There is Tianheng Island in Jimo, Shandong Province. There is Tianheng Town on Tianheng Island. There is Zhouge Village in Tianheng Town. Zhouge Village holds a sea festival every March.
Ten days before the sea sacrifice every year, the fishermen's wives in Tianheng Town start to steam steamed buns, each weighing about three or four kilograms, and come in various shapes such as longevity peaches, holy insects, and buckets.
The longevity peach dough sculpture is decorated with patterns such as two lions playing with hydrangeas, dragons and phoenixes, and magpies announcing spring. The sacred insect dough is shaped like a dragon, and is coiled around a lotus base in multiple circles, symbolizing prosperity. The shape of the bucket is like the old grain container.
Dou, make a small holy insect at the mouth of the dou, which means there will be food and money, and there will be more than enough every year.
After being decorated with edible colors, these dough sculptures have become dough sculpture artworks with folk characteristics.
When the day of sea sacrifice approaches, the men are busy choosing three animals. The pigs are preferably large black-haired boars. After slaughtering them, they shave them, leaving only a handful of black hairs on the pig's neck, which are then tied into red flowers with red silk cloth.
Silk knots are decorated on the pig's head and neck.
For chicken, choose a large red rooster, and for fish, use a large bass.
The captains will ask the respected old man in the village to write "Taiping Essays" on yellow paper.
When writing Taiping essays, you should light a burner of incense and write one for each of the five gods you worship: Dragon King, Poseidon (Tianhou), God of Wealth, Fairy Girl, and Guanyin Bodhisattva, which means praying to the gods for a safe and abundant harvest.
The couplets should be written by fishermen in the village who are good at calligraphy and have literary talent.
The day before the seaside sacrifice, the fishermen cleaned up the Dragon King Temple on the seaside, hung red lanterns, placed incense burners, sacrifice tables, pasted couplets, and wore red colors.
At the same time, a pine and cypress dragon gate was built on the beach in front of the Dragon King Temple, a plaque was hung on it, lanterns were hung, and red couplets were posted.
The owners of each boat were busy driving the colorful flag hunting fishing boats to the bay in front of the village. The bows of the boats faced the sea, arranged in a straight line, arranged the fishing gear and nets neatly, and then anchored and waited for the official sea sacrifice ceremony to be held the next day.
On the day of the sea sacrifice ceremony, fishermen began to place offerings in boats on the beach in front of the Dragon King Temple.
Bundles of several-meter-high "standing tassels" tied with bamboo poles stand in the wind. Tables are filled with dough-shaped holy insects, longevity peaches, fish, various candies, snacks, etc. The red-lacquered low table in front of the table,
The black-haired boars raised their heads forward, and the big red roosters were full of energy.
The fishermen arranged the yellow paper to be burned, set up the incense burner, and raised thousands of red firecrackers into the sky.
At the auspicious moment, when the chief priest announced that the ceremony of worshiping the sea had officially begun, firecrackers went off for a while, and people began to burn incense paper, light the written "Taiping Wenshu", and kowtow in worship.
Amidst the sound of firecrackers, the boat bosses began to throw a lot of candies into the air. There is a saying that "whoever picks up more candies will have great luck that year."
Local fishermen believe that whose firecrackers are loudest will be prosperous and prosperous that year. Therefore, the sea festival usually involves thousands of large firecrackers. The boatmen set off thousands of firecrackers at the same time, making the scene very spectacular.
Since the Qing Dynasty, the local people in Tianheng have regarded Peking opera as their main opera. When offering sacrifices to the sea, they would invite an opera troupe to sing for three days.
After the sea offering ceremony, fishermen used to have dinner on the boat and welcome guests to come on board to eat fish, meat and drink together. The more people who come, the better, which means the more blessings they have received.
Nowadays, banquets are mostly held at home to entertain relatives and friends who come to participate in the ceremony, and sacrifices have become the main food at the dinner.
The day after the sea sacrifice, fishermen went to sea to start a year of fishery production.
The Tianheng Sea Festival is an integral part of Chinese folk culture and has strong academic research value, cultural value and social influence value.
Its origin, continuation and development process have important reference value for studying the process, living environment, culture, economic composition and development of humans in coastal areas in my country's history. It is a living fossil reflecting the ancient coastal human culture, and is of great anthropology, Folklore research value.
Tian Heng's sea worship folk custom embodies the idea of ??harmonious coexistence between human beings and nature, and imprints the imprint of humanity and human progress. It has become a platform for cultural exchanges at home and abroad and the promotion of international marine culture. It has wide influence and recognition especially in coastal countries in Southeast Asia.
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Tian Heng Sea Festival has been passed down from generation to generation in the local area and has a profound influence. It attracts more than 300,000 people from surrounding areas and Chinese and foreign tourists every year. Various media and various cultural products have effectively played a role in publicity and promotion, greatly improving the regional image.
It has expanded the influence of coastal fishermen’s lifestyle among the public and made people remember that China not only has an earthy inland civilization, but also has a blue ocean culture.
China Qingdao Ocean Festival, as an important festival brand in Qingdao City, is the only ocean-themed festival in China today. It was founded in 1999 and is held in July every year.
The Ocean Festival relies on the beautiful ocean scenery belt, gives full play to the advantages of Qingdao's "China Marine Science and Technology City", and gathers the essence of modern festivals. The activities are rich in content, covering the opening ceremony, ocean science and technology, ocean sports, ocean culture, ocean tourism, and ocean cuisine.
, closing ceremony and other dozens of activities in several major sections have become a beautiful scenery in Qingdao in July.
The Ocean Festival sponsored by the State Oceanic Administration and the Qingdao Municipal People's Government has been held for ten times so far. The first Ocean Festival and the second Ocean Festival are joint ventures between the Qingdao Municipal Tourism Bureau, the Cultural Bureau, the Science and Technology Bureau, the Science and Technology Commission, the Government Policy Research Office, and major festivals.
It is hosted by the Office, Garden Bureau and other government departments. Starting from the third Ocean Festival, it is hosted by the Shinan District People’s Government of Qingdao City.