New Year's Day is a festive day, and everyone wants to have a good time. However, because it is the first day of the new year, everyone wants to be lucky and doesn't want anything bad to happen on this day. In this way, there are many taboos. For example, don't sweep the floor, don't take out the garbage, don't splash water, so as not to take away the wealth and throw it away; Don't quarrel with others, don't beat and scold children, don't see a doctor and take medicine, don't borrow things, don't fall down, don't say depressing words, which means this year will be pleasant; Do not kill, do not move knives and scissors, do not do needle money work, so as not to bleed; No nap, the man took a nap, the field collapsed, and the woman took a nap in the kitchen.
These are reasonable rules, which are not much different from other places. Although they bring a lot of inconvenience, they can still be done. What's more, Tongcheng folk custom only eats two meals this day. Breakfast is late, dinner is early, and lunch is free.
It's no problem to have breakfast later, because everyone stayed up more or less the night before, so it's normal to sleep late. The problem is dinner. I ate it too early and soon I was hungry. And at four o'clock in the afternoon, everyone had a good time and suddenly wanted to eat again. Needless to say, the pace of life has been completely disrupted. Especially for children, this kind of dinner is generally not eaten. Adults don't insist, anyway, there are a few snacks during the Spring Festival. Therefore, eating two meals at a time is not a big problem.
Most importantly, after eating this very early dinner, you must go to bed early before dark. This is what children hate most. You said you wouldn't go to school tomorrow. It's so exciting to celebrate the New Year. Why do you have to force people to sleep?
It turns out that this has something to do with Tujili mentioned above. Because farmers work hard all year round, the greatest happiness is probably a good sleep. Today is the first day of the Lunar New Year. In order to be lucky and show that you will bully others this year, you must go to bed early. Don't you know that happiness in this sense brings unhappiness to real life? However, on this special day, the moral is overwhelming. If you can't sleep, don't sleep!
So, what is the relationship between the rule of eating two meals and the rule of going to bed early? I guess, at the beginning, there was a rule of going to bed early, because there was no need to eat three meals early. Everyone had a bad appetite during the Chinese New Year, and then there was a rule of eating two meals. However, because eating comes first and sleeping comes last, people mistakenly think that going to bed early is to avoid hunger. Just, you don't want to think, this big New Year, everyone is deliberately hungry to do something, isn't this sick!
Ten Strange Folklores in Tongcheng (II): Eating Wild Vegetables on March 3rd-Haoziba
On March 3, people in Tongcheng eat Artemisia ordosica made of Artemisia ordosica and rice flour to drive away evil spirits and ghosts. This folk custom is very, very special, not only in other places, but also in other counties and cities in Anqing.
March 3rd is a traditional festival, but opinions vary from place to place. On the other hand, Fuxi and his sister, Nu Wa, unearthed human beings and produced offspring. Later generations were the Taihaoling Temple Fair from February 2nd to March 3rd of the lunar calendar, where good men and women gathered in the mausoleum to worship their ancestors. He also said that March 3rd was the day when the Queen Mother held a flat peach party. There is a poem in Zhi Zhu, Beijing, which describes it like this: "Spring is born on the third day of March, and the flat peach palace burns incense;" The wind is weak along the river, and the red dust is ten feet everywhere. " Among ethnic minorities, March 3 is also very popular: Li people call March 3 "the blessing of the year", which is a festival to wish "the mountains and valleys" and harvest hunting, and also a day for young men and women to communicate freely, called love day; She nationality takes March 3rd as Gu Mi's birthday, and every household eats black rice. Yao people regard March 3rd as "Ganba Festival", which is a collective fishing and hunting festival. On this day, the Dong people hold fireworks, bullfighting, Touma, duet singing, drumming and other activities, also known as the "Fireworks Festival"; Zhuang people catch up with the song fair above March 3, so it is also called the Song Fairy Festival. In Taoism, March 3 is the birthday of the Taoist Zhenwu Emperor.
