March is also known as Quarter Spring, Peach Moon, Tung Moon and Silkworm Moon
On the third day of the third month of the lunar calendar, the Shangsi Festival;
On the fifteenth day of the third month of the lunar calendar, the Miao Sisters' Festival;
On the twenty-third day of the third month of the lunar calendar, the Birthday of the Queen of Heaven, known as Mazu. March (8 photos)
Amazu's Birthday
March 23 of the lunar calendar is the birthday of A-Ma, the god of water believed in by residents along the southeast coast of China.
Mazu, also known as Tianfei (Heavenly Concubine), Tianhou (Heavenly Empress), the Holy Mother of Heaven, and Niangmu (Mother of God), is a deity that has been worshipped by shipwrights, seafarers, travelers, merchants, and fishermen*** throughout the ages. Ancient sea voyages were often attacked by wind and waves and the ship sank and people died, the safety of the crew became the main problem of the mariners, who pinned their hopes on the blessing of the gods. In the ship before sailing to sacrifice to the heavenly consort, praying for blessing the wind and safety, in the ship also set up the heavenly consort god enshrined.
The real name of A-Ma, the Heavenly Consort, was born on March 23, 960, the first year of the Song dynasty. Song Taizong Yongxi four years (987) died on the ninth day of the ninth month.
Miao Sisters' Day
On this day, women eat a kind of "sisters' rice" made of colorful glutinous rice and give each other gifts for good luck. This kind of rice is with the girls in the mountains to collect wild flowers and leaves to the glutinous rice dyed into colorful after steaming. The festival is also a lively bullfighting scene and the "tour of the party" activities.
March 3 Festival Customs
Han Chinese
Anhui Shucheng, Huoshan eat artemesia poop
Artemesia poop
(1) Ingredients: wild artemesia, rice flour, bacon, garlic, etc.
(2) Preparation:
1, the fresh artemesia rubbed together into a ball, and then use a wooden stick to knock the juice of artemesia all over;
2, the bacon cut into small cubes, first put in the pot to fry, bacon out of oil, will be rice noodles, chopped artemisia, garlic, etc. into the pot and mix well, add the right amount of cool water to simmer for a while sheng up;
3, will be sheng up the noodles into the shape of a poop, to be thin and thick uniformly, well done into a pot with a lid, a low-fire kang, about 15 minutes or so can be.
The artemisia baba, crispy texture, fresh flavor and color, for Shucheng, Huoshan unique, the legend says that every year on the third day of the third month of the lunar calendar, to eat artemisia baba can be "Ba Soul".
Legendary stories: "Ghost Festival" and artemisia
Legendary stories in the very ancient time, the boundaries between the yang and the netherworld is not as strict as it is now, the souls of the dead can go to the yang to play, and the souls of the living can go to the netherworld to see the convenience of the same as going to the relatives.
Every year on the third day of the third month of the lunar calendar, the boundaries between life and death are more relaxed. On the night of the third day of the third month, the markets of the netherworld are decorated with lanterns, red and green, and the streets and alleys are crowded with gorgeous ghosts. Everywhere you can see dragon lanterns, lion dance, stilt walkers, flower boat, its bustling prosperity is not the earth's Spring Festival can be compared to the night, therefore, the human soul can not stand the temptation of the netherworld, have to go to the ghost of the market to play, some of them wandering in the streets and alleys to see the lights and watch the play; some in the restaurant and tea drinking and listening to the song; some take the opportunity to go to look at the ancestors who have never seen each other.
When the rooster crows at dawn and the ghost market closes, most of the wandering souls return to their respective bodies with satisfaction. A few were so happy that they stayed in the underworld. On the following day, there was a great deal of weeping in the world of the living. We invited monks and Taoist priests to recite sutras and draw talismans to invoke the souls of those whose souls did not return. The heartbreaking cries of the relatives and the scriptures and incantations of the monks and Taoist priests were able to bring back some of the wandering souls that were not playful, and some of the playful ones were able to leave the earth after seven days of physical decay.
Therefore, the third day of the third month of the lunar calendar has become a day of horror and anxiety on earth, known as the "ghost festival". No matter how much people fear, every year on March 3, "Ghost Festival" is still the usual visit. "On the eve of the Ghost Festival, people flocked to the temple to burn incense and kowtow, praying to the gods and bodhisattvas for blessings. The incense is so strong that it rushes to the lotus seat of Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy.
