Dong folk activity "Moon Festival"
"Yueye" is also called "Weiye" and "Waihei", which means visiting, and is also known as lovesickness eating. It is a collective communication activity of the Dong people based on villages or ethnic surnames. It mostly lasts from the autumn after the slack season to the busy spring of the following year. Specific activities are divided into "youth association" and "village exchanges". The former is called "Waiding" and mainly consists of young men and women walking together in the village; the latter is called "Waihei", which is divided into various forms such as "Heiwa"(regional exchanges),"Heijie"(village exchanges), and "Haili"(ethnic exchanges). There are also those called "Ge Ye","Sheng Ye", and "Xi Ye" based on a specific content in the activity.
"Yueye" is popular in Congjiang, Rongjiang, Sanjiang, Longsheng, Tongdao in the southern Dong area, especially in Dong villages in the southern part of Liping County and the northern part of Congjiang County. During the Dong Spring Festival, the "Yueye"(also known as the "Yehen Year") is the most grand and solemn. The "Yehen Year" is generally composed of a song troupe, a Lusheng troupe, and a Dong opera troupe. During the process of walking through villages and villages, the Lusheng team will play different songs according to different occasions, including crossing the village song, announcing song, entering the village song, blocking the road song, opening the road song, blessing song, farewell song, etc. On May 23, 2011, Yue was also approved by the State Council to be included in the third batch of national intangible cultural heritage lists.
The source of "Moon"
There are different opinions about the origin of "Yueya". One is that it is a legacy of the ancient alliance in the region. "Qian" is a regional rural commune organization with the nature of military alliances and joint resistance to external humiliation. The second theory is to build bridges for the marriage of young men and women with different ethnic surnames, and enhance understanding and lay the foundation for their marriage. The third statement is to promote unity between different villages, connect feelings, and obtain mutual assistance for natural and man-made disasters.
The areas where "Yueya" is popular are roughly the same as those where Dong multi-part folk songs are popular. There are basically no "Yueya" activities in areas where there are no Dong multi-part folk songs; the entire activity of "Yueya" is composed of male and female song teams from both the host and guest singing each other multi-part folk songs throughout.
The scale of the "Moon Festival" is variable and can be participated by men, women and old. When they went, they were all dressed in festive costumes, and the "singing troupe","Lusheng Troupe" and the opera troupe went together. The main village was treated with wine and meat. The host and guest sang Dong opera or Lusheng competition during the day, and sang Dong songs to each other at night. They spent three to five days together before parting. When parting, the main village would also present pigs and sheep as gifts. Depending on the harvest, this village will pay a return visit to the other village the following year or a few years later. The "Moon Festival" is only held after the autumn harvest or during the Spring Festival to celebrate the harvest and celebrate the festival, while not missing the farming season.
"Moon" activities have a lot of content, mainly including the following seven types:
Yueye Opera "Yueye Opera"(acting as a guest) is a platform mainly based on singing Dong opera. At the same time, it carries out various collective social activities for folk cultural exchanges, generally held in the first month of the lunar calendar. Its main activities include going from Jia Village to Yi Village to sing Dong opera, singing Dong songs to each other, making friends between young men and women, and visiting relatives and friends for the elderly. After the New Year, the opera troupe master or song troupe master made suggestions to the village elders on which village or villages to go to sing opera and sing. After discussing and allowing, the village elders chose an auspicious day to ask two lahan (young men) to bring the red posts written by the village elders and go to the designated village to pay homage and post them.
After the person who sent the post arrived at the designated village, he had to go to the drum tower and blow three Lusheng songs, and then deliver the post to the old man of Yizhai. After receiving the letter, the village elders arranged for the Lahan in their village to prepare good wine and dishes to entertain the guests, while gathering other village elders to discuss. If you agree to accept Jia Zhai to come to "Yue Ye Play", you will ask the elders of the village to accompany the messenger of Jia Zhai to go to the Sa Hall of the village to present three pillars of incense to the Dong goddess Sa, make three cups of wine, and make three bows to show respect for the ancestors and the people of the village (in Dong Village, it is a very serious ceremony to pay homage to Sa first when entering the village, which is a must-held ceremony for various activities such as Yue Ye). Then he posted the red sticker on the main door of the Drum Tower to inform the people of the entire village that a certain village would come one day to "play on the moon" so that every household could make preparations. After having enough wine and food, the village old man arranged for two Lahan people to blow the lusheng to send the messenger out of the village.
