The custom of men lighting lanterns in Guangdong
The custom of men lighting lanterns in Guangdong. Our country is vast and rich in resources, and different places have different customs. Whenever there is a festival, various ceremonies will be held in various places. Come to celebrate the festival, there are many customs worth knowing. Next, let’s learn about the custom of lighting lanterns when giving birth to a boy in Zhanjiang. The custom of lighting lanterns among men in Guangdong 1
Lighting lanterns is also called putting on lanterns, adding lanterns, raising lanterns, etc. "Deng" sounds like "ding", and lighting lanterns (adding lanterns) means adding children. This is a celebration The traditional folk custom of giving birth to a boy and officially written into the genealogy is grand and lively.
It should be noted that "boy" is a rigid rule that cannot be changed in the customs of lighting lanterns, and lanterns will not be lit in Timkou (girls).
In Zhanjiang, families with newly added children start preparing for the lantern lighting of their children long before the Spring Festival.
The first is the "fixed lantern" - scheduled revolving lantern. Normally, a craftsman is responsible for the production of revolving lanterns in a small village, based on the data and specifications required by the villagers, and then delivers them before the official lighting of the lanterns.
Secondly, inform relatives to give boys new clothes, which is an important part of the custom of lighting up lanterns.
Around the tenth day of the Lunar New Year, the custom of lighting lanterns is carried out one after another in various places in Zhanjiang.
There is a general ceremony for lighting the lanterns. After the revolving lantern is hung in the ancestral hall or the temporary shed that symbolizes the temple, the next step is to hang the "lamp eggs" and light the internal oil lamp. Finally, the Taoist priests work together to light the lanterns. Family members (the boy who lights the lamp, his father, and grandfather who are still alive will also participate) perform a grand worship ceremony.
After the "lighting" is completed, the man's name is officially written into the family tree. On the one hand, it means being recognized and accepted by the collective, and it also contains various beautiful meanings, such as peace, Smooth, smart, promising...
The sign of "Jie Deng" is drinking "Shang Deng wine".
On the 16th of the year, the villagers will again invite Mr. Dao to preside over the "lantern knot" worship ceremony, and then take down the "lantern eggs" that symbolize the prosperity of the people and the longevity of the family for thousands of years - take them home Keep it carefully, complete the burning of the revolving lantern, and finally treat relatives and friends to drink lantern wine.
In Meizhou, the time for putting on lanterns varies from place to place, ranging from the ninth to the eighteenth day of the first lunar month, generally concentrated on the 12th, 13th, and 14th day of the first lunar month.
Among the customs of lighting lanterns in Meizhou area, "inviting" lanterns is one of the most important.
One or two days before the lanterns are put on, it is a customary convention for families of newbies to organize a procession to invite (buy) lanterns, led by the "Dingshou" - the parent who first gave birth to a boy in the previous year. Accompanied by the gongs and drums team and the dragon lantern and lion dance team, firecrackers were set off all the way and the sound of cannons kept "inviting" the lanterns.
Please take the lanterns home and place them solemnly on the Eight Immortals Table. On the day when the lanterns are put on, "Ding Shou" will summon other family members to invite the lanterns to come out and hang them under the beams of the ancestral hall. Hang up light strips that symbolize boys. The number of light strips depends on the boys born in the previous year. If there are five new boys, there will be five light strips, if there are seven boys, there will be seven light strips, and so on.
Of course, "raising the lantern" is nothing more than simply raising the lantern. In fact, the lantern-raising ceremony is the climax of the entire event. Before the lantern is raised, white flowers are grabbed; when the lantern is raised, firecrackers and fireworks are also set off. Dragon dances, lion dances and other performances will be held...
Take Zhanjiang and Meizhou as examples. They both have traditional folk customs of lighting lanterns, but their "presentation" is very different. However, no matter how different the forms are, their The intention is always the same, one is the joy of having a baby, and at the same time, I hope that the child will be happy, safe and successful. Guangdong men’s lighting custom 2
What is “lighting up”?
The tenth day of the first lunar month is also the Festival of Lanterns. This is an ancient custom that dates back to the Han Dynasty. Generally, the "Festival of Lanterns" lasts for five days and is divided into three steps: Up lights, warm lights and down lights. Starting from midnight on the tenth day of the first lunar month, "lighting up", also called "turning on the lights," is done to pray for the safety of children.
