Suzhou Dragon Boat Festival Custom Suzhou Wudi Dragon Boat Festival Custom-Zhong Kui Statue

One of the customs of Suzhou Dragon Boat Festival is to hang a portrait of Zhong Kui at home, and it will be hung for a whole month in May.

"Jia Qinglu Gua Zhong Kui Map":

Zhong Kui painted January in class to ward off evil spirits. Li Fu's "Zhong Kui Map" says: "The face is ferocious and bold, and pomegranate red is hung on the map. Zhang Jun swept away the magic power and did not make people draw ghosts. " There is also a poem in "Jade Pine": "Liu Hua spits out the flame and the calamus is green, and the painting is blank." Jimo boots with green robes and black hats know that they are Zhong Nanshan's guests. Eyes like paint, moustache like Qiu. His lips are scarlet and he has a beard like a halberd. Look at the world, don't eat haze and eat ghosts. Whenever you take a picture in the world, you drive your illness everywhere. Alas, there are so many things in the world that you can't escape from seeing the light. There are hundreds of millions of people, but ghosts teach ghosts. "Since the Tang and Song Dynasties, Zhong Kui has been an important member of the keeper, and the origin of Zhong Kui has been shrouded in a mysterious color. "The History of Tang Yi" said: "Ming Taizu was a child. He drew a dream blue robe because of illness, and he broke it. He claimed to be a scholar in Zhong Nanshan and vowed to eliminate waste in the world. It was written for Wu Daozi to dream. Later, he said, "The spirit should dream and be ill all over Liao. Martyrs should be rewarded for exorcism. Because the picture is different, it is awarded to the department. Leave at the end of the year, but we need to get to know each other again. To drive away evil spirits and calm down evil spirits. "

"History of the Five Dynasties, wuyue Family": "Except for the age of 18, the painter gave Zhong Kui a ghost map." Meng Qian Bitan recorded this legend in more detail. Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty suffered from malaria in his palace, and he never recovered for a long time. One day, he had a dream. There are two ghosts, a big one and a small one. That boy wore a crotch-less red trousers, stole Yang Guifei's sachet and the Jade Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and ran around the temple. GREAT GHOST, wearing a blue robe and a blue hat, caught the child, gouged out his eyes and swallowed it in one gulp. When asked by the Ming emperor, GREAT GHOST said: My surname is Zhong Kui, that is to say, I am the best martial artist. I am willing to exorcise evil spirits for your majesty. When the Ming emperor woke up, malaria was cured. So I asked Wu Daozi to draw a portrait of Zhong Kui catching ghosts according to what I saw in my dream, and asked the painter to copy and engrave it, and gave it to the assistant ministers of the two governments, and told the world that it would be posted on the Dragon Boat Festival to exorcise evil spirits.

Gao Cheng's Jiyuan Story in the Northern Song Dynasty also recorded the same thing: Emperor Tang Ming dreamed that the kids were noisy, and GREAT GHOST caught them and ate them. Ask for who, for Zhong Kui, the Japanese minister who eventually entered the South. As a response to the failure to lift, he died on the steps of the temple and vowed to get rid of the evil spirits in the world. Ming Chengzu asked Wu Daozi to paint Zhong Kui.

Zhong Kui, a poor scholar, became a world-famous ghost catcher. An ancient copy of the Tang Dynasty was found in the Tibetan Scripture Cave in Dunhuang, describing Zhong Kui's "catching wandering souls in rivers and lakes" and "taking 100,000 bears at the age of pro-master". Claws are hard steel and silver, and the soul (mud) is always covered with leopard skin, making cinnabar red. "Magnificent, is indeed the spirit of exorcism. Zhong Kui was once popular in Dunhuang, which is located in the northwest border, and the custom of hanging the statue of Zhong Kui will also be popular throughout the country. Suzhou is the birthplace of the Dragon Boat Festival. " "The Origin of Things" contains: "The matter of crossing the river began with Gou Jian, and now the dragon boat is also. Zhao Ye's "Wu Yue Chun Qiu" in Han Dynasty also believed that the origin of dragon boat "originated from the contribution of Gou Jian and Xu Zhizhong, the son of beggars' sect".

Suzhou Dragon Boat Race originated from Xumen Tanghe River, which is today's Xujianghe River. Shao, a poet in the Qing Dynasty, once lamented that "in May, the river was angry and the water was joyous". By the Qing Dynasty, Suzhou Dragon Boat Race had become very popular and there were many places. "Dragon boat, dragon boat, dragon boat, dragon boat, dragon boat, dragon boat, dragon boat, dragon boat, dragon boat, dragon boat, dragon boat, dragon boat, dragon boat, dragon boat, dragon boat, dragon boat, dragon boat, dragon boat.

