2023 is the Year of the Rabbit. As one of the twelve zodiac signs, the rabbit is endowed with the beautiful meaning of many children, many blessings and a prosperous family because of its alert nature and strong reproductive ability. Over time, it has gradually formed a rich connotation. , interesting rabbit culture.
In folk culture, rabbits often appear in folk arts and crafts such as paper-cuts, clay sculptures, and cloth pile paintings.
The folk paper-cut art in northern Shaanxi is known as the "mother art" of the folk in northern Shaanxi. During the Spring Festival, almost every cave dwelling in northern Shaanxi is pasted with various paper-cut window grilles, with wonderful composition, exquisite knife skills, and vivid animals. It's amazing.
"In our Suide, on the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, every household has to clean the kiln, paste the windows, paste window grilles, hang lanterns, and paste couplets. The clever women who can cut paper are busy all day long, not only for themselves. It should be cut for neighbors and relatives.” Cao Maonv, a master of arts and crafts in Shaanxi Province, introduced and cut paper, while talking, she had already cut out a new work of “Snake and Rabbit”.
There are folk sayings that "a snake wrapped around a rabbit will surely make you rich" and "a snake wrapped around a rabbit will make you rich for generations", and paper-cut window grilles entrust people's yearning for a better life.
Similar to "Snake and Rabbit" cut by Cao Maonv, "Dog Bites Rabbit" cut by Ansai Pan Changwang, and "Eagle Stepping on Rabbit" cut by Cao Dianxiang, they are all paper-cut patterns that often appear in the folk, implying life While being rich, it also implies the wish of the harmony of yin and yang, and the happiness of the family.
Shaanxi paper-cut is famous all over the country and affects the world.
In the book "Shaanxi Paper-cutting", which is listed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by the United Nations, there is a paper-cutting work "Rabbit Eating Cabbage" by Gong Xianmiao of Binxian County. It is not limited to one type; Xianyang Qindu Ren Wenying has a paper-cut work "Rabbit Lying Ganoderma lucidum". Ganoderma lucidum is a longevity medicine, which means that the rabbit can live for a thousand years;
The fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the Lantern Festival, also known as the Lantern Festival.
During the lantern festival, in addition to pasting all kinds of paper-cuts on the lanterns as decorations, there is also a kind of rabbit lantern among the people. The folk custom of rabbit lanterns flourished in the Tang Dynasty. At that time, people regarded rabbits as auspicious things. The location means that auspiciousness and goodness are transported there.
Today's people still use this mascot to welcome the gods and receive blessings, which embodies the good wishes of the ancient working people to pray for the blessings of the gods, and look forward to a good harvest of grains and prosperity of humans and animals in the coming year.
Rabbit plays the leading role in the Year of the Rabbit, "The Rabbit Lying in the Flowers" and "The Girl Reports the Rabbit" in the Budui paintings, the "Mashao Face Rabbit" on the Baoji Mashao Facebook, Fengxiang cloth toy "White Rabbit Holding Flowers", as well as shadow puppets, embroidery, The rabbit element in the noodles, and different folk expressions all send the same blessings, which are both festive and auspicious in the Year of the Rabbit.
(Reporter Zhang Zhehao, Li Jie, correspondent Zhu Wenjie)
(Guangming Daily, Edition 10, February 12, 2023)