Characteristics of festival customs
Etiquette runs through a main line in many holiday customs, that is, reciprocity. "Come and don't be rude" is the traditional virtue of our Chinese nation, which can be clearly seen from the exchange of festivals. Festival communication can be said to be the bridgehead of collective interpersonal relationship and family relationship. Through this normal communication, we can ask each other questions, close interpersonal relationships, exchange life information and sum up the experience of getting rich. Practice has proved that it is an indispensable thing in people's lives. From the Spring Festival (Spring Festival), there are major festivals almost every once in a while, and then there is a cyclical process (with photos): from the second day of the first day of the Lunar New Year, married girls (including nephews and aunts) will pay New Year greetings to their parents, and most of the gifts are cakes and snacks; After the fifth day of the first month, the family will send lanterns to nephews; Tomb-Sweeping Day, a member of the family, went out and married his daughter. He wanted to give paper to his ancestors, pay homage to them, see his mother when he was young, and see his friends who had lost their flail. "That is to say, when the wheat is about to mature, the newly-married daughter will visit her family and show concern for the preparations for her summer harvest. After the summer harvest, the old man of the bride's family will visit the harvest of the married daughter's family; On the Dragon Boat Festival, the bride's family will send zongzi, oil cakes and mung bean cakes to her daughter (there are also mutual gifts); On the Mid-Autumn Festival, the daughter and son-in-law will send moon cakes to their parents. On the Double Ninth Festival, the bride's family will send flowers and cakes to her daughter's home. In this way, year after year, the cycle is not self-defeating, forming a conventional system. In this kind of equivalence, it is basically equivalence, which fully embodies the concept of "equivalence". However, among the gifts given, daughters and younger generations are generally heavier and more valuable than those given by their parents and elders, which is probably a sign that daughters and younger generations should be filial! This is a remarkable feature of holiday customs.
Ideality In China's traditional festivals, Farming Festival, Sacrifice Festival, Celebration Festival and Entertainment Festival all share a common ideal and purpose. For example, the Spring Festival is a comprehensive grand festival, and the first month of the lunar calendar is the off-season. After a year's hard work, people will take a rest and sum up their experience in order to do it again. Therefore, the Spring Festival is a day to celebrate the harvest, show the achievements and exchange information. Why not hold such a festival before the first month? Because before that, it was the cold winter that bound people's hands and feet. In the first month of January, it is "the beginning of the Spring Integrity Festival". At this time, the weather is getting warmer and warmer, which is suitable for holding large-scale entertainment activities. Others, such as the Lantern Festival, aim at extending the Spring Festival, mainly displaying lanterns. Lanterns symbolize scientific and cultural knowledge. People should show their skills and show them. Tomb-Sweeping Day's ideal and purpose is mainly to mourn his ancestors for "the town will pursue the distance". The original intention of Dragon Boat Festival is to preserve health and ward off evil spirits. At the beginning, eating corn, inserting mugwort leaves, drinking realgar wine and wearing sachets were the main activities. The ideal of Mid-Autumn Festival is to hope that the family can get together and live a better life together. Therefore, the activity of "Yue Bai" is 1o "15th Mid-Autumn Festival", which symbolizes reunion. The Double Ninth Festival is mainly to promote travel, climb mountains and broaden one's horizons, so there is a custom of climbing high and looking far, inserting dogwood, and parents sending flowers and cakes to their daughters' homes. Flower cake (homophonic) means to climb step by step, and it can also be used as dry food for climbing and traveling. Cornus officinalis is a wild plant. It is very memorable to collect several dogwood plants in the wild. The purpose of Laba Festival is mainly to show the harvest of agriculture. On this day, all kinds of rice, beans and dried fruits reflecting agricultural harvest are mixed into a pot of porridge and cooked for the whole family to encourage people to educate their children and work hard to produce, so as to have ample food and clothing. Looking at the above description, all major festivals that can be recognized by people have a common ideal and purpose. Festivals without ideals and purposes will not exist. As for the original intention of the festival, it is not uncommon that it has evolved, updated and even added other contents with the advancement of the times. For example, the Dragon Boat Festival commemorates Qu Yuan, Tomb-Sweeping Day commemorates Jiezitui, and Laba Festival adds religious color to commemorate timely Muny. However, these new additions are still ideal features of traditional festival customs.
