Hengyang people attach great importance to traditional festivals, and still retain the Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, February 8, Qingming, Duanyang, July 30, Mid-Autumn Festival, Double Ninth Festival, off-year and other festivals. Every festival has different contents and forms of expression.
The first day of the first lunar month is the Spring Festival, which is the longest. The preparatory work started on February 24th, 65438, the last lunar year, and ended on the Lantern Festival on February 5th, 65438. The Spring Festival is mainly to celebrate the bumper harvest in the past year and to wish the next year well. This is the biggest festival among the people. Every family prepares good wine and dishes, and you come and go, and * * * wishes you the same. From the Spring Festival to the Lantern Festival, there will be dragon and lion dances to celebrate. In particular, there are many varieties of "dragons", including Qiqiaolong, Cloth Belt Dragon, Straw Dragon, Bench Dragon, Gathering Dragon, Bamboo Dragon, Paper Dragon, Rolling Lumbricus, Xianglong and Mianlong. The dragon and lion dance team has a strong lineup and is very lively. The new year won't end until midnight. At the end of Song Dynasty, Wen Tianxiang was stationed in Hengyang during his execution in Hunan. His masterpiece "Zhang Deng Ji in Shangyuan" vividly describes the grand occasion of decorating lanterns, dancing lions and dragons and drumming in Hengyang area.
February 8th, also known as Temple Fair and Old Farmer's Day, is a festival for farmers to buy and sell farm tools. On this day, farmers who need to buy furniture will be on February 8, and those craftsmen and businessmen will put their self-made and self-operated farm tools on the market town street like exhibitions, so that they can choose for themselves. Bamboo and wood ironware have various specifications, complete varieties, reasonable prices, fair transactions and prosperous sales. Both buyers and sellers will come on impulse and return satisfied.
Tomb-Sweeping Day is a festival to mourn ancestors or revolutionary martyrs, and later generations prepare sacrifices to the grave to show their memory. The fifth day of the fifth lunar month is said to be a festival in memory of Qu Yuan, a Chinese poet. Duanyang Festival is mainly about eating breakfast, drinking realgar cinnabar wine, eating noodles and eating zongzi. In the morning, I will race dragon boats in Xiangjiang River, He Lei and Steamed Water. The audience shouted, it was fun. The Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15th of the lunar calendar is a full moon and a time for human reunion. As the saying goes, "I miss my loved ones more on holidays." That night, the whole family sat looking forward to the bright moon, drinking tea, eating moon cakes and eating glutinous rice cakes, while talking to each other and thinking of their distant relatives until late at night.
Hengyang people like to watch plays, listen to songs and sing, so there are many kinds of local operas and songs, which are also widely circulated. There are mainly operas, xiang opera, Qi Opera, Dihuagu Opera, Puppet Opera, Shadow Play, Painted Face Opera, Fishing Drum, Sixian Opera, Minor, Lotus Opera, Lianxiang Opera, Border-leading Opera, Buwei Opera, One-man Show, and Yao people laughing and laughing. Hengyang ancient painting drama is one of the popular dramas, which is famous for its "three little" characters Xiao Dan, Xiao Sheng and the clown. It originated in Shunzhi period of Qing Dynasty, and developed from folk songs and dances such as "tea picking tune" in Hengshan and "chariot and horse lantern" in Hengyang. Because of the similar vocal cavity language, it is commonly known as "Hengyang Flower Drum Opera". Later it gradually flowed into other parts of the province. In Hunan Volume of China Dramas edited by 1983, the ancient painting dramas popular in southern Hunan are collectively called "Hengzhou Ancient Painting Drama". Xiang opera is a kind of Hunan local drama, which flowed into our city from neighboring counties 300 years ago. Influenced by the local dialect, it gradually evolved into Hengyang xiang opera with Hengyang characteristics. Qi Opera is named after its origin in Qidong and Qiyang (originally a county). In the middle of Ming Dynasty, it was transferred from Yiyang to Qidong and Qiyang, and combined with local folk songs, this new kind of drama, Qi Opera, was born.
