On the origin and customs of March 3rd Festival in Guangxi
"March 3rd of Zhuang" is not only an important traditional festival of Zhuang nationality in Guangxi, but also an important traditional festival of Han, Yao, Miao, Dong, Mulao and Maonan nationalities. The following is my careful arrangement about the origin and customs of the March 3rd Festival in Guangxi. Welcome to learn from and refer to it. I hope it will help you.
The origin of March 3rd Festival in Guangxi
The third day of the third lunar month, also known as "March 3rd Song Festival" or "March Song Fair", is a traditional song festival of Zhuang people. There are several regular folk song gatherings of Zhuang nationality every year, such as 15th day of the first month, 3rd day of March, 8th day of April, 15th day of August, etc., among which 3rd day of March is the most grand.
every year on the third day of the third lunar month (hereinafter referred to as "March 3"), spring returns, the spring sun moves in shadow. In some parts of China, the Han nationality and some ethnic minorities celebrate this traditional festival in various forms. March 3rd originated from the "Shangsi Festival" in ancient China (in ancient times, the first day of the third month of the lunar calendar was called "Shangsi Festival", which was also called "Xiuzhe Festival"). It was a festival of praying for disaster among Huaxia people in the Zhou Dynasty. The original meaning of Shangsi Festival was a custom activity of begging for marriage and seeking fertility based on witchcraft belief, and it later evolved into an ancient song festival of men and women falling in love in China. In the Han Dynasty, March "Shangji" was designated as a festival. After Wei Dynasty, Shangsi was officially designated as Spring Wedge on the third day of March in the summer calendar, which was regarded as an important festival in the middle of each year. By the Jin Dynasty, Shangsi Xiuji had evolved into an entertainment festival of spring outing and waterside feasting. During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the last spring outing gradually gave way to Tomb-Sweeping Day, and the wedge game was not limited to March 3rd. March 3rd in Guangxi, also known as "March 3rd Song Festival" in some places, is a traditional song festival of Zhuang nationality. In some places, ancestor worship and mountain worship are traditional festivals, with different styles, origins and customs.
There are several legends about the origin of the Zhuang people's "March 3rd" Song Fair (or Song Festival). First, it is said from ancient times that singing can entertain the spirit, eliminate disasters and seek good weather, and then it developed into a regular Song Fair on March 3rd. Second, a long time ago, there was a pair of young men and women who loved each other since childhood. They were very good at singing folk songs, and their love was expressed in folk songs. However, due to family opposition, they could not get married, so they both fell in love. In order to commemorate the faithful couple, young people focus on singing folk songs every year on the day of their double suicide, and gradually form the March 3 rd Song Fair. Third, in the Tang Dynasty, a fairy named Liu Sanjie sang folk songs to praise labor and love, and exposed the sins of the rich people. Therefore, the rich people held a grudge, and when she went up the mountain to cut firewood, she sent someone to cut off the vines, causing Third Sister to fall to the mountain and die. In order to commemorate this fairy, later generations sang folk songs for three days and three nights on the third day of the third lunar month, the day of Third Sister's death, and the song fair was formed.
(2) Fourth, in ancient times, a family had three beautiful daughters, and people came to propose marriage in an endless stream, but their parents didn't like it. Later, my father thought of an idea-let the offspring who proposed to marry me sing on the spot, and whoever sings best will marry the beautiful daughter. As a result, through singing, all three daughters found the right husband. Since then, singing has become a form of male courtship and has developed into a fair.
③ Although these legends are not recorded in official history, they are in line with historical materialism.
In the traditional March 3rd Song Festival, different forms of song concerts were held in all parts of the world. Some hold a song fair on the slope of the cave. Some set up a singing studio at the head of the village to pick up singers. Some hold song fairs along highways and villages. Around the Gexu field, vendors gather and folk trade is active. Thousands of men, women and children from dozens of miles in Fiona Fang came to participate in the larger song fair, with a sea of people, singing one after another and being very lively. According to preliminary statistics, among the 642 song fairs in the whole region, 96 (14%) took March 3rd as the song fair day. It is distributed in 22 places in Donglan, 2 places in Wuming County, 19 places in Du 'an, 7 places in Xincheng, 6 places in Mashan and Longzhou and 5 places in Bama. There are few in western Guangxi, only two in Jingxi County.
