Jinjiang Folklore

1. Folklore of Jinjiang City - "The Soul of the Diversionary Water" and "Leaves Return to Their Own Bones"

Historically, there were many overseas Chinese in Jinjiang City, and they all had the wish of "Returning to Their Own Bones," i.e., they wished to return to their homeland and bury their bones there. But in fact, the death of overseas Chinese in other places from time to time, can transport the coffin back to the hometown of the minority, most of the bones buried in foreign lands. In order to let their loved ones can return to their hometown, their families often have to choose the time to ask the Taoist priests to make the "Taoist law" to a paper boat (now there are also changed to paste paper cars, paper airplanes) placed in the sea, blowing and reciting incantations, crying, the soul of the deceased into the ancestral ancestral shrine, commonly known as the "attraction of the soul of the water". This is a superstition, should not be advocated, but it is the living for the death of loved ones in a foreign country to send the deepest condolences of the real flow.

2, said cryptic language, industry language

Old times, the folk have some industry language and "backwoods language", some industry language with the old superstitious ideas and old customs and habits of the old society, there are a number of industry language for the prevention of outsiders to know the cryptic language.

Industry language and superstitious customs related to the first seafarers and fish collectors, to this day, Shenhu, South Shagang, Weitou and other coastal fishermen and seafarers, and even their families, still continue to use, or can be called with superstitious coloring of the customary language. Try to briefly as follows: when eating fish, one side of the finished to turn as a last resort, do not say "turn" and say "turn a turn". As for the fish bones, do not say fish bones and say "fish cool".

Some people come on board to visit, not to say "slow line" but "smooth line" (because the boatman is afraid of the slow boat), "smooth line" indicates that the meaning of the wind traveling.

Fishermen or crew members do not say "death". When someone passes away, they say "old age", "deceased" or "passing away", including the deaths of animals and big fish, they also say "good to go! The death of an animal or a fish is also said to be a "good death" rather than a "death".

When a person dies at sea, he or she is called a "human guest", "chief" or "good brother". The ship overturned something called "hit steep", knocked down objects called "hit the obstacles", in short, avoid saying dead, slow, down, over and so on unlucky language.

Commercial industry language, mainly some number of words. Sometimes people in the industry to discuss prices, do not let outsiders know the use of industry language, such as the day, down, flat, mouth, water, each representing the number of words one, two, three, four, five, and the rest of the analogous.

Shoulder vendors and some of the laborers selling hard labor, they also have industry language, such as "clip" on behalf of the two, "Chuanzai" on behalf of the three, "mouth" on behalf of the four, "on the pond" on behalf of the four, "on the pond" on behalf of the two. "The pair of ponds" on behalf of the five, "abduction" on behalf of the seven, "eyebrow" on behalf of the eight and so on, mainly for the price of the work of conversation or negotiation, do not let outsiders know.

In addition to the above industry language to mention a few, in the old days, Jinjiang also has a number of "secluded language". For instance, "戏僻" is a cryptic language used by people who work in the opera industry. "Beggar's retreat", for the beggar's special cryptic. When these cryptic say, commonly known as "playing僻", "拍僻".

There were also two kinds of popular "secluded language", one is to use the language of the reverse cut, like "wine" said "Liu Zhen", the reverse cut up to be The word "wine" was "liu zhen zhen liu zhen liu zhen liu zhen liu zhen liu zhen liu zhen. Like "bitter" said as "Ruken", the reverse cut up is "Ruken Ken Lu bitter", this reverse cut of the cryptic language, are used in the dialect dialect sound, can not be written on behalf of the text. So although the author knew how to use this language back then, it was difficult to write it out.

It is estimated that this form of anti-cuts is due to the popularity of "Huiyin Myoi", from which certain intellectuals were inspired to create this cryptic language.

This kind of cryptic language seems to be difficult, but once you get the hang of it, you will be able to use it skillfully, so it was very popular at that time.

There is another kind of cryptic language, which adopts the similarity of sound and rhyme, such as "去" is said as "去思"; "来" is said as "来西", and so on, which is relatively simple. Here there are also successive suffixed cryptic, that is, after a word, the suffixed similar two sounds, such as "poor" said as "poor Liang Province", "big" said as "big Lai Tu" and so on. Big" is said to be " Da Lai Tu" and so on. This kind of cryptic language is very cumbersome, so it can only be used occasionally.

