Looking for the customs of southern Fujian. .

We will further understand the Hokkien people from the aspects of festivals, folk songs and dialects, residence, wedding customs and ancestor worship.

1. Festivals, folk songs and dialects

Spring Festival, the beginning of the new year, everything is renewed, and opening ceremonies are generally held in Fujian and Taiwan. New Year's couplets are posted in every household, symbolizing the renewal of the year and the arrival of spring in everything. Men, women, old and young, all dressed in new clothes, are given fruits, tea, wine and New Year meals to worship heaven and earth, family gods and ancestors. For breakfast, eat more longevity noodles (thread noodles) or rice cakes, which means "long life" and "promotion every year." After the meal, the young men and women pay homage to the ancestral hall and the elders. Relatives and friends exchange congratulations and say auspicious words. The elders usually give the younger generation lucky money. When guests arrive, bring fructose, tangerine, melon seeds, betel nut, etc., as soon as you taste them. Along with New Year greetings, there is also the custom of traveling, that is, wearing new clothes, going to a certain temple to burn incense and kowtow to pray for the blessings of Bodhisattva. On the first day of the Lunar New Year, it is generally forbidden to kill animals, eat porridge, eat sweet potatoes, clean excrement, cry, take medicine, break objects, etc., in order to seek good luck in the year. Since the Ming Dynasty, Fujian has had the custom of visiting graves during the Spring Festival, especially on the second and third days of the Lunar New Year. Most of the Chinese family members bring their elders and children to visit their ancestors' graves. The fourth day of the first lunar month is the day of joining. The body it connects to usually refers to household gods such as the Kitchen God and the Kitchen God. The fifth day of the Lunar New Year is the opening day of the holiday, and cannons are fired to open the market. In Putian, Xianyou and other places, the fifth day of the lunar month is designated as "making the big year". It is said that on the New Year's Eve of a certain year in the Ming Dynasty, Japanese pirates raided, burned, killed and plundered. On the second day of the Lunar New Year, after the Japanese pirates were driven out, the refugees returned. On the second and third day of the Lunar New Year, every household is busy collecting the bodies of their loved ones for funerals and has no intention of visiting to pay New Year greetings. Then they agreed that the second day of the Lunar New Year would be the day for each family to worship the victims. They would not visit each other to pay New Year greetings, but would make up for the New Year on the fourth and fifth days of the Lunar New Year. Therefore, from now on, the Puxian area will celebrate the New Year every year on the fourth night of the Lunar New Year, and then perform the New Year's ceremony on the fifth Lunar New Year.

Minnan folk songs refer to folk songs sung in the southern Fujian dialect. They are widely circulated in Fujian and Taiwan, and have formed various styles with differences in regional environment, living habits, historical changes, etc. Features. According to differences in styles, southern Fujian folk songs are mainly divided into two regions: Quanzhou and Zhangzhou. In the Quanzhou area, folk songs are greatly influenced by Nanqu, which include the ancient musical scales of Bian Gong and Bian. The melody is smoothly progressive and winding linear, with a medium-speed and slightly slower rhythm, and is characterized by grace and elegance. The folk songs in Zhangzhou area are mostly in modal style and the colors are relatively simple. Local Jinge and drama also have a profound influence on folk songs. For example, Zhangzhou's "Drama Song" and the drama "Zha Sui Tune" are closely related in tone, forming a contrast between the two sound areas and melody tones of Yushang and Shang, and the colors are bright.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, people from Quanzhou and Zhangzhou immigrated to Taiwan in large numbers, bringing with them a considerable amount of southern Fujian folk music with strong local characteristics. With the spread of immigrants, local tunes were formed, such as Taipei tune, Tainan tune, Zhanghua tune, Hengchun tune, Yilan tune, etc. Despite this, these folk songs still have the same local flavor of southern Fujian, and Taiwanese scholars collectively call them Hoklo folk songs. Hoklo folk songs have been enriched and developed as they spread in various places. For example, after the Hoklo people entered Hengchun, they were influenced by the Hakka and created "Thinking Rises", "Four Seasons of Spring", "Three Sounds of Helplessness" and "Ox Tail Swing" and other folk songs; after entering Taipei, he created "Taipei Diao", "Chen Zai Foot Diao", "Mongolia Crying Diao", etc. In addition, after some ancient southern Fujian folk songs were spread to Taiwan, they were processed for several generations and formed quite complete tunes. Taiwan's Hokkien folk songs are mostly progressive in melody progression. They are delicate and beautiful, simple and smooth, easy to pronounce, friendly and touching. The singing content of Hokkien folk songs covers a wide range of topics, including nursery rhymes, love songs, narrative songs, sacrificial songs, labor songs, etc.

