China News Service, Fuzhou, February 25 (Reporter Lin Ling) Before the first month of the month was over, Fuzhou "out of the circle".
This phenomenon stems from two short videos. One of the protagonists of the video is Zhang Shizi, the "god of tower bones" who has gained a large number of fans because of his handsome image, and the other video records a 4-year-old man. A cute picture of a child wearing a simple "tower bone" and a group of "magic generals" competing in dance.
The most eye-catching among the Fuzhou rural wandering gods is the large number of various gods before and after the main god.
The gods will belong to the subordinates of the main god, and the priesthood will be lower.
The statue of the god is called "tower bone", which is a large hollow bamboo bone statue.
In Changle, Fuzhou, the parade with the statue in the tower is called "the general of the gods".
As a quite eye-catching presence in the wandering spirit team, most people's impression of the tower bone comes from Taiwan's "Third Prince of Electronic Music".
Today, its "out of the circle" not only lets people know that the tower bone originated from Fuzhou, but also drives people's attention to the folk activity of wandering the gods.
The Fuzhou Rural Youshen lasts about one to two days, depending on the size of different villages.
Photo by Li Nanxuan
According to Qian Yingxi, the person in charge of the Tianhou Temple in the Three Lanes and Seven Alleys of Fuzhou and the Fuzhou Haisi Faith and Custom Culture Exchange Center, the God Tour is a folk activity held in the first month of the Fuzhou countryside.
The wandering gods often take the village as a unit, sometimes several villages are united, and every major festival, the villagers will use the sedan chairs to carry the statue of the main god worshipped by the local, and parade the village in a group to the sound of gongs, drums and firecrackers.
Although the customs of wandering the gods are slightly different in different parts of Fuzhou, the local residents' love and devotion to this activity are the same.
Auntie Lin, who lives in Shishitang, Houdong Village, Tantou Town, Changle District, Fuzhou City, prepared 2 boxes of firecrackers early, held a letter incense, and waited for almost 2 hours in the cold wind.
In the terms of folk belief and Taoism, "Jing" refers to the place under the jurisdiction of one deity.
When the parade goes out within the range of its temples and beliefs, it is called "travelling"; when the parade enters the range of other gods' temples, it is called "travelling".
What Auntie Lin is looking forward to is an extremely grand parade around the country. The wandering spirit team will tour 18 natural villages, lasting from 6:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. the next day.
Firecrackers sounded from far to near, and the first parade team finally arrived.
Zhang Shizi, the "male god of tower bones" in the Youshen team, has gained a large number of fans because of his handsome image.
Photo by Li Nanxuan
The first to come to the entrance of the village was the drum band, who played a rhythmic melody and led the way in an orderly manner.
Afterwards, Baochang, who held a wine pot in his left hand and a bamboo whip in his right, opened the way, followed by the various gods.
The people carrying the gods took a unique step, flickering left and right, swinging the arms of the tower bone skillfully, flexible or solemn, and interpreting the "gods" patrolling the village to life.
Immediately afterwards, under the leadership of Ying Shen's umbrella and holding fan, the sedan chair of the Lord God slowly came into view.
Because of the grandeur of this wandering spirit, when all the wandering spirits toured the village, two hours had already passed.
Auntie Lin respects every deity who visits the village.
"This wandering god is like a god walking out of the temple and visiting the village. On the one hand, we must pray to the gods for peace, and on the other hand, we must accept the scrutiny of the gods, and we can't do anything wrong."
"Fujian people worship the gods, in the final analysis, because people place their good morals on the gods. Because a certain god has virtues worthy of our study, we will worship him." Fuzhou folklore expert Zheng Zirui gave an example to the reporter, "Mazu The culture contains the spirit of the ocean, the culture of Mrs. Linshui Chen Jinggu contains the virtue of caring for women and children, and the 'seven masters and eight masters' (black and white impermanence) that Fuzhou people believe in is a symbol of loyalty."
The people carrying the gods took a unique step, flickering left and right, swinging the arms of the tower bone skillfully.
Photo by Li Nanxuan
In Zheng Zirui's eyes, the wandering activity that can be passed down to this day is a walking "museum" of Fuzhou folk customs.
"From ancient times to the present, wandering the gods has been an activity that the whole village has actively participated in. From the strong man carrying the sedan chair, to the elder holding the incense burner, to the woman carrying the lantern and holding the fan, to the young man who supports the gods, all these are It embodies the unity and orderly social relations and division of labor among Fuzhou people. And wandering around the world promotes the exchanges between villages." Qian Yingxi added to the reporter that the bamboo weaving skills, unborn lacquerware, lacquerware, etc. Elements such as Jufan music are the culmination of Fuzhou's intangible cultural heritage.
The wandering spirits may be one of the few ways that people today understand the lives of their ancestors. Chen Junchen, who was born in 1995, is deeply touched by this.
Compared with ordinary young people, he seems to be closer to "Old Fuzhou", because he is responsible for "supporting the gods" in the wandering activities, and is good at carrying the god statue in the tower bone.
Raised by his grandfather since childhood, he knows that his home is somewhat "different".
"Since my great-grandfather, there has been a family temple in the house. On important festivals, my grandfather will always 'worship' to those gods. I was young and didn't understand these cultures, but wandering gods made me very happy. Interested." Chen Junchen recalled, "The scene of wandering gods was very lively when I was a child. If you can hold incense and beat the gong in the wandering god team, it is something worth showing off."
As Chen Junchen grew older, his love for Youshen never stopped.
When he was 14 years old, he entrusted someone to shape his first tower bone, the boy brother, which is the boy god in Fuzhou folk culture and the first tower bone that Chen Junchen carried when he participated in the tour of the gods.
After that, Chen Junchen started to make tower bones at a frequency of two a year, and was also very keen to participate in wandering activities.
Today, Chen Junchen is surrounded by many young people like him who are very fascinated by the tower bone. They combine the "acoustic-optical" technology with the tower bone to organize a more "modern" wandering team.
Every first month, Chen Junchen would always take out the tower bone he had made and carefully maintain it.
He put his arms around the tower like a friend and said: "There are many ways to inherit traditional culture, but we can't take the dead end of giving up. With us, wandering spirits will not end."
In the face of young people's enthusiasm for tower bones and wandering gods, Daoist Yang Hanrui of Tianhou Temple of Three Lanes and Seven Alleys in Fuzhou said that with the addition of young blood, there is hope for traditional culture to be inherited.
"The 'out of the circle' of the Youshen culture is a reflection of the self-confidence of Fuzhou's local culture. What we have to do is to remind them that the Youshen culture and the tower bone cannot be completely separated. If the soil of traditional culture is lost, the tower bone will only be become an empty shell."
The night is getting darker, and the large-scale wandering activities in Changle are still not over.
Among the fire trees and silver flowers, the "gods" came from the dim night and walked towards the devoutly praying crowd.
(over)