Tianjin folk customs (about the New Year) Don’t eat snacks

There is a saying in Tianjin Wei: "After the Laba Festival, it is the New Year." Once the Laba Festival is over, people stop busy with other things and devote their energy and financial resources to busy New Year activities with great enthusiasm. Every household must prepare food, clothing, and supplies.

In fact, during the Chinese New Year, young and old people in Tianjin Wei can not only feast their mouths, but also take advantage of this new year to feast their eyes on various temple fairs, flower fairs, Dharma drums, operas, and various games. Juggling has filled the Spring Festival days - "entertainment" is the theme of the Spring Festival for Tianjin people.

The Tianhou Temple Temple Fair rings the first gong of the New Year

In the past, people in Tianjin believed in many gods, such as the God of Wealth, Kitchen King, Bodhisattva, Jade Emperor, etc. However, because Tianjin is located on the seaside, People emphasize navigation skills while praying for the blessings of gods. Therefore, the most prestigious and worshiped person among the people is the "Tianhou Empress" - known as "Mazu" in the south. At the same time, Tianjin is also a shipping hub, with many foreign merchants and frequent shipping activities, so the incense in the "Tianhou Palace" is also very strong, and there are many flower festivals for sacrifices. In the early years of the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Kangxi visited Tianjin and inspected the Tianhou Palace. He admired the performance of the Flower Fair very much. The emperor bestowed the flag on it. From then on, the folk flower fair in the Tianhou Palace became the "Imperial Party". Various performances such as Dharma drums, lions, Chinese flags and flower drums were performed in the streets and alleys, with endless sounds of gongs and drums and constant cheers. According to the "Tianjin Emperor Hui Kao Ji", "It stayed like this all night until late night. The candles went out and the incense disappeared, and I didn't realize that the east was already white." Later, in addition to the grand celebration of Tianhou's birthday on March 23 of the lunar calendar, the twelfth lunar month A grand temple fair is held from the 15th to the first day of the first lunar month. Gradually, the Tin Hau Temple Temple Fair has become the most important festive event during the Spring Festival.

Shang Jie, deputy director of the Tianjin Folk Museum, said: "Why is a large-scale temple fair held in the cold season of the twelfth lunar month? It has a lot to do with the traditional festival customs of Tianjin people. Tianjin people attach great importance to celebrating the New Year, which is extremely famous among big cities across the country and even the world. This is related to Tianjin’s historical and geographical environment, the diverse population structure, and the fact that most people have been engaged in the wandering maritime and water transportation professions for a long time. Every New Year's Day, people look forward to being able to reunite with their families safely, enjoy family happiness, and wish them good luck in the coming year. This intensity of purchase and psychology is unmatched by people in other cities. The Temple Fair of the twelfth lunar month in the Harem came into being in such a lively atmosphere. Starting from the 15th day of the twelfth lunar month, various New Year goods vendors gathered in the Tianhou Temple, forming a huge New Year's goods trading market in the Gongnan Gongbei area. The children's toys in the front yard of the temple attracted a large number of tourists, and this situation has not changed yet."

She also told reporters that in the early years, there were many side halls in the Temple. Commercial shops are very famous for selling paper-cut window grilles, money hangings, gold goods, flowers, birds, fish and insects, etc. When everyone went shopping for New Year's goods, they looked at the dazzling array of New Year's goods and said, "Shopping is also enjoyable!"

The big drum accompaniment of old and young men had a lot of fun

In the old days of Tianjin, Businessmen who sing drums are called "ganghu people". It is said that the origin of the drum singing form has a history of at least several thousand years. During the Yao and Shun era, admonition drums were installed in the court halls. Although they were used to admonish, they also had an educational significance. In ancient times, King Zhouzhuang once "beat drums to transform the people" in order to "rectify customs and customs", so later generations of drummers respected King Zhouzhuang as their ancestor. During the Chinese New Year, the drum singers would set up tents near the New Year Market. They would set up long benches on three sides and a table on the ground to support the drums. This would serve as a stage for the performers to sing, which is called "playing the stage." The so-called drum songs are all large-scale books, such as "Hu Yanqing Da Lei", "Seven Kingdoms Before and After", "Generals of the Yang Family", "Crossing the Sea to the East", "Xue Gang's Rebellion against the Tang Dynasty" and so on.