After the Jiazhai Village Elder received a positive reply, he organized the entire village to make active preparations. On the day of Yueyai, men, women and children in Jia Village moved out together. Before leaving, the village old man first went to the "Sa Hall" to ask "Sa" to protect him. Then all the Lahan people in the village and the girls played lusheng, beat gongs and drums, invited "Sa" to the drum tower, and first sang three songs to "Sa"., and then sang three songs of blessing "Sa". After everyone finished singing, three sounds of iron cannons rang out, so all the people began to go to Village B. When they approached Yi Village, they would play Lusheng and beat gongs and drums to inform them. The village elders of Yi Village had already summoned everyone from their village to the entrance of the village to set up obstacles and sing songs to welcome guests. After the guest and guest sang the song of blocking the road, the Lahan girl from the main village beat gongs and drums, played lusheng to lead the guests to the foot of the drum tower in the village, and together they made three rounds around the four pillars of the drum tower. The guests temporarily rested in the drum tower.
When entertaining guests, most of them are divided into households. Each household arranges the meals by itself without specific regulations. Each household tries its best to serve them decently to expand the reputation of the village.
Guests usually sing in the main village for three days. If the opera was sung well and the singing was melodious, the main camp would stay for two or four more days. On the days of "Yueye", the guests and guests mainly sang Dong opera during the day. After dinner, the guests and guests all went to the drum tower to sing "Galao"(a big song of the Dong nationality, where the girls in the main village and the Lahan in the guest village sang duet, and the Lahan in the main village sang duet with the girls in the guest village), or stepped into the singing hall together. Singing "Galao"(a big song of the Dong nationality) or stepping on the song hall will continue late into the night. In the middle of the night, the young men from the main village would sing love songs to the girls from the guest village, and the young men from the guest village would also sing love songs to the girls from the main village. This was the famous Yue Tang love song of the Dong nationality.
Three or five days later, the guest village would say goodbye. When the guest village bid farewell, every household in the main village wrapped glutinous rice, pickled fish and pickled meat with straw for the guests to have lunch on the road. Before leaving, the host and guest went to the main camp under the drum tower and sang the song of stepping on the hall; the two sides praised each other with the song, and then sang the farewell song. Young men and women from the main village sent the guests to the gate of the village and presented gifts with red and green feathers tied to towels to the guests as a souvenir.
The moon is old and "the moon is old"(doing many guests). Generally, in the first month of the lunar calendar, the number of people is all the men, women and children in the two villages where the village is objective. The main content of "The Moon is Old" is singing Dong songs, stepping on the Tang songs, and young men and women singing love songs. This kind of thing belongs to Village A and Village B, both old and young, who have the heart of friendship. Village A sends out numerous invitations and sends them to the meeting. Village B receives the invitation and organizes a theater troupe or lion team to attend the meeting. As soon as the guests arrived, the main village organized the girls of the village to block the way to welcome guests at the gate of the village with textiles, farm tools and other items. The guests and guests sang songs of blocking the way.
After singing, the main village fired three iron cannons, then beat gongs, drums and lusheng to guide the guests to the "Sasui" altar to hold a memorial ceremony, and then introduce them to the Drum Tower to step on the song hall. The host and guest each sang three songs, one of which was to ask for "Sa", and the other was to express welcome and apologize. After that, during the day and night, there were performances, lion games, bullfights, or men and women in the A and B villages stepped on the "Duoye"(singing in pairs). Guests stay for three or five days (odd numbers are required) before being released.
When sending off guests, every household in Jia Village wrapped glutinous rice with straw or tied glutinous rice cakes. Each rice package and cake were also tied with floral thread to hang a string of three to five eggs dyed red and green. They were especially kind to the family. They also tied chickens and ducks to each other. The whole village collective also gave a sheep, pig or cow. The village girl also gave each young man in the village a towel. This kind of gift was called a "tail", allowing the guests to pick and carry without having any empty-handed. When sending off guests, the whole village, old and young, poured out, set off iron cannons, sounded firecrackers, beat gongs and drums, and played lusheng to send off these guests. Usually, the next year or a few years later, Yi Village felt that the conditions were suitable and sent out an invitation to Jia Village to return the guests.
The moon is free "the moon is free"(to be a social guest). When they rushed to the Spring Society, Village A received girls from Village B as a group guests. When the girls came, Luohan hosted them warmly in the morning and evening. During the day, he went to the hall to sing and sang together at night. This kind of "moon" girl does not return, but lets his own brothers go to the other party's girl.