These statements seem to have nothing to do with Tongcheng people eating wormwood. To understand the problem of Artemisia arenaria, we must firmly grasp the core of "Shangsi Festival". Shangsi, the third day of March, early spring, the specific date has not been decided. March in spring is a time when a hundred flowers blossom and spring tides surge, but it is also a time when spring insects are ready to move and all diseases attack. So Shangsi Festival is also called Ghost Festival. According to the Book of Rites of the Later Han Dynasty, "On the third day of the third month, officials and people were all immersed in flowing water, saying that it was a big deal to wash away the dirt." Because the behavior of cleaning was too monotonous, later activities such as banquets near the water and spring outing were added. In the Cao Wei period, for the convenience of operation, the date of Shangsi Festival was set as the third day of March, which was inherited by later generations.
What shall we use at the party? On the one hand, it should be a healthy food to prolong life and strengthen the body; On the other hand, we should adjust measures to local conditions and eat the seasonal food we need. Therefore, among the Han people, there is always something to eat on March 3, which is related to driving away diseases, but the specific food is different. For example, in some places in the south, ground rice noodles are eaten as "tricks" and "foot-binding noodles"; In Taiwan Province Province and Fujian Province, "gathering rat grass and mixing rice noodles is the first sacrifice" ("Records of Taiwan Province Province"); In Tongcheng, we invented Haoziba.
It's probably like this: March 3 is Shangsi Festival, and people in Tongcheng eat Artemisia on this day to drive away diseases. The question is, wormwood is everywhere. Why don't people in other places make wormwood cakes? This is indeed a problem to be solved.
There is a lot of pressure to make Artemisia selengensis. Rice flour can be indica rice or mixed with a little rice. You can't put too little wormwood, otherwise it won't be wormwood. However, the plant fiber of Artemisia is relatively thick, so we must pick its tender head and don't put too much. In order to taste better, you must put more bacon, vegetarian meat and fat meat. Haoziba is the king of oil and can't give up oil. Moreover, Artemisia sphaerocephala has a characteristic that it is not delicious when it is just cooked, but it tastes better when it is welded with oil in a few days.
On March 3rd every year, Tongren eats Artemisia together. Game!
Ten Strange Folklores in Tongcheng (III): Wearing plain clothes-Wool Body Clothes Three times in a lifetime.
Tongcheng custom, at the time of birth, marriage and death, you should wear a raw cloth coat and trousers, and you don't have to sew the hem, which is also commonly known as sweater.
Raw cloth is cotton cloth without water, and Tongcheng people call it old cloth. In the old society, because of the hard life, almost every household spun cotton yarn. The spinning wheel is similar to other places, and it is a hand-operated wooden wheeled vehicle. Spinning cotton yarn is a delicate job, which looks simple, but it is actually very difficult. A spun yarn is twisted completely by the internal force of fingers, otherwise it is either too thick or twisted. The speed of the spinning wheel is also very particular, and there is no hurry. It needs to be operated by the spinner himself, and no one else can replace it.
After cotton yarn is spun, it can be woven. Not every family can do it. In a big village, usually only smart women can do it. In fact, knitting is a manual work, which requires pedaling and hand pulling. I don't know why this used to be a woman's job. At ordinary times, everyone spins cotton yarn, and it takes a few hard money to send it to the weavers' home for weaving. There are also those who don't spin their own yarn and go directly to buy cloth; There are also light yarns sold to weavers instead of cotton yarns. No matter what, no cash will be given. By the end of the year, you can give money if you have money, or you can give something to eat if you have no money.
Wearing a sweater three times in one's life is a great invention worthy of appreciation by future generations. Birth, marriage and death are the three turning points in life, and each turning point is the beginning of realizing a new life. What does it mean to live a new life? White, primitive and simple! Look at this sweater, it is made of pure natural cotton yarn. It has never been put into water, never been sewn, how primitive it is! When a newborn baby puts on a sweater, it means the beginning of a bittersweet life; Young people who want to get married put on woolen clothes to meet the big exam of marriage life; The old man who travels to the west wears a sweater, just like a virgin waiting for reincarnation.
This simple sweater seems to be the patent of Tongcheng people in Du Wen, and few people in other places have this custom. There may be other counties and cities around Anqing, but most of them are from Tongcheng. If you have to find out its source, you'd better go to Jiangxi and Hunan, where almost all Tongcheng people come from. If found, it is suggested that Tongcheng people go there to get a sweater to wear, that is to say, they have found their real roots.
Top Ten Weird Folklores in Tongcheng (IV): Change your belt at the age of 36-send it to the age of 36.
