The most interesting folklore

Chapter 17 The most interesting festive culture (5)
Huajiashou refers to the birthday at the age of 60. In ancient China, the date and year were calculated by the arrangement and combination of Tiangan (A, B, C, D, Wu, Geng, Xin, Rengui) and Earthly Branches (Zichouyin, Maochen, Siwu, Shenyou, Xuhai); from Jiazi, Yichou... Arranged continuously, the full 60 is a week, the ancients called it sixty Jiazi, and later, people called 60 years old by "Jiazi" or "60th birthday".Because people believe that living a full life is equivalent to completing a complete cycle of the universe and life. Therefore, the Han people pay special attention to celebrating the sixtieth birthday, and the etiquette is more grand than ordinary birthday ceremonies.The Koreans in Northeast China call the 60th birthday ceremony "Huanjiayan", which means that after living for 5 years, it is equivalent to returning to the time when they were born and starting their second life cycle.Therefore, a special [-], J grand birthday banquet was held.The birthday ceremony is similar to the birthday ceremony of the Han nationality, except that after the birthday banquet, the host and the guests will sing and dance together to celebrate the health and longevity of the elderly.

49. What are the elegant titles of "Shou"
Youshou: An elegant term for people who have reached the age of 60.

Xishou: 77-year-old nickname.Song Zhang Jizhi's cursive "Xi" character ("Sanxitangtie") looks like 77, hence the name.

Bai Shou: The elegant name for 99 years old.Because the word "bai" removes the upper one to get the word "bai", and the number of "hundred" removes one to become 99, so the age of 99 is elegantly called "Bai Shou".

Cha Shou: An elegant name for 108 years old. The upper part of the word "tea" is , and the lower part is like 88, adding up to 108, so "tea longevity" is called 108 years old.

"Hundred Ten" Dashou: Refers to the big grass longevity character for longevity, its upper part is 99, and the lower part of "inch" is eleven, adding up to 110.The meaning of the word "shou" means that everyone can live to the age of "hundred ten".

49. Is birthday peach a peach you bought?

When celebrating birthdays, people like to send birthday peaches steamed with flour.It is believed that longevity peaches will make the elderly live longer and younger.When celebrating birthdays, auspicious pictures of longevity peaches are often hung.

According to legend, the flat peach is a fairy fruit planted by the Queen Mother of the West. Its branches and tendrils stretch for 3000 miles. It blooms every 3000 years and bears fruit every 3000 years. Therefore, the flat peach symbolizes longevity.Peach with Ganoderma lucidum, called "Xian Shou".Flat peaches are paired with bats, which is called "Fushou".

Another legend is that Sun Bin left his hometown of Qi at the age of 18, and went to Yunmeng Mountain thousands of miles away to worship Guiguzi as his teacher to learn the art of war. He went there for 12 years.One year, Sun Bin suddenly remembered his mother's 80th birthday, so he asked his master for leave to go home to see his mother. Guiguzi picked a peach and gave it to Sun Bin, saying: "I don't give this peach away easily. You have not been able to repay your filial mother by studying abroad." , I’ll give you one back for Ling Tang’s birthday.” Sun Bin thanked his master and hurried on his way.

At Sun Bin's house, there was a big feast to celebrate the old mother's birthday.When Sun Bin came back, he also took out the peach from his master and gave it to his mother, saying, "I came back from leave today, and the master gave me a peach to honor my mother." The old mother took the peach and took a bite, saying, "This peach is better than rock sugar and honey." Sweet." Before the peaches were finished, the mother's face changed.The previously snow-white hair has turned into black silk, the old eyes have become brighter, the teeth that have fallen out have grown back, the wrinkles on the face have disappeared, and I no longer need crutches to walk.The whole family is very happy.

People heard that Sun Bin's mother became younger after eating peaches, and wanted to make her parents live longer and healthier, so they all imitated Sun Bin and gave fresh peaches to their parents on their birthdays.But the seasonality of fresh peaches is strong, so people use flour to make birthday peaches for their parents when there is no fresh peaches.It can be seen that longevity peach is actually a kind of mascot for the elderly.

50. Is the Wurui picture a symbol of longevity?
The Wurui picture is a picture that symbolizes longevity. The ancients often drew it to celebrate birthdays and pray for peace.The five auspicious points are: toon tree, day lily, Zhilan, rock and bamboo.

The toon tree represents longevity. It is recorded in Zhuangzi that there was a big toon in ancient times, and 8000 years old was regarded as spring, and 8000 years old was regarded as autumn.Later, people regarded the toon tree as a symbol of longevity.

Hemerocallis is also called Wangyoucao.It is said to make people forget their worries.

