Folk Customs of Chaozhou

<<Chaozhou New Year's Eve and Spring Festival Customs>>

The 24th day of the 12th lunar month is the time when the "gods" go up to heaven to "report their duties". From this day onwards, every household is cleaned up, and everything is cleaned and cleaned, which is called "hoarding". One or two days before New Year's Eve, families make all kinds of barley products, in preparation for the New Year. New Year's Eve outside the family have to rush home to reunion. New Year's Eve the whole family around the stove to eat a reunion dinner. After the meal, adults to children, children to their parents' elders, distribution of "New Year's money". It is the night of the farmhouse tank to be stored full of water, rice tank to be filled with rice, lights can not be extinguished, to symbolize "years and years of surplus", "year after year," the good omen. The New Year's Eve custom is very common. Waiting for the arrival of the new year, the new year bell ringing, families firecrackers.

The last day of the lunar year is called New Year's Eve, and this night is called New Year's Eve, which is called "New Year's Eve" in Chaoshan. Before New Year's Eve, people will be busy to prepare for all kinds of New Year's goods: buy chickens, geese, ducks, fish, meat; add new clothes and ornaments; new purchase of furniture, utensils; purchase of New Year's paintings, Chinese New Year scrolls, etc. In particular, buy tangerines, green olives and other vegetables. Especially to buy oranges, green olives and other fruits as a symbol of good luck and welcome friends and relatives of the good fruit.

Pasted door god, spring couplets. At the beginning of the New Year, the first thing to do is to stick the door god, couplets. Whenever New Year's Eve is approaching, families have to go out on the street to buy spring couplets, and those who have the pleasure to lay out their own paper, ink and spring, will be decorated inside and outside the gateway to the house.

Sending New Year's money. Send new year's money is an important part of the Spring Festival custom in Chaoshan, the elders have to share the money to the younger generation, the younger generation can earn money to send money to the elders. The money can not be sent straight, but to be very carefully packed in a Li Shi bag, or wrapped in a piece of red paper. This is commonly known as "pressure belly waist", meaning that the year from beginning to end, the waist bag will be full of solid, rich. Particularly interesting is that the child before going to sleep, parents will be a large-denomination banknotes in the child's bib, wake up after the banknotes will be retrieved.

Eating New Year's dinner. New Year's Eve is approaching, and the homes of families are dressed up in a new look. Housewives will be busy preparing to make the most sumptuous and meaningful New Year's Eve dinner of the year. As the name suggests, a New Year's dinner is a time for families to gather together for a meal on New Year's Eve, not forgetting even the deceased ancestors.

Welcome the God of Wealth, firecrackers. In recent years, the rise of a folk activity, is to worship the God of Wealth at night. It is said that on the 24th day of the waxing moon the gods went to heaven, the gods of the earth all the way to heaven "report work" to go.

New Year's Eve, send "Daji". Worship the New Year, also known as "worship". Early on the first morning, people get up and put on new clothes, the first thing is to worship their own family, often the first generation to bless the elders, and then the elders and then give the elders to the expectations of the next generation to know. No matter how many gifts people bring to pay homage to the New Year, one of the big tangerine (Chiu Chow mandarin) is indispensable.

Welcoming the gods and receiving blessings. The fourth day of the first month is "God" or day "welcome God" day. Originally, the year before the 24th day of the waxing moon is "sent to the gods" day, the lower world of the gods are in this day to the Jade Emperor towards congratulations on his duties, report a year to the lower world on earth behavior of good and evil. The fourth day of the first month, and then return to the lower world to continue to supervise the people, so every family will be in the fourth day to welcome the presence of God.

There are many recreational activities during the Spring Festival, such as touring the gods, touring the gongs and drums, marking flags and guessing riddles.