The formation of festival customs in the times has its characteristics and limitations. For example, the custom of watching lanterns on the Lantern Festival is formed in the historical records of China culture, in which it is said that "the Han family worships Taiyi to watch the sun, and tonight watching lanterns from faint to bright is its relic." This custom became more popular after the Tang Dynasty and was written into literary and artistic works. According to the Five Dynasties Wang Renyu's "Kaiyuan Tianbao Heritage Hundred Lights Tree", "Mrs. Han has a hundred lights tree, which is 80 feet high and stands on a high mountain. At midnight, you can see it within a hundred miles, which is dazzling. " In Dream of China in Tokyo, Meng, a veteran of the Southern Song Dynasty, recalled the prosperous scenery of Bianjing, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty (now Kaifeng City, Henan Province) and wrote: "On the fifteenth day of the first month, before the Imperial Palace, since the winter years ago, Kaifeng House has been a mountain shed, and the trees are opposite to Xuande Building. Visitors have gathered under the two corridors of Yujie, with exquisite skills and wonderful performances. " According to the above historical records, the grand occasion of Yuanxiao viewing can only happen in the middle of feudal society, when the culture is relatively developed and the material is relatively rich. In the early feudal society and the slave society before it, there would be no such Lantern Festival viewing activity, which marked human civilization, and it was impossible to form such a fixed custom. Therefore, the epochal nature is a distinctive feature of festival customs.
National festivals, as well as customs and habits adapted to festivals. This festival custom has its own characteristics different from other nationalities. Due to mutual reference and infiltration, many holiday customs are similar. For example, the customs of New Year's Day are similar among many ethnic groups, but more unique. For example, the Mongolians attach great importance to the two festivals: "New Year" and "Small Year". They call the Spring Festival "Chagan Sari" (White New Year). Mongolians living in agricultural areas and urban industrial and mining areas have lived a "year" similar to that of Han people. Pastoral areas are different. Before the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, cattle and sheep should be slaughtered, and the meat should be covered with white Hada and given to relatives and friends. After the "off-year", it is necessary to clean the inside and outside of the yurt, start to "adjust the horses", make new Mongolian robes and boots, and buy blankets, milk buckets, pots and pans, etc. On the evening of 30th, Mongolians also had the custom of "guarding the age", but it was different from Han nationality. That night, the whole family, old and young, sat around a low table filled with plates of delicious meat, milk, candy, cigarettes, wine and so on. There is a big piece of paper on the low table, on which the names of ancestors are neatly written in Mongolian. Eat and drink in the middle of the night, and children should toast their elders. Tibetan New Year is unique. On the first day of the Tibetan calendar, men, women and children greet each other with "Tashi Dele" (good luck and Loosaar Sang). During the Chinese New Year, children set off firecrackers, and everyone drank sake butter tea and toasted each other. The herdsmen lit the blazing spring fire and danced all night. During the festival, people also hold wrestling, throwing, tug-of-war, horse racing, archery and other competitions. Festivals and customs of all ethnic groups vary greatly, which fully embodies the characteristics and unique personality of all ethnic groups. For example, every year when the Yi people arrive at the Tiger Moon (the seventh month of the lunar calendar), there is a "Torch Festival", and all villages and castles have to kill cows and cook them. Beat the cow with a stick or axe before killing it, which is called "beating the cow". In the evening, people hold torches and gather in the street or on the spacious furniture of the village fort for bullfighting, wrestling, horse racing and playing Qin Yue. This custom shows the brave and strong national character of the Yi people and their economic life based on animal husbandry.
Inherited holiday customs have been passed down from generation to generation and become a fixed form. In a region or a nation, it has a strong binding ability, which can make people in their own region abide by it and be insurmountable. Although it is not a law, it has legal manifestations. Anyone who violates the custom will be accused by thousands of people. Therefore, the Book of Rites Quli stipulates that "no entry, no custom, no taboo." Technically, folk customs have the duality of being difficult to change and changeable. Now that festivals have formed a fixed custom, it is difficult to ban them. It can only be inherited and developed, and in the process of inheritance and development, it will be transformed and supplemented, which gives the festival customs the characteristics of inheritance. Today's popular folk festivals and customs are handed down from ancient times and are still observed by people today, which is an indispensable activity in people's lives. For example, the Spring Festival; Lantern Festival lanterns; Eat zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival; Mid-Autumn Festival in Yue Bai; Send flowers and cakes on the Double Ninth Festival; Festival customs such as eating Laba porridge on Laba Festival have been handed down from ancient times, and have the function of connecting the past with the future and pursuing the future cautiously. It inherits the heritage of ancestors, enlightens the future, educates future generations, passes on these ancient spiritual civilizations from generation to generation, promotes the progress of the times, and creates brand-new spiritual and material civilizations. At the same time, festival customs are the link to maintain social order and contact relatives and friends. Through festival activities, we can enhance national feelings, make people live more meaningfully and love our motherland more. Therefore, the inheritance of festival customs follows the inevitable law of natural development.