Zhilan is a domestic plant planted on the courtyard, which is a metaphor for children and grandchildren being raised at home instead of wild.

A rock is a large flat and thick stone that stands still when placed on the ground.There is a line in the ancient poems that "the king should be a rock, and the concubine should be a pampas grass; the pampas grass is as tough as silk, and the rock has no transfer".Later generations used the rock to express stability.And because the rock is solid and durable for a long time, it has the nickname of "Shoushi", and is also regarded as a symbol of longevity by people.

Bamboo symbolizes peace. The ancients used bamboo boards as paper to write letters home, saying that everything is right when they are away, and they called it "Bamboo Reports Peace".

During the Spring Festival, if a picture of "Five Ruis" is hung in the home, it symbolizes that the family will have a long and worry-free life in the new year, with prosperous descendants, a stable family foundation, and everything will be safe.Therefore, the folks in our country regard the "Five Ruitu" as their family mascot, so as to protect the family.Now, every Spring Festival, many families still hang up the "five auspicious pictures", of course they want to get auspicious.

51. Why do longevity patterns have cranes, turtles, and pine
The crane is regarded as the head of the feather clan, and the folks call it "a crystal bird", only under the phoenix.Legend has it that cranes have unlimited lifespan and are regarded as the king of longevity.Turtles are also regarded as a symbol of longevity because of their longevity.The pine tree is evergreen all the year round. It is a plant with strong vitality that is resistant to severe cold and wind.

These common mascots are often paired together to represent longevity.Together, Songhe and Songhe are called "Songhe Longevity", "Heshou Songling", "Songhe Yannian" and "Songhe Xianling".Cranes and turtles are painted together, called "turtle and crane longevity", "turtle and crane equal age", "turtle and crane prolong life".If the painting of immortals looks up at the birthday star across the crane, it is called "the group of immortals offer their birthdays", the painting of cranes, deer, and phoenix trees is called "Liutongchun", and the crane standing beside the rock is called "Yipin Dangchao".

We often see the above three animals and plants in birthday charts or patterns related to longevity.As long as there are them, it means longevity.

What is the folk custom of "longevity"? In the old days, there was also the custom of "borrowing longevity".People think that although lifespan is in heaven, lifespan can also be lent out like money.If a family member is ill and the treatment is ineffective, it is considered that the period of life has come. At this time, if someone lends him a life span, it may prolong his life.Therefore, children and close relatives fasted and bathed, went to the ancestral temple to pray to God, and expressed their willingness to lend their lives to the sick.

It is said that this action must be completely voluntary. If the patient asks or others agree, it will not be effective.If the patient turns out to be safe by chance, everyone thinks that the gods in heaven have agreed to borrow their lives, so they burn incense and make a wish, and pray to God; The judge was confused and gave the number of life to someone else by mistake.

Some people say that in the whole world, perhaps only the Chinese have two ages, one full and one imaginary.As for what is going on with "one year old", ordinary people may be able to explain clearly, but the "virtual" of false age is a very confusing thing.

Many people think that the result of adding one year old to one year old is a false age, which is a specious statement.In fact, in many cases, the so-called "false age" concept is generally only used for men.Moreover, in actual calculation, the imaginary age is not just as simple as one year old plus one year old.The specific calculation method of the false age is as follows: a person is considered one year old when he is born. If the person happens to be born at the end of the lunar year, then not only is the person born one year old, but one year is added to the first day of the new year. Come on, when the child turns one year old, he will already be three years old according to the imaginary age.

Therefore, when calculating the false age, the Spring Festival is a particularly important time point. Every Spring Festival, one year should be added to the false age.If a person's birthday falls in the middle and late ten days of the twelfth lunar month of the lunar calendar, then the person will be two years old before the full moon.It is obviously not entirely correct to simply think that the false age is one year plus one year.

52. How to worship the gods in the hall of breaking the fast
In the past, when women in Suzhou and Wuxi held birthday ceremonies, they would first carry out a large-scale "opening the fast hall" activity, which is a typical example of the specific process of celebrating birthdays and worshiping gods in China.