④ The traditional and famous song fairs on March 3rd include Wuming County, Nayang, Ningwu, Xiaolu, Donglan Sanka 'ao, Mashan Yongzhou, Panyang River in Bama, Jingxi Cave, Mianshan and Jifa in Du 'an, Rongshui Sanfang on March 3rd, Xincheng Sanfeng, Xiajian in Yishan and Yufeng Mountain in Liuzhou. There are competition songs and appreciation songs on the traditional song fair; There are also young men and women who have friendship with songs, touch eggs, talk about love, give each other tokens, and make love with things. In addition, there are recreational activities such as throwing hydrangeas, touching eggs and performing Zhuang opera, which are spent by men, women and children in a lively and extraordinary festive atmosphere.
Some contemporary song fairs on March 3rd are held regularly by the government year after year. For example, Nanning International Folk Song Art Festival, Wuming, Bama, Long 'an, Huanjiang, Liujiang and other counties hold the Song Festival or the Zhuang March 3 Tourism Festival every year. For example, since 1985, Wuming County has held the "March 3rd" Zhuang Song Festival every year. The activities include performances and competitions of thousands of people, the third Guangxi Song King Competition, national sports competitions, cultural performances in the square, and tourism and food festivals. Another example is Shanglin County, which has successfully held the 6th March 3rd "Shimen Dragon Mother Festival" since 26. In addition to government-run, more people spontaneously organize and carry out the March Third Mountain Song Festival. Such as Yashan Scenic Area in Liucheng County, Wudeng Village in Lipu County, Poxin Village in Paoli Township of Fengshan County, Balong Village in Baile Village of Changzhou Township, Square Village in Beijing Township of Dahua Yao Autonomous County, Shidou Village in Pingshan Town of Luzhai County, etc. The March 3rd Song Festival was held not only in Guangxi, but also in other places. Such as Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, etc., Zhuang people also hold March 3 activities in various forms every year. Shanghai is the largest and best-run city. Since 29, the city has successfully held five consecutive series of activities, namely, "Guangxi March 3rd Song Fair Singing Big China". It's true: the motherland smells songs everywhere, and romantic songs fill China.
March 3rd is not only a traditional song festival of Zhuang nationality, but also a traditional festival of Han, Dong and Miao nationalities in Guangxi. In Yulin, a city in the Han nationality area, in recent years, the folk also spontaneously held the March 3 rd Song Festival, which has been held for five consecutive years, and the March 3 rd Song Festival resounded through the Nanliu River. In Fulu Miao Township, Sanjiang Dong Autonomous County, fireworks-grabbing activities are held every year on the third day of the lunar calendar, and the 129th national traditional fireworks festival has been held continuously, which is a unique traditional cultural activity in Dong Township with a history of 3 to 4 years. During the festival, there are traditional dragon and lion performances, Lusheng stepping on the hall, Dong folk songs, Liujia folk songs, color tones, Guangxi opera, Dong township movies, Dong opera, traditional story-dressing, bonfire and many other performances. In addition, there are thousands of people drinking tea, fighting cocks, fighting birds and other performances, as well as strange stone exhibitions, national costume exhibitions, commodity fairs, Dong sesame oil tea and other food exhibitions.
"March 3rd" in Guangxi is not only a song festival, but also a grave-sweeping festival for the ancestors of Zhuang people. On that day, every family of Zhuang compatriots in Chongzuo, Baise and other cities and counties in western Guangxi held a grand annual ancestor worship to sweep the grave. The so-called grave-sweeping means that all families and families focus on the graves of their ancestors. Zhuang language in southwest Guangxi calls sweeping graves "participation in graves" or "monument graves". Grave-sweeping Festival is the most grand and solemn festival of Zhuang nationality every year. People think that the third day of the third lunar month is the most important festival, and people in distant places will go back to their hometowns to sweep graves. This day is the day when the most people get together in a year. Among the Liao songs that have been circulated among the Zhuang people for thousands of years, "March Song Steamed Black Rice to Worship the Mountain" sings: "On the third day of March, every family steamed black rice and gave me a group or two to worship the grave mountain." This is the record of Zhuang people's custom of sweeping graves on March 3rd. Zhuang people sweep graves, which is very rich in content. Usually, young and old people come to the cemetery with sacrifices, and their rituals mainly include weeding and adding soil, trimming the cemetery, burning incense to the grave, offering sacrifices, bowing down and toasting, burning money, hanging money, setting off firecrackers and praying for ancestors to bless their families' happiness and well-being. Whenever the Tomb Sweeping Festival is held, the land in western Guangxi is covered with mountains and fields, with money hanging from the graves and firecrackers sounding incessantly. It is not only an annual gathering to worship ancestors, but also an outing in spring.
