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Symbolic and Metaphorical Characteristics of Chaoshan Folklore and Its Cultural Significance
Symbolization refers to the use of certain concrete things to express certain imagery. Physical symbols in folklore are a kind of cultural phenomenon created by the people, as well as a form of art and aesthetics created by the people, in which the people have a beautiful association with the future, and a kind of longing for the sky, the earth, the human being as well as the history and the reality. Chaoshan folklore has colorful physical symbols.

New Year's Eve

On New Year's Eve, families gather around the stove to eat New Year's Eve dinner, and they must eat meatballs or fishballs to symbolize family reunion and year-round surplus; they eat blood arkshells (the shells of which are known as ark shells money to the Teochew people) to symbolize that they will make a fortune in the New Year; they eat pig's feet to symbolize that they have a head start in the years to come; they have to keep the tanks full of water, the rice tanks full of rice, and their lamps cannot be extinguished to symbolize that they will not go out for years and years to come. Can not be extinguished, a symbol of years of surplus, year after year, not cut off the cooking; every family set tangerines, a symbol of good luck; early on the first day of the morning to eat spinach (folk called "Flying Dragon dishes"), dried beans, a symbol of the rapid development, wealth and official.

The seventh day of the first month of the Lunar New Year for the People's Day Festival. Chaoshan people people day festival food "seven kinds of soup" custom, generally celery, green onions, garlic, spring vegetables, large (mustard) vegetables, coriander, thick Hop (i.e., "lily", produced in the field, used to feed pigs, not traditional Chinese medicine "Lily "), are harmonized to take the meaning of good luck. Celery, harmonic Qin Cai, a symbol of diligence and wealth; green onions, harmonic Cong, a symbol of cleverness; garlic, harmonic count, a symbol of money count; spring vegetables, harmonic Spring Cai, a symbol of wealth; mustard, the Chao people called the big vegetables, harmonic Da Cai, also a symbol of wealth; coriander, harmonic edge with, a symbol of marriage to come; Lily, a symbol of all things together and all things are as good as they can be. Together, it becomes an auspicious phrase: hardworking, smart and capable of calculating, with the fate of encounter, the New Year to make a fortune, all things think together, all the best. If you replace the leek, it is "long time to be rich".

The seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar is the fifteenth year old child to do "out of the garden" custom, which is the child to bid farewell to the children and held a unique rite of passage customs. On this day, the child should eat the parents prepared in advance pig offal (intestines, belly, liver, kidney, heart) sweet soup, the implication is that fifteen years old, people must be new offal, renewed thinking, abandon the dirty things. At noon home to prepare a hearty lunch, with meat, three birds eggs and other **** twelve dishes. The green vegetables to thick Hopewell, green garlic, green onions, celery-based, implying that the child grows up to be able to count will be removed, smart and diligent, and everywhere with the mind to think. On this day, to let the children out of the garden in the meal to sit in the right place, eat chicken head (male for the rooster head, female for the head of the hen), the meaning is to grow up to be able to get ahead and prosper.

In addition, there is the Dragon Boat Festival to eat dumplings, symbolizing a strong body; the Mid-Autumn Festival to eat mooncakes, the Winter Festival to eat dumplings, symbolizing the family reunion; and so on.

