Mochu
On beginning of autumn night, there is a custom of "touching autumn" in the north of Yancheng. On this night, people can touch all kinds of melons and fruits in private or collective melon gardens, commonly known as "touching autumn". People who lose "Qiu" don't curse, no matter how much they lose. This custom began in the Yuan Dynasty. At the end of Yuan Dynasty, a peasant uprising army appeared in Huaihe River basin. The soldiers who participated in the uprising were all farmers. They suffered greatly from Yuan soldiers and hated the harassment of soldiers. This team has strict discipline, and Qiu has never committed a crime wherever he goes. One day, the rebels moved to the bank of Huaihe River, and it was inconvenient to disturb the people in the middle of the night, so they camped in the open air in the wilderness. Several soldiers were so hungry that they picked some melons and fruits in the field to satisfy their hunger. This matter was discovered by the Commander-in-Chief, and Tian Ming was prepared to punish those people. After the villagers learned about it, they pleaded with the coach. In order to excuse the soldiers' mistakes, an old man casually said, "Don't touch the autumn in August and steal things." The soldiers were pardoned for this. That day happened to be the beginning of the Mid-Autumn Festival, and since then, there has been the custom of "touching autumn".
God of offering sacrifices to stoves
This is one of the important "five sacrifices" since the pre-Qin period. According to the Book of Rites. The Moon Order ","The moon in Xia Meng, it worships stoves. " Xia Meng in the Qin Dynasty was the revised moon. However, there are different opinions about the specific date and origin of the sacrificial stove, and there are also differences in different places. Yancheng urban and rural residents used to call the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month "sending small stoves" and the 24th "sending big stoves". On the day of the sacrifice, every household should clean the stove, counter, pots and pans. When offering rich sacrifices to the stove in front of the shrine, they should burn the old shrine in the middle of the shrine with incense and candles, and at the same time burn the old idol in front of the incense burner.
When it burns, the whole family will bow down and knock it off, indicating that they will send the kitchen god to the sky to "report the situation." On new year's eve, the kitchen god will be brought back, called yingzao or jiezao. At this time, it is necessary to paste the "East Kitchen House" and the statue of the Kitchen God written on red paper into the shrine, and also paste couplets of "Heaven speaks well and the lower bound is safe" on both sides to show respect for the sovereign. After the new kitchen god is posted, firecrackers will be set off and the whole family will bow down. This custom gradually disappeared after the establishment of People's Republic of China (PRC).
The gate of the temple faces north.
In the past, the doors of the general land temple were facing south, while the doors of the land temple in Jianyang Town were facing north. It is said that this is related to the local people's nostalgia for Lu Xiufu. At the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, after Lu Xiufu was martyred, the villagers in Jianyang Town, his hometown, were extremely sad. An old man surnamed Zhou, who was over 90 years old, saw Lu Xiufu return to his hometown in his sleep one day. The Prime Minister told the old man that the Northern Yuan army was now ambitious and wanted to occupy the Central Plains, which made the country restless. He has summoned the land god, so please change the gate of the land temple to the north, so that you can take care of one side and monitor the invasion of the northern yuan army. The next day, the old man told everyone about the scene of seeing Prime Minister Lu in his dream and the entrustment of the Prime Minister. Both the villagers and the elderly were moved by the spirit of Lu Gong's sacrifice for his country. They agreed that only by following the instructions of the Prime Minister can the loyal soul be comforted. On the same day, villagers donated money and materials in succession, and all the doors of the five land temples in Jianyang were changed to face north. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the land temple has been demolished, but there is still a two-part allegorical saying that "the land god faces north and manages one side more" in Jianyang area.
Navigation custom
Meeting with a full load and wine with a full load In the old society, fishermen held a tribute meeting before going out to sea during the flood season. The purpose of the Tribute Meeting is "Blessed by the Dragon King, and return with the full load". Therefore, it is also called a full-load conference. If you can return to the sea with full load, it is considered that the Dragon King is merciful, and the owner must prepare enough food and wine to thank the Dragon King. Then the whole boat drinks and gets drunk, which is called full of wine. This custom has been going on for many years. Until now, when fishing boats come back from the sea, every family has the custom of drinking and setting off firecrackers. Open the net at the beginning of the first month of each year, fishermen hold a net opening ceremony before going out to sea. On this day, the shipowner decorated incense sticks and offered three sacrifices (pig head, chicken and fish), with the shipowner taking the lead. Every fisherman bowed down to Poseidon and prayed for peace at sea. Then, all the boat people ate "full wine" at the owner's house. After drinking, the boatman presided over the ceremony of offering the net: beating gongs and setting off firecrackers, laying the net flat on the beach, asking a pregnant woman to cut 2-3 eyes on the net, then trawling the boat, anchoring and sailing. Sailing is to turn the boat around first. When there is no wind, it is called "noisy wind". The boatman stands at the bow to lead the way and shouts "Oh-ho-ho-ho". This is called Hufeng, which means that the wind turns in the sky and someone needs to call on the boat.
March outing
In the third month of the lunar calendar, the grass grows and the warblers fly, and the water and soil are soft. Under the beautiful spring breeze, between peach blossoms and green water, people who have spent the winter come to the fields in the suburbs to play and stroll. On March 3rd, the Jin Dynasty called it Shangjie Festival. "Zhou Li. "Chun Guan" contains: "When a witch is old, she has to take a bath." Bathing is taking a bath with herbal smoked soup. During the Spring and Autumn Period, on the "already" day in early March, men and women of the State of Zheng came to the water's edge, holding orchids and evoking souls, joking and admiring. In the Han Dynasty, officials were scheduled to go to the top. "They are all on the east running water and are washed away every day. When they go, they stay in the mud." This is how the knot is formed. After the Jin dynasty, this festival was changed to a fixed date, "March 3 is much more commonly used, and the date is not reused." In the past, on March 3, people on the salt plains, men, women and children, could hold hands, raise willow branches and sprinkle water on the river. Some take kites to fly in the suburbs, or pull needles, pick wild flowers and dig shepherd's purse in the countryside. After a day of entertainment, I came home at sunset with the fragrance of the earth. Although the custom of going for an outing on March 3 has partially disappeared, people are increasingly going to the suburbs for spring outing around March 3. Spring outing has become a great pleasure in people's daily life. The beautiful March 3rd has a long history and is fascinating.
