The folk culture of the Central Plains is a culture of different types and forms created by human beings in different ecological, cultural and psychological backgrounds and accumulated, inherited and evolved in the unique historical development process. Folk culture is an important carrier of a country's national spirit and an important part of national culture. Folk culture generally includes three aspects: material folk culture, with production, exchange, transportation, clothing, diet, housing and so on as its main contents; Social folk culture pays attention to family, relatives, villages and towns, social structure and life etiquette. Spiritual folk culture includes belief, ethics, folk oral literature, folk art, entertainment and sports. The folk culture in the Central Plains is distinctive and colorful, which is embodied in diet, clothing, daily life, production activities, etiquette, beliefs, festivals, parties and other aspects. The folk culture in the Central Plains has typical characteristics of root culture, which has a great influence on China folk culture and even national culture. China folk culture has a long history, which is a colorful cultural memory in the Central Plains. In the Central Plains region, which is known as the cradle of Chinese civilization and the hometown of etiquette, the industrious and brave people of the Central Plains have formed many fashions and customs in their long-term production and life, which have been inherited from generation to generation and accumulated rich and colorful and distinctive folk culture of the Central Plains for a long time. The folk culture in the Central Plains includes not only the living customs of food, clothing, housing and transportation, the etiquette and customs of daily social communication, the living customs of childbirth, weddings and funerals, the Lantern Festival during the Spring Festival, but also the customs of daily life, productive labor, industry and commerce, folk festivals, folk crafts and folk arts. Since human activities, there have been folk customs. The Central Plains was the center of political, economic and cultural activities in Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties. As early as this period, a relatively systematic etiquette system was initially formed, and later they gradually evolved into the traditional etiquette system in China. The marriage custom in the Central Plains first appeared at the end of the ancient couple's marriage and the beginning of individual marriage, and it became perfect in the Western Zhou Dynasty, and gradually formed the "six gifts" of accepting gifts, asking names, accepting gifts, inviting guests and welcoming relatives. On this basis, it became a marriage custom such as proposal, ceremony and marriage, which has continued to this day and become the main marriage custom in China. According to archaeological excavations, there were funerals in the Central Plains as early as 20,000 years ago. By the Zhou Dynasty, a relatively complete set of funeral etiquette had been formed, which became an important custom in China. Customs closely related to production and life, such as walking on stilts, boating, playing with lions, hanging lanterns, etc., such as offering sacrifices to stoves in off-year, observing the 30th anniversary, eating jiaozi on New Year's Eve, celebrating New Year's greetings, lighting lanterns on Lantern Festival, offering sacrifices to ancestors in Tomb-Sweeping Day, inserting mugwort leaves in Dragon Boat Festival, watching stars on Tanabata, enjoying the moon in Mid-Autumn Festival in August, climbing mountains on Chongyang in September, etc., mostly originated in the Central Plains, where the Spring Festival is commonly known as "New Year" or After the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, we began to prepare new year's goods. As early as the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, the worship of the Kitchen God was one of the "Five Sacrifices". On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, commonly known as "New Year's Eve", every household has to offer sacrifices to the kitchen god. On the last day of the twelfth lunar month, from the Eastern Han Dynasty, people in the Central Plains called it "New Year's Eve". On this day, every family should pack jiaozi, and the more packages, the better. Every household should post Spring Festival couplets, which originated from the peach symbols created by the Yellow Emperor. Everyone eats jiaozi on the first day of school, which mainly means "making friends at a young age". Paying New Year greetings is an important activity during the Spring Festival. On the first and second day of the New Year's Day, it is a greeting from the family. After the third day, it is a New Year greeting between neighbors, relatives and friends, which lasts until the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first month. The folk Lantern Festival in the Central Plains is rich in content and grand in scale, and is known as "Small New Year, Big Fifteen". Lighting at 15 o'clock in the first month is an important activity to worship the gods and pray for blessings during the Lantern Festival. During the Spring Festival, there are many colorful "playing with social fire" in the Central Plains, such as walking on stilts, rowing dry boats, playing with lions and hanging lanterns. It originated from ancient worship of land and fire. Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, it has evolved into a comprehensive cultural activity of folk tradition and has become an important part of the national Spring Festival cultural activities. The Central Plains has long been the mode of production of small-scale peasant economy, and has always worshipped the dragon god who can give orders. Legend has it that the dragon ascended to heaven on the second day of the second lunar month, and the ancient Central Plains people designated this day as the "Dragon Head-raising Festival". On this day, there will be various activities, one is to pray for rain from the Dragon King, and the other is to pray for disaster relief and detoxification. Sacrificing ancestors and sweeping graves is the core content of Tomb-Sweeping Day custom in the Central Plains. As soon as Tomb-Sweeping Day arrived, people took sacrifices to the cemetery to burn paper and light candles in memory of their ancestors. On Qingming Day, willow branches should be planted at every door, and both men and women should wear wicker rings. In the pre-Qin period, there was a custom of Dragon Boat Festival in the Central Plains. The Dragon Boat Festival in the Central Plains has not only the customs of eating zongzi, pasting Ai Hu, hanging calamus and drinking realgar wine, but also some customs of eliminating disasters and diseases and preventing plague. On this day, people stick the collected mugwort leaves on the door to ward off evil spirits. The typical root culture includes human beings and folk customs. Central Plains folk culture and Pangu myth, Fuxi Nuwa myth, Xuanyuan Huangdi legend * * * constantly radiate to the surrounding areas, and the root cultural characteristics of Central Plains folk culture are very prominent. The folk culture of the Central Plains has typical primitive characteristics. Generally speaking, folk custom is the root of national culture. The cultural soil of a nation is folk culture. The folk culture of the Central Plains has more typical characteristics of root culture. The folk custom in the Central Plains is very old, which can be pushed to Fuxi Nuwa or even Pangu. The Central Plains is the main birthplace of Chinese civilization. The myths and legends such as Fuxi Nuwa and Xuanyuan Huangdi are mainly in the Central Plains. These legends are also the most complete and can be confirmed in Peiligang culture 8000 years ago. Therefore, it can be said that the central plains folk culture is the root of China folk culture. From the development point of view, because the Central Plains has been the political, economic and cultural center of China for a long time, folk culture constantly radiates and spreads outward, constantly absorbs foreign folk culture, and then radiates and spreads outward, making the folk culture of the Central Plains become the foundation and pillar of China folk culture, and the characteristics of root culture are very prominent. Myth is the source of belief, which contains the root of national spirit and the bud of consciousness. The myth of the Central Plains, represented by the myth of Nuwa, is like a huge root system, from which ancient folk customs are derived. We often regard the earth as our mother. This profound consciousness of Mother Earth stems from Nu Wa's creation of human beings. Han people are reburied. Emphasize that it is safe to bury the soil in the ground. The ancients believed that the sun died in the west, was buried in the soil, and was reborn the next day and jumped into the blue sky, which was the help of Mother Earth. Great as the sun, but still so, the situation is as small as people! This is why Han people are buried underground. The myth of Nuwa also directly gave birth to the oldest folk belief and the strongest ancestral consciousness of the Chinese nation. Fuxi, Nuwa and Shennong were called Huang San in ancient times, and it is said that sacrifices had already begun in the era of the Yellow Emperor. Today, san huang Village on the Songshan Mountain in Zhongyue, as well as the existing san huang Temple, Huang San Temple and its temple fairs in many places in the Central Plains, are the remains of this custom. In the Central Plains, folk artists who knead clay figurines, knead dough and blow sugar are also revered by Nu Wa. The "Mother Earth Consciousness" in the myth of Nuwa pervades all aspects of folk life. In some places in the Central Plains, midwives must let newborn children stand on the ground with the good will of "rooting and sprouting". Even if you name your child, you should bring a dirty word. The "spirit stone consciousness" of the goddess of mending heaven also profoundly affects our lives. Jade, beautiful stone also. The ancients wore jade, symbolizing identity, showing morality and using jade to ward off evil spirits. Building a house is a big deal. What should I do if I'm afraid of evil spirits staying overnight after laying a good foundation and laying alkali feet? Take a stone and put it on the house, so that all the ghosts will hide. The wall of the house faces the road, and the house is unlucky. Carve a "Mount Tai Shi Gandang" on the wall, and everything goes well. The "sky-mending complex" of the myth of Nuwa also directly produced the "sky-wearing festival" of the Han nationality. Every year on the 23rd day of the first month (the time varies from place to place), every household bakes a big cake, and the housewife ties a big needle with a red line on the cake, and then puts a ladder on the top of the kitchen. According to folklore, in the days when the goddess fills the sky, taking the goddess as an example, we will be able to get a bumper harvest without natural disasters. The "consciousness of mother earth", "consciousness of soul stone" and "complex of mending the sky" in the myth of Nuwa are the most fundamental spiritual achievements of our ancestors who consciously or unconsciously understood and explained the world and conquered it. The Chinese nation's ancestral consciousness in faith, political national consciousness, cultural national consciousness, emotional identity consciousness and psychological mother goddess worship consciousness all come from this. It provides a strong psychological support for the survival and reproduction of the Chinese nation and lays a solid foundation for national cohesion and cultural development. The folk culture of the Central Plains also has the characteristics of collectivity, inheritance, expansion and variability. Collectivity: the basic characteristics of folk customs in the process of production and dissemination. The folk custom in the Central Plains is the crystallization of the collective wisdom of the people in the Central Plains, and its spread, perfection and innovation are all accomplished by collective strength. Inheritance: the vertical continuation of folk culture in time. After the central plains folk custom came into being, it was inherited by people and was quite stable. Many folk customs did not stop immediately because of regime change or social change. Dissemination: the process of horizontal dissemination of folk culture in space. Because of the central