About Sichuan Spring Festival folk customs

Sichuan: "Qiang New Year Festival"

The Qiang people are one of the ethnic groups with a long history in the Chinese nation. Now they mainly live in Maoxian, Wenchuan, Lixian and parts of Songpan in Aba Prefecture, Sichuan.

The Qiang New Year Festival is celebrated every year on the first day of the tenth month of the lunar calendar. It usually lasts for 3-5 days. In some villages, it lasts until the tenth day of the tenth month. According to folk customs, during the Qiang New Year, people are still willing to worship gods and offer sacrifices to the gods of heaven, mountains and land owners (village gods). The whole village will have a reunion dinner, drink and dance until they part ways happily. The entire ceremony was presided over by "Xu", and the sipping wine was opened by a respected elder in the village. During the festival, relatives and friends can congratulate and greet each other.

Sichuan Hakka Spring Festival Customs

The continuous migration of Hakka people makes them more nostalgic for their homeland. The memory of their hometown's landscape and customs united them closely, and they overcame hardships one after another. Traditional customs became a strong link between the Hakka people. Hakkas from Sichuan have maintained their traditional Hakka customs and habits for two to three hundred years.

The Hakka people attach great importance to the Lunar New Year. Every household hangs colored lanterns, posts door gods, and writes auspicious words on granaries and poultry and livestock pens to show good luck for the coming year's harvest. Hakka towns that have the conditions perform lantern dances from the first month to February. The types of lanterns include dragon lanterns, lion lanterns, clam lanterns, etc. This is the lantern custom of the Hakka people in their original place that has been passed down to this day. In addition, a large-scale celebration event - dragon dance, including colorful dragon, fire dragon, water dragon, out of joint dragon and Shangchuan dragon will be held. Among them, Shangchuanlong is the most distinctive. The Shangchuan dragon was brought to western Sichuan by the Liu family immigrants from Jiangxi in the early Qing Dynasty. The Liu family members tie the dragon and dance it every year as a way to celebrate the new year and pray for good weather. The Shangchuan dragon is huge and majestic. It is operated and danced by thirty to fifty people. The dragon head weighs thirty to fifty kilograms. The dragon dance is highly skilled and has many ways.

Chengdu people don’t eat on New Year’s Day because “rice” and “criminal” have the same pronunciation. To avoid taboos, they eat glutinous rice balls or noodles to pray for family reunion and long life. Liuge and other places also celebrate the "Little New Year" on the seventh day of the first lunar month. In addition to worshiping gods and ancestors, they also have a reunion dinner. People from Chengdu visited Du Fu's Thatched Cottage in the western suburbs on the same day. On New Year's Day in Changshou County, nine candles are burned outside the door, called "nine-grade candles", to honor heaven and earth.

Sichuan people love to watch "lanterns" during the Chinese New Year, and the land in central Sichuan is a scene of lights

On this side, the Zigong Lantern Festival with the theme of "exotic customs" gives off bursts of "foreign flavor" "; Over there, the traditional Chengdu Lantern Festival transformed into a charming stream of light for the 35th time.

In Jianyang in central Sichuan, Jiangyou in northern Sichuan, and Yibin in southern Sichuan, three New Year lantern festivals with different styles were also lit up one after another. In the New Year of the Year of the Sheep, the land in Sichuan is ablaze with lights.

The Lantern Festival is a traditional folk cultural activity of the Chinese nation. During the New Year and festivals, many places have the tradition of hanging lanterns and holding lantern festivals. For Sichuan people who love liveliness and peace, "lanterns" are indispensable during the New Year, and the lantern festival has become an indispensable "New Year's good" for Sichuan people during the New Year. For this reason, Sichuan Lantern Festival has a long history and high level, and is known as "the best lantern in the world" and "the first lantern festival in China". Especially the Chengdu Lantern Festival and the Zigong Lantern Festival, with their majestic momentum, ingenious conception, exquisite craftsmanship and rich local customs, they have become the best among local lantern festivals in China.