Dragon boat festival custom has dragon activities in the north and south, but the north is used to pray for rain and the south is a simulated race. During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the custom of horse racing was widely circulated. Tang Jingzong once ordered local officials to build 20 dragon boats, and Song Taizong Chunhua went to Jinming Pool in Kaifeng to watch the race for three years. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Dragon Boat Festival was performed in the court. In the Qing Dynasty, since Kangxi and Shunzhi, most of the Dragon Boat Festival was held in Xiyuan.

2 1 century, the dragon boat race in the ancient city of Suzhou continues. On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, under the wall of the ancient Xumen City, on the Xujiang River named after Wu Zixu in Suzhou, colorful flags were flying and dragon boats were waiting to be launched, which attracted many Suzhou people to wave flags and cheer for the athletes. The dead have passed away, and the ancient folk customs can continue in the network age, which makes people lament the charm of tradition.

In the annual dragon boat race, most of the boats are left behind every other year, but they are not put in the water, so the hull is perishable, but there are special rooms for storage. Two weeks before the Dragon Boat Festival, the dragon boat went out of the house, put it in the open air and painted it under the humid sky. We should also prepare a traditional drum with pigskin as the drum surface to use in the competition. On the Dragon Boat Festival, there were crowds on both sides of the Xujiang River, and every family helped the old and the young to watch the dragon boat race. Suzhou people call the dragon boat under the water dragon, and welcoming God in advance is called "launching". A five-meter-high colorful platform was set up on the riverside, and a dragon dance ceremony was held to worship Wu Zixu, the pottery god, and the competition began. (When you go ashore, you should also hold a ceremony to send the gods, which is called "pulling the faucet". There is also a more relaxing and gratifying "Wuxian Zhi": "Dragon Boat Festival Dragon Boat Race, cruise ships gathered, men and women noisy, orchestral miscellaneous play. Throw the duck into the river, and the dragon boat people compete for water and think about entertainment. " Yuan Jinglan, a native of Suzhou in Jiaqing period of Qing Dynasty, also said in Wu Jun when I was Chinese, "tourists from the original boat compete to buy urns and throw them into the river, depending on the people in the dragon boat swimming into the water for entertainment." If they are rewarded, they can exchange with merchants. At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, Suzhou dragon boat race still kept a similar "bidding", putting geese and ducks in the river and people chasing and playing in the water. This is actually a history. As early as the Song Dynasty, the imperial court had a competitive practice of throwing silver bottles into the water, which later became a custom. The only difference is that some throw clay pots, others throw ducks and pigs.

Different from Suzhou, Yang Sichang, a scholar and minister of the Ministry of War during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, wrote a book "Dragon Boat Race in Wuling", which recorded the customs of dragon boat race in Jingchu and Chuxiang areas, including the reasons, ship types, number of people, technology, lyrics, gambling, sacrifices, age and so on. Among them, "the old system was unveiled on April 8, and the new ship was launched on May 1 day, and gambling was conducted on May 10 and 15." More specifically, it is stipulated that bamboo poles and pebbles are not allowed to be hidden in the boat, and visitors are not allowed to throw bricks to avoid fighting. The dragon boat itself is an idea. According to the "History of Jinchang Folklore", dragon boat races are generally made of light Chinese fir, which is seven to eleven meters long, and some are as long as ten meters and about one to several meters wide, with a wooden faucet in front and a dragon tail in the back. There are three colorful buildings in the middle cabin of the dragon boat, which are 9 meters high, or carved or painted, very fine, with flags and embroidered umbrellas, and the ship is full of colors. However, some poor towns and villages, unable to afford dragon boats, temporarily refitted them with agricultural boats or fishing boats, put paper-tied dragon tails in front of and behind wooden boats, and then surrounded them with cloth curtains painted with scales, so they were called "grass dragons" because of carelessness. There are at least two dragon boats participating in the competition, generally five, which are divided into five colors: green, red, yellow, white and black, representing five parties, east, west, north and south, and there are also six or seven boats, with a maximum of a dozen. "

Du Ya, the general of the Tang Dynasty, sent an envoy to Huainan, which improved the custom of dragon boat race in the south of the Yangtze River. Old Tang book? Du Yachuan: There are horse racing scenes in Jiangnan custom, and the ark keeps pace and wins the race. Anai ordered the bottom of the boat to be painted so that it could enter quickly. This is also a dress that continues the front edge. It is oiled and the boat is dressed so that it will not enter the water. "In this way, wearing silk and brocade is not only a glamorous appearance, but also the earliest special clothing for sports. Painting the bottom of the boat is more ingenious and reduces resistance, just like the high-grade sneakers on the field today, and the running and jumping results depend on it.