<<Chaoshan Lantern Customs>>

New Year's talk lanterns after the Spring Festival Lantern Festival came, the Lantern Festival ancient called the night of the first night, "night" in the ancient language is "night". The Lantern Festival is the first festival of the New Year in Chaoshan, commonly known as the "Hei Festival", "Lantern Festival". It started in the Western Han Dynasty. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty put up lanterns and colors in his palace every first month to show that the winds and rains would be favorable and the country would be prosperous and peaceful in the new year. In the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Tang Xuanzong changed one night to three. Su Wei wrote a poem "The Fifteenth Night of the First Moon": "The fire tree and silver flowers merge, the star bridge and iron locks open, the spraying dust goes with the horses, and the bright moon comes with the people." To the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanpingzhang regulations on the eighth day of the first month, seventeen lights, which ten nights is the longest Lantern Festival in China.

The counties and cities of Chaoshan every Lunar New Year Festival also held respectively lantern show, which Chaozhou, Chenghai, Puning, Jiexi, etc. in recent years on the large-scale lantern show. Guangdong's first folk art festival extravaganza, Chaoshan feat lanterns are also welcomed by Chinese and foreigners.

In recent years, Chaoshan lantern exhibition, attracted overseas returnees and Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan compatriots, with their hometown loved ones to view the lanterns, celebrating the Chinese New Year festival, but also by the relevant newspapers and television and radio attention. This exquisite lanterns, up and down, the water and sky new, memorable, provocative feelings.

The Lantern Festival insert banyan. In some areas of Chaozhou, especially in the rural areas of Raoping County, it is customary to put banyan leaves, bamboo brushes, "Mao Che", "Du Bi" and other plants on the lintel of every house on the Lantern Festival every year for the sake of peace and security. According to legend, Huang Chao, the leader of the righteous army during the Tang Dynasty, was exceptionally brave, and when he unsheathed his sword, his head would be cut off and people would fall wherever the shadow of the sword reached, and people were terrified by the news. Once, when they heard that Huang Chao was coming, the villagers ran away one after another. A woman with an orphan on her back and two young sons in her hands, followed everyone to escape. On the way, she met a tough man, who turned out to be Huang Chao's subordinate. He looked at the woman carefully and knew that she was a kind person. So he said to her: "Huang Chao is a good man. Take the children back to the Lantern Festival, take the banyan leaves and put them on the lintel, and they will naturally be safe." The woman went home and did as she was told. Sure enough, nothing happened that year, and the story spread. After that, every year during the Lantern Festival, the women and their children picked banyan leaves, bamboo brushes, "Mao Che", "Du Bi" and other plants very early in the morning and inserted them on both sides of the lintel, saying, "Insert the banyan tree over the dragon! ", "insert bamboo brush to raise fat chickens", "insert wool car to feed big pigs", "insert Du Bi barn stacked". Some women also deliberately put two banyan leaves on their heads, while children take one and clip it to their ears. All of these indicate that people aspire to the meaning of good luck.

<<Chaoshan Qingming Festival Customs>>

Qingming is one of the twenty-four festivals in China, and it is also a traditional folk festival in China. Qingming according to the lunar calendar on no fixed month no fixed day, but all in February or March; that is, the previous year's winter solstice after 106 days is Qingming; according to the solar calendar for April 5 or 4 (to the year in February flat or 29 and the difference). The Chaoshan people celebrate the Qingming Festival with a strong local color, which is different from and similar to the customs and activities of other parts of the country.

Eating pancakes. Pancake eating is very popular in Chaoshan, and almost every family is an exception. Pancakes are divided into two parts: the skin is made of flour mixed with water and stirred into a sticky paste, which is then burned in a hot wok to form a round cooked skin, which is as thin as paper. The filling is divided into two types: salty filling, which is made from eggs, meat, liver, preserved meat, mushrooms, bean sprouts, chives and other cooked ingredients; and sweet filling, which is made from sugar and maltose specially processed to become "sugar onions". It is eaten when rolled into a tube with the skin of the pancake. The Chaoshan people eat pancakes on Qingming Day, which is a change from the ancient custom of the Cold Food Festival. Eating pancakes on Ching Ming Day not only commemorates the meaning of the ancient custom of cold food, but also enjoys a meal of unique flavor.

