An introduction to Xiaogan folk carving and paper-cutting
In June 2008, the State Council officially announced that Xiaogan carved paper-cutting was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage expansion projects. In November of the same year, Xiaogan relied on carved paper-cutting and was named "Chinese Folk Carving" by the Ministry of Culture These two honors have given Xiaogan carved paper-cutting a clear position in the field of Chinese folk art and had a profound impact. It has become a gorgeous and wonderful flower in folk art and a symbol of Xiaogan City. A business card.
Xiaogan City is located in the Jianghan Plain in central China and in the northeastern part of Hubei Province. It is a place with a long history and simple folk customs, and is an important birthplace of Chu culture. The unique geographical environment and rich natural resources have nurtured the hard-working and intelligent people of Xiaogan, with abundant resources, outstanding people, smart clocks and smart clocks, and talented people. It has shaped the magnificent humanistic history of Xiaogan and nurtured the splendid ancient folk culture and art. Xiaogans carved paper-cuts, which are well-known at home and abroad, are a treasure of folk art in the land of Jingchu.
Xiaogan carved paper-cutting has a long history and a long history. It is a folk treasure of the ancient Jingchu land and a living fossil of the ancient and splendid Chu culture. Tracing back to its roots, early Xiaogan carvings dating back thousands of years can be vaguely glimpsed from the lacquerware unearthed from the Qin Tomb in Yunmengsuihudi, 20 kilometers away from the city center of Xiaogan, and from the Warring States lacquer coffins unearthed from Leigudun in Suizhou adjacent to it. The prototype of paper-cutting, before the carving and hollowing out art at that time, humans had yet to develop a conscious pursuit of beauty, mostly appeared as an endorsement decoration for worship objects, and these decorations were often closely related to ancient sacrifices, thus forming folk customs. . As recorded in "The Chronicles of Jingchu": "On the seventh day of the first lunar month, seven kinds of vegetables are used as soup, and ribbons are cut to make people, or gold foil is engraved to make people, and they can be pasted on the screen or worn on the temples." On the seventh day of the first lunar month, every household The paper-cut people stick it on the screen, wear it on their hair, cook seven kinds of dishes and serve them on the table, pay homage to their ancestors, and pray to the gods for peace and a good harvest. As the poet Li Shangyin of the Tang Dynasty said in "Every Day Is an Event": "The success of the engraved gold work spreads to Jingchu, and the ribbon-cutting brings the Jin style to people."
It can be seen that as early as the Western Jin Dynasty, carved paper-cutting had been formed, and among the people of Jingchu,It has become a custom. The "Xiaogan County Chronicle" compiled in the eighth year of Guangxus reign in the Qing Dynasty also records: "The fifteenth day is Shangyuan Taoism. On this day, it is a custom for the heavenly official to bless you, or to draw a person with a crown and a piece of paper holding a piece of paper to write the heavenly officials blessing and stick it on the "Screen wall." This is a major custom of being filial to the land during the Lantern Festival (Lantern Festival) on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. In addition, in the countryside of Xiaogan, every year during the Lantern Festival and watching the lanterns, the girls and their wives hold sewing boxes and sing the song "Invite the Seventh Sister", sincerely inviting the seven ingenious fairies to come down to earth to celebrate the Lantern Festival. The song goes: "The first month of the year is right. The wheat grass is green, I invite the seventh sister to watch the lanterns. Teach me how to cut peonies with my mind, teach me how to embroider the phoenix with my hands. Kill the white pigs, slaughter the white sheep, and pick up your seventh girl every year." On this day, they all have to embroider their own paper-cutting work. Confessing their wishes to the seventh sister, striving to be known as a clever girl and a clever wife; accompanied by the singing of the seventh sister every year, the girls learn paper-cutting and embroidery from the time they become sensible. From then on, almost all of them became An expert in tracing paper-cut embroidery.
The profound historical accumulation and rich cultural heritage of Xiaogan carved paper-cutting are objective records of local folk customs and a mirror of the times, reflecting the social spiritual outlook and customs of different periods. The works are mostly based on folklore and historical stories. , which allude to auspicious "Fu Lu Shou Xi", "dragon and phoenix present auspiciousness", the witty "No. 1 Scholar", "Blow the flute to attract the wind", "Kilin Sends a Child", "Hooking for Red Fish", and the endlessly reflective " "Butterfly Lovers", "Autumn River Moon", the noble and elegant "Cai Wenji", "Su Wu Sheep", "Zhao Yan Seeking Longevity", "Celebrating Turnover" of contemporary life, "Chairmans Works", "Aspirations in the Countryside", folk customs "Congratulations" "New Year", "Stepping on the Lotus Boat", "Happy Moon Garden" for weddings and birthdays, "Longevity and Longevity", simple and innocent "Shoe Flowers", "Hat Flowers", "Pillow Flowers", "Curtain Flowers", "Saliva" "Douhua" and so on, these works all have profound meanings, praying for a happy life, a prosperous future generation, a long life, warding off evil and disasters, praising a prosperous age, expressing ones feelings, with a wide range of themes and rich content, all to express a common wish for happiness. The hope for a better life rests on the pursuit of good wishes. It reflects the accumulation of ancient culture, which has grown, inherited and developed among the people of Xiaogan, and continues to this day, showing strong vitality.
There are three Xiaogan people who were included in the "Twenty-Four Filial Piety" in ancient times: Dong Yongs "Selling Your Body to Bury Your Father", Huang Xiangs "Fan Pillow and Warm Quilt", and Meng Zongs "Weeping Bamboo Shoots". These groups of carved paper-cut works praise It upholds the traditional Chinese virtues of human relations, family ties, and filial piety to parents, and fully embodies the cultural heritage of filial piety culture. The paper-cut painting "The Story of Huaiyin" shows the legendary myth of Dong Yongs filial piety that moved heaven and earth, and the seven fairies who came down to earth to marry him. It not only praises the human ethics of ancient filial sons, but also reflects peoples yearning for freedom in love and marriage. Xiaogan carved paper-cutting is not only the decorative beauty of the appearance, but more importantly, the hope for a better life has been expressed through the art form of paper-cutting throughout the ages.