Guanyin counted on her fingers and knew the original reason for burning incense on earth. One night, she dreamed to a grandmother: "I am the South China Sea Goddess of Mercy, knowing that the earth is in trouble, I have come to save you. I increase you a plant of immortal grass, use it and the noodles to make poop and eat it, the first three days of March to keep safe and sound." Granny woke up with a start, and in her hand was really holding a green and fuzzy grass, a closer look, and the same as the artemisia that grows in the ground. She told the townspeople about the Guanyin Bodhisattva's dream of giving grass, everyone was very happy, busy to the ground to pick artemisia, grinding noodles to make poop to eat.
Strange as it may seem, anyone who eats artemisia on March 3 is safe and sound through the "Ghost Festival". The news soon spread all over the world, every year on the eve of March 3, girls and women in groups to the mountains to pick artemisia to do poop. Until now, Shucheng, Huoshan folk still have the custom of eating artemisia on March 3rd.
Capsicum boiled eggs [1]
March 3 of the lunar calendar, the people of the country have the custom of eating boiled eggs. Shepherd's purse, also known as ground vegetables, field children's vegetables, etc., is a kind of wild vegetables growing in the corner of the field. Although it is a wild vegetable, but fresh and delicious, nutritious. Folk proverb says: "March 3, shepherd's purse when elixir." "March 3, shepherd's purse boiled eggs." Spring is the season to pick and eat chestnuts. Spring food shepherd's purse is also China's folk traditional custom for a long time. Poetry Classic" has "its sweet as chestnut" chant; Xin Qiji also has "the city of peaches and plums worried about the wind and rain, spring in the stream head of chestnut flower" poem.
The Qing Dynasty's Ye Tiao Yuan's "Hankou bamboo stick lyrics" said: "The three-three order of the festival heavy kitchen, the taste of a new tune and a pile. Ground rice vegetables and eggs boiled, very full and very fragrant." In the lyrics of the ground rice vegetable that refers to the chestnut. Ground vegetables are not only nutritious, but also can cure many diseases. It is not only a dish of delicacies, but also a side of elixir. "Shepherd's purse, also known as the ground beet, protect life grass, chicken heart vegetable, its roots, flowers, seeds can be used as medicine. In traditional Chinese medicine, the medicinal value of chestnut is very wide, known as "vegetable licorice".
Motherland medicine believes that: the chestnut taste sweet, cool, return to the liver, spleen, kidney meridian, and spleen, diuresis, stop bleeding, bright eyes and other effects. Shepherd's purse edible method is many, can mix, can fry, can braise, also can be used to do stuffing or do soup, are color and lustre attractive, taste delicious, is a medicine and food of delicious vegetables. In Hunan, with chestnut to cook eggs is the most common way of eating. Every March 3, the day, shepherd's purse will grow stems and flowers, women will pick to insert in the hair.
Because of the harmonic sound of chestnut is "gather wealth", therefore, the people and according to folklore, on the third of March this day, in the ancestor worship, with the help of ancestral spirits and wealth, people will be fresh chestnut after washing and tying into a small bundle, into the eggs, jujubes, the wind ball, and then two or three slices of ginger, cook a pot, the whole family have to eat a bowl, eat both the food and the egg, and the whole family will eat a bowl. Eat a bowl of food can be handed over to fortune, but also to prevent headaches and dizziness, and over time it has formed a unique folk therapeutic practices. It is said to be able to remove rheumatism, clear fire, back and legs do not hurt, but also to prevent spring fever.
The custom of eating eggs boiled in the ground (chestnut). The day folk have flow cup, flow egg, flow date, begging son and wear willow circle, visit spring, trekking, eat clear essence of rice Shepherd's purse (string of heart grass) and songs and other activities. Han Chinese March 3, in addition to sacrifices, the late successive development of the river play, men and women will meet, willow and flowers and other folk activities. Du Fu, a great poet of the Tang Dynasty, wrote the poem "The weather is new on March 3, and there are many beautiful people by the water in Chang'an". Song Dynasty Ouyang Xiu also wrote in a word: "Qingming on the West Lake, full of prosperity. Competition Road, who's home. Green willow Zhu wheel go tin car. Tourists will go at sunset, wake up drunken clamor." These all show that the custom of March 3, the Tang and Song dynasties are still prevalent. At the same time, this festival is also a day of men and women traveling to the green, also known as China's Valentine's Day, Daughter's Day.
Han Chinese girls in this day of the Daughter's Day Taiwan, Fujian region on March 3 for the "March Festival", "picking the rat koji (Qu) grass, combined with the rice flour for kuey teow to its ancestors" (Qing Qianlong emperor "Taiwan Province"), some people will choose the first three days of March, on the Si Some people will choose to sweep the tomb on the third day of March, which has the meaning of trekking on the green and removing bad luck.
