan lanterns, showing all kinds of "dolls" made of clay or paper arranged in peach blossom transition and Tang Priest's scriptures.

The light gives birth to the wind, driving the "doll" to rotate in the scene, which is lifelike and beautiful. Every household has many kinds of hanging lanterns. In those days, the big lanterns hung by families with boys were called "male grandchildren" lanterns, and the gauze lanterns hung by newlyweds were called "newly married" lanterns. Children run all over the street, waving all kinds of ancient lanterns and lanterns. The wahoo and the honeysuckle are very spectacular.

The second is the swing of the song. In Nanmen Lake and Fair Salt Street in Gaotian, Haicheng, young men and women sang songs while swinging, such as December songs and the names of hundreds of fish and birds. , or improvise their own songs, mostly to celebrate peace, celebrate harvest or express their love.

Some onlookers echoed, while others waited to take turns swinging, staying up all night and enjoying themselves.

The third is to grab the gun head. In the custom of Meilong, some people light firecrackers on the high platform, and people in the audience scramble to pick them up. The person who grabs the first shot is the most respected, and the whole family is happy.

Various Lantern Festival customs enrich people's lives. Eliminating the dross and absorbing the characteristics and customs of the traditional Lantern Festival culture will help the ancient China culture to go global.