Tongcheng has the folk custom of "sending 36". At the age of 35, friends and relatives, regardless of sex, all gave a white chicken, a new belt and a white shirt. On New Year's Eve, men choose Yue's family and women choose their parents' white stewed chicken. If you pay attention, the white chicken needs to eat alone and bury chicken feathers at the fork in the road.
Tongcheng County Records said that this custom existed in Xixiang, Tongcheng. According to relevant data, this custom is not ancient, and probably began in the 1970s. These statements are quite suspicious. In fact, the folk custom of "sending thirty-six" is very common. This custom is found almost everywhere in Tongcheng, and it seems to be found in many southern provinces, especially in Jiangxi and the two lakes.
As the old saying goes, 36 is a very unlucky number, and 36 years old is a big pass in life. Traditional superstition holds that every nine days, whether it is bright or dark, is unfavorable. Nine is a number with nine directly, such as 19, 29, 39; Dark nine is a multiple of nine, such as 18, 27, 45. 36 is black nine, which is unlucky. But why is 36 particularly unlucky? There may be several reasons: (1)36 years old is a person's original life. The ancients thought that 36 years old was a reincarnation, and it was only when you lived to 36 years old that you could make ends meet; (2) From the life experience, when people reach the age of 36, all aspects of physical function begin to decline, which is worse year by year and worse day by day; (3) In the old society, people's life span was very short, generally they could only live to 59 or 69 years old. As a turning point, 18 and 27 are obviously too early, and 45 or 54 is a little late. They are not the turning point of life, but the turning point of human death. Therefore, it is most appropriate to choose 36 as the threshold of life. (4) Taoism has the saying of "49-day robbery". Although it is 490 years, it is 49 years after all, which is easy to remind people of 36.
Since 36 years old is unlucky, we should try our best to ward off evil spirits. However, superstition has a great feature, that is, it varies from person to person, from place to place, and in essence it varies according to needs. Therefore, the method of "sending thirty-six" varies from place to place. In Yichang, Hubei Province, we should worship God and sing big plays. In Hunan, friends and relatives should greet each other on their birthdays. In Jiangxi, you have to send pants.
Tongcheng is special in two aspects: first, other places generally choose 36 th birthday to ward off evil spirits, and Tongcheng chooses 35 th New Year's Eve; Secondly, other places just find an excuse to have a meal and don't care about what to eat, while Tongcheng insists on eating white chicken for a belt and has to avoid people during the New Year.
So, why do Tongcheng people think that eating white chicken with a new belt can ward off evil spirits? There is no positive solution yet. Probably, white is a positive color and relatively reflective, which can dazzle quotations but can't hurt the body; Eating white chicken instead of white pig is probably because chicken is more expensive than pork; Burying chicken feathers at the fork in the road means that quotations are swayed in the wrong direction by white chicken feathers after they reach the fork in the road; The new belt is afraid that the old belt will be in disrepair for a long time, so the quotation will get into the cracks. This is called layered fortification, which is foolproof. Hehe, superstition is more or less clear!
Ten Odds in Tongcheng (V): Fetal Pot Buried under a Tree-Fetal Pot
After the boy was born, he put the afterbirth in a crock and buried it under the tallest tree next to the village, which means that "the tree is high in thousands of feet, and people are tall".
The afterbirth is a very, very special thing, you can't ignore it. There, we have some memories of troubled times and some warmth to our compatriots. With the first cry of life, we are born from the afterbirth, which represents the formal ceremony of separation from our mother and the declaration of independence for a long life. So everyone should put the fetal cylinder in a special place and keep it forever.
Some people put the fetal cylinder in the middle of the river on the edge of the village, and the water is gurgling and life is endless; Some people bury the fetal cylinder in their own yard, and no matter where they go, they never leave their loved ones. Someone buried the placenta jar in the bamboo forest behind the house, and the bamboo shoots were like ancestors; Some people hang the fetal cylinder on a tall tree and let the birds act as messengers of the sky and send their first gift.
But no matter where you are, you must be a man who is qualified to place the fetal cylinder, a man who brings a little life to the world. A small fetal cylinder is the responsibility of every father, engraved with the interlocking inheritance of life from generation to generation. With the release of the fetal cylinder, the man walked home step by step. When I was a child, a man arranged our fetal cylinder in his own way; In a few years, we will also put the homemade fetal cylinder in the place we think is the most suitable. The afterbirth was originally a woman's, and the man just connected them and made them into a string.