Chongqing Zhongxian and other places have "March will", held in memory of the enemy general Bamanzi grand event, is the day, the masses carry Bamanzi idol parade around the city, followed by social fire team, play dragon lanterns, lion dance, home lanterns, firecrackers, bustling.
In Yinghong Town, Yingde City, an area inhabited by overseas Chinese, women will collect the leaves of various plants such as mugwort, ramie and roadside green on March 3, and make kuey teow with rice flour for consumption, which is said to be able to get rid of all kinds of diseases.
The Zhuang people
March 3 is a time for singing, setting up song shelters and organizing song festivals, where young men and women sing songs, touch eggs, throw embroidered balls and talk about love. Legend has it that in honor of the Zhuang song fairy Liu Sanjie and the formation of the festival, it is also known as the Song Fairy Festival. The Zhuang people come to sweep the graves on March 3, usually steaming five-color glutinous rice on March 3, and the festival is also known as the Song Fairy Festival.
The Dong ethnic group
The festival is also known as the "Flower Cannon Festival" because of the activities held during the festival, such as snatching flower cannons, bullfighting, horsefighting, singing songs, and stepping on the halls.
The Dong family legend says that in ancient times, the original territory of the Dong family was always the rice-planting festival when the tung tree blossomed. But one year the tung tree did not blossom, the result of the wrong time, had to flee to the newspaper Jing area, in order to learn from past lessons, every March 3 people will blow the reed-sheng singing, visit friends and relatives and remind each other of the busy farming Dong, more than in the festival held to grab the firecrackers, bullfighting, horsefighting, singing, stepping on the hall and other activities, also known as the "Festival of the Firecracker".
The Dong March 3, the festival for five days. On the first day of the third month of the lunar calendar, families start to prepare for the festival.
On the second day of the month, girls are invited to the river to fish and catch shrimp, and prepare a picnic with the boys on the slope.
Early in the morning of the third day, the girls dressed up, carried delicate bamboo baskets, went to the vegetable garden to pick a full monitor onions and garlic, washed with water at the spring. They are lined up in a long line, standing on the water side of the path, shyly waving the basket, quietly looking toward the hillside, waiting for the lover to ask for. At this time, the hillside has long been full of people, including the girl's family, to see which in the end the scion took the basket. A group of young men wearing neat green cloth lapel tops, in people's good-natured laughter, one after another on the waterside path. At this time, the young men asked for the basket from the girl of their choice in public, and the one who got it would be greeted with a burst of "ooh-ooh", and the young man could make a quiet agreement with the girl about the time to return the basket. Can't get the basket of young men will attract onlookers "boo boo" mocking sound, and then in the village next to the hillside song, to continue to search for a soulmate, singing until dawn. At noon on this day, people concentrated in the center of the village on the field of song and dance.
The fourth day of March also held a grand masquerade. On the afternoon of the fifth, a farewell ceremony is held for guests from neighboring villages.
Yao
Yao March 3 for the "Ganba Festival", is the collective fishing and hunting festivals, and will catch the wildlife fish distributed by household, *** enjoy the joy of harvesting, and then gathered in the square, singing and dancing, celebrating the festival.
Legend has it that in the long ago, beasts often in and out of Yao villages hurt people, damage crops, in order to protect the homeland, the village of the national hero Pangu rate of warriors on the mountain to guard the hunting, hunting beasts, Pangu unfortunately antelope antelope with horns top broken suit and died on the spot, that day is the third of March of the Chinese lunar calendar, in order to remember the national heroes of the Pangu, the Yao people every year, the third of March of the positioning of the memory of the Pangu's day, called "March 3" also known as "Ganba Festival" that is, every year before the "March 3", Yao men are a week in advance to the old forest hunting, hunting and killing wild beasts, fish and shrimp in the river, and baked into the The women go to the mountains to pick small animals. The women go to the mountains to pick small indigo leaves and other natural dyes, boil the water and dye it into four colors of red, yellow, blue and purple glutinous rice for Pangu, year after year, has been passed down to today. In the past, "March 3", the Yao people put down the hands of the agricultural work of the collective rest day, in order to pay tribute to Pangu, that is to say, women rest to do sewing, men read the scriptures, drinking, entertainment, girls and young men, but the village side of the barren mountain, the long forest to the song, talk about love, play.
Buyi
Buyi people
in the festival to kill a pig to sacrifice the god of the community, the god of the mountain, eat yellow glutinous rice, the cottage three or four days do not interact with each other. Yao to March 3 for the "Ganba Festival", is a collective fishing and hunting festivals, and will catch wildlife fish distributed by household, *** enjoy the joy of harvesting, and then gathered in the square, singing and dancing, celebrating the festival.
