Chinese folk

Characteristics of folk culture: a long history, rich and colorful.

China folk culture has a long history, which is a colorful cultural memory in the Central Plains. In the Central Plains region, which is known as the cradle of Chinese civilization and the hometown of etiquette, the hardworking and brave people of the Central Plains have formed many fashions and customs in their long-term production and life, which have been inherited from generation to generation and accumulated rich and colorful folk culture of the Central Plains for a long time. The folk culture in the Central Plains includes not only the living customs of food, clothing, housing and transportation, the etiquette and customs of daily social communication, the living customs of childbirth, weddings and funerals, the Lantern Festival during the Spring Festival, but also the customs of daily life, productive labor, industry and commerce, folk festivals, folk crafts and folk arts.

The Central Plains was the center of political, economic and cultural activities in Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties. As early as this period, a relatively systematic etiquette system was initially formed, and later they gradually evolved into the traditional etiquette system in China. The marriage custom in the Central Plains first appeared at the end of the ancient couple's marriage and the beginning of individual marriage, and it became perfect in the Western Zhou Dynasty, and gradually formed the "six gifts" of accepting gifts, asking names, accepting gifts, inviting guests and welcoming relatives. On this basis, it became a marriage custom such as proposal, ceremony and marriage, which has continued to this day and become the main marriage custom in China. According to archaeological excavations, there were funerals in the Central Plains as early as 20,000 years ago. By the Zhou Dynasty, a relatively complete set of funeral etiquette had been formed, which became an important custom in China.

Customs closely related to production and life, such as walking on stilts, boating, playing with lions, hanging lanterns, etc., such as offering sacrifices to stoves in off-year, observing the 30th anniversary of New Year's Eve, eating jiaozi on New Year's Eve, lighting lanterns on Lantern Festival, offering sacrifices to ancestors in Tomb-Sweeping Day, inserting mugwort leaves in Dragon Boat Festival, watching stars on Tanabata, enjoying the moon in Mid-Autumn Festival in August, climbing mountains on Chongyang in September, etc., mostly originated in the Central Plains and spread all over the country.

The Central Plains commonly calls the Spring Festival "Chinese New Year" or "Chinese New Year". After the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, we began to prepare new year's goods. As early as the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, the worship of the Kitchen God was one of the "Five Sacrifices". On the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, commonly known as "New Year's Eve", every household has to offer sacrifices to the kitchen god. On the last day of the twelfth lunar month, from the Eastern Han Dynasty, people in the Central Plains called it "New Year's Eve". On this day, every family should pack jiaozi, and the more packages, the better. Every household should post Spring Festival couplets, which originated from the peach symbols created by the Yellow Emperor. Everyone eats jiaozi on the first day of school, which mainly means "making friends at a young age".

Paying New Year greetings is an important activity during the Spring Festival. On the first and second day of the New Year's Day, it is a greeting from the family. After the third day, it is a New Year greeting between neighbors, relatives and friends, which lasts until the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first month.

The folk Lantern Festival in the Central Plains is rich in content and grand in scale, and is known as "Small New Year, Big Fifteen". Lighting at 15 o'clock in the first month is an important activity to worship the gods and pray for blessings during the Lantern Festival. During the Spring Festival, there are many colorful "playing with social fire" in the Central Plains, such as walking on stilts, rowing dry boats, playing with lions and hanging lanterns. It originated from ancient worship of land and fire. Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, it has evolved into a comprehensive cultural activity of folk tradition and has become an important part of the national Spring Festival cultural activities. The Central Plains has long been the mode of production of small-scale peasant economy, and has always worshipped the dragon god who can give orders. Legend has it that the dragon ascended to heaven on the second day of the second lunar month, and the ancient Central Plains people designated this day as the "Dragon Head-raising Festival". On this day, there will be various activities, one is to pray for rain from the Dragon King, and the other is to pray for disaster relief and detoxification. Sacrificing ancestors and sweeping graves is the core content of Tomb-Sweeping Day custom in the Central Plains. As soon as Tomb-Sweeping Day arrived, people took sacrifices to the cemetery to burn paper and light candles in memory of their ancestors. On Qingming Day, willow branches should be planted at every door, and both men and women should wear wicker rings. In the pre-Qin period, there was a custom of Dragon Boat Festival in the Central Plains. The Dragon Boat Festival in the Central Plains has not only the customs of eating zongzi, pasting Ai Hu, hanging calamus and drinking realgar wine, but also some customs of eliminating disasters and diseases and preventing plague. On this day, people stick the collected mugwort leaves on the door to ward off evil spirits. The "Qixi Festival" on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month originated from the myth that "Cowherd and Weaver Girl Meet Tianhe" originally spread in the Central Plains. Because all the participants are young women, it is also called "Begging for Cleverness Festival".