3, married rooster

The so-called "married rooster", that is, the overseas Chinese can not choose the date of the wedding home to hold the wedding, had to borrow the "rooster" for the bridegroom, for the wedding, the program is the rooster, tied to the bottom of the bed, then by the Marriage M, lead the bride into the bride's room, said a few auspicious words, counted as married. This is Jinjiang overseas Chinese in the form of a special wedding ceremony, but also a bad custom. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China **** and the State, advocating a new wedding, this custom has been extinct. At present, the wedding ceremony, in addition to the general form, but also the use of foreign methods, that is, held a travel marriage, to the field, to Hong Kong and Macao and even to overseas honeymoon. This is an impact of the old wedding, but also a kind of innovation.

4, the ancient history of the dragon dance

Jinjiang overseas Chinese townships in large cities and towns, every time to welcome the God race, Lantern Festival or other festivals and celebrations, there are a large scale to get the dragon program to participate.

The Dragon Dance is commonly known as the "Dragon Dance", a name that corresponds to the "Lion". Celebrations or parade to welcome the gods, there are often "lion team" and "get the dragon team" to participate in the former to perform martial arts-based, killing, people have a sense of power and robustness, the latter is a combination of dance and boxing, a comprehensive tour, strong and soft, graceful, and popular with the masses. The latter is a combination of dance and boxing, which is graceful and elegant, and is very popular among the masses.

Jinjiang major townships such as Anhai, Shishi, Yongning, Shamshu, Nga Kou and Jinjing and other cities and towns and even the more populous natural villages, in the past have been to get the establishment of the dragon team to adapt to the Lantern Festival as well as festivals and celebrations around the entertainment of the gods. Such as the pre-liberation Anhai Longshan Temple Guanyin to the South China Sea, Zhejiang Province, Putuo Mountain incense to visit the ancestors of the special grand procession, there are several teams to get the dragon team and lion team. As for the Shishi Chenghuang Gong, to Baisha Zhenjiang Palace of the six House, to Jinjing Nanshagang Zhenhai Palace and other famous temples incense, begging for fire and visit the ancestors, its vast procession to meet the gods, there must be to get the dragon team and the lion team to participate in.

The image of the dragon has many styles, the general "cloth dragon", is tied with gabion lead wire into a majestic dragon head, the dragon's mouth can be opened and closed, there is also a blood-red tongue, rounded "big dragon eyes" and lofty dragon horns, wearing a wooden handle, so that the dancers hand-carried the dragon to the top of their hands, so that the dragon's head can be held in the hands of the dancers. The dragon's mouth can be opened and closed, and it also has a blood-red tongue, rounded "big dragon eyes" and lofty horns. The body of the dragon is made of gabions and lead wires tied into a hollow cylinder with a wooden handle in the center for manipulation. The body of the dragon has more than ten sections, and at the end of the body there is a high tail, which is wrapped in thick cloth painted with dragon scales, and this is the common "cloth dragon". If the "dragon body" inside the candle can be lighted, night dancing body brightly known as "fire dragon", has now changed to use batteries to light up small electric beads, two "dragon eyes" also use high brightness electric beads, make the "fire dragon". This "fire dragon" is very modern, but also more attractive.

In addition to the cloth dragon and the fire dragon mentioned above, there is also the "Hundred Leaf Dragon" in which each section of the dragon is tied together in the shape of a butterfly and joined together to form a special shape. There is another kind is the whole dragon body inserted with lit incense, in the night dance, not only as a fire dragon roll, but also emit a burst of fragrance, this is very unique "incense dragon". This dragon process is more complex, so less used.

In addition, there is a relatively simple temporary cobbled together to meet the needs of the dragon. With more than a dozen pieces of the same specifications of the wooden bench plus the dragon head and tail put together by the "wooden board dragon", there are also by the temporary binding of straw from the "grass dragon" and so on.

The word "弄" in "弄龙" was used in the Tang Dynasty, and was widely used in operas, such as "事久弄", "妙泽弄", etc. Jinjiang has been called "the Dragon" since ancient times. Since ancient times, Jinjiang has been called "getting the dragon" instead of "dancing the dragon". This custom began in the Tang Dynasty with the immigrants from the Central Plains to Jinjiang, and has been passed down to the present day.

Hope this helps