Yueye Zuolou "Yueye Zuolou"(to celebrate Gulou guests) is usually held at the beginning of the first month. At the inauguration ceremony of the newly built Drum Tower in Jiazhai, men, women and old from Yizhai came to congratulate her. The number of people was the same as the reception, welcoming and helping all the guests, but the content of the event was even more enthusiastic. Yizhai organized people to make "Nama"(that is, make Hua Face), composed of dozens of people. Some carried "official officials", some rode horses and walked high school stilts, some pretended to be warriors, merchants, beggars, etc., carrying congratulatory plaques and couplets, beating gongs and drums, playing lusheng, and setting off firecrackers to congratulate them. In addition, a team of girls was organized to wear festive costumes. When Jiazhai led guests to the Drum Tower, it circled around the Drum Tower. The people with colorful faces performed various interesting performances and distributed pickled fish, while the girls sprinkled scattered rice flowers. The girl from Jia Village stopped the official sedan chair and sang to ask for money. This type of guests usually only stay for one day. During the day, they mainly visit the song hall and sing the song of the Helou. Such guests will have to wait until Yizhai is built or renovated before they can return to visit.
Yueyeding "Yueyeding"(as a close guest of public ordering) is also called the girl Luohan guest. This activity lasts for a long time, and some can last for several months. It is the best time for young men, women and parents of both sides to get to know each other. There are villages and villages, and others are made by surnames. Although they are girls and guests, they are all handled by the elderly. First of all, after the old people of the two villages (or two surnames) intended to form friends, they signaled to the girl Luohan. When the rice fell in the field, the girl of Jiashai cut off the bamboo leaves with a piece of bamboo, leaving three, five or seven branches, each branch A cotton and a red pepper were tied to the tip of each branch, and a field along the road of Luohan's family in Yizhai was selected to quietly plant them, calling them "Biao".
If it is three branches, it means that it is small, and only some girls will ask some Luohan to carry out the event; if it is more than five branches, it means that the whole village or the whole surname will be invited to carry out the event. In this way, even the children in their arms will be listed as girls and Luohan to participate. After seeing Luohan in Yi Village, she took chickens, ducks and geese to Girl Village (the girl had already secretly informed him) to visit and investigate. At first, the girl and her parents did not admit to inserting "watches" and said they did not dare to climb the high gate. After many nights of singing, sitting on the moon and having dinner (that is, cooking dinner), and entertaining the girl and her parents, the girl admitted that she had the intention to climb the gate and insert "watches."
The location of the
was then decided by both parties to choose an auspicious day and officially put up a "big list." The "big watch" is made by girls. Those who originally had seven branches cut off seven big nanbu bamboos and pruned the bamboo leaves. Each girl presents one to two kilograms of the best and whitest cotton, and uses white lines to wear it one by one. Then wrap each bamboo branch well, and some bamboo tips also tie a few colorful phoenixes that spread their wings and want to fly.
On the day when the "big watch" was erected, Luohan of Yi Village killed pigs and prepared wine, beat gongs and drums, played Lusheng, and set off firecrackers and iron cannons and carried them to the edge of the field. Accompanied by her brothers, the girl of Jia Village carried the tie and wrapped it in the thinnest white cloth she had woven. The "watch" wrapped in the white cloth also beat gongs and drums, played Lusheng, and set off firecrackers and sent it to the edge of the field. The rice valley in the field where the watch was inserted was the watch was named "Brunken Rice Field". After the upright, the two sides gathered for a picnic and sang praises for their "table". Then they went home, and when the ears of grain were 80 to 80% ripe, both sides discussed choosing an auspicious day to make a "table".
On this day, the rice grain folded was carried to the woman's house. That night, the woman's parents and brothers had a grand banquet for her guests, called "son-in-law is here", and the "shriveled rice" was eaten at night. After that, Lohan continued to go to the girl's village to sing songs and sit on the moon, and talk about love until the following year, at the beginning of the first month, he chose an auspicious day to "Lunding"(that is, the end of this engagement). Yi Village invited Jia Village girl and her fellow brothers to come home as guests, stepped into the hall to sing songs, and the interaction ended in the third to fifth days. Through this kind of activity, many young people have become good friends and become lifelong partners.