These operas are in the local dialect, combined with singing and doing, accompanied by musical instruments, which are kind and interesting and very popular with the masses. The ancient painting opera "Strike while the Iron is Hot" was recorded and broadcast nationwide; Xiang opera's Drunkenness at the Mountain Gate won the first prize of the leading role in the first national drama performance on 1952. "Drunk Boxing" is very famous in Beijing!
Hengyang is also known as the "hometown of stories". Myths, legends, fables and jokes are widely circulated among the people, with various forms and rich contents. People tell jokes and stories to entertain themselves and relieve fatigue after meals or while working in the fields. The elders also regard telling stories and jokes as a kind of "reward" for those children who are diligent, obedient and study hard. The Collection of Folk Tales published in our city in recent years has collected more than 600 fairy tales, which reflects the aesthetic taste of working people from all aspects. These myths are full of magical fantasies and are spontaneous and naive reflections of the objective world in the early days of human civilization. Legends and stories contain some historical essences to show people's understanding and feelings about some people and things in history. For example, it shows the myth of "Dayu begging for gold" and is still aggressive in the face of difficulties; Praise the legend that "cutting the pipe belt" is honest and clean, not afraid of power and violence; The story "Crossing Nine Roads", which eulogizes the flesh-and-blood connection between revolutionary leaders and the masses, reflects the "psychological expectation" of the masses from different angles. Therefore, everyone knows everyone knows Xiao Yu.
Folk songs are also the most popular and oral rap literature in Hengyang, involving various contents, including labor songs, current political songs, etiquette songs, love songs, life songs, legendary songs, children's songs and miscellaneous songs. Ballads are simple, natural and sweet, which are expressed by singing in the fields or in weddings, funerals and festive occasions. Some ballads are not only entertainment scripts, but also a way for working people to exchange their feelings, spread their skills, promote the good and punish the ugly. The lyrics of "Song of the Kiln Worker" in "Song of Nine Workers and Eighteen Artisans" are: "The mud should be cooked, the water should be even, and the bricks should be octagonal ..." Another example is the lyrics of "Send Lang Yiting in ten miles": "Send Lang Yiting in one mile, arm in arm to persuade; My sister has parents' halls, so it is difficult for her to elope with Xiao Lang. Persuade Lang not to spend money indiscriminately, but to accumulate wealth and save money to please ... "is an example. It is lively, well-known and widely circulated among the people.
"Nothing can be done without spicy taste" is about Hengyang people's love for peppers. Hengyang people like salty and spicy food, especially pepper is a necessary seasoning for every household. Every household in the countryside grows them, especially the "Lantern Pepper" in Qidong and the "Chaotian Yellow" in Hengshan. The former is vegetable pepper, spicy and sweet, and the meat is thick; The latter is small but full of peppers, which are mostly used for seasoning. Every autumn, after the chilli is red, it is picked and dried, and then ground into powder and put on a plate when it is eaten. Often the bowl is red, which makes foreigners daunting. The food in Hengdong is very salty. People who like to eat light food need to say hello to the host family in advance when they go to be guests for the first time, otherwise they will "share the salt with the host family". The dietary patterns in rural areas such as Hengnan are just the opposite to those in cities. Breakfast and lunch are dinner, with wine and vegetables, and dinner is casual. Just eat noodles and porridge.
Hengyang folk still have different partial eclipse. People in Changning like to eat Ciba, which is made by shaking glutinous rice. When eating, it is soft and sweet with ingredients mixed with white sugar, sesame seeds and soybean powder. Qidong people like to make fish jelly, and sometimes they wash it with wastes such as shark's fin, fish gills and fish scales. When boiled to a certain concentration, remove the residue, and then add seasonings such as oil, salt, garlic, ginger, soy sauce and monosodium glutamate. After cooling, it becomes gelatinous fish jelly, which is very delicious and is a famous local dish.