On the eve of the New Year in the Year of the Sheep, the Zigong Lantern Festival, which has a history of nearly a thousand years, is the first to light up the lanterns in Sichuan. At the Lantern Festival, classic story fragments and scenic spots from the three ancient civilizations of Greece, Rome, and Egypt, such as the Battle of Troy, the Egyptian Pyramids, and Swan Lake, were wonderfully and vividly "interpreted" through the form of traditional Chinese lantern art. The lantern festival set up funny projects with 30 foreign cartoon characters and animals such as Robin Hood, Spider-Man and Snoopy, which made people smile frequently. In addition to the strong "foreign flavor", the Zigong Lantern Festival also introduced northern ice lanterns for the first time, combining northern ice lanterns and southern lanterns in the same time and space, attracting countless people to watch the novel.

In Chengdu, the provincial capital, this year’s New Year Lantern Festival is the 35th. The lights are officially turned on on the night of the first day of the first lunar month, blooming brightly and shining brightly on the sleepless New Year's night in Chengdu. In the cultural park, the water surface, mountains, buildings, and trees are all covered with beautiful lights, and people watching the lights are like crucian carp; outside the park, the old path of Qintai, which was newly renovated last year, performs Sima Xiangru and Zhuo Wenjun's "Sima Xiangru and Zhuo Wenjun" at night. The love story "Feng Qiu Huang" is also full of bright lights and a steady flow of people.

The Chengdu Lantern Festival in the Year of the Sheep is full of "sheep" spirit. Among the 42 sets of large and medium-sized lanterns and six sets of archway lanterns, the lanterns expressing the joy of the Year of the Sheep account for a large proportion. Entering the park from the west gate and east gate to view the lanterns, you can immediately see the strong atmosphere of the New Year in the Year of the Sheep. At the west gate, "Three Yang Kai Tai and Danfeng Chaoyang" bring auspiciousness to you; at the east gate, three sheep stand in semi-relief style on the gate of the lantern festival. The shape and decoration are beautiful. Watching the lantern festival is like entering the Year of the Sheep. "The door of wishful thinking". People watching the lanterns came into groups, laughing and taking photos in front of the lanterns. As usual, the delicious Chengdu people can't forget to go to the snack exhibition to feast on the food after watching the lanterns. Kebabs and steamed rice rolls are all delicious, and the food stalls are crowded with people.

"When the lanterns come in, you can see the stars high." The "Water Lantern Festival" was held for the first time in Sancha Lake, Jianyang, with its rippling lake waves and beautiful mountains. The sound of paddles accompanied by lanterns was particularly beautiful. On the first day of the first lunar month of the Year of the Sheep, the lantern festival is officially unveiled on the water connecting the six islands and three peninsulas of Sancha Lake, covering an area of ??two square kilometers.

The lantern viewing route is six kilometers long, with a broad field of vision that is the best in this year's Sichuan Lantern Festival. There are also more than 200 tourist boats of various types on standby at any time. At the lantern festival, the "Rose in the Sky" (80 meters), which is currently the tallest independent lantern group in China, made people look up and marvel at it.

In Taibai Park, Jiangyou City, the hometown of the poet Li Bai, a large-scale lantern show of Jiangyou Electric Power is being staged. The lantern festival was designed and produced by more than 150 Zigong lantern makers. Its scale and number are the largest in Jiangyou’s previous lantern festivals. In the Shunan Bamboo Sea in Yibin, southern Sichuan, the only national scenic spot in the country dominated by bamboo landscapes, a large-scale lantern festival was held for the first time during the Spring Festival this year to attract tourists. The Shunan Bamboo Sea Lantern Festival highlights the characteristics of the Bamboo Sea. Almost all lanterns are made of bamboo, which is unique. Among them, large-scale lantern groups such as the "Bamboo Oriental Dragon" and "Shaking Bamboo Lady" are even more unique. The vast expanse of bamboo sea, set against the backdrop of lights, has a unique charm.