Paper-cutting culture in Fuyang festivals
Fuyang area is dominated by Han people, and the festivals celebrated throughout the year are the same as those in most parts of my country, but the celebration methods are more local.
Fuyang people attach great importance to Beginning of Spring, the first festival of the twenty-four solar terms in the year. "On the day before the beginning of spring, the children in all the squares of the city gate put on a drama and put on a curtain. They went to the county office to read it and said: "Perform Spring." The next day, along with the promotion of the countys colorful parade, he led the officials to the eastern suburbs. In the martial arts hall, the Ying Mang God Tu Niu Rencheng said: "Welcome the Spring. Old and young people compete and watch for fun." This is the spring welcoming ceremony of the people of Fuyang. The clothes used in the Spring Welcome Ceremony are all embroidered with patterns symbolizing auspiciousness and happiness. On the day of the beginning of spring, in peoples homes, spring roosters with patterns embroidered on cloth should be sewn in advance and embroidered on childrens sleeves. (See "Spring Rooster") These embroidery patterns are inseparable from paper cutting.
"Spring Rooster"
The Spring Festival in Fuyang is a peak season for the creation and selection of paper-cut patterns. On the "thirtieth" day of the New Year, every household must post Spring Festival couplets, door gods (engraved paper paintings with images of the gods Tu and Yu Lei in biographies), and window grilles. Four paper-cut door signs are usually posted on the door, usually " Happy and auspicious themes such as "Carp leaping over the dragons gate" and "Six animals are prosperous". (See the paper-cut work "Rooster") An incense table is also set up to burn incense, and a pole (made of yellow table, cypress leaves, sesame stalks or yellow table and hemp straw) is inserted. On New Years Eve, the whole family (excluding women) sacrifices to heaven and earth, meets the Kitchen God, and worships ancestors. On the day of the Spring Festival, let’s open the door. After breakfast (usually vegetarian dumplings), the younger generation pays New Year greetings to their elders, and then the neighbors worship each other. On this day, avoid beating, yelling, eating meat, sweeping the floor, splashing water, using knives and sticks, and speaking unlucky words. On the second day of the Lunar New Year, I started visiting relatives and friends to pay New Year greetings. On the third day of the Lunar New Year, the colorful shed is dismantled, the farewell pole is collected, and the New Year is sent off. In some places in Fuyang, a wooden stick is placed in front of the door, called a "door-blocking stick", which means to prevent the "year" from leaving and celebrate the New Year every day. After the third grade of junior high school, stage singing began in the market.Celebrate for ten days.
Paper-cut work "Rooster"
The fifteenth day of the first lunar month is called the Shangyuan Festival, also known as the Lantern Festival. There is a custom of eating Yuanxiao and playing with lanterns. Volume 5 of "Fuyang County Chronicle" in the ninth year of Daoguangs reign in the Qing Dynasty (1829) records: "(On the night of Shangyuan) lamps were installed on the portals, dredges, wells, etc., which is called lighting consumption." According to records, it can be known that playing with lanterns has the function of driving away evil spirits. Eating Yuanxiao and playing with lanterns are mostly done at night. Yuanxiao uses glutinous rice as noodles and sugar as filling. Playing with lanterns usually lasts three days. The fourteenth day of the first lunar month is called testing the lanterns, the fifteenth day is called the normal lanterns, and the sixteenth day is called watching the broken lanterns. There are all kinds of lanterns, all decorated with paper cuts, hanging in front of every door. In addition to the lantern show, folk dance performances such as dragon lanterns, lion lanterns, little black donkeys, land boats, stilts, and flower picks were also held. Its so colorful and lively.
The Dragon Boat Festival in Fuyang follows various traditional customs, with special emphasis on disease prevention and pest control activities. Many houses hang statues of Zhong Kui, which symbolizes fighting ghosts and exorcising evil spirits. The grandmother and aunt used yellow cloth that symbolized the sun to sew bellybands and yellow shoes embroidered with tiger heads and "five poisons" for their grandson and nephew to wear to protect the children from getting sick and growing up healthily. Many paper-cuts in Fuyang reflect this custom. (See the paper-cut work "Five Poisons of the Tiger")
Paper-cut work "Tiger Town Five Poisons" Cheng Jianli
The traditional Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month and is called the "Torch Festival" in Fuyang area. Touring the countryside with torches at night is to commemorate the Red Turban uprising led by Liu Futong. In 1351 AD, the Yuan Dynasty conscripted migrant workers from the north and south of the Yellow River to manage the Yellow River. The heavy corvee work finally led to the outbreak of the uprising organized by Han Shantong and Liu Futong. When troops were raised in the suburbs of Yingzhou, they used the signal of lighting a fire. There was a nursery rhyme from time to time: "The whole city is on fire, and the officials are hiding in all directions; there is no one in the city, and the red scarf army is sitting on the banquet." Later, the people of Yingzhou started to sing every Mid-Autumn Festival night. , young people must imitate the Red Scarf Army’s uprising and use straw and sunflower straw to tie upMake a handle three or four feet long, wrap it in straw, burn it in the wild, and shake it back and forth as a signal. The local custom is called "laying down the torch", and this custom has been followed for more than 600 years. This custom is also the theme of Fuyang paper-cutting. (See the paper-cut work "Torch Festival")
Paper-cut work "Torch Festival" Jia Peixiu