It is recorded in the "Cenxi County Chronicle": "Every year on the tenth day of the first lunar month, those who have added a new household and are one-month old and born before the tenth day of the first lunar month of that year will hang lanterns on this day to celebrate." "Shang" means "hanging", and "deng" is the same as "ding", so when a boy is born in the family, he is called "tianding", which is homophonic with "tiandeng".
This means that if a boy was born in the family in the previous year, and the child was one full moon before the tenth day of the first lunar month, he would "turn on the lights" on the tenth day of the first lunar month, that is, "add lights." If there is no full moon, the time to turn on the lights will be the tenth day of the first lunar month of the next year.
When lighting up the lanterns, it is usually the father of the child who carries firecrackers from his own door to the social root of the village, and then hangs the lanterns in the lamp shed. The boy's name is written on the lantern. "She" refers to the place where the land master lives in the village.
Later, when the elders in the village who are responsible for writing the genealogy see the lantern, they will write the name of the boy on the lantern into the genealogy. On the day of "lighting up the lanterns", the first thing to do is to worship the ancestors, that is, to tell the ancestors that a "child" has been added to the family. And a banquet is held to entertain the villagers, which is commonly known as "please light the wine".
After the lanterns are put on, the lamps must be "warmed." That is, from the eleventh day of the first lunar month, the elders must go to the lamps morning and evening to watch them, add oil to the lamps and worship, to ensure that the lanterns will not go out day and night. , which represents constant incense. On the 16th day of the first lunar month, the lanterns are taken down and hung in the ancestral hall or living room, which is called "falling lanterns".
This custom is to hope that children can be protected by ancestors and land gods and grow up healthily. The reason why lights are lit on the day of "Earth Sun" is because the earth is the mother of all things and the birthplace of all things. Therefore, it is said that "if a child is added to the family, the earth and the sun will light up" is an expectation that people have for their children. Guangdong men’s lamp-lighting custom 3
The lamp-lighting ceremony is divided into several steps
1. Turn on the lights.
The time to turn on the lights is between the eighth and the twelfth day of the first lunar month every year. The specific date is selected by the Feng Shui master in the village, but it cannot be later than the 12th of the first lunar month. Feng shui masters calculate and determine the auspicious day to turn on the lamp based on the birth date of the lamp holder that was born first. After the date is determined, the ancestral hall will be responsible for notifying each lamp head family.
Before turning on the lights, you need to build a light shed. The lamp shed is made of wooden boards, eight meters long, four meters wide and four meters high. It looks like a wooden house of more than thirty square meters. After entering the door, the wooden boards on the left and right sides are also carved with dragon and phoenix patterns and pictures of the Eight Immortals celebrating their birthdays.
On the day when the lights are turned on, at dawn, those with lamps will beat gongs and drums to go to the "Hongsheng Temple" in the village. Elderly people over 60 years old should wear long robes, bring down the statues of Hong Shengye, Hong Shengma and the Golden Boy enshrined in the temple, hang red cloth on the statues, and then welcome them into the lamp shed. , enshrined in the center above the lamp shed. An offering table is placed in front of the statue, with a large incense burner, fried dumplings, tea, fruits and other offerings.
The lamp holders are held by the elders and first go to the ancestral hall to hold a lighting ceremony. The lighting ceremony is held one by one in each family according to the order in which the lamp holders were born. Each family first places their own offerings on the offering table, including pork, chicken, fried dumplings, tea, wine and fruits. Put incense candles in the incense burner. At this time, the elders will light the oil lamp and put it into the lantern prepared in advance. The lantern is a long octagonal lantern, two feet in diameter and three feet in height.
The eight sides of the lantern are painted with pictures, such as "Fairy Fairy Sends Her Son", "Five Sons Enroll" and other patterns. Then everyone hung the lighted lanterns on the main beam of the ancestral hall. Finally, the family holds the lamp holder and kneels down to worship the ancestors, beating the gong while worshiping. Usually the father of the lamp head is responsible for beating the gong.
After praying three times, the ceremony in the ancestral hall is over. Next, go to the lamp shed to worship God. The ritual of worshiping gods in a lamp shed is basically the same as that in an ancestral hall. After worshiping the lantern shed and returning home, each family will hang a lantern on the main beam of their house. The style of the lamp is the same as that of the ancestral hall, but smaller. At this point, the lighting ceremony is completed. From now on, every morning and evening, Dengtou’s family will go to the ancestral hall and lamp shed to burn incense and worship, and to refuel the lamp. The lights should be hung until the 19th day of the first lunar month and cannot be extinguished during this period.