Steamed barley. Chaoshan has a kind of tree called phase seed tree (also known as Park Ding tree, belongs to the elm family), leaf ellipsoidal, fruit as large as green beans, sweet taste. Legend has it that the ancestors took the leaves of this tree during the famine years to satisfy their hunger. Qingming season, the climate is warming up, grass and trees shade, park seed tree leaves full of bush green. Posterity in order not to forget the past, will be in the Qingming Festival to pick the leaves, and rice pounded and pounded into powder, fermented with sugar, steamed with pottery mold made Park Seed Barley, there are two kinds of plum type and peach type, also known as the bowl of fermented peaches. Barley products are light green, taste very sweet, it is said to eat can relieve heat, in addition to disease.

Tomb-sweeping. Qingming Festival in Chaoshan all over the custom of sweeping graves is very prevalent. Tomb-sweeping is commonly known as "hanging paper", for the winter solstice with the difference between the tomb-sweeping is also called "hanging spring paper". People go to their ancestors' graves to fill in the earth and tidy up the graves, sweep away dust and weeds, and hang paper strips on the tombstones and piles of graves to hold ceremonies. Many compatriots, also have the habit of returning to their hometowns to sweep their graves at Ching Ming, to show that they do not forget their ancestors, do not forget their homeland. Since ancient times, Qingming tomb-sweeping is not only to commemorate their own ancestors, the history of the people for the people who have made achievements and done good deeds, the people will commemorate him.

Outing. During the Qingming period, spring is on the ground, the peach and willow green, the warbler grass grows, people go to the field in groups of three or five to play trekking. This custom has been inherited since a long time ago, so the Qingming Festival is also known as the Treading Green Festival, and the Chaoshan people also have the Qingming Day picnic trekking activities.

Some places also have cockfighting, kicking balls, kicking keys, swinging swings, flying kites and other programs, which are very amusing.

<<Chaoshan Dragon Boat Festival Customs>>

To this day, the Dragon Boat Festival is still a very prevalent and grand festival among the Chinese people.

Plugging in wormwood and hanging bushes. People believe that May is the "evil month", more miasma and poisonous gas, in the door to insert the wormwood, calamus is to drive away the evil spirit. People believe that the calamus hanging on the lintel like a sharp sword, ghosts will not dare to door harassment. And according to the main duties of the "Jingchu chronicle": "May 5 ...... picking mugwort as a person, hanging on the portal to avoid poisonous gas." But the Chao custom today has less use of mugwort, calamus, and replaced by "red flowers (pomegranate flowers)", "sarsaparilla", also has the intention of driving away evil spirits and avoiding filth.

Dragon boat race. Dragon boat, as the name suggests, is a boat shaped like a dragon. On the first day of April every year, the "dragon boat out of the niche" ceremony. Because every year after the boat race, these dragon boats are always set up in the ancestral hall of each tribe, now should be invited down to repair the dragon boat paint, and then launched into the water to start practicing. So the sound of drums was heard everywhere during this month. The bow of the boat looks like a dragon's head held high, and the sides and belly of the boat are each painted a different color. If it is a new boat, then the ceremony of sacrificing the dragon head must also be held. In the past, the Chaoshan people used to hold the opening ceremony of the Dragon Boat Race: the boats were paddled to the front of the Mazu Temple to pay homage to the "Dragon Tail Master". The head of the dragon faces the door of the temple, and rows in and out three times to worship, called "three lamps", to pray for the gods to bless the victory. Competition, the dragon boat as long-distance running athletes, in the starting point nervous to start, when the gun sounded, the dragon boat on the drum drums heard the drums, the athletes waved their arms and paddles, the dragon boat as an arrow out of the string, in the water flying. Onlookers shouted for their team members, and some even jumped into the water to splash the team members to keep their spirits high.

