According to Yichuan County Records, Hukou Dou Gu was formerly called "Gong and Drum" and later called "Everyone". There are three pieces of drums, big hairpin and big gong, which make the sound far-reaching. In the past, temple fairs and rain prayers were held during the Spring Festival, but now during the Spring Festival, travel, entertainment and gatherings are beating drums. In the past, during the temple fair, the gongs and drums of each village met and competed with each other. Strong men wield drums and hammers, dance with big women and play big gongs. They are all tired and sweaty, counting the opposite villages without showing weakness. Sometimes there will be conflicts, and the head of the club will come out to mediate. It's called a drumming competition.
Hukou, Dou Gu, has a long history. Because it only spreads along the Yellow River, it is on the verge of being lost for many years. There is a legend circulating in Yichuan. It is said that when Dayu dug Hukou and cut Mengmen Pass, he checked the water conditions on both sides of the Yellow River and passed through Yijin Village, Attic Township, Yichuan Township. He once stayed in a family named Zhou, who had a beautiful daughter and fell in love with Dayu, who took the world as his responsibility. The villagers held a happy event for them. Only three days after marriage, Dayu bid farewell to the bride and started the great cause of chopping mountains and chiseling stones. During the years of water control, he went home three times and didn't go home. Later, Tu Shanshi missed her husband so much that she went to Hukou to visit him, but what she saw was that Dayu had become a big bear in the mountains. She thought Dayu had been eaten by a bear, so she turned it into a mountain lying on the west bank of Hukou Waterfall, which was used to watch Dayu for thousands of years and is now called Xiunvfeng. People in the village cherish Dayu's kindness and are proud that Dayu is their relative. Therefore, the local people respected Dayu as their uncle, so they built a temple and a statue for Dayu in the village, and called it "Uncle Temple" according to the custom of Yichuan. He also built a small temple named "Aunt Temple" for his wife Tu Shanshi. Whenever there was a drought in later generations, the villagers carried the gods of "Uncle Temple" and "Gu Temple" together. As soon as the two of them meet, the Yellow River Dragon King will throw clouds and rain, which is still very useful until now.
There is a legend that when Dayu was managing the Yellow River, there was a dragon making waves in the Yellow River. With the heart of saving the world and saving people, Dayu tried his best to catch it. The people in Shili Baxiang started work one after another, the Dragon King on the bank of the Yellow River set up a drum array, and the gongs and drums of thousands of troops rushed to the waterfall. They used the roaring drums to suppress the roar of the Yellow River, so as to frighten the dragon of the Yellow River and cheer for Prince Yu, and thus a bucket drum was formed. When Dayu crushed the dragon in the ten-mile dragon trough at the mouth of the lake, people beat drums to celebrate the victory. Drum is the symbol of spirit, dance is the expression of strength, and the combination of inspiration and encouragement is the first. Since then, the war drum has become a form for Hukou people to celebrate the joy of success, which has been passed down to this day.
This story is beautiful. It reflects the people's attachment to Dayu's great achievements in northern Shaanxi and Yijin, and entrusts people with a profound memory of Dayu for thousands of years. But this story has a new variation in the long history, and the spiritual connotation of Hukou Dou Gu coincides with Dayu's indomitable spirit of water control.