The southern Fujian dialect was formed and developed in the southern Fujian region of Fujian. It is mainly caused by people from the northern Central Plains migrating south many times in different historical periods to avoid war, fight against rebellions, wars, or flee famine. After entering the southern Fujian region, formed gradually. In the process of exchanges and integration between the Central Plains and local indigenous languages, Central Plains Chinese has an absolute advantage and is a fusion of indigenous languages. Although it also absorbs some elements of indigenous languages, the final form is Southern Fujian with Chinese as the main body. dialect.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, as Zheng Chenggong led the Hokkien and foreigners to Taiwan, Hokkien became the main language in Taiwan. In terms of domestic distribution, Minnan dialects can be divided into five major groups: native Minnan dialect, Taiwanese Minnan dialect, Chaoshan Minnan dialect, Qionglei Minnan dialect and Zhejiang Minnan dialect. Due to the influence of other dialects in the region and the passage of time, the five major dialects of Hokkien are slightly different. Among them, the native Hokkien and Taiwan are the closest, with almost no difference. About 75% of the people in Taiwan speak Hokkien. Followed by Hakka and Shandi dialects.

2. Living, Marriage Customs and Ancestor Worship

The structure of houses in southern Fujian is generally the main hall in the middle, with the highest roof, with the second and third courtyards as the center, and the two sides are combined horizontally. Symmetrically, the protective houses are arranged in strips and develop to both sides. The left is the big room and the right is the second room. The backs of the left and right roofs are slightly lower. The house built extending from the main hall looks like it is surrounded by a winding dragon, so it is also known as "Surrounding the Dragon". This kind of horizontally assembled house-style dwellings is most suitable for the hot climate conditions along the coast of southern Fujian. Among the folk houses in Quanzhou towns, there is also a long and narrow hut with a vertical layout. It is commonly called "hand towel" because it looks like a long hand towel. In Xiamen, there is another type of "arcade-style" residential building. The house is low and has multiple doors, with a flat roof above which people can walk. Hui'an and other places are rich in granite, and many houses with complete stone structures are built with granite. The craftsmanship is unique and the shape is unique, which has become an important part of southern Fujian culture.

The unique style of Minnan folk houses is especially reflected in the roof. The two ends of the main ridge are like a swallow house flying up, and the middle is low and flat, showing the traditional meaning of the curved roof of the Song Dynasty. The doors of Minnan folk houses are also quite elegant. The door must be centered and deepened to the far side to form a corridor, creating a larger void level and adding to the physical changes of the building.

In the wedding customs of southern Fujian, the whole wedding process has the custom of tying red silk threads. This custom contains the beautiful meaning of "having one heart and one mind and growing old together", so the red silk thread is used as a mascot throughout the wedding. The whole wedding process.

The first time the red silk thread was used was when proposing marriage. The man’s accompanying gift should be tied with a red silk thread on the outside of the package, or it could be replaced with a red thread. When entering the woman's home, place it in a prominent position in the hall to show good luck. When both parties are satisfied, the next step is to choose a wedding day, commonly known as "selecting a date." "Selecting a date" means that the man chooses a relative whom both parties respect and trust to be the messenger, in case the woman fails to show the girl's "birth date". After writing the "birthday horoscope", it should be wrapped in a piece of red paper with a red silk thread inside for the man to bring back "the right time to give birth and the day to choose", which means marriage.