The Mid-Autumn Festival on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month originated from the activities of offering sacrifices to the moon to welcome the cold in the ancient Central Plains. As a festival, it was formed in the Western Han Dynasty and enjoyed the moon in the Jin Dynasty. It was officially named the Mid-Autumn Festival in the Northern Song Dynasty and has been enduring for a long time. The Double Ninth Festival on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month has a long history, and there are different opinions about its origin. In ancient times, people in the Central Plains took refuge in Huan Jing in Wu Jun's Continued Harmony. On this day, there are customs such as traveling, climbing, looking far, inserting dogwood, drinking chrysanthemum wine and so on, so it is also called "Climbing Festival". In addition, in the traditional concept of Zhongyuan people, "double ninth" means longevity, health and longevity. On this day, with the elderly as the center, there are many activities to respect, love and respect the elderly. The folklore in the Central Plains is not only reflected in various customs and habits, but also in folk festivals, folk arts, folk crafts and other folk cultural activities.

The ancient folk temple fairs in the Central Plains are enduring, including the grand Taihaoling Temple Fair, the lively Zhongyue Temple Fair and the grand Xunxian Ancient Temple Fair. Among them, Taihaoling Temple Fair has the longest history. Fuxi Mausoleum, built in Tai Hao and Huaiyang during the Spring and Autumn Period, is commonly known as Renzu Temple. Every year from February 2 to March 3 of the lunar calendar, good men and women from Henan, Anhui, Shandong, Hebei, Hubei and other places come in an endless stream. Some of them worship their ancestors, and some touch the "descendants kiln". During the temple fair, the "selected team" who came to burn incense and worship Buddha sang and danced in front of Taihao Mausoleum, and acrobatics, lions, dragon lanterns, bamboo horses and dry boats were also very lively. The toy "mud dogs" sold at the temple fair are quaint and unique, and people who visit the temple fair will never forget to buy a few. The ancient temple fair in Xunxian County, Hebi, lasted more than a month from the first day of the first month to the second day of February, and spread to more than 80 cities and counties in five neighboring provinces. During the peak hours, the traffic is nearly 300,000. The county seat is four doors and four streets, and the crowds are like a tide. The square garden in the county town has gathered dozens of people from all walks of life, and merchants from several provinces have also arrived at the venue as scheduled, which is called "the first ancient temple fair in North China". Central Plains Folk Book Club Majie Book Club is famous all over the country. Since the Yuan Dynasty, every year on the 13th day of the first month, rap artists from all over the country will gather in the Liang Shu Club in Majie Village, Baofeng County to exchange skills. In order to win the title of "Scholarly Scholar" of the year, artists have all come up with their own housekeeping skills, which are really talented. There are many kinds of Quyi, including Henan pendant, Hubei fishing drum, Sichuan Yin Qing, Shandong Qin Shu and Fengyang flower drum, which can be described as a hundred flowers blossom. Since the Northern Song Dynasty, the night market has become a beautiful scenery in the ancient city of Kaifeng, and it continues to this day. Every night, when the lights are on, the fragrant snack car fills all the main streets in Kaifeng. Melodious hawking is mixed with the clash of tableware, and snacks of various flavors make people have an appetite and linger. 1 0,000 years ago, Luoyang water mat and Daokou roast chicken appeared more than 300 years ago, which are the best food in the Central Plains and are well-known at home and abroad. The Central Plains has a mild climate and abundant sunshine. Peony in Luoyang, chrysanthemum in Kaifeng and lotus in Zhengzhou decorate the Central Plains in different seasons. Since the Tang Dynasty, Luoyang Peony has been known as "the best in the world". During the Northern Song Dynasty, there was a custom that "bloom spent 20 days, and one city was crazy". In the warm spring season in bloom, peony flowers are blooming and beautiful.

Xinyang tea has a long history. As early as 1200 years ago, Xinyang became one of the eight major tea areas in China. Since 1992, Xinyang Tea Festival has become a folk festival with distinctive local characteristics. In addition, there are famous Shaolin Kung Fu in Songshan Mountain, Tai Chi Wushu in Wenxian County, and acrobatics in Puyang and Zhoukou in the Central Plains. There are folk arts such as Shehuo in western Henan, Lingbao Shadow Play and Kaifeng Drum. Well-known folk handicrafts at home and abroad are dazzling, such as Kaifeng flat embroidery with changeable stitches, simple Zhuxian Town woodblock New Year pictures, colorful Luoyang Tang tri-colors, beautifully carved Nanyang jade carvings, humorous and interesting folk mud plays, and smooth pyrography.