Du Wenren is particularly clever. They buried the fetal cylinder under the tallest tree next to the village, and called the village where the fetal cylinder was buried "the original place". There is no greater invention than this! Those wanderers who are far away from home, with a handful of soil under the tree, can certainly smell the breath of childhood; Give the soil of this hometown to the incense table, as if it were for your ancestors. This great invention of Tongcheng people transcends the time tunnel and allows us to see our relatives at any time.
However, my heart is aching, because the fetal cylinder has been broken in our generation. Since the baby was born in a place called a hospital, the afterbirth has disappeared. I don't know if it flowed into the sewer, or was cooked into a dish, or became a nourishing beauty product of a noble person. I didn't have a chance to put the fetal cylinder I made, as if I were not a man at all.
Ten Monsters in Urban Folklore (6): Uncle Chili Come Together-Uncle Ao
Uncle refers to his father's younger brother, generally refers to his father's little father. But the names of uncles are different all over the country, such as "Uncle" in Guangdong, "Bye-bye" in Tianjin, "Uncle" in Northeast China and "Uncle" in Jianghuai area. Leaf "or"? Dad ",wuyue area is called" Hey ". One of the most special people is from Tongcheng, Anhui Province, who calls his uncle "Chili Pepper".
Why do you call it that? Listen to an interesting legend: Zhang Ying, a famous minister in Qing Dynasty, wrote a memorial one day and misspelled "uncle" as "pepper". Emperor Kangxi was curious when he was studying and asked why. For the sake of self-esteem, Zhang Ying lied and said: There is a custom in my hometown to call my uncle "Pepper". Unexpectedly, Kangxi became suspicious and sent someone to find out the truth. Brinton was frightened when he heard the news. How can she be guilty of cheating you? He secretly sent Ma Chi, a servant, to his hometown in Tongcheng, and asked the county magistrate to tell the citizens within three days to change the name of "Uncle" to "Pepper". When the emperor sent an imperial envoy to Tong Tong to ask the people, the result was the same. Since then, the nickname "Uncle" has been handed down in Tongcheng.
This story is not bad, but the story is just a story after all and cannot be regarded as an official history. People with a little common sense can easily find that this story is full of loopholes: "uncle" can't be written as "pepper", and ancient literati cherish paper and are very serious before writing; After the memorial is written, it should be carefully checked, and it is important to back it up. The possibility of making mistakes is very small; After the emperor knew it, it was nothing to admit it honestly. Lying is actually a crime of deceiving the monarch. "Uncle" has several meanings, and the "uncle" in the text does not necessarily mean "uncle"; There are several versions of this story, some of which describe the protagonist as his son Zhang. If it's really a mistake, there's still no face in making excuses in hometown dialect; Such a trivial matter, even if the emperor really knew that he was lying, would never send someone to make an unannounced visit; It is difficult to change the folk customary address, even if it was changed in an emergency, it will never be called a habit in the future.
In order to research the origin of "pepper" in Tongcheng, we need to pay attention to the following two "hard evidence": First, not all Tongcheng people call it this way, and some places have other names. In Tongcheng, most people are called peppers, but there are also places called uncles; Secondly, Tongcheng is not the only place in China. There are Guixi and Yongxiu in Jiangxi. Are the people in these two places from Tongcheng? In fact, most Tongcheng people migrated from Jiangxi.
This inadvertently provides us with a clue: Tongcheng people mostly immigrated from Waba in western Jiangxi, and Waba is obviously just a transit point for immigrants. Are those Tongcheng people who call their uncle "Zanthoxylum bungeanum" from Guixi, Jiangxi Province? Anyway, here's an important clue.
Due to the lack of relevant information, the exact source of "Zanthoxylum bungeanum" cannot be obtained by looking up dialect materials. Here is a bold guess: Uncle Tong is a kind of bean plant, which means small with beans, so uncle refers to people younger than father; Pepper is a kind of spice plant, which means "Zanthoxylum bungeanum" instead of pepper (introduced from America in the late Ming Dynasty). Pepper's fruit is smaller than glutinous rice, and it can also be used to mean small, and then refers to people who are smaller than their father.