The Moon Wheel "Moon Wheel"(being a Lusheng guest) is generally held during the Jiaxu Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival during the Lusheng Games. The activity content is mainly based on the two villages competing in Lusheng, and at the same time, cultural and social activities are carried out through singing, stepping on the singing hall, congratulating on a bumper harvest, etc. Take Lusheng Saiping, Jitang, Zhaoxing Township as an example. It is held every two years on the Mid-Autumn Festival. There are Zhaoxing, Pilin, Cen Ba, and Long 'e from the county, Luoxiang, Qingyun, and Xin' an from Congjiang, and dozens of Lusheng teams from Miao Village, Dong Village, Fulu and other townships in Sanjiang County, Guangxi (each team of 20 to 50 Lusheng players) gathered together on a ping to hold a Lusheng Friendship Competition. The audience was huge, with more than 10,000 people at each time.
On the day of the competition, the Lusheng team entered the Jitang and Dengjiang villages of the host country early and sent experienced elderly people to the top of the high slope to listen to the sound comments (because Lusheng Village mainly uses sound to beat people), so that the competition could be won. When each visiting team arrived at the edge of the field, they first played three songs for landing. The host immediately fired a three-gun iron cannon, and then played three songs for a friendly single match with the visiting team to show their welcome.
Then firecrackers were set off to lure tourists into the arena to compete with other teams. At about noon, the Lusheng teams from far and near were all here, and they had held extensive team and team competitions. Two to two hundred girls from the host village, dressed in festive costumes, holding Yang cloth umbrellas, and carrying red lacquer buckets on their shoulders, filled with the already brewed sweet wine, entered the competition platform under the guidance of the small Lusheng, and then played the small Lusheng, set off firecrackers, and sent it to each of the visiting Lusheng team one by one and presented it to the Lusheng players. After eating the sweet wine, the entire group competed and three songs were played at the same time.
After the chorus, the Lusheng players from each visiting team bought candies, filled sweet wine barrels, and blew the sheng and firecrackers for the girls to leave to express their gratitude. The host then awarded the prize flag and the commemorative flag based on the listening level (the commemorative flag is issued to all participating teams). At the end of the game, at the end of the game, the village pulls the village to be the guests, and the people pulls the people to be the family guests. At the Lusheng competition, usually after the Lusheng teams of the two villages make friendships at the Lusheng meeting, through the proposal of the young people, the village elders of both sides agree to hold it, and the "Moon Wheel" began.
Yue Ye respects "Yue Ye respects"(Respect to Zhai Ke), which means to help the main village respect guests. The biggest feature of this form is that when two villages are carrying out "Yue Ye", the other village will send letters and stickers to the main village. After the main village received the post and the village elders discussed and agreed, they would post it on the door pillars of the Drum Tower in the future to inform the villagers that a certain village was coming to pay a "respects".
The form of "Moon also Respect" is roughly the same as the previous ones. They all involve cultural activities such as singing Dong songs, Dong operas, stepping on song halls, singing love songs, making friends, and visiting relatives. However, it is also different from the previous "monthly yeses". First of all, on the letter stickers, the "Yue Ye Opera" and "Yue Ye Ding" letter stickers were sent directly to the hometown of the main village by the village elders who could speak and sing;"Yueyelun" is for the main village to send letters to the guest village, while "Qianye" is for the main village to send 5 to 7 young people to dress up with colorful faces. While young men and women from the main village and the guest village are stepping on the song hall, they hold high the red stickers, blow the Lusheng, and rush into the song hall crazily. First, they set off three hanging firecrackers, and then blow the Lusheng around the song hall three times to the right, meaning to respect the master first, and then to the left three times, meaning to respect the guests. Then he walked to the middle of the singing hall and bowed three times, presented a post, and finally played three Lusheng songs before leaving. Secondly, there are differences in the time of "Yueyue"."Yueyeyue Opera","Yueyeyue Ding" and "Yueyue Wheel" range from three days to five days, and also have seven or nine days. However,"Yue Ye Jing" only lasts for one day.
"Yueye Opera" mainly uses erhu, gongs, small six-tube five-tone Lusheng, etc. "The Moon is also old" mainly uses erhu, gongs, small six-tube five-tone Lusheng, pipa, etc. The "Yue Ye Lun" mainly uses large six-tube three-tone Lusheng, medium six-tube three-tone Lusheng, small six-tube five-tone Lusheng, and also uses pipa and Dong flute. The "Yue Ye Ding" mainly uses corbel piano.