Time of Celebration

Chaoshan wedding customs in the female side in the male side after receiving the bride price, with the post to rehire, and reply to a certain gift, mainly: mandarin ducks banana (bananas with double twins), symbolizing the couple's closeness; pig's liver and heart of a pig, indicating that the liver and gallbladder of the same heart; male and female chickens each one, symbolizing the mandarin ducks than the wings. After receiving the pig heart and liver from the woman, the man's family should also eat it with sugar and green onion after cooking it with his family and friends, which symbolizes "men and women with one heart". Puning Hongyang wedding customs in addition to the female party hired to return the male sugar package, but also to send two clumps of spring grass, symbolizing the grass knot hair; pig heart a symbol of concentricity; five kinds of seeds (rice, mung beans, yeast cake, dried longan, potato flour round), symbolizing the five sons; bananas, a number of symbols of recruiting children into the line; sweet sugar udou ball, symbolizing the Keshao beads. Chaoshan folk men and women married on the day, regardless of the cottage door, ancestral hall door, hall door, door, sedan chair door on the lintel, are to paste a strip of red paper in the shape of a "unicorn to this", paste such red paper strips both expressed good luck, Jia Rui Zhenxiang's role, and more importantly, is to symbolize the bride's early birth of a noble son. In addition to prepare the dowry on this day, the female party should also prepare for the marriage of special items, mainly: First, "sedan chair shoes" 5 pairs, spring, summer, fall and winter each pair, plus a pair of water shoes, said the husband and wife rain and wind with the same heart, *** with the good road ahead; second is the silk and white silk bondage chopsticks, a metaphor for early marriage, husband and wife, and grow old together; third is the tangerine cake Third, tangerine cake, dried longan each bowl (commonly known as the "Gong and Granny Bowl"), for the newlyweds to worship "flower Gong Hua Ma", and as a symbol of sweet life; Fourth, incense powder and five-color silk thread. Before the marriage of the woman, to use silk thread "pulled face", meaning "to open the forehead", symbolizing enlightenment, will be home; five is red shell, wine cake, mung beans, corn, sesame and other five-color seeds, meaning "five sons to the Academy "Sixth, the "mandarin ducks bibs" (also known as "purse", "waist bag") a, used to contain the five-color seeds and the newly cut A "mandarin ducks grass" (double thick herb) grass head and a pair of "Ruyi", a metaphor for married couples, pairs, good luck. Seven is a handkerchief twisted brown sugar, the bride out of the cabinet at the beginning of the handkerchief wrapped in brown sugar twisted in the hands, to the husband's home, in the cover before the well, to be poured into the well of brown sugar, meaning that the bride "together inside and outside together Alcove," "over the door and people cherish"; eight is a fan (Harmony) "send son") and so on.

Birthday gift

Old Shantung people's "birthday" activities are generally held until the age of 60 to start celebrating. At the birthday banquet, there must be a plate of noodles, called long (longevity) noodles. The word "long noodle" means "long life", which symbolizes longevity and prolonged life. Chao custom to eat longevity noodles with eggs, eggs can hatch chicks, is a symbol of life, and long noodles with the long, implies people's expectations and wishes for longevity. Because of the birthday to eat longevity noodles, so friends and relatives also longevity noodles as a birthday gift of choice. Some rich people who meet friends and relatives birthday, they sent to the birthday noodles, usually hiccup foot (a wooden or bamboo utensils made of. In the old days, the Chaozhi area was mostly used to hold gifts of friendship and entertainment). Eggs are placed underneath, and longevity noodles are placed on top. The length of the birthday noodles is more than three feet, usually to make up an even number. Placement of birthday noodles first to be installed into a circle of the face of the beam, disk into a high tower, giving people a towering feeling, and then inserted on the top of the word birthday, outside the cover with red and green wisps of paper flowers, a metaphor for the birthday of the star of the high light, the life long.

The gift of admission

Children enrolled in school on this day, breakfast, parents must be organized a few dishes: one is sliced pig liver with sugar and green onions, celery fried, or dried beans (dried bean curd) block with green onions, celery, sugar fried to "celery" and "hard" harmonics, "hard" and "hard". The word "celery" harmonizes with "qin", "green onion" harmonizes with "chong", "liver" harmonizes with "guan", and "dried bean curd" harmonizes with "chong". Harmony and "dried beans" symbolizes the official seal, etc., implying diligence and progress, reading will be smart, enlightened, and grow up to be an official; the second is a boiled dragon arrowhead fish or scaled fish to "scale" and "dragon" harmony, meaning that the child will jump the Dragon Gate in the future, and the child will jump the Dragon Gate in the future. The second is boiled dragon swordfish or scale fish, to "scale" and "dragon" sound, meaning that the child will jump the Dragon Gate in the future, outstanding; third is a pair of red eggs, meaning that the child can be in the "double yuan". After breakfast, parents that is prepared to bring ritual items, namely sugar onions (a porous candy made of sugar) a box, meaning that the child will be reading sweet and through the meaning of the child into the classroom, that is, the sugar onions to the teacher and classmates (classmates), to show that into the Confucius door of the child to respect teachers, unity of the classmates, *** with the study, *** with the progress.