Ten Strange Folklores in Tongcheng (7): Put aside a sweet and sour pepper soup.
From the first day of the first month, Tongcheng people celebrate birthdays for all kinds of creatures: one chicken, three pigs, four sheep, five cows, six horses, seven people, eight grains, nine beans and ten millet. In fact, that is to say, I have never seen anyone actually celebrate these creatures' birthdays. Dogs in grade two don't chew bones quickly, and pigs in grade three don't eat as much rice bran. As for horses and sheep, Tongcheng is basically invisible, while Dougu hibernates during the Spring Festival. It's only my seventh birthday. It must be better. The custom in Tongcheng is to eat hot and sour soup, also called Chili soup, for dinner, which means that you will encounter all kinds of sour, sweet, bitter and spicy things in your life.
Maybe Tongcheng doesn't produce much pepper, or maybe southerners don't like pepper very much. Anyway, many people don't put Chili in this hot and sour soup, but it doesn't prevent it from being called Chili soup. Aside from the implication, the taste of pepper soup is quite good, much better than the spicy paste soup made by northerners. The main ingredients of Chili soup are tofu, starch, stone powder, and some bacon, mushrooms, winter bamboo shoots, cooked chicken, shredded pork, eggs, sesame oil, chicken blood and Chili. The smell is covered. It is clear to everyone at a glance that hot and sour soup is neither sour nor spicy, and it is rarely eaten at ordinary times, so I caught everyone eating several blue-edged bowls.
Hot and sour soup is not special. In Sichuan, Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, almost everywhere. Sour in the north, sweet in the south and spicy in Sichuan. The characteristic of Tongcheng hot and sour soup is not the taste, but the Du literati gives this muddy soup a special cultural significance, which makes people memorable. I remember a song called "Hot and Sour Soup", which said that "the hot and sour feeling is delicious and special, which makes the earth slowly turn into a fireball and burn to the highest temperature". I don't know who wrote the lyrics, but they are definitely not written by Tongcheng people.
Then, why are people's birthdays arranged on the seventh day of the first month? According to folklore, when Nu Wa created things, she made chickens, dogs, pigs, sheep, cows and horses six days ago, and human beings on the seventh day. Therefore, the seventh day of the first month is commonly known as "People's Day", also known as "People Overcome the Day" and "People Celebrate". How to celebrate? Different places have different practices: (1) Dai Rensheng: Women wear patterns made of colored paper, silk, soft gold and silver on their heads or stick them on screens. (2) Sending flowers to win: people make all kinds of flowers to win each other; (3) Eating Qibao Soup: People use seven kinds of fresh seasonal vegetables and rice flour to make soup, which is called Qibao Soup; (4) Traveling and climbing mountains: ladies travel and literati climb mountains and write poems. The Tang poem "People send their legacy every day" says: "People send poems to the thatched cottage every day, pity the old friends and miss their hometown. Wicker can't bear to see, plum blossoms are full of branches and heartbroken. Being in the south, I have no experience, and my heart is full of worries. This year, people will remember each other. Next year, where will people know? " . Comparatively speaking, the most brilliant thing is the invention of Tongcheng people eating Chili soup. It can not only satisfy the appetite, but also be easy to understand in culture, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone.
Ten Strange Folklores in Tongcheng (8): The bride turned out to be a newcomer.
Tongcheng has the custom of "smashing new people", which means "smashing more and more". Whenever a wedding procession passes through the village, some busybodies shout "smash the bride" and grab some sand or tiles to smash them, so as to blackmail the person in charge of the wedding procession (usually the matchmaker) to be happy. It is generally symbolic for adults to hit the bride, but children don't care so much, and sometimes even hit the bride pale. However, the bride was more or less prepared, and brought a square towel in advance to cover her head before the sand hit. I remember that during the Cultural Revolution, in order to prevent being smashed, a plaster statue of Chairman Mao was put in front of the bride, so that no one dared to smash it, and no one was afraid of smashing Chairman Mao's old man's house. But this method only took a while, and then the child was still smashed. At that time, everyone was living in poverty. The newcomer didn't pass through a village and sprinkled candy. She won't give it to them if you don't break it.
