As the "hometown of art", Foshan has colorful folk culture, which can be said to be the cradle of folk art in the Pearl River Delta. The famous lion dance, dragon dance, dragon boat rap, dragon boat race and temple fair in Foshan are all excellent and precious folk culture and Foshan culture in China. Now let's take a look at it.
Foshan South Lion
China is the birthplace of dragon and lion sports. China South Lion is in Guangdong, and Guangdong South Lion originated from Foshan. Foshan is the birthplace of the Southern Lion, and the dragon and lion sports in Foshan are in the forefront of domestic and international development, and previous competitions have always occupied the forefront. Foshan Nanshi is known as the "King of Lions". The traditional "three-star" and "seven-star" lion in Foshan is a rare folk culture and art with exquisite skills and beautiful spirit, shape and posture. Lion picking green is a performance of lion awakening skills and techniques, and it is an important link in traditional lion dance. The so-called "green", in a narrow sense, is a colorful thing, representing the food that lions need to gather and capture. Usually, a few lettuce heads are used and tied with Li (red envelope), which means getting rich and lucky. There are also leaves tied on the red envelope, which means successful career, which means good luck and great success.
Although it is lucky to choose green flowers, in order to attract visitors and study the strength of the Lions, customers will put on various green flowers, and the Lions will try their best to please the public. This is because the lion's green picking not only pays attention to the pride, skill and intelligence of the lion team in expressing the lion's joys and sorrows, but also increases the appreciation of the lion's art and is an interactive form of mass entertainment.
Dragon boat rap
Also known as "Longzhou Song", it is a folk rap art. Originated in the Qing Dynasty and popular in the Pearl River Delta. In the old days, artists often sang in tea houses, rural crossings and alleys along the street. Holding a wooden dragon boat as a prop, hanging a small gong and drum on the chest, singing and knocking to master the beat. The ci is basically seven-character, and the content is mostly humorous stories and peace greetings.
Foshan ancestral temple
In the history of Foshan, the ancestral temple once integrated theocracy, political power and clan power, and it was a folk belief center and a sacred place for offering sacrifices in the Pearl River Delta. The third day of the third lunar month is the birthday of the Northern Emperor, and the people of Foshan will hold a grand birthday celebration, including setting up a worship ceremony, a parade of the Northern Emperor, acting to reward the gods and burning a big explosion.
The Temple Fair of the Northern Emperor's Birthday is the most important traditional folk cultural activity in Foshan, which profoundly affects the lives of Foshan people. In 26, the "Beidi Birthday of the Ancestral Temple" in Foshan was selected into the first batch of Guangdong intangible cultural heritage list, and in February 28, the "Beidi Birthday Temple Fair" in Foshan was selected into the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage list. "28 Temple Fair of the Third Birthday of the Northern Emperor in Foshan Ancestral Temple" is not a simple temple fair of the Northern Emperor's Birthday, but on the basis of integrating Foshan's folk cultural resources, it condenses the essence of Foshan's folk culture, is an important part of Foshan's local culture and folk culture, and expresses Foshan people's good wishes for harmony, prosperity, peace and prosperity.
autumn colors in Foshan
"autumn colors" means the harvest scenery. "Autumn color in Foshan" is the title of ancient folk art activities in Foshan, and it is also the general name of traditional folk art in Foshan. As early as the Ming Dynasty, in order to celebrate the bumper harvest, every autumn harvest, Foshan people used the leftover materials of handicrafts, such as paper, rags, silk, gum, wax, clay, bamboo and agricultural products, such as silkworm cocoons, peas, fish scales, melons and fruits, radishes, etc., to tie, glue, paper flapping, carving, cutting and pasting, sculpture and pouring. Autumn colors also include colored lanterns, top floats, makeup modeling, various performing arts and folk music.
Every autumn night, people will take part in the parade and performance of their own handicrafts and various programs on the agreed night, and gradually form the Foshan autumn color competition with local folk characteristics. Foshan people call it "the autumn color". Every time the competition is held, the city of Foshan is full of people, which is unprecedented.
help the poor
On the 16th day of the first month every year, Foshan people have a custom of "help the poor". It is said that there used to be a river near Nanpu Park in the south of Foshan, and there was a bridge on the river called Tongji Bridge. People in Foshan believe that "there is no harm in helping the poor" (in Foshan dialect, it means that there is no sorrow in helping the poor). Now that the river is gone, the bridge is still there. On this day every year, people come here to cross the bridge, burn incense, throw lettuce and turn windmills. The crowds are endless and lively.
Guandi Birthday
There are 11 Guandi temples in Foshan. May 12th of the lunar calendar is the birthday of Guan Di. On this day, Guandi will go on a trip, and there will be a scene to accompany him. Most of the scene programs are "gone with the wind" and "gongs and drums". Among the activities of more than ten Guandi temples, the most grand ones are Dongtou, Bitou, Fude, Xianyong and Fumiao.
when Guandi traveled, the five temples were called "Five Tigers Going to the West". First, I stayed in the Guandi Temple in Bitou, where several martial arts school dancers, such as Bitou, Luoyong Club of Fudefu and Tongyilian, lined up to welcome me, and performed a lion dance program called "Three Lions Entering the Cave" at a place called Winter Melon Cave in Bitou. The next day, the statues of Guandi in each temple returned to the temple, and the Guandi outing of "Five Tigers Going to the West" ended here.