March 3, is the more common Buyei traditional festival, commonly known as "March 3". The origin of the festival and the content of the activities vary with the area of residence. Wudang District, Guiyang City, a new Fort Township area of the Buyei will be "March 3" also known as "sacrifice silkworms", commonly known as "silkworms will be". Legend has it that in ancient times, there was a crop farmer, found that every year after the spring sowing there are many silkworms will be bitten to death by seedlings. After repeated observation, he believed that the earthworms are the God of heaven to the earth's "heavenly horse". In order to avoid the seedlings suffer from insect pests, he used many ways to sacrifice, but did not work. Later, he fried grain flowers to feed the silkworms during spring sowing, and the seedlings were saved. The news soon spread to the Buyei families near and far.
Since then, this area of the Buyi in order to protect the crops, for a good harvest, on the third day of March every year, are used to fry the flowers as offerings, three to five groups to the nearby hillside to sacrifice "God of Heaven, the ground silkworms," praying for God's blessing, do not call the ground silkworms biting the seedlings in the field, so that the five grains of abundance. After the sacrifice, people walk along the field side of the earth and sing songs, and scatter the flower of the grain into the soil.
Northern Damwang River area, due to low temperatures, when the maple leaves are still small, can not color, to March 13 for the "Maple Leaf Festival". On the day of the festival, people go to the mountains and fields in the spring, children pick young maple leaves made into a ball to throw playing, women pick a few young maple leaves inserted in the bun. In addition, families dye glutinous rice in various colors and make flower glutinous rice. Young people go to the hillside to blow wooden leaves and sing mountain songs. If they meet a satisfactory opponent, they are invited to the Buyei village at night and sing songs all night long. At the end of the night, the host family gives the singers flower glutinous rice and chicken leg meat wrapped in banana leaves as a gift for the festival. The Buyi people in Wangmu County, Guizhou Province, say that the third day of the third month is a "cold day" and that eating dog meat can drive away the cold. There is a custom of treating a dog on this day.
Some of the Buyi people in Anlong County, Guizhou Province, say that March 3 is the birthday of the "Mountain God".
People in order to avoid the God of the mountains released locusts hurt crops, to ensure a good harvest, the old custom of sweeping the village sacrifices God of the mountains. "March 3" this day, people to the village in front of the altar of the mountain god set up rooster, knife head and other offerings, but also to kill a dog, the blood will be sprinkled in the paper flag, paper horse and the village in and out of the main road entrance to the stone, and then by the "old devil male" and other personnel to carry a dog dripping with blood of the paper flag, the paper horse Then the "Old Devil Gong" and other people will carry the paper flag and paper horse drenched with dog's blood to each house to get rid of demons and ghosts. At the entrance of each house, a bench is set up with a "water bowl" filled with fresh water and a bowl filled with gravel. The "old devil" in front of the gate incantation "magic scripture", play a few "Nongyang Gua", and then the gravel grains to the house scattered, the water bowl of water splashed around, overturned the bench in front of the gate, buckle up the water bowl, meaning that the bench is full of water. The water bowl was then snapped up, meaning that the devil had been swept away. Finally, to this inserted with dog blood on the paper flag, good on the paper horse, another to sweep his home. Village households are round sweeping finished, "the old devil male" mouth to the altar, the collection of sweeping the demons and ghosts focused on the suppression of the gods before, and then the whole village men at the altar of the meal on the spot, known as "accompanying the gods to eat".
The county's De lying town called "March 3" for the "drive Mao Suzuki", also known as the "Mao Suzuki Song Festival", a three-day party of tens of thousands of people. On March 3, the Buyei in the area of Bada River in Luoping, Yunnan Province, is a festival for young men and women to sing and tune to each other. On this day, men, women and children come to the riverside to listen to young people sing songs and watch children compete in bamboo rafting and water pistol shooting. Some families also make flower glutinous rice for their children and distribute it to the side and the village; some use small flower cloth pockets filled with eggs and various kinds of food for the young people who play and participate in the competition to eat. Luoping Niu Street of the Buyi young men and women in these three days, held a grand tour of the mountain, song and dating activities.
Youths of all ethnic groups from dozens of miles around also come to the area around the mountainside of Magao at that time to participate in and watch this traditional song-pairing event. Singers can show off their skills on such occasions, and with their genius for improvising poems and chants, they can sing with their rivals for three days and three nights or even longer. Many young men and women have formed love relationships through these events.
