The paper-cutting art of seasonal festivals in Chinese folk paper-cutting
Folk custom paper-cutting includes paper-cutting for seasonal events and life rituals. Among the people, people in the past dynasties have attached great importance to the seasons. There are two reasons for this. First, China is a large agricultural country, and the seasons are generally closely related to solar terms, planting, and harvesting. 2. People who work all year round need to rest, celebrate and adjust. Therefore, the seasonal laws of the year are of great significance to the people. At the same time, paper-cutting that appears in seasonal folk customs has its own special symbolic meaning.
The Spring Festival is a commemorative event for peoples understanding of the "Wuhou Calendar". Spring is the beginning of the year. The Spring Festival is the most grand festival of the year. It plays a vital role in the hearts of the people. People always regard it as People dress up with joy during the Spring Festival. Paper-cutting, as a symbol of auspiciousness and joy, always appears in the folk festival of the Spring Festival. During the Spring Festival, every household has to hang door paper. The door paper is made by cutting a series of copper coin patterns on five-color paper and pasting them on it. On the lintel, in front of the door, it flutters in the wind, indicating that copper coins will be scattered in all directions. Therefore, the people call this kind of door note "loose money". The themes of the door note are also very rich, but these contents generally have strong auspicious symbols. The second is to put window grilles on the windows and mascot paper-cuts on the utensils. In Longdong, their folk custom is that every household has paper-cuts of chickens and tigers on the door. Chickens naturally have auspicious meanings. People add wealth." The tiger paper-cut has the symbol of "Fuhu and Tiger Town House". . In rural Shanxi, although there are door paintings, couplets and door notes on the courtyard door, a pair of "peach cores" must be cut and pasted. At that time, it was a custom to call "Spring Festival couplets" "Peach Talisman". However, "Spring Festival Couplets" did not mean "Spring Festival Couplets" in the minds of farmers. It still retained the original meaning of "Spring Festival Couplets" in ancient legends to drive away epidemics and ghosts, ward off evil spirits and ward off disasters.< /p>
In the folk, another important festival in the first month is the Warehouse Filling Festival. The Warehouse Filling Festival in Jiaodong, Shandong Province is on the seventh day of the first lunar month. In some areas of Shanxi, it is the twenty-fifth day of the first lunar month. On this day, a complete collection of folk paper-cut patterns is affixed to the grain. On the urns and water urns, the most distinctive feature of this type of paper-cutting is the "rat marrying girl". A rat that looks like a human or a dog sits in a sedan chair, surrounded by sedan bearers, trumpet players, drum players, and dowry bearers. To name a few. The connotation of these paper-cuts is also very interesting. Among the people, the common people are helpless against the harassment of rats, so they hope that the rats will marry away from their homes and live far away. Their wish is expressed in the form of paper-cuts. Although the mice do not necessarily disappear after pasting these paper-cuts on their granaries, the people still enjoy it, which shows that the people regard the symbolism of paper-cuts as a belief or an interesting game. .
During the Dragon Boat Festival in May, every household would paste "Five Poisons" paper-cuts on their doors, windows and corners. The Five Poisons pattern is a folk pattern to ward off evil spirits in the Guanzhong area of ??Xi'an. Guanzhong people believe that five animals, including scorpions, snakes, toads, geckos and spiders, are the most poisonous animals, commonly known as the "Five Poisons". People embroider pictures of the five poisons on childrens pockets, vests, shoes and hats, etc., in accordance with the principle of "fighting poison with poison, and defeating them with disgust (in ancient times, the word "weary" and the word "press" are similar in shape and have the same meaning), to ward off evil spirits that harm children. To control poisonous things.
"July 7" is the folk "Qiqiao Festival" (also known as Girls' Day). In order to beg for skills, women often gather together to cut patterns and compete in wisdom. Through paper-cutting activities, they see who is cleverer; "September 9" " is the Double Ninth Festival. There is a folk custom of cutting the "Double Ninth Flag", which indicates that you will climb higher step by step.
The paper-cutting that expresses life rituals mainly includes the birth ceremony paper-cutting for having many children and many blessings, the happy wedding paper-cutting, the longevity paper-cutting for longevity, the funeral paper-cutting that expresses grief, the zodiac paper-cutting that expresses auspiciousness, etc. Paper-cuts expressing life rituals are used in different regions. Due to different customs and habits, the themes of paper-cuts are also slightly different, but the symbolic meanings are basically similar. They generally symbolize the love of husband and wife, many children and grandchildren, and a happy family. When their children grow up, their parents try their best to prepare their children for their wedding ceremony, wishing them harmony and a long life together. We can see this mood from the paper cuttings on the brides dowry, the grooms wedding items, and the gifts given by relatives and friends. During the wedding ceremony, everything used must be covered with "fireworks". "Fireworks" are also called "happy flowers". These paper-cut flowers are bright and pleasing to the eye, and full of joy. The paper cuttings on the fireworks, such as flowers and plants, utensils, mascots, word patterns, etc., are also used to express feelings.The artistic technique embraces peoples unspeakable ideals, wishes and blessings. For many years, the public has understood, understood, and accepted the unique and consistent themes, romantic and unrestrained formal structure, and simple and clear symbolic meanings of paper-cutting. It can be seen from this that folk paper-cutting condenses the collective crystallization of long-term inheritance, and expresses social forms, human history and rich psychology in the works. There are certain things to pay attention to when putting the word "xi" on the wedding cake. The one who is marrying the girl will put the word "xi" on it, which means it is a kind of celebration and auspiciousness. The party marrying the daughter-in-law must put the word "Xi Xi" on it. The word "Xi Xi" was originally a word collectively created by the people. "Xi Xi" is used to describe happiness after happiness. Due to the rich imagination of folk artists, when they cut out the word "Xi Xi", they combined money patterns, auspicious animals, flowers and birds and other images into one.