The day before the birthday, the family members of the deceased will set up a mat shed in the empty field, and place desks, chairs and other things in the shed to form a birthday hall.The difference from ordinary birthday halls is that a rice bucket is placed on the table in the center of the birthday hall, rice grains are filled in the bucket, a steelyard is inserted in the rice, a mirror and an ever-burning lamp are placed beside the rice bucket.Women participating in birthday celebrations sit around the birthday mother, and their daughters, sons-in-law, nieces, and nephews-in-law send birthday gifts to congratulate them one after another.At noon that day, Shoujia entertained relatives and friends with vegetarian dishes.In the afternoon, Mother Shou put on bright clothes and gold and silver ornaments, and led the crowd to temples in the whole village to offer incense.Walking in the front of the incense line are some honor guards specially hired to help maintain the scene, holding a large plate full of joss sticks in their hands, and setting off firecrackers to clear the way as they walk.Followed by Miao Zhu in monk's uniform, beating wooden fish in his hand.Shoumu's children and grandchildren followed Miaozhu, also holding incense trays in their hands.Then Mother Shou led a group of female juniors, holding incense handles in her hands.At the end of the line are the relatives and friends of elderly women who came to celebrate their birthdays.After burning incense in each temple, the old women have to draw the cross on the pre-written list of temple wishes, and then distribute birthday peaches and birthday cakes to everyone.In the evening, Shoumu would also pay to invite the theater troupe to perform in order to express her gratitude to relatives and friends of Heshou.

In ceremonial activities such as "Hailing Hall", almost all objects have a certain mystical meaning.For example, the rice buckets, steelyards, mirrors, long-burning lanterns and other objects displayed on the birthday table actually all have the meaning of auspicious luck.The rice bucket and steelyard symbolize "stalk gold bucket rice", the mirror is an object to exorcise evil spirits, and the ever-burning lamp symbolizes longevity. They are all mascots to pray for the longevity.Needless to say, there is no need to elaborate on the mysterious meaning of incense candles and firecrackers to invite gods. Even Shoumu and her relatives and friends have a certain degree of particularity in their attire.Shoumu generally wears red shrouds, and most other female relatives and friends also wear heavy makeup and wear red and green.This is because in the cultural psychology of the Chinese people, red is an auspicious color, and colorful clothes are auspicious clothes. Wearing such clothes to participate in the ceremony of breaking the fast is more commensurate with the intention and atmosphere of worshiping and worshiping gods.

53. There are some plants in Shoutu

In the minds of Chinese people, pine is the longest of all trees and evergreen, so it is very common to draw pine trees as pictures of life.

Peach, chrysanthemum, wolfberry and other plants are also often regarded as mascots and selected in the life picture.Peach, like pine, is also a symbol of longevity in traditional Chinese culture, so it is frequently included in paintings.In addition to directly using peach trees or peach images in paintings, it is also very common to use peaches and other objects in paintings together.For example, in the traditional Chinese longevity picture "Five Blessings Holding Longevity", there are three fairy peaches in the center of the picture, surrounded by five bats in a circle. cultural concept.Chrysanthemum and Chinese wolfberry are often in the painting at the same time.Chrysanthemum is called "the flower of longevity" by the Chinese people, and wolfberry also has the effect of prolonging life, so it is not uncommon for the two to be used together in paintings.

54. What gods are mainly included in Shoutu

Generally speaking, the more typical forms of longevity pictures include "Shou Xing Picture", "Eight Immortals Picture", "Magu Xianshou Picture", "Peach Festival Picture" and so on.

"Pictures of longevity stars" have been very popular as early as the Song Dynasty. In the famous book "Xuanhe Painting Book" in the Song Dynasty, there are portraits of birthday stars.During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the "Shouxing map" was widely spread, and famous works such as "Sanxing Shouyi" and "Fu Lu Shou" appeared.The birthday star in the birthday picture often appears in two forms. One is the picture of a single birthday star. In the picture, the birthday star has a bald head and white beard, a raised forehead, and a crutch in one hand and a fairy peach in the other. This is the most typical image of a birthday star.There is also a picture of the birthday star combined with other gods. The birthday star in the picture either appears with a boy, or with the two stars of fortune and fortune, but its own appearance does not change much.

"Eight Immortals" is a form of longevity pictures drawn with the images of the Eight Immortals as the theme.In the minds of the Chinese people, the Eight Immortals are all long-lived figures. Therefore, their portraits, like the pictures of the birthday stars, are often used as a symbol of auspicious longevity and used in various birthday celebration etiquette occasions.The content of the pictures of the Eight Immortals can be roughly divided into two types, one is the pictures of the Eight Immortals Gongshou and Qingshou; the other is the picture of the Eight Immortals crossing the sea and making trouble at sea.

"Picture of Magu's birthday present" and "Picture of Pantao Festival" are birthday pictures drawn with the theme of female gods. Since ancient Chinese people attached great importance to the beauty of women's body and clothing, Magu and Wang in these pictures Most of the mother images are extremely beautiful and moving.

The longevity pictures drawn with female gods as the theme are generally suitable for giving to those female elders who have already lived a long life. The meaning here is to wish them to live forever like Magu and Queen Mother. The second is to hope that they will always be young and beautiful like Magu and Queen Mother, always with beautiful faces.

(End of this chapter)