This year, several drum houses sang different songs, and the people were not only entertained by their ears, but also feasted their eyes. Because as long as there is drum music during the New Year, there will inevitably be "juggling". This form and content are more colorful to attract audiences with different hobbies, including cross talk, oboe, sleight of hand (magic), acrobatics (such as diabolo shaking). , juggling, playing felt, etc.) together, it is called "Ten Juggling", which means that the ten skills of blowing, beating, pulling, playing, speaking, learning, teasing, singing, changing, and practicing are brought together in one place, allowing everyone to Have fun in the new year.

Diabolo buzzing patterns bring out the flavor of the New Year

When it comes to diabolo shaking, every child and even adults will be very interested, because the diabolo is emitted with cotton thread and two thin sticks. The "buzzing" sound is accompanied by swiping left and right, ups and downs, from simple pulling to complex and beautiful tricks. There are quite a few techniques for playing diabolo. Because it is large at both ends and thin in the middle, Tianjin people call it "Wind Gourd".

At the New Year temple fairs in old Tianjin, there will be performances. The performer ties two short bamboo poles with a white string and makes a circle around the circular axis in the middle of the diabolo. When shaking the bamboo poles with both hands, the disc on the axis head rotates. There are small bamboo slices on the disc. When rotating, wind enters the hole, causing a "buzzing" sound. The faster it shakes, the faster the disc will rotate and the louder the sound will be. When shaking diabolo, several people often gather together to compete to see who can shake the diabolo loudly and who can shake it in more ways. The simplest trick is "raising high", which is to shake the diabolo loudly and throw it into the air with " When there is a buzzing sound, catch it with a bamboo pole and continue shaking. Another way to shake diabolo is "monkey climbing the pole", which is to let the diabolo rotate upward along the bamboo pole in your hand. Complex tricks include "climbing the cross", "Zhang Fei cheating the horse", etc. You can almost hear the "buzzing" sound at the Spring Festival temple fairs and New Year markets. Today's children have probably never seen such a simple toy. It is made of bamboo on a small rope tied with two small sticks. The small gadgets flew up and down as the rope shook, making a "buzzing" sound. Nowadays, old people over sixty can clearly remember that several buzzing diabolos flew into the sky from the crowd, and then fell rapidly, and were each steadily caught with a rope. , and started shaking again. The small diabolo keeps flashing past people's eyes like shooting stars, which is dazzling. Sometimes they fly up from behind, sometimes they go under their legs, and sometimes they jump back and forth between their fingers. Their dances such as "shooting stars chasing the moon", "monkeys climbing poles", "ants climbing trees" and other tricks are amazing.

Men, women, old and young come together to perform Yangko and dance

There is also another kind of entertainment activity that is indispensable to the festival along with stilts. It is a song and dance art in folk social activities during festivals. It is called in Tianjin dialect "Earth Yangge". 67-year-old Sun Fengying said: "I am a die-hard Yang fan. When I hear the suona and drum beats, my hands and feet feel itchy. When you twist to the drum beats, even your toes feel nervous. This year's Spring Festival, I participated in the Ning Yang Festival He's Yangko team performed a great New Year's Yangko dance. There are actually many ways to perform the Yangko dance. Every move and every move has a lot of details. It brings a joyful feeling to everyone watching the Yangko and brings the joy of the New Year. The atmosphere is brought to everyone. "In the old days, Yangko was played by men. During the Chinese New Year, the men dressed up, shouted and laughed, while the eldest girls and young wives at home looked out through the cracks in the door. , and laughed together. "Women dancing yangko is new."

Sun Fengying also told reporters that in the Beijing and Tianjin areas, there are two differences: one is whether the yangko is on stilts or not. It's only more than 1 foot; the second is the difference between twisting and singing, and twisting and not singing. Among the above four forms, only those who do not step on stilts, only twist without singing, and do not play a role in the story are only equipped with colorful silk costumes and dance with the accompaniment of gongs and drums. As for art forms such as "land boat racing" and "donkey racing", they are often attached to the Yangko Festival in Tianjin, and some are attached to the stilt festival as a buffer performance between major repertoires or a supplementary activity after a short program. . After the excitement, the humorous dance made the audience feel relaxed.