Five-colored glutinous rice is an essential sacrifice for Zhuang people to worship their ancestors on March 3rd. As for the origin of the five-color glutinous rice on March 3rd, there are four legends: First, it originated from the little snake that turned into a dragon in the legend of the Zhuang nationality. The little snake has five colors: black, red, yellow, purple and white. Therefore, in order to commemorate the filial piety of this little snake, people dyed the glutinous rice with various plants such as maple leaves to form five colors together with the white glutinous rice on March 3rd. The second is to commemorate the Zhuang hero Wei Dagui. After Wei Dagui was persecuted to death by the landlord, Zhuang people often took glutinous rice to pay homage to his grave. One day, when paying homage, it suddenly became stormy and thunderous, and the juice of various plants on the grave fell into the glutinous rice and dyed it colorful. Wei Dagui broke out of the grave and turned into a dragon. Third, a filial young man carries his disabled mother on his back to take care of him every day when he goes up the mountain to get firewood. But the monkeys on the mountain always take away the rice balls prepared by the young man for his mother. In order to prevent his mother from starving, the young man tried to dye the rice balls with maple leaves, and the rice balls were never taken away by the monkeys. Later, people dyed the rice balls with various plants. Fourth, a young couple heard all kinds of grains in the laundry list complaining that all kinds of plants have beautiful flowers and clothes to wear, and the color of rice is monotonous and ugly, so they picked all kinds of plants and cooked glutinous rice on March 3 to please the god of grains, and they have had bumper harvests year after year. Judging from these four legends, their themes are respectively to feel the merits of ancestors, to honor their parents and to pray for a bumper harvest of food. These themes are the important contents of Zhuang people's ancestor worship, so five-color glutinous rice is an indispensable sacrifice in the ancestor worship on March 3.
the origin of the March 3rd Festival in Guangxi
Some scholars have summarized the origin of the March 3rd Festival to pay homage to ancestors and sweep graves into two types: one is the memorial day of the Zhuang snake totem. Regarding the textual research in this respect, Mr. Qiu Zhensheng discussed it in the article "A Textual Research on the Snake Story in Zhuangxiang". He thought that "the worship of the Zhuang people on the third day of March is actually a snake god, which comes from the sacrifice day of the snake totem". There is a saying in Zuojiang area and Daming Mountain area that "March 3, Longbai Mountain". There are two folk stories of Zhuang nationality: in ancient times, there was a village called Sangkazhai, where an old Zhuang man named Li Tishi lived, and he made a living by digging mountains and hunting. He keeps a white snake with great pains. Later, the Agkistrodon grew up, shed a layer of skin, became a big dragon, and left the old man. When the old man died, Daqing Longfei came back to mourn, and only after the old man's coffin was buried did he fly away. After that, on March 3rd every year, Daqinglong flew back to visit the old man's grave. The villagers also came to accompany it, and "March 3, Longbai Mountain" was handed down from generation to generation. There is a similar story, saying that a lonely old mother kept a broken-tailed snake with five flowers (called Tequ in Zhuang language, meaning short-tailed person) as her companion. On the day of her death, a strong wind blew in Turku and sent the old man's body to the rock for burial. After that, Tequ came to visit the grave on the third day of March every year. In fact, this is the sacrifice day of the snake totem. The second is to sacrifice to Raytheon. Mr. Qin Shengmin thinks that March 3 comes from offering sacrifices to Raytheon. Longsheng Zhuang nationality has the custom of killing pigs to worship Shennong on the third day of March; On this day, the Zhuang people in Wenshan, Yunnan Province offer sacrifices to Raytheon, praying for good weather and abundant crops, so it is also called Raytheon Festival. The sacrifice to Thor is also recorded in Buluotuo.