Eating dumplings. Zongzi, Chaoshan region called "zongzi ball". Teochew people are addicted to eating dumplings, not only the Dragon Boat Festival have eaten dumplings custom, regardless of winter and summer, all four times are interested in eating dumplings. Therefore, snack bars, dim sum stores can often be seen in the dumplings sold. In the era of even rice are not enough to eat, it is certainly a mouth-watering delicacy. The custom of eating rice dumplings, Han Dynasty has, but then it is a bamboo tube filled with rice cooked into the "tube dumplings". To the Wei and Jin Dynasties, only now have the shape of the dumplings, then called "corn". Zongzi is just a summer food at that time, not necessarily the Dragon Boat Festival to eat. Jing Chu chronicle" will cloud: "summer solstice festival, food dumplings." The original also has nothing to do with Qu Yuan.

<<People's Day Festival seven kinds of soup>>

The seventh day of the first month, the Chaoshan people have eaten "seven kinds of soup" custom. This custom has a long history, at least two thousand years in China. Western Han Dongfang Shuo's "account for the book", "the first day of the first month of the year accounted for chicken, the second day accounted for the dog, the third day accounted for the pig, the fourth day accounted for the sheep, the fifth day accounted for the cow, the sixth day accounted for the horse, the seventh day accounted for the people." Therefore, the seventh day of the first month is also called "human day". And the book also said: the first day of the first month of the sunny, the chicken is breeding, cloudy and rainy, the chicken does not breed. The weather on the second day of good and bad omen dog, three days omen pig ...... and so on, to the seventh day of the first month of the year, if the sky is clear, it means that the people are thriving.

<< "Ghost Festival (folk)" "Mid-Yuan Festival (Taoism)" "Bon Festival (Buddhism)">>

Legend has it that from the beginning of July, when the ghost gate opens, the lone souls and ghosts from the hell run away to roam the earth. Therefore, in addition to offering sacrifices to the ancestors, people also need to provide large-scale relief for the lonely souls and wild ghosts on the day of the Mid-Yuan Festival. According to the "Qianchun yearly record": "July 15, Taoism is called" Zhongyuan Festival "and each have fasting dipping and other meetings. Monks and temples use this day to make bon fasts, and people also worship their ancestors on this day." On this day, villages in Chaoshan often set up high scaffolding and Pudu altar at the entrance of the village. In the center of the altar, there hangs a banner of "Bon Festival" or a statue of Sanguan Da Di. In front of the altar, two tables are set up: the upper table holds a lantern and the lower table holds a statue of the god, incense burner and so on. Inside the lantern, put white rice, copper mirror, ancient sword, small scale, scissors, ruler ...... to show that the evil spirits. In front of the altar put a row of long tables, for the people to set up livestock rituals with. Almost to the noon time, every family picks up three animals, noodles, fruits, etc. to sacrifice, the priest sits on top of the altar, ringing the bell and chanting the sutra. After reciting the sutra once, the priest would scatter the noodles and rice around the altar in all directions. This is repeated several times, and this ritual is known as "letting off the flame". Venerable masters recite sutras so that their throats will expand and they will be able to swallow food. When the priest removes the noodles and rice, the onlookers rush to grab them. It is said, grab these things means blessing, wealth, especially the few weighing more than a pound of noodles 馃, more is considered to be a big fortune and become the object of the robbery. In the past, people lived in poverty, and these snatched things were often brought home as rations. Now that the rations are abundant, people bring them home to feed the pigs. It is said that these things to feed pigs, pigs can make the day big jack night big eight hundred. The Chaoshan proverb says: "Let go of the noodle peaches to grab the cake, noodle peaches no more cake also no." This is what is said. When the master spread down the cake, grab the face of peach often put down the peach to fight for the cake, the result of the face of peach was picked up, the cake can not be grabbed, the two ends of the empty, in the past, there are also in the high ShiGuoShang put some offerings, offerings after letting the people to go to grab. Thus, these things have become the target of the poor living in the looting. When the sound of firecrackers, they are often defiant, while the body to win the weak often can only look at the ShiKuShang dry anxious. Small-scale Pudu is in the late afternoon. In the late afternoon, people carry stools and tables and place them in front of their homes, and then place offerings on them. The offerings are covered with joss sticks, and the joss sticks are stuck all over the roadside ditches, meaning that they are used to help people in all directions. These joss sticks are for the "Lone Master" (a fancy name for a lonely, hungry ghost) and children are not allowed to touch them. Therefore, adults often scare children, saying: "If you steal the incense, you will wet your bed in the middle of the night." But there are always mischievous children will be adults words as a whisper, a big handful of incense pulled away, used to make up things to play.

