the Spring Festival; Chinese New Year

On the first day of the first lunar month, folk customs call it "Chinese New Year". Chaoyi attaches great importance to this festival. Early in the morning, people visit relatives and friends, which is called "Happy New Year". Generally, people always bring "Daji" (that is, oranges are bigger than oranges, so it is called "Daji"), and the hosts who are interviewed also give "Daji" back as a sign of common good luck, and say "Happy New Year", "Happy New Year" and "Congratulations on getting rich" to each other. On New Year's Day, according to Jieyang tradition, most people have breakfast to show their respect and sincerity to the Buddha. During the Spring Festival, both cities and rural areas organize recreational activities, such as lion dancing, guessing games, walking scales and Chaozhou gongs and drums. In addition, adults will also give "lucky money" to the elderly and children.

Man has won the festival.

The seventh day of the first month is a day for people, that is, people win festivals From the custom of Kimichiro's Q&A, Dong Xun, "The first day of the first month is a chicken, the second day is a dog, the third day is a pig ... and the seventh day is a person". On that day, people cooked seven kinds of vegetables together into soup, saying that eating seven kinds of vegetables would lead to prosperity. This custom is still popular today.

the Lantern Festival

Also known as "Shangyuan Festival", it is the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. Jieyang folk custom should worship ancestors today. In some villages, there is also the custom of "ding wine" (note, families who gave birth to boys in those days will hold a banquet for their neighbors on this day. There are usually lanterns, fireworks, lion dances and other customs in county towns. In rural areas such as Puning, there is also the custom of "writing four sentences at the sight of the bride" at midnight.

Qingming Festival

Qingming is one of the 24 solar terms in the lunar calendar. Usually at the beginning of April every year (usually April 5). Around Tomb-Sweeping Day, it is time for people to pay homage to their ancestors and cherish the memory of martyrs.

Dragon Boat Festival

Commonly known as May Festival, it is the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. According to legend, in memory of the patriotic poet Qu Yuan, he threw himself into the river and died. On that day, most families ate zongzi. Jieyang still has the custom of "lifting dragons requires water" and "washing dragons requires bathing". It is said that during the Dragon Boat Festival, the water in the river is "dragon beard water", which can ward off evil spirits if eaten or washed. In addition, some places also hold "Dragon Boat Race" activities.

Walk out of the garden

In Jieyang Chaozhou-speaking area, men and women who have reached the age of 15 usually hold a ceremony of "leaving the garden" on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month to show that they have grown up. Similar to the modern "Adult Festival". When leaving the garden, grandpa's family gave his grandson a "garden ceremony". Generally, there are red rooster, Tilia amurensis and mash. Prepare more cloth or meat and eggs for the neighbors. The Xi family held a ceremony of "worshipping in-laws and mothers". On that day, children will eat sweet meatballs and eggs and sweet pork liver, which means that they have made great progress.

Ghosts'Festival

The fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, commonly known as "July and a half", is also called "Ghost Festival". There are ancestor worship activities in all parts of Chaozhou. One or two days before and after the festival, all kinds of good churches and temples also have "stone drums" relief activities.

Mid-Autumn Festival

On the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, families get together to eat moon cakes and enjoy fruits and the moon. There must be three kinds of folk Mid-Autumn Festival products in this area: moon cakes, taro and grapefruit. According to legend, in the early Yuan Dynasty, the rulers forced every Han family to have a Yuan soldier. Yuan soldiers were dissatisfied with their oppression, so they borrowed moon cakes to pass books and agreed that each family would kill their "Fan Yuan" at some time on the Mid-Autumn Festival night, which was a success overnight. At that time, the Han people called Yuan Bing "Tartars", so peeling taro in Mid-Autumn Festival was called "peeling ghost skin" and peeling grapefruit to eat meat was called "eating ghost meat". There are also activities such as "Yue Bai", swinging and burning tile towers. Overseas Chinese also like to visit relatives and reunite with their families during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Double Ninth Festival

Nine is the number of yang, so the ninth day of the ninth lunar month is called "Chongyang", which is the custom of climbing mountains every day. Many Rongcheng citizens visited Huang Qishan and Mozi. Fish porridge is eaten everywhere, and in some places there is the custom of eating chowder porridge. On this day, children will fly more paper kites. A folk song says, "On September 9th, birds (kites) are flying all over the sky."

Winter solstice

The winter solstice of the lunar calendar is a winter festival, commonly known as "off-year". In the old customs, gods and ancestors were worshipped in winter festivals, and dumplings must be included in the offerings to show a happy reunion. There is a folk saying that "if you eat a round winter festival, you will be one year older." It is also useful to stick dumplings on utensils, pillars and cows to pray for a bumper harvest.

Step 2 get married

The old wedding custom in Jieyang has to go through six procedures, such as asking names, taking Ji, winning prizes, inviting parties, recruiting relatives and welcoming relatives, which are called "Six Rites". In some places, there is a custom that daughters sleep on straw mats on the eve of marriage. According to legend, this custom originated from a stepmother who abused and humiliated her daughter left by their predecessors the year before and made her sleep like this. Unexpectedly, the daughter became rich and her children made a fortune. Since then, people have followed suit. In addition, there are customs such as "Uncle You" and "Doing Four Sentences". "Uncle Jumping Friends" means that my brother will bring five kinds of gifts to the man's house on his daughter's wedding day, which is called "Uncle Jumping Friends". It is the most popular in the groom's house, usually in the chief banquet seat. "Making four sentences" refers to various wedding ceremonies. The woman's family wants to hire an old woman who looks like the object in the play and sing four "greetings" to preside over the ceremony. The four sentences are conventional and self-edited, mostly rhyming and humorous. There is also a custom of uncovering the city, which is rare in other areas. If a man or woman is about to get married, they must get married within 100 days in case there is a funeral at home (generally referring to their elders), otherwise it is feasible to hold the wedding ceremony after three years.

These old customs have survived in some places, but in most areas, weddings are new and simple, and even group weddings, tourist weddings and other fashions have gradually become a trend.

3. Dragon Boat Race

Jieyang dragon boat race has a history of more than 300 years. Jieyang, known as the water town, is surrounded by criss-crossing streams. Rongjiang, Lianjiang and Longjiang are good places to row dragon boats because of their long water depth, wide river surface and calm waters. Dragon boat racing has been going on for generations.

Jieyang Dragon Boat, with uniform specifications, is the longest and largest in Chaoshan cities and counties: the length is 32 meters, the width is 1.5 meters, 25 pairs of paddles, 1 rudder. Jieyang Dragon Boat is beautiful in shape, magnificent in spirit, long in neck, high in dragon head, majestic and handsome. Every year before the Dragon Boat Festival, when the dragon boat falls into the water, a ceremony will be held and then training will be conducted, which is called "rowing test".

There are four forms of dragon boat race: exhibition race, friendly race, win-lose race and championship race. Ding Richang, a former governor of Fujian in the late Qing Dynasty, once hosted a banquet in Nanhe of Rongjiang and invited dragon boat teams from Chaoyang, Puning and Jieyang to compete when he settled in Jieyang in his later years. As a result, Jieyang Red Cotton Boat won the championship, and Ding Richang awarded the red velvet banner of "Imperial Ding Shang".