The suona accompanies the clang and the drums are beaten

According to Shang Jie, it is said that the earliest Dharma drum group in Tianjin is the "Dajue'an Jinyin Dharma Drum Association". The main instruments of the Dharma Drum Association are drums, which are placed in the center, and cymbals, cymbals, cymbals, and clangs are all behind the drums. There are about a dozen sets of Dharma drum tunes, among which the commonly used ones include "Lao Xihe", "Shao Tonggu", etc. Famous Dharma Drum Associations include Longting’s Jingyin Dharma Drum, Jieyuan’s Huayin Dharma Drum, Hou Family’s Yongyin Dharma Drum, etc. The Zhongfan Festival combines the two art forms of Kuagu and Zhongfan. It is organized by the kitchen industry. The name of the meeting is "Yuanyin Kuaigu Zhongfan Festival in front of the Xiang Temple". The Kuai Drum Team is a large drum with eight sides, tied with a yellow rope. Around the neck, the drummer wears a yellow mandarin jacket; the drummers have eight faces, and each of the beaters wears a yellow waistcoat; there are also 12 double-knot boys, each wearing fresh clothes, holding flower baskets; and 12 martial boys, holding pairs of cymbals. . When playing, the drums have different priorities, and the clangs are punctuated. Wen Tong sang softly, accompanied by suona.

Wu Tong played with cymbals and human bodies and placed characters on them. The auspicious words he often placed were "peace in the country", "peace in the world", etc. The changes were very rapid. The middle flag team originally had three middle flags, each with a three-foot-long bamboo pole hanging long flags, the flags five feet wide, and green satin. , red cloth. On the top of the flag are two flags, two lanterns, three umbrella canopies, and a number of copper bells. Each flag has two long cords (one or two less than the central flag in Beijing). The total weight of each frame exceeds one hundred kilograms. It can be placed in the guild or held in the hand, on the arm or on the shoulder. During the performance, the performer puts his head on his forehead or stretches his arms to support the tower. The performer performs various thrilling movements, but the flag pole cannot leave the body or fall to the ground. People visiting the temple fair will applaud the performers loudly. After the performers are recognized, they will perform harder.

High jump, splits, somersaults, and stilt walking

Every Chinese New Year, there is another entertainment activity that is indispensable, and that is "walking on stilts." Stilt performers tie their feet to "stilt legs" made of wooden sticks 1 to 3 feet high, and perform while walking. When stilts became popular in the middle of the Qing Dynasty, some of the stilt legs were as high as 5 feet. Stilt walkers can be divided into literary and martial arts: Wen stilt walkers mainly perform walking and singing, simple dancing and twisting movements; Wu stilt walkers perform thrilling moves such as handstands, somersaults, stacks, and high table splits.

Tianjin stilts are mostly martial arts stilts. Their twisting movements, such as handstands and tumbling, running forward and leaning down, etc., have fixed patterns, beautiful shapes and a lively atmosphere. Since the Qing Dynasty, stilt walking clubs have been the most common in the suburbs of Tianjin, and they are often advertised in the name of opera. The performance is divided into different parts, with the actors dancing and tumbling to the accompaniment of gongs, drums, cymbals and cymbals. Amidst the sonorous and powerful beats of gongs and drums on stilts, the flavor of the New Year is getting stronger and stronger, and the joyful Spring Festival is becoming more and more interesting!

"Mother talks about her son", also written as "Mother talks about her son", is a folklore phenomenon in the Beijing-Tianjin area. "Beijing Dialect Dictionary" explains: "Superstitious taboos and superstitious remarks in daily life." "Beijing Dialect Vocabulary" says that it has the same meaning as "Old Mama's example".

Examples, of course, refer to conventions, styles, and rules, which should be imitated or based on. Mother refers to the elder. In the past, most of them were housewives. In other words, to put it in a less pleasant way, mother's example is what the ladies in the family are particular about. Adding the word "老" highlights the old-fashioned nature of "ILI".