Bao gu bu nian Hua
Near the Spring Festival, the sound of fried rice bursting from time to time came from the streets of Yancheng. Groups of children are grabbing fried rice with baskets and pockets, and housewives and old people are not far behind, making do with it. Their excited faces and laughter make people feel the breath of spring. I don't know when the custom of popcorn and non-stick flowers originated in the Spring Festival. According to legend, this is an imported product, which was introduced into China from Jiangnan when Hongwu was driven away. There is a poem in the notes of the Ming Dynasty: "When you enter Dongwu Gate, 100,000 families will be ruined and spend their youth. Throw the golden millet into the pot, and it becomes Bai Yuhua. The wedding of imported marble is a happy event, and the old man is asking about his career. Xiao Lai decorated the children and put a few plum blossoms in the temples. " Whether everyone's divination is effective or not, no one asked after that. Year after year, from generation to generation, popcorn has become an interesting thing during the Chinese New Year. People regard this as a little flower that announces spring, and there is endless fun in it.
Eat carrots on Dragon Boat Festival.
Dongtai folk have the custom of eating carrots on Dragon Boat Festival. According to legend, this custom originated from the Dragon Boat Festival peasant uprising in the first year of Tongzhi in Qing Dynasty. In the first year of Tongzhi (1862), Li Hongzhang collected the insurgents under the former Taiping Army Lin Fengxiang. One of them, a Qipin military attache named Zhan Yi 'an, surrendered and rebelled on his own, and ran rampant everywhere, with extremely bad military discipline. In the second year of Tongzhi, Li Hongzhang sent him to lead more than 200 people to gather in Dafeng, Dongtai by 10 boat.
Bought rations, and the ship docked at the "Sanmei Temple" pier. These executioners who suppressed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom did all kinds of evil wherever they went. Dongtai local officials are also fearful as tigers, and they are cautious about compliments and dare not neglect them. Gao Fengqing, a magistrate of Dongtai County, and Taizhou Salt Transportation Company (in Dongtai) are too small to take Zhan Jun's case. People satirize them as "high (phoenix) is carefree and small () is comfortable". Zhan Jun is therefore more unscrupulous. One day, Zhan Yi 'an wandered around Dongtai Cross Street and saw a beautiful and handsome girl in the "Ji Shen" deli. He suddenly had evil thoughts, and ordered his men to rob Miss Shen into the boat and wantonly trample it. Shen Laohan and Zhan were thieves, poisoned and died. The goddess was sad and angry, and while the Qing soldiers were unprepared,
Throw yourself into the river. Seeing this, Shen's mother was in agony and ran into the Samadhi Temple stone tablet. There is only one daughter 14 years old left in this family of four. When she came to the county government, she drummed and complained, and the magistrate of a county cared for her. Instead of upholding justice, she was put in prison. This unjust case aroused strong resistance from Dongtai people. It was on the fifth day of the Duanyang Festival in May that hundreds of thousands of people met with a rake in one hand under the cover of "Guandi Epiphany".
Shovel, with carrot head in one hand as a symbol of the uprising, set fire to Zhan Jun's warship. In this uprising, Zhan Yi 'an was killed by the insurgents and all the warships were burned. The magistrate of a county was frightened and fled. People opened the prison and rescued the complaining women. In order to commemorate the victory of the uprising, Dongtai people still eat carrots on the fifth day of May every year.
Insert willow branches in front of Qingming Gate.
In the rural history of Yanfu, there was a custom of inserting willow branches before Qingming. According to legend, this custom originated in the Tang Dynasty. At that time, Huang Chao, the leader of the peasant uprising, built a city in Meiyukou, Funing (now Shizhuang), attacked the city and seized land everywhere, killing corrupt officials. Bandits and bullies hate him, and it is destiny takes a hand to spread rumors and incite Huang Chao to kill 8 million people. Once, when Huang Chao's army was chasing corrupt officials, it met a woman carrying a boy of 10, with a boy of 5-6 years old on her back, running out of breath. Huang Chao wondered, thinking, wouldn't it be easier for this man to carry a small one and a big one? So he dismounted and asked, "Sister-in-law, why don't you carry the small one on your back?" The woman replied, "The oldest child on her back was born by her former mother, and the child in her hand is her own. There is only one mother-in-law, and I can regenerate later. If Huang Chao comes after me, I will leave the little one in my hand and the big one on my back to escape! " Huang Chao was deeply moved and told the woman truthfully: "I am Huang Chao, who specializes in killing bad people. I will never kill you, a kind person with virtue and righteousness like you! " As soon as the woman heard that the man in front of her was Huang Chao, she knelt down and begged, "If you don't kill me, won't your men kill me?" Huang Chao helped the woman up and told her to go home. The next day was Tomb-Sweeping Day. In order to prevent his men from manslaughter, Huang Chao said to the woman, "You put the willow branches in front of your house to make a mark, and my men will never disturb the people who insert the willow branches." The woman kowtowed and thanked again and again. After returning home, she told the whole village that every household had planted willow branches in front of the door, which was really safe. Since then, every year in Tomb-Sweeping Day, people will put willow branches on their doorsteps to pray for peace, and this custom has continued to this day.