On the wedding day, both parties should tie small red silk threads and small red paper on the many gifts they give each other. Such as as large as a motorcycle, a refrigerator, as small as a pair of scissors; from fresh foods such as fish, meat, noodles, etc., to gift boxes containing biscuits, candies, cigarettes and other dried fruit and non-staple foods; and even all gifts given to each other by both parties, among which Including the big and small red envelopes sent to each other, we must take it seriously and not be vague.

For weddings and weddings, in addition to posting wedding couplets in the halls of both parties’ houses, decorations made of small red strips and red silk threads should also be put on the door eyebrows of the hall and the new house to symbolize the wedding. Geely is truly a "thousand-mile marriage thread".

According to folk stories, there has been a "thousand-mile marriage thread" since ancient times. There is an old man under the moon who is in charge of the marriage. It is predestined that only a red thread will be used to tie the two people's feet secretly. Even though your two families are separated by the sea and the country, and there is a feud, they will finally have a chance to become husband and wife. If the old man under the moon is not tied with a red thread, he will never be able to be together no matter what. Today, the custom of tying red silk threads, like the one retained in southern Fujian, is no longer common.

Every time on the third day of the third month of the lunar calendar, people in southern Fujian and Taiwan have an old custom of respecting their ancestors, which is called the "March Festival". When worshiping their ancestors, before going up the mountain to sweep their tombs, they must first worship the ancestors in the ancestral hall or at home. After arriving at the cemetery, ancestors must first worship the "God of the Earth", then press paper on the ancestor's cemetery to offer sacrifices, fill the soil to repair the grave, and paint it with red and red paint to show that the children and grandchildren will not forget the kindness of their ancestors. Taiwan compatriots brought their ancestral festivals and customs to the other side of the Taiwan Strait, and they are still followed today.

Clothing:

When a friend or friend or relative is mourning, you cannot wear red, floral or brightly colored clothes.

Don’t sew clothes on your body.

Do not put clothes on directly after drying them.

Don’t dress backwards.

When raising silkworms, they are called "fairy" instead of "zhi".

Food:

When visiting a fisherman’s house, avoid turning the fish over on the plate when eating.

Don’t use chopsticks to break the thread when celebrating a birthday.

When steaming cakes and making glutinous rice during Chinese New Year and festivals, it is taboo for children or others to point at the stove, talk loudly, or guess whether to "make" or "not make".

Pregnant women should avoid eating ginger, crab, and rabbit.

Don’t stick chopsticks in the rice bowl.

Children should avoid tapping their bowls with chopsticks while eating or before eating.

Remember:

Don’t wash your face before going to bed.

Taboo for building a house: "in front of the palace and behind the ancestral hall".

The mirror should not be facing the bed.

The bed should not be placed under top cabinets, beams or lighting.

OK:

It is really unlucky to have bird droppings fall on your head when you go out. If you encounter this misfortune, you must quickly change your luck to eliminate the disaster: eat a bowl of pork trotters noodles.

When going out to enjoy the moon, children should avoid pointing their fingers at the moon to avoid having their ears cut off at night.

Gift-giving:

Do not give handkerchiefs, fans, scissors, or umbrellas to others.

In Quanzhou dialect, "handkerchief" and "root" have the same pronunciation. As the saying goes, "giving a towel means cutting off the root." After the funeral, handkerchiefs are given to the mourners, with the intention of "cutting off" the mourners from the deceased. contacts. Therefore, if you usually give someone a handkerchief, it will also remind people of unlucky funerals or the intention of breaking off friendship.

The fan is only used for cooling in the summer, and is discarded in late autumn. In Quanzhou dialect, "fan" sounds the same as "见", and as the saying goes, "if you give a fan, you won't see each other", so "fan" is taboo as a gift.

Scissors always remind people of "cutting in two" and "cutting in two". It not only means breaking off the relationship between the giver and the recipient, but it cannot be used as a gift.

In some places in the north, it is forbidden to send bells because "bell" and "end" have the same pronunciation. Quanzhou people, on the other hand, do not have this taboo. In the past, when people got married, they would often put the clock given by others in a very conspicuous place.

Except; umbrellas are also not suitable as gifts. In Quanzhou dialect, "umbrella" and "san" have the same pronunciation.