She
The She ethnic group
takes March 3 as the birthday of the grain rice, and every family eats umi rice. Legend has it that Lei Wanxing, a hero of the She people in the Tang Dynasty, led an insurgent army to fight against the siege of the government army, and the army's prestige was greatly boosted by filling its hunger with Wu Nim fruit, and succeeded in breaking through the siege on March 3, winning successive battles. In order to commemorate this, the She people eat rice and sing songs on March 3 every year. Among the She people, March 3 is a major festival comparable to the Spring Festival. On this day, families slaughter livestock and worship their ancestors. Many families often choose this day to organize weddings. Umi rice is eaten during the festival. At nightfall, bonfires are held and songs are sung. She people are good at singing and often invite She singers from all over the province to perform on stage, which is a very enthusiastic scene. During the festival, the She people also hold dances, including torch dances, wooden beat dances, bamboo pole dances, dragon dances, lion dances, and fish lantern dances. At the same time, there are also She folk competitions, such as asking stools, playing stone plinths, abdominal top sticks, playing kongs, and driving wild boars. The "March 3" festival is a microcosm of the humanistic history of the She people, with distinctive ethnic characteristics and a strong local flavor, and has an irreplaceable and important value in the construction of new countryside and the strengthening of national unity. As the She people live in the less developed areas along the southeast coast in a scattered manner, with the process of modernization and the change of the living environment of the She people, the language, costumes, songs and dances of the She people are being gradually Sinicized, and the traditional festivals and activities of the "March 3rd" tend to shrink, and are in urgent need of enhanced protection.
March 3 activities
Li
Said March 3 [2] for the "Fu Nianfu", for the wishes of "Shanlan" (mountain dry valley) and hunting harvest festival, but also young men and women are free to interact with the day, people called it It is also a day for young men and women to have free relationships, and people call it the Day of Love. About its origin, there is a beautiful legend.
Li "March 3" is the traditional festival of the Li people, people call it love day, the same as the Miao festival in Hainan. Legend has it that two siblings survived the ancient flood by hiding in a pumpkin. In order to start a family, they decided to split up to look for others, and agreed to meet on the third day of the third month of the next lunar calendar. As a result, several years passed without any success. Seeing that she could not find anyone else, the younger sister endured the pain of using a bamboo stick to tattoo her face with a pattern, and then dyed it with a plant to prevent her brother from recognizing her, in order to tie the knot, thus enabling the continuation of the race. This is also the Li "March 3" festival and the legend of the origin of the tattooed face. So far in the Oriental City, Dongfang Township in the middle of the party, every year on the third day of the third month of the lunar calendar, all over the Li young men and women gathered together to participate in the "March 3" event, singing and dancing, talking about love. [2]
Tujia
Tujia's March 3[3] is the Tujia's Valentine's Day. On the day of March 3, the Tujia's ahoya and ahoya sisters get together and betrothal is made by stepping on the feet with mountain songs as a matchmaker.
Other ethnic groups such as the Shui, Miao, Mulao and Maonan all have their own traditional March 3 festival customs.
"March 3, Treading on the Beach" is a folk custom in Shipu Township, Xiangshan. There are several stories about its origin. One of them is related to production and labor: around the third day of the third month of the local lunar calendar, the ground and water temperatures start to rise, and the shallow sea snails scramble to climb up the beach to reproduce. Local people will go to the beach to pick up snails in this season, resulting in "March 3, step on the beach" labor scene.
Nowadays, although the resources of the beach are gradually depleted, the local old people still can't help but bring their younger generation to the beach on this day to revisit the scene of snail picking in the past. The labor scene of "March 3, trekking on the beach" has gradually formed a brand new folk cultural activity.
Today's "March 3rd, Treading on the Beach" has been characterized by folk cultural activities as the main body, sports, fishery competitions, and invited foreign singing, dancing, and acrobatic programs as the accompanying features. There are various kinds of cultural performances, including horse lanterns, dragon lantern dances, colorful pavilion parades, etc., as well as Yueju Opera performances based on folk stories such as "The Hot Snail Girl Recruiting Marriage" and entertainment activities such as "The Hot Snail Girl Throwing Colorful Balls" recruiting marriages among the spectators. These activities are characterized by folklore, mass, participation and entertainment.
Turkish people
Turkish people's traditional festival egg will. The festival takes place on the third day of the third lunar month or the eighth day of the third month or the eighteenth day of the third month every year, varying from place to place. On that occasion, sacrifices are offered in the temples, and priests are invited to chant and dance in order to avoid calamities and ensure a good harvest and prosperity for people and animals. Attendance of the masses also carry a lot of hard-boiled eggs, one is self-eating, the second is to knock each other as a play.