The Hakka custom
The Hakka custom, in fact, in different regions there are certain cultural differences, some customs have existed for thousands of years, but also a traditional cultural heritage, different regions have different ways of saying, the following to understand the Hakka custom of ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding.
The Hakka custom 1"Ding" in the "Dictionary" in the interpretation is: population, male called Ding female called mouth. In the accent of Hakka people, lamp and Ding resonate. So in our Meizhou Hakka region, "add Ding, ring Ding, appreciate Ding", in fact, is "add light, ring light, appreciate light", and although the different ways of speaking, the significance of their festivals is very similar.
Originally from the Central Plains of the lanterns, in our Hakka people to celebrate the birth of newborns, was given a richer connotation:
First, on behalf of the development of the light;
Second, the lights imply endless, the meaning of the flame;
Third, the lights have become a symbol of the people.
Din-watching, also known as "on the lamp", is a little-known Hakka folk custom. Hakka on the lamp custom circulates in the community, the region is very wide, it is to "add Ding" as the center, in the form of "lamp" and the development of ancestral worship, comfort ancestral activities. The lanterns are obviously with the meanings of "on the ding" and "add ding".
Therefore, in the Hakka clan society, all boys are born to hold the ceremony of the lamp, that is, on the ding, ding, to worship the ancestors and report to the ancestors of the clan to add a new child, and pray for the ancestors to bless the child's health and growth.
"On the lamp" ("on" reads "cool" and "reward", meaning "hang up"), because the Hakka dialect "on" is the same as "funeral". " with "funeral", so the Hakka people to avoid, "on the lamp", also known as "add lamp, rising lamp, hanging lamp", is a Hakka folk custom.
Every year, where the family name of the clan has "add Ding" (that is, born with a boy), must be hung in the ancestral ancestral hall on a new lantern (harmonic "new Ding").
"Add lamp" means to report to the ancestors, a family added a new child. "On the lamp" to do "three animals", wine and fruit to honor the ancestors and heaven and earth, God, the elaborate also "do on the lamp wine" to invite friends and relatives to reunite, congratulations.
In the Hakka clan society, all boys have to hold the "on the lamp" ceremony, only once in a lifetime. "On the lamp" the age of the person regardless of size, just after the birth of the boy that year, called "add new Ding", older, for a variety of reasons, did not hold such a ceremony, the next year and then called the promotion of the Ding "Dunding The older boys, who for various reasons did not have such a ceremony, were called "dun ding" or "teng ding" if they were to be promoted the following year. Therefore, "on the lamp" is really a celebration of the new boy for the year of the various surnames and ethnic groups.
In the Meizhou region, the form of the lamp is different from place to place:
Xingning Rang Ding Festival
which to Xingning's first half of the first month of the Rang Ding Festival activities are more grand and warm and long-lasting, the time from the beginning of the first month of the seventh to the 21st; Xingning Rang Ding Festival, the contents of the more rich, more lively than the Spring Festival.
Before the festival, local clansmen must make customized "lanterns", and then send people to the county town or dike to please "lanterns", gongs and drums to "lanterns" carried back, hanging in the ancestral house on the hall The lanterns are hung in the upper hall of the ancestral house underneath the beams. Lantern Appreciation Festival, the whole house is decorated, families have friends and relatives to come, beating gongs and drums, feasts, dragon and lion dances, fireworks and firecrackers, some "burning fireworks", "Kongming lanterns", held a torch pop (also known as the "Torch Festival"). Torch Festival"). Add a new family, it is in the ancestral house hall wine guessing code (guessing), guessing the code of the first sentence must first read "add Ding ah Fat Choy" auspicious words, so that the people who participated in the lantern festival return to enjoy.
After the Lunding Festival, that is, after the 15th day of the first month of the year, the clan also has a "warm lamp" activities, that is, the lanterns burned with fire to clear the ancestral hall in the furnishings. People do not like to use the unlucky "burning" word, called it warmed "warm lamp".
This time it is relatively simple, the host burned incense and candles and silk, thanked the ancestors and the gods, the lanterns hanging in the middle of the hall down, the lanterns on the good-looking paper-cut "people Gong Dion" removed, given to the new families of the new dingdings as a toy souvenir. The rest of the lanterns on the bamboo frames are carried to the door of the ancestral home on the Wo Ping with a fire and warmed, which is called "warming the lanterns". After the warmth of the lamp, said the Spring Festival is over.