Variability In addition, with the progress of the times, changes in production methods and changes in the natural environment, holiday customs will inevitably change. There are countless examples of this. For example, on the Lantern Festival, the ancients called it "Wang" according to the relationship between the calendar and the moon phase. The full moon symbolizes reunion and happiness, so this day is regarded as the most auspicious day. On this day, there are activities of offering sacrifices to heaven and earth and praying for blessings. In the Han dynasty, due to the influence of Taoism, heaven, earth and water were regarded as personality gods, and were honored as "three officials", also known as "three elements", which were believed to eliminate disasters, atone for sins and benefit mankind. Later, Taoism matched the "Three Palaces" and "Shengyuan" with the solar terms, stipulating that the fifteenth day of the first month was Shangyuan, the fifteenth day of July was Zhongyuan, and the fifteenth day of October was Xia Yuan. Of the three elements, Shangyuan is the most valued, because it is the day when heaven and earth bless. This day coincides with the beginning of a year, so people celebrate Shangyuan with grand ceremonies and pray for peace and good luck all the year round. When the Lantern Festival began to take shape, there were activities of hanging lanterns and watching lanterns. In the Tang Dynasty, the Lantern Festival and the day before and after it were officially designated as national holidays, and the official offices closed and watched the lights. There is a record in "New Records of Two Beijing" that "Xu Jinwu banned watching lanterns". On the first night of the second year of Tang Xuanzong's birth, he opened the palace door wide. Outside the palace, he "made a 20-foot-high lantern wheel ... lit 50,000 lanterns, and it was like a flower tree", and ordered more than a thousand people, including ladies-in-waiting and Chang 'an girls, to watch it. Since then, emperors of all dynasties have been "watching lanterns from the royal building" on the Lantern Festival, indicating that they have fun with the people. Lantern Festival activities became popular among the people, and developed into customs such as eating Yuanxiao, visiting relatives and friends, and sending lanterns. The Lantern Festival was written into law in the Song Dynasty, and the Lantern Festival was increased from three nights to five nights. Folk watching lanterns is unprecedented. Lantern Festival is still an important festival in Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. The imperial edict of the seventh year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty recorded that "Shangyuan Festival begins at 1 1 day and has a holiday 10 day. "It serves to show the importance attached to the Lantern Festival at that time. Until today, the content of the Lantern Festival is more colorful. Besides eating Yuanxiao, setting off fireworks and playing with lanterns, more grand lantern exhibitions, book fairs, solve riddles on the lanterns and other activities are also held. In ancient times, watching lanterns was limited to oil lamps, painted lamps, or burning incense and wax. At that time, the "fire tree silver flower" was limited to small handmade crafts. But in the modern, electronic and atomic era, electrification and mechanization have added brand-new content to the light show. There are many traditional festivals and customs in China, which are widely spread all over the country and among ethnic groups. However, due to the differences of different nationalities and regions, the same festival customs have undergone different variations in the process of inheritance. For example, the customs of the Dragon Boat Festival include inserting mugwort leaves, drinking realgar wine and eating zongzi. In southern China, activities such as dragon boat racing and commemorating Qu Yuan are often used. In the north of China, activities such as wearing sachets and exchanging fragrant medicines are mostly adopted. The Dragon Boat Festival has ever-changing changes among ethnic minorities, such as the Yi people living in Xiaoliangshan, who celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival with herbs as the center. On the Dragon Boat Festival, they went up the mountain to collect medicines, or in groups of three or five, with medicine hoes on their shoulders and baskets on their backs. At dawn, they wandered in mountains, ravines and rivers, tasted herbs from all over the country and collected them tirelessly, forming a vivid scene of "Cornus officinalis is added during the festival, and men and women are busy picking herbs". As time goes by, festivals are the same, but the specific activities are different, which is the result of the variation of holiday customs. Mass