Taboo is the taboo mentality and behavior that people hold for sacred or unclean and dangerous things. Folk believe that the sacred things, if it is casually mentioned or used, it will degrade its divinity, is a kind of blasphemy. Violation of this taboo will lead to misfortune; following this taboo will bring happiness and peace. One should also refrain from casual contact with despised untouchables and unclean and dangerous objects.

The Chaoshan folk taboos, there are industry taboos, human body taboos, marriage taboos, birth taboos, funeral taboos, speech taboos and natural objects taboos and so on, here to talk about the industry and human body taboos.

I, industry taboos

Chaoshan is located in the Han River Delta, fertile farmland, agricultural production plays an important role. In the past, people relied on the sky to eat, paying close attention to the agricultural season, always pinning their hopes for harvest on the gods. Therefore, when worshipping the land, they must be very respectful and must not speak out of turn.

The Chaoshan people on the first day of the New Year, most of them have the custom of abstaining from productive labor. For one thing, people are busy with entertainment, socializing and rituals; for another, working on the ground on the first day of the New Year is a sign that the person will be a hard worker from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.

For some of the first growth of flowers and fruits, people carefully care, but also formed a number of taboos. Such as lotus, when the lotus root is planted, it can not be alarmed. When the lotus is about to bloom, not only can not move it, and even a finger is not allowed, because this will make the lotus withered. If the lotus is planted in their own homes, there are more taboos, not in the lotus tank above the sunshine clothes; watering, must use clean water; to fertilize the lotus, can not use dung drowning, but must be used to dregs, soybean cake, pig's hooves, paw, wrapped in paper raped and then buried in the lotus tank.

To the harvest season, it is taboo to say unlucky words. Folklore: a farmer sowing season down to the ground, see others respectfully bowing to the land god, but he laughed and said: "I do not worship, still can get high yield." The god of the land became angry. Soon his seedlings were all yellow and he was about to lose his harvest. The farmer cried out and knelt down to repent to the God of the Land. That night, he dreamed that the God of the Land said to him, "I wanted to punish you for your disrespectful sin, but since you are known to be repentant, I will forgive you. You will bring you a harvest of ten quintals of grain if you take care of the one seedling in your field." The farmer was convinced and went to the field to see that there was indeed a seedling very green, so he tended it carefully. He waited until it was time to draw the ears. Only then did the seedling bear a single grain. The grain grew bigger and bigger, as big as an olive. When people harvested the grain with joy, the farmer looked at the grain and stared at it in disbelief. Although this grain grows strangely, it can't hold up to ten quarts of grain. When he was worried, he dreamed that night that the God of the Land would send him a dream: "Tomorrow, you will pick this grain and bring it to the city. The owner of the rice shop in the city is unkind and addicted to gambling, so you can bet ten quintals of grain with him with this grain." The farmer followed the plan and really got ten quarts of grain. The farmer was overjoyed, and hastened to prepare five sacrificial animals to worship the land.

Pig-raising is a very common side business for farmers, and it is one of the "ways of wealth" for farmers. Therefore, there are a lot of taboos and customs about raising pigs.

Built pigsties, to be very careful, not only to see the "feng shui", "foundation", but also to choose an auspicious day to break ground. After the construction, will be written "six animals prosperous" words of paper stick in the circle, so that God blessed the pig "night big thousand kilograms, day big eight hundred".

Buying a pig is not to buy a pig whose head is too big, such a pig will not grow fast; not to buy a "broken head pig" (a black pig with a handful of white hairs on its head or a white pig with a handful of black hairs on its head), and a "pig with filial piety" (a black pig with a white head or a black pig with a white tail), such a pig will not live long; a "spinning" pig will have a "spinning" pig, which is not a good pig, and a "spinning" pig will not live long. Raw "spin" on the head, the mouth is too long, too sharp, ears too thin pig can not be bought; the whole body of the hair inverted or five paws of the pig can not be bought, because the inverted hair means that the back of the time back to the luck, and the five-clawed is said to be the spirit of the Bodhisattva changed, the folk do not dare to keep. If you accidentally buy such a pig, you must release it. After the pig is bought home, the bristles should be cut off, the rice slop will be poured on the pig's head. In this way, it means that the pig has been returned to its own family.