position and convenience of the Central Plains, many folk customs in the Central Plains spread in all directions, which influenced the folk customs in other parts of China. For example, the custom of Chinese New Year, some folk art activities, Shaolin Wushu, Chenjiagou Tai Ji Chuan and so on. Variability: the change of content and form of folk culture in the process of inheritance and dissemination. With the change of social life, the folk customs in the Central Plains are constantly changing, and variation is the internal driving force for the inheritance and development of the folk customs in the Central Plains. The humanistic connotation and spiritual pursuit of folk culture in the Central Plains are widely manifested in people's daily life, which can be called the foundation of national culture and has unique cultural connotation. It vividly shows the national personality and national spirit. The folk culture of the Central Plains keeps some excellent national spirits in people's lives most vividly and extensively in a customary way, which has long influenced, guided and strengthened our national values and made it a universal social psychology and national consciousness. For example, the famous four legends, Gong Yu moving mountains, Jingwei filling the sea, Dayu harnessing water and Houyi shooting at the sun, all show the national spirit of perseverance, independence, fear of violence, love of peace, pursuit of truth and self-improvement. Folk culture is an important carrier of national spirit, reflecting its internal spiritual pursuit. The spiritual pursuit of Central Plains folk culture can be summarized in three aspects: First, the pursuit of harmony and unity between heaven and earth. In the practice of production and life, primitive people "looked up at the sky and looked down at the earth", forming the concept of harmonious coexistence between man and nature 2. These concepts can be seen clearly in the traditional New Year festivals in China. For example, the Spring Festival, traditionally called New Year's Day and 2008, is considered to be the most important "node" in a natural cycle (year) composed of spring, summer, autumn and winter. Because it is the beginning of monism, people pay special attention to it. Whether the world can change smoothly from winter (the mythical season when everything dies) to spring (the season when everything recovers) and whether "Vientiane renewal" can be realized depends on human actions as the "heart of heaven and earth". The standardized ritual activities of human beings are the key to realize this important transformation. From the anthropological point of view, the Spring Festival is a typical "rite of passage", and all kinds of ceremonial activities during the Spring Festival are "rite of passage". Humans use rituals to help heaven and earth change from winter (death) to spring (rebirth). Various customs and habits during the Spring Festival are the means to help the world achieve a smooth transition. Mistakes or irregularities in human operation will lead to trouble or even failure of the transition. Therefore, our culture not only specifies the things that should be done and can be done during the Spring Festival-Chinese New Year etiquette and customs, but also stipulates many taboos-Chinese New Year taboos. Other traditional festivals have similar characteristics. Second, it is permeated with a strong spirit of self-improvement and perseverance. The myth and legend of Dayu's water control is widely circulated among the people in the Central Plains. In order to control the flood that harmed the world, Dayu went for thirteen years and "refused to enter the house for three times." The myth and legend of Kuafu chasing the sun and the legend of Yishan in Gong Yu, which are widely circulated in Lingbao area, are also representatives in this respect. The third is the idea of respecting heaven and ancestors. In order to protect the precious achievements of civilization and commemorate the ancestors who made great contributions to human welfare, the people regard the inventors of those great achievements of civilization as gods and ancestors and pray for their protection. The ancestor of imitation is both man and god; The heaven to worship is both a god and an ancestor. The people of the Central Plains have always kept faith in and made sacrifices to the inventors of important civilization achievements in history, and are often called "ancestors" in spoken language. Nu Wa makes up the sky by refining stones, and makes people out of soil; Fuxi invented gossip and taught people to fish, hunt and domesticate livestock; Suiren invented fire; Shennong founded agriculture and taught people to sow and harvest regularly ... not only folk customs, but also the ancestors of these civilizations were the objects of official sacrifices. The concept of respecting heaven and ancestors is also manifested in the people's worship and sacrifice to their ancestors. In the Central Plains, ancestor worship activities have always been very popular, and ancestors should be sacrificed at traditional festivals or important moments in the family. Ancestor worship creates and maintains the concepts of "loyalty" and "filial piety" that are most emphasized in traditional society, and these two moral concepts have become an important link of social unity and cooperation. At present, the concepts of "loyalty" and "filial piety" are still the core values emphasized by our nation and society. Folk culture is a distant historical memory, and the folk culture in the Central Plains contains extremely rich historical and cultural contents. Taking Huaiyang mud dog as an example, Huaiyang mud dog has high artistic and archaeological value and is known as "true totem and living fossil". There are thousands of mud dogs in Huaiyang. According to the old artist, "Mud Dog" was handed down by Nu Wa. Huaiyang mud dog is different from ordinary mud play, which has important historical significance, cultural value and aesthetic value. The national culture expressed in Mud Dog can be written into a big book. It reflects a historical culture with rich cultural connotations, and reflects and reproduces ancient history. Many mud dogs can clearly reflect the life and yearning of ancient humans so far.