The custom content of Hongdong's custom of walking away from relatives

The custom of visiting relatives in Hongdong is a traditional folk culture of Han nationality, which spreads in five towns (Ganting, wucun, Xincun, Malong and Wan 'an) in Hongdong County of Shanxi Province and Yaodu District of Linfen City, involving more than 20 villages, across the east and west banks of Fenhe River, and has a wide influence. The local Han people call it "visiting relatives on March 3rd" and "meeting menstruation to welcome the queen", which is related to the legend of the marriage relationship between Yao Di's daughter and Shun. It is listed as the first batch of intangible cultural heritage and the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage in Shanxi Province.

Every year on the morning of the second day of the third lunar month, villagers in Yangyu gather in front of their aunt's temple in the village, invite incense in front of the statue of their aunt to the sound of solemn gongs and drums, and then detour to Wang Yao's bedroom in the garden to burn incense and say goodbye, and "light up" yellow silk thread and red ribbon representing auspicious meanings. Then, the "Departure Order" was recited, and all the villagers bowed. Several able-bodied men carried their aunt's driving tower to Wang Yao Temple to say goodbye, and then walked out of the garden, forming a guard of honor hundreds of meters long. One of them was holding a banner of "Sheep Corporation", and several groups kept fighting along the way. After the parade went to the general temple at the entrance of the village to burn incense and worship, the male players got on the bus and set off. The team crossed the Fenhe River and got off to worship the river god. Through the village, set up incense tables and gongs and drums at the entrance of the village to meet them. The procession passed through the village, and tables and chairs were placed in front of every household in the village, with incense burners on them, as well as tea, snacks and fruits. It was left there for passers-by to take at will. If there is a mother temple in the village, the team will definitely stop at the mother temple to worship. On the way to eat "waist rice", the villagers spontaneously took the people from the sheep team home for dinner. After hearing three rings, no matter whether you are full or not, you will all go back to Niangniang Temple to gather and set off. After meeting the huge welcoming team in front of the Niangniang Temple in Lishan, the activity reached its climax with a big fight on the steps leading to the Niangniang Temple. If time permits, play a song on a step, often until dark. After entering the Lishan Temple Group, community leaders and others first went to Wang Shun Temple, then went to Wang Yao Temple, and finally went to Niangniang Temple (main hall) to burn incense, and the day was over. The leaders in charge of reception in Lishan (Lishan, Shanxi and Zhongshe) invited Yang Yulai's "relatives" to go home for dinner and accommodation.

The third day of March is a sunny day. Nearby villagers rushed to Niangniang Temple to burn incense. The stalls on both sides of the road behind the temple are filled with all kinds of snacks and daily necessities, forming a very lively temple fair. Near noon, with the sound of gunshots, the head of the Lishan Masters Association bowed down and burned incense in the Queen's Hall, and invited the statuettes of the two queens to be placed in Yeung Yi to drive the building, and officially started driving. The sheep team set off, and the Lishan team broke up with others. According to the traditional folk custom that the local Han people can't turn back when they get married, after the sheep team went to Yangjiazhuang for a "waist meal", Wan 'an Village received the team of the Empress to meet them. It is said that Wan 'an is Shun's hometown, and the Niangniang Temple here is also very grand. After the two teams met, they walked a few miles through the market town and came to Niangniang Temple. After burning incense and worshipping Buddha, they parked the driving building in the temple complex for the night, and the Yeung Yi team was taken home by the villagers in Wan 'an and returned to Yeung Yi on the evening of the fourth day of March.

First of all, the ceremony of leaving relatives and legends are important ways for the working people of the Han nationality to remember each other, and they are oral records of regional historical evolution. Legend is born with the function of explanation. When people tend to blur and forget history, history gradually evolves into memory, enters people's minds, is passed down from generation to generation, and gradually forms rich Han folk customs. The explanation of the legend of Yao and Shun and the origin of the village name is obviously * * * with the nature of memory, and it is also a warning to future generations not to forget history.

Secondly, the customs and legends of leaving relatives maintain the social order in a region. Wherever people go in the process of activities, they are enthusiastic and pious, conveying a kind of social ethics and various taboos. Eating "waist rice" and staying in the village after dark has realized the process and purpose of recognizing relatives, highlighted the importance of family ties, and played an important role in strengthening regional ties, especially in this society with a growing sense of space and increasingly tense interpersonal relationships. Such a farewell ceremony will undoubtedly bring a lot of inspiration to people, about people and about living space. In a word, the ceremony of walking on March 3 has become an important belief activity and entertainment activity after people's farming life in southern Shanxi, which affects people's attitudes, values and ideas about their loved ones. People's active participation and response after busy farming is a kind of goodwill, a way to express their beliefs and wishes, and a way to vent their emotions. They seek spiritual sustenance in their personal efforts and experiences, realize the harmony between neighbors and maintain their friendship with foreigners. According to textual research, the earliest existing records only show that there was a Shun Temple in Lishan during the Northern Song Dynasty (see Tongzhi Temple in Shanxi). Therefore, the custom of "taking aunts to welcome the queen" should have originated around the Song Dynasty, but in the local area, no matter ordinary villagers, local intellectual elites or even government officials, they firmly believe that this is a real history and think that the whole activity of "taking aunts to welcome the queen" also came from the Yao and Shun era. They are extremely proud of this, and they defend their beliefs with practical actions. Even during the period when such activities were strictly prohibited during the Cultural Revolution, they still took risks and secretly went to pick up their aunts in disguise. Many people were detained and imprisoned, and they did not hesitate.