"Moon" Activity Flow
"Blocking the road to welcome guests"
The first activity of "Moon". Following the agreed time, the Lusheng team usually took the lead in the guest village, followed by the male and female chorus team. Then the village elders and other personnel marched towards the main village. When they reached the gate of the village, the way into the village was blocked by the owner using chicken coops, spinning wheels, looms, thorns and other debris. Also blocking the way were the men and women's song team, the Lusheng team, and the village elders of the main village. The guest had to sing against the host.If the main village is a female song team in charge, the guest village will face the male song team; if the main village is a male song team, the visiting team will send the female song team to fight. At the beginning of the song dialogue, the host played it in every possible way, and the guests responded cleverly. You come and go, which is full of fun. It was not until evening that the village elders came forward to persuade them that the two sides came to an end.
"Sacrifice to Sadoya" and "Sacrifice to Sadoya" are the second activities of "Yueya". After guests enter the village, they must first go to the "salad altar" and "sacrifice the salad" in the main village. The ritual procedure is: first place fresh fruits, meat and other offerings and light paper candles; then the guests "woo! Whoo! There were three shouts, and gongs, drums, and lusheng sounded together; then there were three bows and sacrifices, and the old man in the main village offered peace tea to the people; finally, all the people held hands in front of the "Sa Tan" and "Duoye".
Drum Tower duet The Drum Tower duet is the most important activity in the entire "Moon Festival". Activities are mostly held during the day or in the prime time after dinner. The duet mode is similar to "blocking the road to welcome guests". If the main village is singing in a female singing team, the guest village will answer in a male singing team, and vice versa. The guest first sang a polite song to express how troublesome it was to come to your place, and the host expressed his forgiveness for the poor reception. Then, on behalf of the "Galao" of their own village and ethnic surname, they each showed their own village and ethnic surname "Galao" The advantages of "Galao" fully demonstrated their warm and hospitable characteristics. After singing for a certain period of time, we will sing "Ga Lao" from other villages and other ethnic names, and this will enter the stage of competition.
When the other party sings "Ga Lao" in a certain village, it indicates that the two sides will continue to sing against each other in the "Ga Lao" tune of the village; after a certain period of time, they will change the "Ga Lao" from another village to face each other until one party's lyrics are exhausted, and then they switch to "Ga Lao". Singing "Kasuo" is also a competition with each other. Whenever the other party sings a certain kind of "Kasuo", the two sides can sing to each other in this song tone. Although the content praises each other, it is not easy to compete secretly. At this time, most people have to sing all the "Kasuo" that simulates cicadas, bird chirping, running water, and shows the voice of the singing team and shows off their skills. Whoever cannot sing will be considered a loss. Which village has a good voice, tacit cooperation, and can sing more songs, which village will win the competition.
Fireside Singing This is also an important activity of the "Moon Festival". Most of the time is late at night after the "Drum Tower Duet" and is scattered around the stove in the house. The first content of the activity was that young men and women from the host and guest villages gathered around the stove to sing "pipa song" and "corbel piano song" in groups, pouring out their love for each other, commonly known as "sitting sister" or "making trouble girl". Second, the guests and guests gathered around the stove to listen to the old singers sing "Ga Jin" and "Ga Jie Bu". The audience participated in the accompaniment at the right time or gently hummed to continue the bass to set off, and received education in the narration of the song.
This is the last activity of the month. Each "month also" lasted about three or five days, the last morning, the host and guest gathered in the square of the village, the song team performed each other's newly learned songs such as "Galao" and "Gasuo", while the Lusheng team performed the newly learned Lusheng song, and then held a farewell ceremony in front of the "Satan", all holding hands "Duo Ye" to show unity. When they were separated, the main village generally sent a cow, horse or sheep as a gift to the guests to take away, commonly known as "An tail", leaving "tail" to continue to come and go. According to the rules, the main village will return to the visitor village in the following year to show that "the moon also" will take root from now on. If a certain village is unwilling to interact, it will sacrifice a cow or pig. People from the two villages gather halfway between the two villages, slaughter and divide the food, which is called "broken love" and no longer communicate.
Summary of the
: In the Yue custom of the Dong people, collective guests are the platform for activities, cultural display is the content of the activities, and emotional communication is the purpose of the activities. From a cultural perspective, Yueye custom is an important way for the Dong people to display and inherit their own culture in a unique form and enhance their own cultural identity. It is the most important way for cultural exchanges and the soil for the survival of Dong culture. Through the Yuye activities, the Dong people have enhanced their feelings, strengthened unity, forged friendships, and built a harmonious society.