Meishan paper-cut with a long history has a profound historical and cultural origin. In traditional life, it is mainly manifested in sacrificial activities, wedding celebrations, major festivals, birthdays, childbirth, shoes, life decoration and entertainment (shadow play). Meishan paper-cut is an indispensable spiritual food for local people in a specific historical environment.
The Annals of Anhua County in the 16th year of Jiaqing in Qing Dynasty recorded: "The folk customs in Meishan area are simple and generous ..." In the witchcraft activities in Meishan, it is necessary to cut paper into various peach symbols and paper money, and these activities have been passed down to this day. Paper banners in Tomb-Sweeping Day, paper money for burning steamed stuffed buns in Mid-Autumn Festival, traditional "haunted houses" in Meishan area, and mourning wreaths all have strict folk customs. The doormat is only posted on the lintel on New Year's Eve. There is a folk proverb: "Stick the doormat, and don't ask for the bill;" Pull the door and sign the paper, and quit the New Year. "
It is generally after the fifteenth day of the first month that the door sign paper is torn off, and the door sign paper has obvious directivity here. The biggest feature of Meishan paper-cut is the wedding paper-cut with "goose" as the main pattern. Wedding paper-cutting not only expresses happiness, but also has many taboos. Paper-cutting activities are carried out according to the number of rooms in the host family.
When the married daughter gives birth to a child, grandma will cut the egg and stick it on it. As the first gift, she will go to her daughter's house with a laundry basket to congratulate her. Egg flower is a unique form of Meishan folk custom. Folk embroidery and wood carving in Meishan area should be cut out of paper first, and then worked according to paper cutting. Shadow play was popular in Meishan area before, and the shadow of shadow play was a work of art made of paper-cutting.
The development of modern paper-cutting artists in Meishan area, on the basis of traditional skills, innovated three-dimensional paper-cutting to Liang Jing, and spread it nationwide and spread all over the world. Three-dimensional paper-cutting has risen rapidly, and "Meishan paper-cutting" artists have played an exemplary role in the inheritance and development.
Meishan paper-cut has obvious regional characteristics and is the most beautiful color in Meishan folk activities. The traditional Meishan paper-cut gradually faded with the change of culture and the development of the times, and some disappeared with the disappearance of folk activities. Most of the existing folk activities have been replaced by mechanical products, and Meishan paper-cutting is in urgent need of our arrangement and rescue protection.