Fengshun burning fire dragon
The second is the Meizhou Fengshun burning fire dragon:
Every year on the first day of the first month of the fifteenth, Fengshun Puzhai will be staged a grand and hot prayers for blessings, that is, "burning fire dragon".
The Whampoa Fire Dragon has been inherited from the Qing Dynasty 1740 for 276 years, and is a unique Hakka folk art flower in China. As long as you have been to the scene you will know, when the whole square fire rain, stars fall everywhere; a long dragon in the fire rain balking walk, the wonderful scene is breathtaking.
Wuhua Haiba Welcome Lantern Festival
Third, Wuhua Haiba half of the first month of the Welcome Lantern Festival:
Wuhua County, Hedong Town, Haiba Lantern Lantern Lantern Lantern Festival, as the local most lively, one of the most representative of folklore activities, after more than 500 years of inheritance and development, the Haiba Welcome Lantern is more and more diversified and rich in content;
The first time I saw this festival, it was the first time that I had seen a lot of people in the city.
The Hakka culture is profound and brilliant. There is a little-known Hakka folklore - "on the lamp". Hakka on the lamp custom circulates in the community, the region is very wide, it is "Timing" as the center, in the form of "lights" and the development of ancestral worship, comfort ancestral activities. It is also known as the "light viewing" and "light raising".
The origin of the "lamp"
In Hakka, "lamp" is a dialect of "Ding" resonance, but also The Hakka symbolizes light, hope, a prairie fire, and continuity of life. The Hakka people from the Central Plains all the way through the thorns and thistles, and finally settled in the present Fujian, Guangdong and Gan three areas of the convergence of the region, its unique life experience, so that the Hakka people formed a unity of the community, *** together with the enemy's survival needs, which gave rise to the Hakka people to honor their ancestors to commemorate the grace of the tradition of borrowing the "lights" to celebrate the "ding ding". "
The Hakka people have a tradition of honoring their ancestors.
"On the lamp" that is to add Ding
In the Hakka clan society, all the boys have to hold "on the lamp" ceremony, only once in a lifetime. The age of the "on the lamp" is not divided into size, the boy was born soon called "ascending the new Ding", older, for a variety of reasons did not hold such a ceremony is called "ascending the old Ding". Therefore, "on the lamp" is really a celebration of the new boy for the year of the various surnames and ethnic groups.
"on the lantern" time
Every year, where the family name of the clan has "add Ding" (that is, the birth of a boy), must be in the ancestral ancestral ancestral hall hanging a new lantern (harmonic), "new Ding", "new", "new", "new", "new", "new", "new", "new", "new", "new", "new", "new", "new", "new" and so on. The earliest date for the "lantern" is the ninth day of the first month, and the latest is the nineteenth day of the first month, but it is mostly one or two days before and after the fifteenth day of the first month. "The idea is to report to the ancestors that a new child has been added to the family.
"On the lamp" in the form of
"On the lamp" to do "three animals", wine and fruit to honor the ancestors and heaven and earth, God, and also to do "on the lamp wine". This custom in the Hakka gathering area, its rituals are more complicated, and has evolved, they in the "on the lamp", but also in the middle of the "lamp warming" (is "on the lamp" in the process of an activity, can not say) (it is an activity in the process of "up-lighting" and cannot be said to be the "Lantern Warming Festival"). Finally, it is "honoring the ancestors and thanking heaven and earth", which is very grand and enthusiastic, and has the atmosphere of "a new family, the whole village celebrates".
Changes in the custom of "putting up lanterns"
The Hakka people who gave birth to a son will put up lanterns in their own ancestral hall on the Lantern Festival of the next year, that is, hang a beautiful lantern, and then ask the dignified old man in the village to hold the boy for a while and write his name officially into the family tree. His name is formally written into the genealogy, the boy will officially become a member of the family, and then set up a banquet to invite all the men of the village to come and drink. With the progress of social civilization, now many of the birth of daughters also haunt the lamp, daughters also into the genealogy.
Hakka on the lamp custom has a long history, some hundreds of years, some thousands of years, this custom has now become more colorful, a profound reflection of the Hakka people's sense of inheritance of the best culture.