<<Chaoshan Mid-Autumn Festival Folklore>>

The 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar is the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is the halfway point of the three autumns, so I am Mid-Autumn. In Chaoshan, there are various folk activities with local characteristics.

Taro sacrifice to ancestors. Chaoshan has a proverb: "Hexi to the mouth, taro food to fear." Mid-Autumn in August, the sky is high, the moon is clear, and the Milky Way is brilliant. The Milky Way, the Chaoshan people called Hexi, August, is the taro harvest, farmers are accustomed to taro to worship ancestors. This is certainly related to farming, but there is also a widespread folk legend: in 1279, the Mongolian nobles destroyed the Southern Song Dynasty and established the Yuan Dynasty, which ruled over the Han Chinese brutally. Ma Fa defended Chaozhou against the Yuan, and when the city fell, the people were massacred. In order not to forget the pain of the reign of the Hu people, the descendants of taro and "Hu head" resonance, and resembles a human head, as a way to pay tribute to their ancestors, passed down through the generations and into the wind, and still exists.

Moon worship. Chaoshan mid-autumn moon worship, mainly women and children, so there are "men do not full moon, women do not sacrifice stove" proverb. At night, the moon rises, they will be in the yard, the balcony set up the case when the sky prayer worship. Silver candles are lit high, incense smoke lingers, and the table is full of good fruits and cakes as a sacrificial gift. During this season, there are many kinds of Chaoshan fruits on the market, including pomelo, banana, peach, persimmon, pear, pineapple and so on. The story of killing Tartars on the 15th day of the 8th month is also widely spread among the people. At that time, the ruler of the Yuan Dynasty stipulated that every family should have a Mongolian soldier living in their house, who would be supported by the Han people and monitor the actions of the Han people, and only three families were allowed to **** with a kitchen knife. The people hated it, so they took advantage of the 15th of August to eat moon cakes, and put the note about killing the Tartars, in the moon cake filling, so that the night of the successful action. This day is regarded as the anniversary of the revolt against national oppression by later generations.

Burning tower. Mid-autumn night burning tower is also very popular. Tower height ranging from 1-3 meters, mostly made of broken tiles, large towers should also be made of bricks, about 1/4 of the height of the tower, and then stacked with tiles and into the top of the tower to leave a mouth, for the release of fuel. Mid-autumn night will be burning fire, fuel wood, bamboo, husk, etc., when the fire is strong, splash rosin powder, lead flame to help, extremely spectacular. Folk there is a race to burn tower regulations, who burned the whole seat of the tower red through the win, not as good as or in the burning process of the collapse of the negative, the winners by the host to send colorful flags, prizes or prizes. Rumor has it that the burning tower is also the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the Han Chinese people against the brutal rulers, in the Mid-Autumn Uprising when the fire for the origin of the number.

<<Chaoshan Chongyang Folk Customs>>

Ancestor Sacrifice. Chongyang Festival Customs. Teochew custom in the Chongyang Festival ancestor worship are the poorer family, they can not afford to worship at each ancestor's anniversary, so they do a general worship on this day, to seek understanding of the ancestors.

Denggao. With the passage of time, the superstitious concepts in the Chongyang ascending custom is becoming increasingly indifferent, and the ascending custom is endowed with a new flavor. September 9 is in the mid-autumn season, the sky is high and cool, the clouds are green, golden laurel fragrance. When this time, invite friends and relatives, happy to travel with a companion, climb high and look around, the sky Shu. The mountain red leaves, golden fruits, a variety of scenery as far as the eye can see, suddenly feel relaxed and happy, spoiled and forgotten.

