Shicheng County, Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province is located in the southeast of Jiangxi Province, at the west foot of the middle section of Wuyi Mountain in Fujian and Jiangxi provinces. It is named because it is surrounded by rocks and towering like a city. Shicheng is the source of Ganjiang River, an important tributary of the Yangtze River. Its special geographical location and climate characteristics make Shicheng play an important role in the development of Hakka people. According to historical records and a large number of experts' arguments, Shicheng is one of the cradles of Hakka people and a transit point for their ancestors to move southward and eastward. Shicheng Lantern Festival took root and sprouted in this thick land of Shicheng, and became an important cultural and artistic phenomenon in Hakka culture.
In Shicheng dialect, lanterns and dancing lanterns have the meaning of wishing Dingkou prosperity, making Dingcai prosperous and celebrating good luck, so they are very popular with people. The Shicheng Lantern Festival is also entrusted with the worship of gods and Vulcan. The main expression purpose of Shicheng Lantern Festival is to pray for national peace, favorable weather, abundant crops and eliminate disasters and evils. The main forms are the Lantern Festival and various festivals from the first day of the first month to the fifteenth day of the first month, as well as Christmas celebrations of various temples and bodhisattvas, such as swimming, swimming and walking.
Every year from the first day of the first month to the fifteenth day of the first month, the masses will spontaneously form many lanterns to perform in the village. There are dozens of lanterns, lion lanterns, lanterns lanterns and so on. Used in performances. Except for the dragon lantern, all the other lamps are made of various kinds of paper or yarn by skilled craftsmen, with vivid images, bright colors and ingenious workmanship. The lantern festival is accompanied by musical instruments, singing and dancing, with rich dance movements and diverse styles: dragon lanterns and lion lanterns are mainly stepping, swinging and turning, interspersed with martial arts, and their movements are rough and bold; The performers of tea basket lamp and boat lamp can be divided into Dan and ugly. Xiao Dan's dance moves are lively, colorful and provocative, and ugly and humorous. ...
Lantern Festival has a broad mass base in Shicheng. According to the survey, there are more than 350 lantern teams and more than 5,000 amateur actors in the county. Banqiao Lantern, popular in Mulan Township, is a trick that all men can play. The lantern king "Stalk Dragon Lantern" will play tricks on boys over six years old in rural areas. Women and children all know the lamp, but everyone knows the lamp. Shicheng Lantern Festival is deeply loved by the masses and plays a very important role in enriching the spiritual and cultural life of the masses and promoting the unity, cooperation and harmony of the neighbors.
In the Southern Tang Dynasty, Shicheng Lantern Festival was popular among the people. According to legend, the "dragon lantern with stalks" was produced in the period of the ancient Yellow Emperor. According to legend, the Yellow Emperor had a dragon in his hand called Ying Huanglong. In the battle between the Yellow Emperor and Chilong and Kuafu, it made great contributions and ruled the rainfall. Later, whenever there was a great drought, people tied the straw into "welcoming the Huanglong", which was called "dragon lantern with stalks" and danced in the corner of the field to eliminate the disaster.
Tea basket lamp has a beautiful story. Liu, who was born at the end of Qin Dynasty, was made a lamp fairy by the Jade Emperor, and married the son of "Tongtianzhai" Orion. Seven tea saplings were secretly brought down from Tianchi and planted in a stable near Tongtianyan, becoming a delicious "Tongtianyan Tea". After "Tongtian Rock Tea" was presented to the imperial court, the emperor was delighted to taste tea. He specially presented a louver umbrella and ordered the eunuch to take 2,200 taels of silver to send the tribute tea man home. On the fifteenth day of the first month, when he arrived in the county seat, Liu led men and women to hold various pictographic lanterns, and sang and danced with her husband under a louver umbrella. So, the man holds an umbrella, the woman carries a tea basket or carries it, and the singing and dancing tea basket lights are handed down. Tea basket lamp is the accumulation of Hakka production and life, which is artistic.