The Hakka people's custom of "up-lighting" is to share the joy of prosperity with the clan
The fourteenth day of the first month of the new year, before the Lantern Festival, has come to the hometown of the annual "up-lighting" season. The "on the lamp" is a very special landscape in the Hakka culture, today seems to be still a very meaningful traditional folklore. My hometown is Pingyuan, Meizhou, and the lantern-lighting takes place on the morning of the 14th day of the first month of the year. This article combines freshly released photos and videos to talk about this custom.
1, what is "on the lamp"
"Lamp", "Ding" also, the two in the Hakka language harmonic The two harmonize in the Hakka language. In China's ancient male-dominated society, the birth of a man for the addition of "Ding", the birth of a daughter is only to add "population", so the traditional "lamp" is to express the celebration of the family's new male child, remembering the ancestor thanks to the sky and the earth, and praying for the new child to honor their ancestors and other emotions, but also expresses the hope that the clan is prosperous, the meaning of the fire passed on to the next generation.
Xingning, Meizhou lamp ceremony
The lamp on the time to hang the lanterns on the family ancestral home and their own houses on the beams to celebrate the addition of ding, so as the name suggests, said "on the lamp", can also be called "ascending lamp". After the lamp, the new name can be officially included in the family tree.
The time of the lantern varies slightly from region to region, from the sixth to the tenth of the first month (such as Heshan, Guangdong), from the ninth to the nineteenth of the first month (such as Meizhou, Guangdong), from the tenth to the sixteenth of the first month (such as Cenxi, Guangxi), and most of them are held on the fifteenth of the first month, before and after the Lantern Festival.
Some people tend to confuse the lantern festival with the Lantern Festival. In fact, the Lantern Festival began in the Han Dynasty, when Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty ordered the 15th day of the first month to be designated as the Lantern Festival, and thus came into being. Since ancient times, the Lantern Festival has not celebrated the addition of new children to the family. The Lantern Festival is different from the Lantern Festival in terms of theme, connotation and program, and should not be mixed up. Some scholars have speculated that the lantern is a derivative of the Lantern Festival, but the truth is that it is a matter of opinion.
Now, the lantern custom is mainly popular in China's Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiangxi, Fujian and other regions, especially the Hakka settlement base camp or some purely Han areas such as Guangdong's `Meizhou, Xingning, Heyuan, Heshan and Guangxi's Cenxi, Fuji County, Rongxian, Fuchuan, Guiping and other areas. However, this custom is not unique to the Hakka, but is also practiced by non-Hakka Han groups such as Chaoshan and Zhanjiang in Guangdong. The Hakka and non-Hakka lanterns are similar in form and program, and their themes, connotations, and meanings are essentially the same.
2. How do you "put on the light"?
On the light process is probably the following steps. First, the preliminary preparatory work. The village of the deliberative group to discuss the agenda on the lamp, do a good job of division of labor, selected to host the emcee and other aspects of the person in charge, the village of the drums and lions to rehearse in advance
Second is the ancestor ascending lamp. Early in the morning of that day, the village added a new family in the previous year, all in the ancestral public housing centers, offerings of three animals, wine and gifts. By the family elders presided over, together with incense burning candle ancestor worship, the lanterns will be up to the ancestral public housing on the hall of the "Ding Zi Liang" on. Newcomers are held by the elders to the ancestral tablet bowing and bowing incense; accompanied by drums and lions during the period, firecrackers, lively; ancestral house on the lamp is completed, back to their own houses should be sacrificed to the ancestors to raise lanterns, but also in some areas only on a lantern. The process of ascending lanterns sometimes lasts until the afternoon of the day.
Third, the celebration. In the evening, the various lanterns on the family set up a banquet, a new family, friends and relatives in all directions to come to congratulate, **** Jihui, to the new family to express the best wishes. There will also be quizzes, fireworks, lion dances and other programs.
The process of lamplighting around the details are slightly different, some on the lamp, but also choose a day and then under the lamp, the lanterns from the ancestral home to invite home; some also have a "warm lamp", "tour lamp" and other procedures; there are some areas of the more grand, the program is more complex! Some of them also have "warm lantern", "tour lantern" and other procedures; some areas are more solemn, more complicated procedures, but generally this is the case.