Generally speaking, there are three unwritten rules for "smashing newcomers": only those passing by can smash, and those in the village cannot smash; Children can smash, adults generally don't smash, at least not viciously; You can't smash the cigarettes and sugar after you have dispersed them. In fact, the wedding team itself is contradictory. If they are smashed, they will certainly be unhappy, but if no one comes along the way, they will also be very lost. Not to mention "don't smash, don't send", at least it shows that your team interpersonal relationship is not very good, and those who March around the city are not eye-catching and don't answer you. Big day, small hit, just for fun, no matter who hit, will not be angry. Therefore ... some careful families will greet a few people who like to be lively in advance and let them arrange someone to smash them.
Maybe it's really for fun. The custom of "smashing new people" is very common. The marriage custom of Dongxiang nationality is to hit the bride with a pillow when the new house is in trouble, forcing her to open the masked cloth towel as soon as possible; Dai Houying described in "Tears Flowing to Huaihe River" that Huaibei people smashed the bride with neem fruit when they were making trouble in the bridal chamber; In Xiaogan, Hubei Province, relatives and friends of the bride take turns throwing dates, radish strips, bean dregs and rice balls for fun, mainly hitting the groom. In the northeast, the bride goes to her husband's house and likes to beat the bride with whole grains. Comparatively speaking, Tongcheng's smashing method is primitive and somewhat barbaric.
This makes people wonder: Where did this custom come from? As can be seen from the above example, in other places, the bridal chamber is usually smashed when something happens, while Tongcheng is smashed on the way to the wedding banquet; Don't throw anything casually, Tongcheng will throw a brick and stone; Don't smash it just for fun, but Tongcheng brought some cigarettes and candy when playing. "Kangxi Tongcheng County Records" said, "Tongan County believes in ghosts and gods, so far away, father and son live in different places, and human nature is impetuous, harboring disasters and dying." Can it be said that Tongcheng people have been barbaric since ancient times?
Stealing that, too. Even though Tong Di's folk customs have been tough since ancient times, Kangxi's Tongcheng County Records also said, "Since Pingcheng (Southern Dynasties), its customs have changed quite a bit, pure and frugal, close to the funeral ceremony." Besides, people from other places call Tongcheng people sinister, but they will never call them barbaric or vulgar.
Although we can't know exactly the origin of "smashing the bride", the general development clues can still be guessed. (1) In the old society, people had a strong sense of territory. When passing through their territory, you have to leave some money to buy a road, otherwise you will be laughed at as weak and incompetent. In the old society, people were superstitious. A red wedding passed through a village. People in this village think that you have taken away your happiness and have to break it. Passing through a village for nothing. People in this village think that you bring bad luck, and you must set off firecrackers to scare them away. As for "smashing more and more", it is only an excuse for later development. It's like a person breaking something. Although he felt very uncomfortable in his heart, he said, "It will be safe if it is broken!"
In fact, there are some "smashing brides" similar to Tongcheng, such as the junction of Lujiang and Tongcheng and some places in Xuancheng. However, these two places are related to Tongcheng to some extent. Needless to say, Xuancheng in modern times had a large number of Tongcheng immigrants. As we all know, Tongcheng people mostly immigrated from Jiangxi and Hunan. It is estimated that these areas will have this legacy in nine cases out of ten.
Ten strange customs in Tongcheng (9): Cooking fish is not a dish.
Eating fish has many advantages, besides delicious taste and adjustable mouth, it can also cure diseases, strengthen the body and prolong life. During the New Year in China, eating fish is given a special meaning. It is also said that there are fish (surplus) every year, and there are fish (surplus) in Qing Ji. In most places, people eat fish for good luck on New Year's Eve, so fish is an essential dish. There used to be a pair of commonly used Spring Festival couplets: "The first spring in Xiangyang is always there, and the accumulation of goodness is not limited to celebration." In the past, some elegant intellectuals only ate fish and didn't eat meat, because these so-called gentlemen couldn't bear to eat their meat when they heard it, and the fish didn't howl when they were slaughtered.
In Tongcheng, everyone likes to eat fish, and there are generally three kinds of meals to entertain guests, which are home-cooked meals with chicken, fish and meat as the mainstay. Even if you sacrifice to your ancestors, bring three sacrificial bowls. There is a custom of cooking fish during Chinese New Year, and there is also a custom of cooking fish on New Year's Eve. However, for some reason, cooking fish at the dinner table is not a dish, and you must never move chopsticks. Can it be said that Tongcheng people don't want to "have fish (surplus) every year" and get lucky during the New Year? Don't! It turns out that Tongcheng people's thinking is different from that of ordinary people. In order to pursue "fish (surplus)" every year, people think that this "fish (surplus)" should be eaten, and Tongcheng people think that "fish (surplus)" should be "fish (surplus)", but it is not "fish (surplus)" after eating it.
