Hometown Folk Custom: At the beginning of Jiuhua Spring Festival, eight dragons came to report good news.
February 4th, New Year's Eve Festival, beginning of spring Day "Happy Meeting". In my hometown Miaoyuan Village, Jiuhua Township, Kecheng District, Quzhou City, a grand ceremony was held to offer sacrifices to Ju Mang, the god of spring, and to pray for the Spring Festival.
Celebrities and guests from all corners of the country who love folk culture gathered with local villagers to worship Ju Mang, the god of spring, and to reproduce traditional folk customs and pray for the Spring Festival.
"A year's plan lies in spring." Beginning of spring is the first of the 24 solar terms. Every spring, the villagers in Miaoyuan Village will hold a large-scale Spring Festival activity in Wu Tong Ancestral Temple. In this grand festival, people smile, meet and congratulate, bid farewell to the old and welcome the new.
Miaoyuan Village in Jiuhua Township is the only place in the world that completely preserves the custom of offering sacrifices to Ju Mang, the god of spring. 2065438+0165438 On October 30th, 2006/KLOC-0, China's "Twenty-four solar terms" represented by "Jiuhua beginning of spring" in Ke Cheng, Quzhou, was listed in the representative list of human intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO.
"Jasper makeup into a tree high, hanging green silk sash in ten thousand. I don't know who cut the thin leaves, and the spring breeze in February is like scissors. " "In the spring morning, I woke up easily, and birds were singing everywhere. But now I remember that night, that storm, and I want to know how many flowers were broken. " ..... In the morning, 24 boys and girls dressed in green, wearing wicker rings and carrying oiled paper lanterns appeared outside the ancestral temple in Wu Tong, and the footsteps of spring are getting closer and closer.
"JiShi is coming! Welcome to Spring ... "With the high-pitched singing of Father Wu Weijie, all the people in the ancestral temple in Wu Tong, with piety and respect, offered flower baskets and sacrifices to the Spring God who is in charge of the growth of all things in the world in turn, praying for good weather and abundant crops.
"At the beginning of Jiuhua Spring Festival, the Eight Dragons gave good news." "Good!" "One night for two years, the attack is divided into two years." "good!" "When Ke Cheng comes in early spring, the phoenix tree will be crowned." "good!" "Zhangzhou creates civilization and reports peace everywhere." "good!" ..... Magnificent "beginning of spring Cheering Ballad" echoed in the hall, under the blue sky, as if suddenly awakened the whole spring.
Melodious bells and drums sounded with fireworks and firecrackers, and the whole ancestral temple in Wu Tong instantly turned into a boiling ocean. After the ceremony of offering sacrifices to spring, it is the ceremony of whipping spring cattle. Xu Mingren, a 63-year-old farmer, took his cow with big red flowers on its horns and started the first plow in spring ploughing. Huang Hao, a pupil of 1 1 year old, dressed as a shepherd boy and holding a colorful whip, sang "Whipping Spring Cheers" and whipped the farming "Spring Cattle" to pray for good weather and a bumper harvest in agriculture.
Ju Mang, the God of Spring.
Mang (G not u), or dragon, is the wood god (spring god) in charge of the germination and growth of trees in ancient China mythology, and is the minister of Tai Hao, the Eastern Emperor. Spring God is a fairy in China folk sacrifice.
brief introduction
The sun rises from Fusang every morning. The holy tree Fusang belongs to Ju Mang, and the place where the sun rises also belongs to Ju Mang. Ju Mang was very important in ancient times, and the Spring Festival was held every year. His true colors are a bird-a bird with a face, riding two dragons, and then he has no influence at all. But we can see him in sacrificial ceremonies and New Year pictures: in spring, he became a shepherd boy riding an ox, with a double bun on his head and a wicker whip in his hand, also known as a headstrong boy.
For more than two thousand years, Ju Mang, the goddess of spring, has not only existed in literature, but also appeared in welcoming ceremonies.
Yan Chao, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, said in a hidden poem: "Man rides a double dragon, and the Tao is nine times as heavy as the spring god." (The Whole Tang Poetry, Volume 69) In the Spring Festival sacrificial activities of past dynasties, Ju Mang was also a recurring role. According to Chronicle of Years Old, the day before the spring, when government officials at all levels led a team to the eastern suburbs to hold a ceremony to drive cattle to welcome the spring, Ju Mang always followed him, sometimes holding colorful whips. As for where he stands, it depends on the branches of the five elements. Ju Mang is generally no longer Ju Mang in this ceremony, but is called "Mang God". The headstrong god is both a spring god and a valley god. A year's farming is even under his control and arrangement.
Wu Tong ancestral hall
In Wu Tong's ancestral temple, there is a wooden god (spring god) sentence in the middle of the Zhou Dynasty. Ju Mang once belonged to the Eastern Jin Emperor Tai Hao. He, a face, a bird, dressed in white, drives two dragons and holds a compass in his hand, managing the growth of everything in spring. During the Spring and Autumn Period, Qin Mugong was very virtuous, and Ju Mang, the heavenly emperor, lived longer 19 years old.
Wu Tong Ancestral Temple, as a special temple dedicated to wood gods (spring gods), is still rare in western Zhejiang and even the whole country. The places and ceremonies where Quzhou people worship the wood god (Spring God) are preserved by astronomical solar terms, which is a valuable historical and cultural heritage of Quzhou. Beginning of spring is a temple fair held in Wu Tong ancestral temple for Ju Mang, the god of spring. The Spring Festival temple fair is unprecedented in pomp, with gongs and drums, and it is very lively.
Beginning of spring is a temple fair held in Wu Tong ancestral temple for Ju Mang, the god of spring. China folks commonly say that "spring is not as big as spring", so the Spring Festival temple fair was held very grandly. The customs of temple fairs in the Spring Festival include welcoming the spring, exploring the spring, inserting the spring and welcoming cows.
Welcome ceremony: before the turn of spring, the main hall opens to welcome the spring, and a table is placed in front of the hall, covered with red paper (brocade) and written with the words "Welcome to the Spring". A rice retort is placed in the middle of the table, followed by a cup of tea, and incense burners, candlesticks, vegetables, plum blossoms, pine and cypress, and bamboo branches are placed on the left and right, symbolizing purity, evergreen and prosperity. At the turn of spring, firecrackers (three-eye system) are set off to celebrate the Spring Festival with Brahma Tianxiang.
In the old days, Quzhou had the custom of beginning of spring stepping on spring. Citizens flocked to the ancestral temple of Wu Tong in Miaoyuan to worship the God of Spring and feel the spring, which is called "Tanchun". Collecting holly branches, conifers and wild vegetables is called "picking spring". Inserting the collected pine branches, bamboos and branches into the door is called "inserting spring". You must eat green vegetables for breakfast and lunch. This is called "tasting green". Weaving willow branches and bamboo branches into rings and wearing them on children's heads, thinking that they can keep healthy all the year round, is called "bringing spring".
There is also the custom of welcoming cows in the temple fair ceremony. Tie a bamboo stick into the shape of a cow, paste it with colored paper, and put a small wheel under your feet, which is called "Spring Cow". People put red and green clothes on the cattle in spring, and a beggar dressed as a herdsman marched with the cattle after the Spring Festival. Flag-bearers beat gongs and drums, which was very lively.