why is it that on March 3rd, some Zhuang areas in Guangxi are Gewei Festival, while some Zhuang areas are Tomb Sweeping Festival? Mr. Qiu Zhensheng's answer is: Because people's awareness of snake totem has faded, the sacrifice day of snake totem on March 3 has gradually become the day of holding a song fair, so that future generations simply forget that it was originally the sacrifice day of snake totem. Professor Liang Tingwang also believes that "Gexu actually originated from the third day of March to worship ancestors." The author believes that the "root" of the Tomb Sweeping Festival on March 3rd originated from the snake totem sacrifice day of Zhuang nationality and absorbed the essence of Chinese filial piety culture. As Professor Weng Minhua said, Shangsi Festival on March 3rd was very prosperous from pre-Qin to Tang Dynasty. Since the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the three festivals of cold food, Qingming Festival and Shangsi Festival have shown a trend of merging and confusing. Finally, cold food has merged into Qingming Festival, and Shangsi has hidden into Qingming Festival. Qingming has a prominent position in traditional festivals, which is manifested externally as offering sacrifices to ancestors and sweeping graves, but inside it is still the content of courtship, trial marriage and seeking children. Shangsi Festival retreated from the central area of the Han nationality to the surrounding areas, and still remains colorful in ethnic minority areas. Therefore, folk wisdom and folk strength are fundamental to the protection of traditional culture.
expanding reading
March 3rd of Zhuang nationality is a grand gathering in Guangxi to show the charm of national culture, promote economic development, promote national unity and gather development momentum. Every year, during the "March 3rd of Zhuang Nationality", more than 1, celebrations are held in the whole region.
Festivals
"March 3rd of Zhuang Nationality" is not only an important traditional festival of Zhuang Nationality in Guangxi, but also an important traditional festival of Han, Yao, Miao, Dong, Mulao and Maonan nationalities. Mainly concentrated in Nanning, Liuzhou, Baise, Hechi, Chongzuo, Laibin, Qinzhou, Fangchenggang and other ethnic minority areas and some Han areas such as Wuzhou, Yulin and Hezhou. For many years, the cadres and masses of all ethnic groups in these places have always had the desire to take "March 3 of the Zhuang nationality" as a traditional national festival in Guangxi and have a holiday. In recent years, more than 1 deputies to the People's Congress of the autonomous region and members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference have put forward suggestions and proposals, demanding that "March 3rd" be designated as a national holiday in Guangxi and be given a holiday. Especially during the "two sessions" of the autonomous region in 213, 32 NPC deputies and 32 CPPCC members submitted relevant suggestions and proposals respectively.
after careful study, the party Committee and the government of the autonomous region decided to designate "March 3rd of the Zhuang nationality" as a traditional festival in Guangxi and to have a two-day holiday, which will be beneficial to inherit and carry forward the excellent national traditional culture in Guangxi, strengthen the construction of socialist spiritual civilization in Guangxi, further consolidate and develop the socialist ethnic relations of equality, unity, mutual assistance and harmony, and promote the unity, struggle and prosperity of all ethnic groups. It also conforms to the people's will, is the concrete embodiment of people-oriented and governing for the people, and is the result of the implementation of the party's ethnic policy and the party's mass line education practice activities by the party Committee and government of the autonomous region.
ethnic culture
the government of the autonomous region has made a decision: "March 3rd of the Zhuang nationality" is a traditional festival for ethnic minorities in Guangxi. From 214, all citizens in Guangxi will have a two-day holiday on March 3rd of the Zhuang nationality.
The 23rd executive meeting of the People's Government of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region was held on January 7th, 214, and the "Measures (Draft)" for the two-day holiday of "March 3rd of Zhuang Nationality" has been basically reviewed and determined.
The "Measures for Showing Pictures of Ethnic Minorities on Holidays in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region" determined by this deliberation is applicable to all citizens in the autonomous region. The "Measures (Draft)" said that a two-day holiday can be combined with Saturday and Sunday to form a small holiday, which can meet the requirements of Guangxi people's ancestor worship and other related activities.
It is called "March 3rd of Zhuang Nationality" because it is a customary festival of people of all ethnic groups in Guangxi with strong national and local characteristics. In order to embody the national and cultural characteristics of festivals and highlight festivals as the national characteristics of Zhuang autonomous region, the names of festivals should be crowned with the names of the main ethnic groups in Guangxi, namely Zhuang. ;