I think it doesn't matter who is right or wrong, but the understanding of Tongcheng people has deep cultural connotation. Because it is normal to eat fish in the New Year, the cultural significance is not full now; It is not normal not to eat fish during the Spring Festival, and the culture is very symbolic. It's just that I can't even eat a fish in the New Year, and I'm a little sorry for my mouth and saliva. Because it is not very humanized, it is even more difficult for me, so many places have implemented appropriate flexibility and relaxed requirements. In these places, only fish are not eaten on New Year's Eve. From the first day of the first month to the fifteenth day of the first month, guests are invited to serve two bowls of fish. One bowl is edible, and the other bowl is not edible. Which bowl to eat depends on the host's greeting. What you can't eat is called "bowl fish", which means you can't move in the bowl. Later, I simply relaxed a little and served two bowls of fish on New Year's Eve. Anyway, after eating a bowl, there is still a bowl left, and I am not worried about "fish (leftover)".
It is possible that not eating fish on New Year's Eve is not a patent of Tongcheng, but this folk custom is certainly not universal. Moreover, even if you don't eat, the statement is not necessarily the same. For example, some places in the northeast don't eat fish for 30 nights, but they are afraid of being prickly all year round because fish are prickly; In the past, some places in the north not only didn't eat fish for 30 nights, but also didn't eat fish at any time because there was no foreign seasoning, so it was impossible to deodorize fish.
Ten Strange Folklores in Tongcheng (10): It brings fatigue to the next generation after death-avoid blood burial.
In the past, people everywhere attached great importance to funerals. As a funeral with obvious religious color, there are always some superstitious statements and practices, which can be described as varied and strange. However, no matter how weird, everyone generally respects the same belief: to be safe in the grave. According to Buddhism, you can only be reincarnated when you are buried. Therefore, after the vigorous funeral, the deceased must be buried as soon as possible, which is the first priority. In the past, when a person was miserable, he would say "just bury a handful of loess" to comfort himself; If a person is heinous, people will curse him for "no good end."
However, Tongcheng is determined to do the opposite. After death, blood burial should be avoided. They want to find a sheltered and feng shui place in the wild to put away the coffin and cover it with straw to prevent rain and snow, commonly known as "dustpan". At first glance, I must think that Tongcheng is a place where ethnic minorities live together, because some ethnic minorities like to dig holes and pile coffins between cliffs along the river, which is called "hanging coffin burial"; Some ethnic minorities put coffins in caves, which is called "cave burial"; Tibetans put coffins on a high platform, which is called "celestial burial".
The problem is that whether it is hanging coffin burial, cave burial or celestial burial, it belongs to a kind of "burial", that is, the final placement. Because these ethnic minorities are not buried, although they are not buried, they are already "safe". Tongcheng is a temporary measure. After three or five years, it was buried again. This leads to a problem: Tongcheng people believe in burial, and they also believe that burial is safe. Why don't they bury them? There must be a reason for this.
"Measures", temporary placement, to be buried or reburied. So why not bury it now? Modern people explain that they will only be reincarnated if they are released for more than three years. This is the opposite, not to the point. There are several reasons for not burying it temporarily:
(1) In the past, people were poor and couldn't afford to bury them, so they put them aside for the time being. When more people died at home, they could bury them together, which could reduce the cost.
(2) In the past, during the war, many people died in their hometown while fleeing, so they put it aside for the time being, waiting to go home and be buried. Ancient Huizhou also had the custom of planting flowers, but their conditions were better, not in the wild, but in a special bedroom.
(3) the custom of worrying for three years in the past, in order to be filial;
(4) Not finding a good cemetery or not being able to afford a cemetery at the moment;
(5) Burials are mostly in the distance, and burial is usually at home, which can provide convenience for the younger generation to sacrifice or cry. The combination of these five forces makes it a habit, and when the habit has been formed, even if these five forces do not exist, it has been deeply rooted as a custom.