3, why "on the lamp"?
The earliest origins of the custom of on the lamp has been difficult to prove, some scholars believe that began in the history of the Hakka people's first southward migration (Qin Shi Huang period), some scholars believe that began in the Han Dynasty, but whether it began in the Qin or Han, "on the lamp," the lamp "lamp" are now one or two years old. However, whether it began in the Qin or Han Dynasty, the "lamp" of "Shangdeng" has existed for one or two thousand years now. The existence of everything in the world has its own reason for existence, not to mention the existence of a thousand years.
Some people think that the Hakka on the lamp custom reflects a patriarchal backward thinking, in fact, today's people may wish to look at this issue with a more objective mind. We turn over the long history of mankind scroll, can be found since ancient times between the state war killing, you rob me and the dawn of the history of the people's displacement, turning and fleeing almost did not stop. Hakka people from China's ancient Han in the Central Plains, history is known to the Hakka people's lineage of more than 2,000 years of the six great migrations, is a war to avoid, to avoid the destruction of the country to extinguish the history of the flight of the tribe. Years of wandering, day long Hakka for home, how miserable and arduous!
In the use of large swords, spears, bows and arrows of the Cold War era, productivity backward, seven-foot man's advantage is naturally far greater than that of a slender and weak woman. Women can become General Hua Mulan is, after all, few and far between, even if it is conscripted to fight, the court is only to catch the men, will not come to catch the women. So it seems, in ancient backward social conditions, only male prosperity to clan prosperity, national prosperity, the phenomenon of son preference in fact became the ancient society objective, inexorable choice. It can be said that the custom of the lamp is the natural awakening of the consciousness of the ancient Han people to honor the male child.
There are also people who think that the custom is a bit like the herd effect, or the herd effect. If you take a closer look at it, it's not the case, and the custom has a unique inner motivation. Every time you go on a "light", you're giving people a deep lesson on how to think and act.
People who have been on the lamps are naturally happy, and are inspired by the spirit of the newborns to subconsciously have the desire to "keep going". People who are not yet on the lamp will have a deep desire to look forward to the year when my family will also be on the lamp
Especially for the Han people who are y educated in traditional culture and respect filial piety, honoring their ancestors and remembering their ancestors, being on the lamp is simply a task order from their ancestors. This formed the "on the lamp" an unceasing source of driving force, but also because of this driving force of the driving force, so that the ancient Han people to get a better reproduction, the blood lineage.
It can be seen that the lantern custom is a folk design full of wisdom in the history of human reproduction, we have to be grateful to admire the ancestors who invented the lantern custom! In today's world, our country is gradually showing the pain of the family planning policy, a series of serious problems such as the decline in the birth rate, aging, loss of a single person, and the lack of fertility of young people of childbearing age. The light, perhaps in such a special period of time has a more positive significance of reality.
5 New meanings of "lanterns"
Today, many Hakka lanterns have been declared as intangible cultural heritages by the cultural authorities, such as Meizhou, Heshan, and Huizhou in Guangdong. Since the Hakka lantern has been evaluated as intangible cultural heritage, it means that it is old and can only be called "heritage"; secondly, it means that it belongs to a cultural phenomenon with cultural heritage value; thirdly, it means that it needs to be further inherited and developed, and can not stick to the old rules and remain unchanged.
The new period of "on the lamp" custom should also be with the times. With the progress and development of human society, the degree of civilization continues to improve, the vast majority of the world has long achieved gender equality. Women in the country, society, the family plays a completely no less important role than even beyond the men, so the idea of patriarchy, male superiority has long been thrown into the pile of history.
Nowadays, men are ding, daughters are also ding; men and women are their own, should be treated equally. Therefore, on the lamp custom should be adjusted accordingly, should not fall into the male and female gender stereotypes. Equality between men and women on the lantern is only a form of equality, the real equality should start from the concept of fertility to adhere to the equality of men and women, and then in the cultivation, education and other aspects can be treated equally. The equality of the concept of reproduction will also help to improve or eliminate some of the negative social phenomena brought about by the unilateral pursuit of male children in society.
It is reported that now some Hakka areas have achieved equality between men and women on the lamp, the daughter's name can also be recorded in the genealogy, which should be a good phenomenon of social civilization progress.