Hand in hand to create a better life. Jiaodong Flower Rao witnesses the colorful years of Jiaodong people, as one of the shandong hand-made projects with unique styles, it runs through folk festival customs, is a bright pearl of folk culture in Jiaodong area, expresses the psychological feelings and cultural connotations of Jiaodong people, and strengthens the folk customs situation and folklore events.
Creative material between mountains and seas
Jiaodong Hua Rao, Together with Heze Noodles, Langzhuang Noodle Tiger and Jinan Face Sculpture, it constitutes the four major face sculptures in Shandong. Among them, due to its unique natural environment and spiritual climate, Jiaodong Hua rao is different from the face sculpture creation in the three regions of Luzhong, Luxi and Northwest Lu in terms of visual image such as theme, content, shape and color.
"The production area of Jiaodong Hua rao is contiguous, from Weihai to Yantai to Qingdao, and there are different styles." Lan Ling, an expert in Jiaodong folklore and an associate professor at the College of Literature of Ludong University, introduced.
Combining various research materials, the face sculpture originated from the ritual activity. According to historical records, as early as the Han Dynasty, the art of cake eating has appeared. In the Song Dynasty's "Record of Dreams", there is a record of face sculpture, which is applied to the Spring Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, and weddings, birthdays and other festive days. Folk face sculpture through the sacrifice activities, extended to the life ceremony, the seasons of the year, in the field of folk activities, stimulated the people's desire to shape the noodles in the noodle culture area, the formation of vitality and rich meaning of the face sculpture art.
"Jiaodong's face molding has a long history. Usually, the food that is eaten at home, the exquisite people do not use knives to cut, but knead out one by one with their hands, called steaming 'peach', but also pinch out a 'peach mouth'. Lan Ling introduced that after the pot is dried, it is customary to use woodcut flower chapters to point red, and the flower chapters are generally engraved with the words xi, shou and other words or plum blossoms and other patterns, which are festive and auspicious. Without a flower chapter, you should also use a fine wheat straw tube to dip in the "home water red", point a few red dots, and pay more attention to festivals or ceremonial occasions, which Qixia calls making flowers.
Relying on the sea to eat the sea, the reverence and respect for the sea are also reflected through the flowers. Most of the fishing villages and fishermen along the coast of Jiaodong have the custom of offering sacrifices to the sea. Every year on the thirteenth day of the first month is the day of the sea sacrifice, this day is dedicated to the Dragon King and the Sea Goddess Lady, for the back of the table to place more than ten pairs of human head fish body, crab body, shrimp body of the flower feast, because this is placed in front of the gods, but also for everyone to see the non-edible products, so in the production of efforts. Fishermen believe that these seafood are related to the god of the sea, bless the fishermen to return with a full load, put a large noodle fish in the center, symbolizing wealth and wealth; on both sides put five more stacks of large jujube dumplings.
Jiaodong's flower feasts are also closely linked to the festival customs of Jiaodong. In the etiquette of life, the flowers occupy an important position in the marriage customs, including Mandarin ducks, carp, shou peach, ruyi, tiger, and large peach. Some places also make washbasins and flowers, that is, make the base of the flowers into the size of a pot and put it in the pot. Among them, there are dragon and phoenix Chengxiang large pieces, the top is the dragon and phoenix Chengxiang, the bottom is the four seasons of fortune, the side is the lion rolling hydrangea; the other is more than every year - the base is inlaid with two carp. The marriage in the Rushan area makes daughter-in-law cakes and hoards, which are thick and large, which means a happy reunion and a prosperous future. The bread made in the Wenden area is small and thin, called the daughter-in-law cake or the joy cake. In addition to these, we also make flower fulls, fried noodles, fish, and turn-back fruits, etc., together with hi-smoke and hi-candy as a gift to the guests.
In the agrarian society, people attach great importance to the life rituals of marriage, parenting, and birthday celebration, when people should make some flowers and food, or give gifts to relatives and friends in the neighborhood, or worship ancestors, all of which take the good wishes of good luck and good fortune and disaster. There is also a custom of giving newborn children over a hundred years old in jiaodong. On the 100th day after the birth of the child, that is, at the age of 100, the child's grandmother makes some flowers and food called sending a hundred years old. Flowers and flowers have 100 years old, cow hooves, tiger heads, etc., and look forward to the healthy growth of grandchildren. Some grandmothers want to send a hundred small dumplings, which means long life and wealth.
Babies over the first birthday, also called a birthday, to do a pound of large peach two, two or two small peach dozens, some do dozens of symbols of long life hundred years of face spike, Rushan and other places called long spike, take the meaning of long life and a hundred years old. In addition, gourds are also steamed to ward off evil spirits; steamed yuanbao, holy chickens and the like, seeking wealth and peace and wealth and blessings.