Foshan worships Guan Di, especially in the industrial and commercial circles, and there are also worshippers in the martial arts schools and the people. Its meaning is to worship Guan Yunchang's heroic sense of justice, to be upright, and to use Guandi's positive pressure to suppress evil. Later, because Guandi's face is red, the people regard red as a "bonus", and contemporary merchants and people worship Guandi as a god of wealth.
Huaguang Birthday
Huaguang is the southern Vulcan, and the worship of Huaguang in Foshan is very grand. People in Foshan avoid floods, so they worship Huaguang Vulcan to eliminate disasters. During Huaguang's birthday on September 23rd, every square in the town built a "Mars Pavilion". With donations from the shops in their own streets and lanes, representatives (called value managers) were selected to set up booths and hang colorful copper branch lanterns to "build a landscape".
Before the construction of the Temple, the duty officers went to the Huaguang Temple in the low street (now Lianhua Road), where the statue welcoming Huaguang was enshrined in front of the Temple, and the altar was opened to recite scriptures and worship, and all the shops in the street went to the altar to worship the gods. The next afternoon, one person sounded the gong on the high side to clear the way, and the Taoist priests each held their own instruments, with the French sword as the head, chanting and dancing along the way, and using the tip of the sword to purify water with wine, commonly known as "sending Mars", followed by ten teams of "eight tones" and several teams of floating children. It took three or four days for the Huaguang statue to return to the temple, and the Mars was over.
At the opening ceremony, the residents followed the Taoist priest to perform a "transshipment ceremony", and the Taoist priest walked around the altar three times while chanting with an instrument, commonly known as "transshipment". It is said that after such "transshipment", the bad luck will be eliminated in the coming year. Even those who can't participate in the "transshipment" because of something can "turn lucky" as long as someone holds his clothes in his hand. Today, Huaguang Temple in Shencun Village, Lanshi Town, a suburb of Foshan still holds the "Mars Festival" for Huaguang's birthday every year, and there are still many people accompanying it.
Seventh Sister's Birthday in Foshan
On the sixth night of July, women in Foshan held the activity of "putting on the Qixi Festival" (also called "putting on the Muxian Festival"). In order to make the "putting on the Muxian Festival" lively, unmarried sisters were widely recruited to join the club the year before, which was called the "Seventh Sister's Club". In the first year, the meeting was buried (prepared), and in the name of the Seventh Sister's Club the next year, the Qixi Festival was put on. From May to June of the lunar calendar, girls began to make handicrafts, including stories such as "Cowherd and Weaver Girl" embroidered with cloth, vases and chairs made of sesame seeds, and small and exquisite handicrafts such as flowers and birds made of medulla tetrapanacis. On the sixth night of the sixth day, it is displayed in a large courtyard or patio on the Eight Immortals table (there are usually three or four tables side by side).
Put two bowls of "Mu Xian Miao" on the table, put red paper around the seedlings, light a small oil pot lamp in the center of the bowl and cover it with a glass cover; The "five-hole chess" (red, white, yellow and small cakes filled with bean paste, shaped like chess pieces) built with plates is usually a tower with seven or nine floors; Fruit bowls: olives, oil oranges, water chestnuts, heart-shaped persimmons, bananas, etc. (all of which are carefully built into various shapes); When flowers are placed in season, there must be "Qianrihong" (Foshan people call it "Qianrijiao"), and a plate of vegetarian food is also placed. At 12 o'clock that night, the sisters dressed neatly and bowed down to the sky; Taoist priests (Mr. Nan Wu) were invited to recite the scriptures to open the altar, and big troupes or female singers were invited to sing songs to entertain them. For three nights in a row, local sisters and the masses went to "watch Qixi Festival" more than the sixth night of the sixth day, judging whose girl was handy; The people in the four townships mostly come to watch during the day on the seventh and eighth day. After dinner, the sisters knelt down and put away the exhibits, and the joining sisters distributed fruit cakes.
Dragon Boat Race ("Dragon Boat Race")
Dragon Boat Race, commonly known as "Dragon Boat Race", is a popular traditional mass activity in Foshan counties. Dragon boat races are held every year during the Dragon Boat Festival or other grand festivals. Dragon boats are made of teak or Kundian wood, about 2-3 meters long. The bow is equipped with a wooden colored faucet, and there is a wooden dragon tail behind the boat. Insert colorful flags, colorful cards and umbrellas on the ship. Generally, each boat takes 3 to 4 people and wears the same color clothes. Drummers command to advance and retreat with drums. One person stands in front of and behind the boat, holding high the long oars, stepping on the feet vigorously and flapping, so that the hull flutters and waves. The fore and aft helmsman of the ship controls the course; All the contestants rowed with drums, making the dragon boat surf like an arrow leaving the string. Dragon boat races often attract countless tourists. There are a sea of people on both sides of the river, and cries, laughter, firecrackers and drums resound through the clouds. Competitions can be held in villages, towns, counties, etc. In some places, "Dragon Boat Festival" is held for friendship and investment promotion.