Is it all "superstitious taboos and superstitious remarks"? I don't think so. Since the mother example comes from the lower class people and inherits folk customs, the situation is complicated. There are at least three situations: 1. It appears in the form of superstition and contains superstitious content; 2. It appears in the form of superstition and contains reasonable content; 3. It appears in the form of reasonable content. The form contains reasonable content. The latter two are called "popular beliefs" in folklore.

This means that we need to use dialectical methods and look at mother's examples.

1. If you don’t shave your head in the first month, your uncle will die.

This is an example of a judgmental mother. Is there such a thing? No. Some people associate it with the entry of Qing troops into the Pass, but that's just what a novelist says. What if it is indeed a "truth judgment", that is, a person without an uncle shaves his head (haircut) in the first month? If there is an uncle who is dead, but if there is no uncle and there is no uncle, I can't control it. Is that still a judgment of truth? However, it uses superstition to guide reasonable behavior. In the first month of the year, everyone celebrates the Spring Festival. It urges people to do good personal hygiene before the Spring Festival. If you don't do this kind of personal hygiene, you will endanger your relatives. How powerful! Besides, in the old society, most of the barbers (barber masters) were from Baodi County. They worked day and night at the end of the New Year. They worked overtime from New Year's Eve until dawn on the first day of the first lunar month, and then immediately returned to their hometown to celebrate the New Year. If you want to shave your head (haircut), where can you find a barber!

2. Window door to window door, if you don’t file a lawsuit, you will die

When building a new house or building a new house in the yard, it is most taboo to have the door or window facing the neighbor’s door or window. Therefore, there is a kind of mother example of "door to door, killing people".

This kind of statement seems to be a folk taboo, and it is an absurd superstitious taboo, but it cannot be concluded so simply. Because this is a superstitious form of construction regulations.

Doors and windows are not convenient for living. Everyone has privacy, at least their daily life that they don’t want others to see, and their behaviors that they don’t want to make public. In the hot summer, it is inevitable to expose your upper body or take a bath in your home. Can you keep the doors and windows closed at all times? Obviously not. Another example is that there are two households located right next to each other in a certain place. When A walks out of his house, he always turns right indifferently. But the resident B across the door moved out and moved in, and the new resident C moved in.

Within a few days, a man from Resident C stood in front of the door and cursed, "What are you looking at in someone's house with your dog eyes?", "It's not a thing," and so on. Resident A found out that Resident C was "swearing Hai Jie" and refused to let him go. He said, "I didn't even take a pee and take a picture. No one wants a woman like you lying on the ground." After "Hai Jie" scolded him several times, A and C got angry, fought, and returned to the police station. If we had followed my mother's rule and put the doors and windows away from each other when building the house, this kind of dispute would not have happened. It can be seen that this mother's example, which seems to be very superstitious, tells some truths about life.

In the old days, there were many cases of Lantern Festival in Tianjin

Praying for nephews - sending lanterns to uncles

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, those who are uncles must not forget One thing, I must send a lamp to my nephew. In the old days, there was a folk custom in Tianjin of uncles giving lamps to their nephews.

“We pay attention to sending ‘duck’-shaped lanterns, which is homophonic to ‘Azi’, to pray for the nephew. It also means to wish the nephew a long life.” This custom still persists, and There are more and more types of lamps, such as goldfish lamps and tribulus lamps, which have the meaning of abundance, abundance and auspiciousness.

Going for a walk while admiring the lanterns - Walking away all diseases

On the 16th day of the first lunar month, there is another custom in Tianjin. This day is the day for walking away from all diseases. People who have worked hard for a year have never left. Women from their husband's families walked out of their homes one after another, or went back to their parents' homes to reunite with their parents, or to go to temples to offer incense, or to go shopping in bustling markets for leisure. However, you must return on the same day, not overnight.

