Chinanews.com, Ningbo, February 5th (Reporter Lin Bo) Paint heavy eyeshadow on the end of the eyes and blush on the cheeks... In the hands of Wang Sumin, a member of the lantern team in Shipu Town, Xiangshan County, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, a lantern opera The makeup is done.
After completing the tedious attire, she held the horse's head in her left hand and the whip in her right hand, and danced to the sound of gongs and drums.
This is the scene of the "Fourteen Nights" folk lantern dance parade in Shipu Town.
A scene of the ancient city of Shipu Fishing Port.
Photo by Wu Jingyuan
On February 4th, Xiangshan County held the Lantern Festival with auspicious rabbits - the "Fourteen Nights" folk parade in Shipu. The folk lantern dance team composed of 17 teams including the pavilion team reproduces the customs of fishermen and conveys the culture of fishermen.
In the folk proverbs of the fishermen, there is a saying that "the lanterns in the first month, the harriers in February, and the harriers in March". The lantern festival in the first month is a cultural custom handed down by fishermen.
Different from most areas in the south, the Lantern Festival in Shipu is only from the "fifteenth" to the "fourteenth".
Folk lantern dance is one of the local Lantern Festival features, among which fish lanterns, dragon lanterns and horse lanterns are the most characteristic of Shipu.
The fish lantern team parade the scene.
Photo by Yu Li
Fishermen in Shipu have cultivated the sea and herded fish for generations.
Most of the fish lanterns on the Lantern Festival are made by fishermen themselves.
Using bamboo strips to build the frame, using cotton cloth to shape the shape, and using paint to paint the body... In the hands of Ma Buyin, the prototype of a fish lamp with a unique ocean atmosphere appeared.
Ma Buyin, who is in his 80s this year, is the intangible inheritor of Shipu fish lanterns and has been making fish lanterns for more than 20 years.
"The Lantern Festival every year is the most powerful time for fish lantern competition." Ma Buyin said that every craftsman will show his unique skills during the Lantern Festival and compete for beauty, making the fish lantern the most dazzling existence of the Lantern Festival .
In addition to fish lanterns, every year before the Spring Festival, Ma Buyin will make twelve zodiac lanterns for the year.
This Year of the Rabbit, he specially made a rabbit lamp with a length of 128 cm and a height of 108 cm. "The rabbit lamp is covered with patterns I cut by myself. When the switch is turned on, the rabbit's eyes will light up red."
The dragon lantern team parade the scene.
Photo by Yu Li
When night falls, accompanied by the sound of gongs and drums, folk lantern dance teams such as fish lanterns, dragon lanterns, and horse lanterns walk forward along the fishing port road, and there are cheers everywhere they go.
The "Fourteen Nights" folk parade began in 1986. The local Changguo Cultural Station organized a large-scale Lantern Festival for the first time. More than 1,100 people organized dragon lanterns, fish lanterns, lifting pavilions, various colored lanterns, and gongs and drums to parade the streets and alleys.
Since 1998, the local Lantern Festival has been held every year.
Lifting the pavilion to parade the scene.
Photo by Yu Li
In addition to celebrating the Lantern Festival on the "fourteenth day of the first lunar month", another feature of Shipu is that they don't eat glutinous rice balls and eat "paste grains" during the Lantern Festival.
It is understood that the custom of eating glutinous rice in Shipu's "Fourteen Nights" originated in the Ming Dynasty, flourished in the Qing Dynasty, and has been passed down to this day.
According to legend, the day before the Lantern Festival during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, Japanese pirates suddenly invaded Shipu. The Qi family army stationed in Shipu cut the ingredients for the festival into granules as quickly as possible, and then stirred them into a paste with starch. After eating the "paste granules", they went to battle to kill the enemy. , and finally won a big victory.
Residents taste "paste grains".
Photo by Wu Jingyuan
"What we eat today is paste grains." Wang Sumin told reporters that Shipu people must eat "paste grains" soup, which symbolizes victory and celebration, on the "14th day of the first lunar month" every year.
She explained that "paste grains" are generally chopped and cooked with ingredients such as soybeans, shrimp, oysters, fish, and razor clams, and then mixed with potato flour and salt before eating.
(over)