Kite flying. Chiu Chow custom says: "September 9, kite boy, full of streets." It is a special custom of Chaoshan people on this day: kite flying. Spring and summer in Chaoshan are rainy, winter is too cold, and fall is the most suitable for outdoor activities. In the golden autumn season, the autumn breeze brings you a fresh breeze, and a kite with a unique shape floats under the blue sky, which makes people feel that life is full of vitality, and there is no depressing scene in the north of the country in the autumn. Kites in Chaoshan are not as famous as those in Weifang, but the custom of flying kites is more common. Kites are mostly small, cut bamboo gabions for the frame, glued with white paper of various qualities, and then painted with various designs on the self-paper.

Eating "Jiu Huang Zhai" Chaoshan Chung Yeung Festival to maintain traditional Chinese customs, such as the high priests and elegant people to climb the high tour, drinking and poetry, the people turn over the sun clothing books, chairs and cabinets are quite ancient. Chaoan and Chenghai also have a custom to make a fiancé, i.e., to deep-fry oil marbles to send to friends and relatives. Pills and edge of the same sound (Cantonese pronunciation), meaning that the edge. In the old days, Teochew theater group from the first day of the first nine nights to eat fasting, said food nine Huangzhai. Since the first day of the whole class to wear white pants, burning incense every day to worship, the first nine nights, all worship (along with the Xuanwu Mountain Buddha and the god of the play Tian Yuanshuai worship together). Folk also worship the Nine Emperors. But in Thailand, the Chao ethnic Chinese people eat nine Huangzhai is very grand, from the first to the first nine or the first ten, generally eat nine Huangzhai, worship the custom of the Emperor God. They worship the nine emperor god, and the Chinese book of God said the Big Dipper is different, but also with the Chaozhou native folklore of the human emperor nine heads, nine brothers, divided into nine states of the nine emperor god is different. The Nine Emperor Gods they worship are said to have been nine thieves, who were later subdued by the Goddess of Mercy, changed their evil ways into righteousness, were merciful and compassionate, did many good deeds, and became great disciples of the Buddha, and were worshipped by the people, forming a part of Chaoshan Chinese folklore different from that of the native ones.

<<Chaoshan Winter Solstice Customs>>

The winter solstice is not only one of the twenty-four festivals, but also a big folk festival in the Chaoshan area, which is popularly known as "Small New Year". The custom of winter solstice is basically the same in all cities and counties in Chaoshan, there are sacrifices to ancestors, eating sweet pills, visiting tombs and other customs.

Ancestor worship, Chaoshan folk, in this day, enough pork, chicken, fish and other three animals and fruits, on the ancestral ancestral worship, and then the family around the table **** meal, generally at noon before the end of worship, lunch family reunion. But coastal areas such as Rao Ping of the Haisan area, it is in the early morning will be sacrificed to the ancestors, rushed to the fishermen before fishing, meaning to ask the gods and ancestors to bless the fishermen to go out to sea to fish peace.

Eating sweet pills: this custom is almost universal in the whole Chaoshan area, but this custom also contains an interesting custom: people in this day to the sweet pills to worship ancestors, take out some of the top of the door, roof beams, rice tanks and other places to stick in their own homes. However, after all, this "stick sweet pills everywhere" bad custom not long, it is not only unhygienic, but also detrimental to the aesthetic and very wasteful, but also the natural demise. However, the custom of "eating sweet nine" has been passed down to this day. Chaoshan also "eat the winter festival round more than a year" of the proverb.

Sweeping graves: This is another activity on the winter solstice. According to the custom of Chaoshan, visiting the graves and sweeping the tombs every year is usually done at Qingming and the winter solstice, which is called "spring paper" and "winter paper". Generally speaking, the first three years after the death of a person should be performed "over spring paper" common practice, three years after the line can be "over winter paper". But most people like to line "winter paper", the reason is that the Qingming season, often rain, the road is difficult to walk; winter solstice is good weather, easy to go to the mountains picnic. The winter solstice this "grave sweeping" is to commemorate the ancestors hard work and "eat sweet pills" is to herald the next year and a good harvest of custom, naturally inherited.