Dragon Boat Festival is also an annual carnival. "Ladies and gentlemen, wearing beautiful makeup and dazzling clothes, traveling in the whole city. When algae bloomed in Sichuan, the curtain of the building was completely opened, and Luo Yun began to accumulate. Seven miles in the mountain pond, stop less; The boats in the river are crowded, but there is not an inch. "

Although luxury is luxury, it can be prosperous, but that's all. Moreover, the dragon boat race is also a big market. "A small meal is a big event. A table of banquets costs thousands of dollars. Laughter is heard from a distance, and the cups and plates are messy. Shore in a different place, the boss is a man, divided into clothes, suppressing the teacher's ever-changing Children's toys, Wu people are used to Fu Xun, and distant guests visit, and they keep their mouths shut. " As the saying goes, "the trade of merchants started in half a month where it was located", and Suzhou people collectively referred to this half a month as "Dragon Boat Market".

Suzhou has been an important producing area of silk and cotton cloth since ancient times, with dense machine users, forming an industrial chain and a special dyeing house. These craftsmen at the bottom of the society usually keep a low profile, but on this day's dragon boat race, they practice hard, unite as one and stand out in their own way:

In the county town, people who kick the cloth mill hold boats, sing golden drums and paddle like flies. In the meantime, they are called chimney dragon boats, which are annoying but enjoyable.

Scholar-officials felt that these Xialiba people were making trouble and deconstructed the "meaning" of the Dragon Boat Festival. Gao Lian's Eight Chapters of Respect for Life said: "Southern boat racers are light in handling boats, which is called' flying horse' or' water horse'. Gaiyue people take boats as cars and horses as horses. " Although the boat is not as luxurious as the dragon boat, it actually has a great history. Isn't the banter of these manual workers a tribute to tradition?

According to Lu, the dragon boat race in Suzhou is also unique because it has both day and night. "At night, there are thousands of lights, candles and stars spit Dan, and the bright moon shakes white, which is particularly spectacular. Commonly known as "dragon boat with lights", thousands of lights are lit and candles are turned into mountains. According to Lu, each dragon boat has colorful flags at the four corners, and there are flag bearers in the cabin in the middle. There are as many as 16 people rowing on both sides, commonly known as "rowers". At the bow stood a pole master named "Tougan".

During the boat race, the boat was decorated with colorful lights, and the paddlers paddled with gongs and drums. Today, the race of Xujiang River is generally 500-600 meters, and there are more than 20 dragon boats, with 4-5 boats in each group. Suzhou Tournament used to be divided into "Wushu Tournament" and "Literature Tournament". During the martial arts competition, the rowers on the dragon boat paddled desperately with uniform movements along with the drum music, firecrackers on both sides of the strait rang, and the river was like a cloud. A gazebo was built early along the coast for officials and rich gentry to watch, and the winner won the championship when he reached the finish line. What is more special is that after the literary competition, it is better than the dragon boat and the pavilion. Pu Songling, a famous novelist in Qing Dynasty, described this in Liaozhai:

On May 5th, there was a dragon boat race in wuyue: chopping wood into dragons, painting scales and decorating it with gold and silver; Bamboo sills are carved on the ceiling, and the sails are resplendent. At the end of the boat, there is a dragon's tail, which is more than ten feet high, and the cloth index is hanging on the board. Some children sat on the board, somersaulted upside down and played clever games. It is dangerous to enter this river. So, it's a child's purchase. First, it is necessary to marry its parents with gold, pre-tame them and die in the water. Don't regret. Maggie is carried at the noon gate, which is different from ear.

Jia Qinglu also describes:

Above the pavilion, the story of choosing the children of a good family and dressing up as brother Tai is commonly known as the "leading prince". Tail high, holding colorful ropes, let children play in the water. There are dramas such as Rushing to the Front, Teenagers Worship Guanyin, Pointing to the Rising Sun and Yang Feichun Sleeping.

Tiger's drama has been circulated in the rural areas of Taihu Lake in Suzhou so far. The temple fair is auspicious and there are patrols on the streets, while the water performance at the stern is almost paddling and surfing, which is extremely thrilling.