"On the birthday of the old man, Longkou, Laizhou and other places pay attention to the relatives and friends of their children to make a big birthday peach, and then there are large items such as crane deer and spring as birthday gifts." Lan Ling introduced that the crane deer tongchun connected the crane with a small spring as thin as a hair and the base made of noodles, and with a slight tremor, the crane seemed to spread its wings and soar. The golden deer stands under a pine tree and looks up at the crane, which is vivid, implying that the pine crane prolongs its life and lives forever. In addition to the elderly and children, other family members have birthdays, generally also want to steam a pot of food, mostly made into peaches, yuanbao, holy chicken and other styles.
In the countryside, building a house is a big thing, and in the countryside of Yantai area, when the beams and pillars are active, the host's family will hold a grand sacrifice celebration. The sculptures of tigers, holy insects, dragons and phoenixes are auspicious, lion gates, fat pig arches and other flowers are enshrined, symbolizing the dragon raising its head and the phoenix falling into the treasure land. In laizhou and longkou areas, before going up the beam, the one-pound squat lion, crouching tiger and golden dragon given by relatives and friends were placed on both sides of the main gate and on the girder respectively, indicating that the lion and tiger guarded the door and the flying dragon circled the beam.
Pray for the fortune of the Birthday
In Jiaodong, the flowers and flowers in the seasons of the year are even more flowery. On the eve of the Spring Festival, steaming is an indispensable custom, generally making a pair of sitting sacred insects, a pair of crawling sacred insects, and ten large jujube dumplings. There are also fish and toads placed on the water tank, orangutans and treasure gourds placed on the windowsill, and small sacred insects and hedgehogs placed in the dough tank. Fish means that there is more than one year, the orangutan protects the health of the adults and children in the family, the treasure gourd means that it is a treasure to attract wealth, and the little holy insect and hedgehog mean that the grain in the family cannot be eaten. The specifications of jujube dumplings in jiaodong vary, but they must be picked on the bridge of the nose and inserted with dates.
In the Longkou and Laiyang areas, at noon on the first day of the Chinese New Year, every household eats reunion cakes. The diameter of the reunion cake is more than a foot, and the inner layer is very similar to the multi-layer moon cake of the Mid-Autumn Festival, but the production and flower decoration are different. Each layer of cake is generally filled with brown sugar, sugar, sesame seeds, green and red silk or date paste to show that the next year has a sweet life and a high life. After several layers of cakes of different sizes are folded, they are embedded with kneaded gadgets, such as bats, sika deer, flowers, holy insects, hedgehogs, and yuanbao. The bat deer represents the two solstices of Fulu; the peony and lotus represent wealth and purity; the hedgehog and the holy insect represent the abundance of grain and surplus grain; and the yuanbao represents wealth. When eating, use a knife to cut it into pieces, one serving per person, but you can't eat it all, and you have to leave some for your daughter who returned to her mother's house on the third day of the first month. "The Spring Festival face sculpture can be said to contain all the elements of people's prayers for the Fortune of Fulu Shoujue." Lan Ling introduced.
In the Lantern Festival, people are accustomed to using bean flour and corn flour to make a zodiac lamp, according to the genus of family members, make a genus lamp for each person, and light it in a plate at night, and it is said that whoeverse lamp is lit for a long time will live a long life. Some do all the zodiac lights, which means to eliminate diseases and prosper. In addition, it is used as a moon lamp to represent the twelve months and is used to pray for a good harvest of crops, fruits and vegetables harvested in each month. Make dog lamps at the door, make cow lamps and horse lamps to send to the cowshed and horse shed, make chicken lamps on the chicken nest, make goldfish lamps in the water tank, make lotus lamps, peach lamps, and doll lamps all over the room, and take a picture of the corners.
On the third day of the third month of the lunar calendar, the Jiaodong area is popular to make three-sided sculptures in March for newlywed women to send festivals. Laizhou, Qixia, Longkou, Zhaoyuan and other places in Jiaodong have the custom of steaming swallows in March. Local people say that children eat it without eye disease. And Meng Yuanlao's "Tokyo Dream Record" contains the custom of steaming swallows during the Northern Song Dynasty. First, Qingming is the time when the northern swallows return, and at this time, the dough swallows correspond to the season. The second is to contain the meaning of fertility. Jiaodong folk call swallows xi, and xi also contains the meaning of having children.
In some places in Laizhou, it is simply called March 3, which is the Day of the Little Daughter-in-Law, and the little daughter-in-law refers to the new daughter-in-law who is married and has not yet given birth. Folk custom says that the little daughter-in-law is not good at this festival is not conducive to fertility. Therefore, the little daughter-in-law returned to her mother's house before the festival to make a lot of noodle swallows, and on the third of March, she brought her in-laws home to distribute them to neighbors and relatives and friends, and the rumor said: "On the third of March, the big swallows and small swallows make a thousand." "Qixia, Haiyang's face swallow, simple and natural. Laizhou's face swallows are colorful, and they still have a bright red cloth strip in their mouths. The face swallows are made into various postures, some stand still and watch, some spread their wings to fly; there are big swallows, small swallows, and large swallows with small swallows, also known as mother swallows. Exquisite and beautiful, it is often placed in front of the desk bed by people for viewing.