The emergence of Shicheng Lantern Festival is inevitable for many reasons such as history, region and geography. The development of Shicheng Lantern Festival is precisely because of the Hakka people's nostalgia for the homeland of the Central Plains and the need of cultural inheritance in the Central Plains. Hakka people have left their hometown and live in two places. The conditions are difficult and they need a spirit. It's festive and warm. God, a fire lamp is the best choice. In addition, the Hakkas who are in other places need to unite with the people of the same clan and village in the form of "Yuanxiao" to gather strength. Mulan "Banqiao Lantern" and Zhuolong "Snake Lantern" Lantern Festival can only be held with the full cooperation of people with the same surname or one village or several villages.
Shicheng Lantern Festival is rooted in the transfer station and is an important part of Hakka development. Hakka people inherit the Central Plains culture and boldly combine with local indigenous culture and folk customs, forming their own unique artistic style and characteristics of folk art.. Shicheng Lantern Festival is a developing art, and with the development of the times, the content and form of lanterns also change with the development of the times.
In Shicheng County, elderly people talk about Lantern Festival activities with relish, and there are always endless stories about watching lanterns. However, in the minds of young people, the folk Lantern Festival, which has lasted for thousands of years, seems to lack the brilliant memory it deserves. At present, with Shicheng Lantern Festival successfully listed in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage list recommended projects, Shicheng once again set off a lantern festival fever.
Lantern Festival is a characteristic project of Hakka culture in Shicheng, which has experienced a glorious period, especially the cultural programs adapted from the performances of Shicheng Lantern Festival, and has achieved good results in domestic competitions and exhibitions for many times. 1992, Shicheng county was awarded the title of "hometown of Yuanxiao" by Jiangxi Provincial Department of Culture because of its active activities of Yuanxiao.
Xiong Feijun, director of the Shicheng County Cultural Center, said that at most, there were 385 light teams in Shicheng County, with an average of 3 light teams in each village; Up to now, there are only more than 30 in the county, and some of them can only be regarded as' mixed brands', and their performance skills and level are very low.
Shicheng County Cultural Center has done a lot of repair, excavation, inheritance and development work for Shicheng Lantern Festival, making Shicheng Lantern Festival a bright pearl in Hakka culture. However, with the continuous development of society, people's lifestyle, hobbies, outlook on life and values have undergone tremendous changes, and with the influence of foreign culture, the Lantern Festival, a traditional folk art, has been strongly impacted.
As a bright pearl in Hakka culture, Shicheng Lantern Festival plays a connecting role in the whole Hakka culture in Shicheng. As a folk dance, Shicheng Hakka Lantern Festival is rare in the records of China's cultural and artistic treasures. Its excavation, inheritance, arrangement, protection and development are of great value to the study of Hakka folk customs, folk customs and beliefs.
In order to improve the popularity of Shicheng Lantern Festival and let more people realize the importance and urgency of protecting and inheriting Shicheng Lantern Festival, Shicheng County is conducting a large-scale survey throughout the county to find out the development status of Shicheng Lantern Festival in an all-round way, and comprehensively and systematically record the development origin, protection value, lighting production skills, lighting songs and tunes, artist list and other materials in the form of words, recordings, videos and photos. For some Lantern Festival performances that are facing loss, it is necessary to implement rescue repair. At the same time, this year, the county will hold a lantern show and a lantern festival, and publish "Shicheng Hakka Lantern Collection" to stimulate the enthusiasm of the masses through various lantern festival activities.
Xiong Feijun, director of Shicheng County Cultural Center, said that the successful declaration of Shicheng Lantern Festival as the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage is only the beginning. The county is prepared to further increase investment, focus on training a group of professional lighting producers, lantern festival performances and program creators, and designate old lantern festival technicians and literary and art experts to help guide the folk lantern festival team; Set out to compile the local curriculum of Shicheng Lantern Festival in primary and secondary schools, carry out lantern festival activities into campus activities, guide schools to form lantern festival teams, and improve young people's understanding and appreciation of this traditional culture in their hometown. When conditions are ripe, the county will also set up one or two large-scale lantern festival performance companies through market-oriented operation mode, focusing on promoting the cultural brand of Shicheng Lantern Festival, so that Shicheng Lantern Festival can go abroad and go global.