Chaoshan is bordered by the sea, and the rivers are intertwined, so there are many taboos in the fishing and shipping industries. In terms of language, it is taboo to say "overturn", "sink", "down", etc. on board. If the boat sun clothes, avoid turning over in the outside; dinner fashion finished rice, rice spoon to straight into the pot, can not be put down; eating fish, one side of the finished can not be straight over, must be turned over when the flip side to say "Shun over".

When the boat is sailing, avoid meeting fish and snakes. Encountered a snake crossing the road, boat people must speed up the boat, in the snake is not over the bow when the first to sail through. It is said that the boat is a dragon, the dragon if you lose the snake will be bad luck; boat driving, a fish jumped on the boat, can not catch and stand, but put them back into the water, and to catch two handfuls of rice sprinkled into the water, it is said that the fish is a relative of the King of the Dragon, jumped on the boat is to feed; also said that these fish are turned into the water ghosts, jumped on the boat is in order to test the hearts of people who covet a small profit, will be retaliated against.

There are also taboos for boat passengers. If the boat carries a bride, the bride will have to play umbrella, umbrella handle hanging a string of pork. Boat docking, if there is another bride to take the boat, then, the two brides can not go without saying hello, should be taken out of their own handkerchiefs, handing over to the bridesmaids to exchange each other. If there is no bridesmaid, the two brides will have to exchange their own hands to express mutual congratulations.

The boat family also has a happy, is the boat pregnant women suddenly in labor. "The birth of a child means that the boat family will have business and will soon be rich. If this happens, the boat family will be happy to cook sugar noodles, eggs and make sumptuous dishes to entertain the mother. The most taboo thing for the boatman to encounter is the death of a person on board. If unfortunately the boat dead, in addition to the body immediately pushed into the water, but also quickly kill the dog, with the dog's blood sprinkled all over the ship, and then rinse with water.

Two, the human body taboos

Hair taboos: Chaoshan people's homes, such as the death of a parent, the male family members are generally not allowed to cut the hair, shaving within a month or a hundred days. Because the hair must be subjected to the parents, it cannot be abandoned when the forefathers die. It is also said that this is to express the memory of loved ones, sadness and feelings. On weekdays, the first day, fifteen two days can not cut hair, otherwise the elders in the family have obstacles. White hair on the head, can not be pulled out. Eyebrows are also highly valued by people, generally thick and thick for men, thin and light for women. If a woman has thick eyebrows like a man, it is seen as a symbol of viciousness and shrewdness. If there are a few eyebrows that are particularly long, commonly known as "longevity eyebrows", the person will live a long life. These eyebrows should not be plucked out, or they will lose their life.

Head and face taboo: head is the most honorable part of the human body, can not be easily desecrated. Children can not hit the head of the mistake, the common belief that hitting the head will make the child dementia. The child's head can not be hit with a scale, or it will lose count later. Face also has many taboos: taboo moles, taboo women with high cheekbones, more taboo brain and chin asymmetry.

Eyes and nose taboo: "left eye jumping wealth, right eye jump disaster." If the left eye is constantly jumping, it means there is wealth and blessing; if the right eye keeps jumping, it means there may be a little trouble. As for sneezing, the Chaoshan people generally believe that: it is a sign that someone is thinking about or someone is cursing them behind their back. This custom has a long history. In "Poetry Classic - Name Wind - Final Wind", it is said, "Wake up and say no sleep, wish to say then sneeze." Zhu Xi said: "Wish, think also. Sneeze, congested sneeze." Mao poetry notes: "Today, the common people sneeze, said people say I. This ancient legacy of language."

Mouth and mouth taboos: Shantou saying: "Men with big mouths eat four sides, women with big mouths eat chaff." It means that a man with a big mouth is a blessing, and a woman with a big mouth is not a blessing. Folklore thought, children lost teeth, upper teeth to throw to the bottom of the bed, lower teeth to throw to the top of the bed or the roof, so that the teeth grow faster. Throw the teeth to throw to no one, beware of being stepped on, so they will be bad luck. Children grow new teeth, can not use the tongue to lick the root of the teeth, or grow new teeth will be crooked.