July 7 beggars day, or make small pasta, fried, called flowers, there is a folk song "July seven, fried flowers to eat", or burnt fruit. The Weihai area is mainly used to make qiaoguo, called peeling small fruits, first using oil, eggs, sugar or honey to reconcile the flour, and then using fruit molds to make various patterns, and finally put them on a special pot to cook. Fruit molds are large and small, and the large ones are mostly auspicious patterns, such as lotus seeds, fish, flower baskets, etc. The small ones are mostly lively and interesting patterns, there is a small mold, and there are twelve patterns on a mold, which are lined up in a row, with leaves, cicadas, small fish, small lions, etc., which are very vivid. Among the many tricks, it is impossible to forget that you also have to make a pair of face scissors to show your skill. Begging qiao is also praying for blessings, praying for a happy marriage and a sweet life, and the girl and daughter-in-law hope to bring good luck to their future life with their own skillful hands.
Mid-Autumn Festival, highlighting the theme of happiness and reunion, in addition to eating various moon cakes, Laizhou also makes moon and moon drums. Moon, also called moon cake, made of two layers of cake, the whole body is round, the next layer is often made of twelve months petals, the petals are inserted with dates, the upper layer is made of jade rabbits, and many face-shaped dyeing flowers and fruits are also decorated, and red dates are also sandwiched between the two layers, which are used for the moon and gifts to relatives and friends, which are good to look at and delicious. The moon drum is small in shape and exquisitely crafted, and during the festival, like a competition, children play in the streets with the moon drum.
Folk arts and crafts are so beautiful
Mr. Zhang Guangzhi, a famous historian, said in his article "Food in Chinese Culture": "In Chinese folk thought, grain has almost a sacred nature: grain is not something that is played with or wasted... One of the most important aspects of Chinese food culture is the importance of food itself in Chinese culture. Few other cultures are as food-oriented as Chinese culture. ”
The flowers themselves also attach the infinite imagination of the Jiaodong people to a better life. "Look at the Jiaodong flowers, the folk arts and crafts are really beautiful." Lan Ling introduced that in the production process, jiaodong face plastic is kneaded, cut, pressed, stacked, kneaded, kneaded and other methods are used together, but in the region, it presents the characteristics of from east to west, the process is gradually complex, and the color is gradually gorgeous.
"Weihai's face sculpture is mostly made of natural color surfaces into various patterns, does not advocate the brightness of color, maintains the original color of the face sculpture, mainly single works, and the edible value is obvious." Yantai's face sculpture attaches importance to the production of components, from Qixia, Penglai, Laiyang, Zhaoyuan, Longkou to Laizhou, the more west the color is stronger. Qixia's face sculpture is also mostly decorated with dyed surfaces on the local color surface, and in Laizhou, the face plastic coloring line is often used to use heavy color, some are almost invisible primary colors, there is a strong local atmosphere, and the aesthetic value is more obvious. The face sculptures of dragon mouth and Zhaoyuan are particularly delicate and slender, with different themes, and all animals are human faces and animal bodies. Lan Ling said that no matter how it changes, it all shows a distinct folk prayer psychology, and the theme of the five blessings of Fulu Shouxi Cai is full and warm.
In Lan Ling's view, the psychology of praying for the five blessings in jiaodong mian plastic has many manifestations. For example, the use of symbolic and metaphorical expression techniques to borrow material allegories, implicitly and euphemistically express the psychology of prayer. For example, there are often turtles and cranes in the zhushou face sculpture, expressing the wish of more happiness and longevity. In addition, there are phoenix wearing peonies, lion rolling hydrangeas, colorful butterfly puff melons, Fu Shuangquan, Wufu Changqing, Eight Immortals Zhushou, Ninth (Lion) Gong (Arch) Ju (Chrysanthemum) and other styles, transplanting bats, pine cypresses, Ganoderma lucidum, peach, crane turtles and other animal and plant images that imply longevity into the face sculpture.
"Like art forms such as paper-cutting and New Year paintings, in the face sculpture works, these images have also been added with auspicious and rich meanings to express the simple prayer psychology." Lan Ling said that fulu shou jubilee wealth can not be completely separated, the concept of fu is very broad, all the worldly wishes such as peace, health, reunion, happiness, longevity, children and grandchildren, wealth and so on are included, people often use seasonal customs to reflect it in face sculpture works, and express all kinds of prayer psychology together, simple and natural.
Now, the injection of new elements has provided more space for the development of flowers. For example, in the Year of the Tiger, some tiger elements are made; some people use the juices of various vegetables and fruits to blend into colorful dough, so that the flowers taste better, the nutrition is richer, the colors are more elegant, and more in line with the aesthetics of young people. Flowers are heading for a better bloomer... (Reported by Lu Yu, client reporter of Dazhong Daily)