2. Seize the cannon head.
This is a celebration and entertainment activity during the lighting ceremony. The time was the morning of the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, and the place was in the village square.
The villagers stacked two Eight Immortals tables, placed a stool on top, and stood the cannon on the stool, with a colorful head hung on the head of the cannon. After the firecrackers were lit, they immediately soared into the sky. There was only a sound in the air, and the lottery prizes fell from the sky. The villagers rushed forward, scrambling to grab the prize.
Whoever wins the prize will have good luck this year and will also receive a prize. A gun fires nine shots.
The Mo family's house in Shawei Village is divided into four houses, and the people in one house who have won the lottery will have a dinner together to celebrate. The people in the house who received prizes this year will return the same number of items next year as prizes for grabbing the cannon next year.
3. Remuneration gift.
The sixteenth day of the first lunar month is the day when the Paying Ceremony is held. On this day, a pot-choi feast will be held in the square outside the ancestral hall. At about five o'clock that afternoon, three firecrackers were set off outside the ancestral hall. When the men in the village heard the three blasts, they would automatically come to the ancestral hall for the pot choi feast without further notice.
There are fifteen kinds of raw materials for making a large pot of vegetables, including radish, mushrooms, yuba, celery, pork, dried squid, squid, and duck meat. The weight of each raw material is determined according to the weight of the whole village. The total number of people in Ding is calculated as four taels per person. The families with lamps will share the money collectively and hand it over to the ancestral hall. The ancestral hall must check and weigh everything, and then arrange for someone to make it after ensuring that it is accurate.
The production method is to first make fifteen main dishes of different styles and flavors from fifteen kinds of main ingredients, and then use radish as the first dish. Fifteen dishes are put in a large wooden basin one by one, and each table has one basin, which is called a big basin feast.
4. Round lamp.
This is an important procedure in the lamp lighting ceremony. The time is the 19th day of the first lunar month. This morning,
Dengtou’s family brought the lamptou to the ancestral hall, placed large pots of vegetables, fried dumplings, wine, fruits and other offerings on the table in front of the ancestral tablets, lit candles, set off firecrackers, and hugged Kneel down and worship your ancestors with a lamp, burn incense and drink wine; after worshiping, take the offerings outside the ancestral hall door, place them on a table, worship the sky in the same way, and after worshiping the sky, worship the land inside the ancestral hall door. god. After the round lantern ceremony is over, the lanterns hanging in the ancestral hall and at home can be taken down and burned.
5. Dragon Boat Festival.
This is the last ceremony of the lamp lighting ceremony. After the round lantern ceremony is over, the men of the clan will carry a dragon boat and go to each house to worship. The dragon boat is made of bamboo slices and straw. It is more than 5 feet long and 2 feet wide. Every household is required to throw unwanted items onto the boat. After worshiping, the dragon boat is taken to the beach and burned, which means that all the filth of the year has been sent into the sea.
At this point, the entire lamp-lighting ceremony is completed. The next day, which is the 20th day of the first lunar month, all lamp-bearing families will go to the lamp shed to pay their respects to the gods. Led by the clan leader, everyone beat gongs and drums, set off firecrackers, and returned the statues of Hong Sheng Ye and Hong Sheng Ma back to Hong Sheng Temple. Then, under the leadership of the clan leader, the clan members will dismantle the lamp shed and store the removed wooden boards in the ancestral hall for use when lighting the lamps next year.
As an important life ritual activity, the lamp-lighting ceremony has been passed down from generation to generation in the original villages in Futian area. It has a history of hundreds of years and contains very profound historical culture. It also reflects the ancestors' worship and reverence for the survival and reproduction of human beings, and has anthropological and folklore value.
At the same time, family and family are the cells that constitute society and play an important role in society. The lighting ceremony can enhance the harmony of family and family and carry forward the traditional national virtues of patriotism, love of hometown, respect for the elderly and love for the young. Building a harmonious community plays a certain role.
Due to the special geographical location of Futian area, there are many people from various villages and families who have settled in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and abroad. The lamp-lighting ceremony serves as a link to closely connect them.
To this day, after people who have settled abroad have given birth to a boy, some of them have to come back to their family’s ancestral hall to light lanterns, let their children recognize their ancestors, participate in Lantern Festival activities organized by their hometown, and eat The traditional pot dish has certain positive effects on promoting domestic and foreign economic and cultural exchanges, strengthening close ties with overseas Chinese and compatriots in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao, and enhancing national cohesion.