Women not only have to return to their parents’ homes, but also often travel together. While enjoying the lanterns and strolling around, they can “walk” to cure all kinds of diseases. Folks believe that when “walking” to cure all diseases, they must cross three rivers. You have to cross three bridges and "touch nails" to seek good luck and cure your illness. "Touch nails" means to touch the iron nails on the bridge or the door nails on the temple door with your hands. Because "nail" and "ding" are homophonic, and "ding" also symbolizes men, women, especially those who are not pregnant, must "touch nails" sincerely in order to have children, make the family business prosperous, and have people to carry on the family line. Fortunately, Tianjin has many rivers, bridges, and temples. Otherwise, women’s little feet would not be able to bear it after a day of walking.

Carrying gold and silver treasures home——Steamed mice

Residents usually get busy on the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, making noodles and steaming "hedgehogs and mice". Thin triangular points were cut out from the hedgehog's body, and sorghum rice was used as eyes. For the mouse, four legs and a long tail were cut out, and black beans were used as eyes. On the backs of hedgehogs and mice and on the wooden milling heads are piles of dough-made ingots. Two of the two are in pairs, and they are placed at the corner of the window sill, the door pier, and the corner of the kitchen stove, with their heads facing outward. In the afternoon of the next day, the heads of hedgehogs and mice placed everywhere are turned from outwards to the inside of the house to show that they are carrying the treasures home. As for the hedgehogs and mice offered in front of the statues, ancestor tablets and Kitchen God statues, they do not rotate.

After dark on the evening of the 15th, the offerings and various displayed hedgehogs and mice are removed. The male head of the family presides over the burning of incense and the cooked Yuanxiao. Burn candles, burn incense, burn yellow money, and set off firecrackers. After the incense is removed, the Yuanxiao is boiled and heated by the whole family, which is called "eating and offering Jian". After eating Gongjian, dinner is officially eaten. Those who usually live separately or go out to work must gather together and eat together at the parents' residence. Because the fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the first day of the full moon, a full moon symbolizes family harmony, happiness and happiness.

Eat Yuanxiao in full circle

During the Lantern Festival, it is natural to mention eating Yuanxiao. There are two types: glutinous rice noodles (called "Jiangmi" in Jindi) and sorghum noodles (called "millet noodles" in Jindi). The pastry shop sells glutinous rice noodles. There are various types of Yuanxiao fillings, so they are called "Assorted Tangyuan". They are shaken with a dustpan when making them. They are soft and delicious after being cooked. Generally, home-made noodles are made from sorghum noodles, which are filled with sugar filling and made by hand. They become slightly hard after being cooked.

There is a folk custom in our country of eating Yuanxiao during the Lantern Festival. According to folk legend, the Lantern Festival originated from King Zhao Zhao of Chu during the Spring and Autumn Period. On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, King Zhao of Chu passed by the Yangtze River and saw floating objects on the river, which were sweet food that was white on the outside and red on the inside. King Zhao of Chu asked Confucius for advice, and Confucius said, "This duckweed fruit is a sign of revival for the person who gets it." Yuanxiao, like rice cakes during the Spring Festival and rice dumplings during the Dragon Boat Festival, are all festive foods. Eating Yuanxiao symbolizes family reunion like the full moon, and expresses people's good wishes for future life.

The Lantern Festival is called "tangyuan", "yuanzi", "floating yuanzi" and "water yuan" in the south. It is made of glutinous rice, either solid or with fillings. The fillings include bean paste, sugar, hawthorn, etc., and can be boiled, fried, steamed or fried. Let’s look at the varieties and ways of eating Yuanxiao.

Before the Northern Song Dynasty, the Yuanxiao was solid without stuffing, placed in boiling water, and mixed with sugar, candied dates, osmanthus, longan and other things. In the Southern Song Dynasty, "lactose dumplings" with sugar in the middle began to appear, which was probably the earlier stuffed Yuanxiao. Later, Yuanxiao fillings were divided into sweet and salty. Sweet fillings are generally made with white sugar, brown sugar, osmanthus, nuts, sesame seeds, etc.; salty fillings are mostly meat fillings, either single meat or meat and vegetable packages. Yuanxiao is mostly cooked in water, but some are fried.

Today, there are even more ways to eat Yuanxiao. People have combined Chinese and Western elements in Yuanxiao to their fullest potential. Even chocolate and ice cream can be used as Yuanxiao fillings. What else can’t be cooked and eaten?