Yuminkaiyangxieyang Festival
01 · Historical Records
According to records, the fishermen's Sea-Opening and Sea-Thanksgiving Festival of Xiangshan has a history of more than one thousand years, and it flourished most in the period from the Yongzheng reign of the Qing dynasty to the Republican era. This custom of worshipping the gods of the sea took shape during the Hongwu reign of the Ming dynasty; it is a concrete expression of fishermen's wishes for the safety of people and boats and for abundant fishing harvests. The shangwang (net-setting) ritual first assumed scale during the Yongle reign of the Ming dynasty, and later gradually evolved into a folk custom activity, which has been handed down to the present.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The fishermen's Sea-Opening and Sea-Thanksgiving Festival is a distinctive folk activity in China's coastal regions, circulating mainly in Xiangshan County and Daishan County of Zhejiang Province and in Rongcheng City, Rizhao City and Jimo City of Shandong Province. As a spiritual activity expressing fishermen's inner hopes, the Sea-Opening and Sea-Thanksgiving Festival takes sacrifice and worship as its core and folk artistic performance as its main axis; it contains many kinds of cultural content and at the same time displays the character of entertaining both the gods and the people. The festival centers on sea-worship ceremonies; its breadth of influence, the wide range of its participants and the length of its continuity are rare among the many fishing folk customs of the Zhoushan archipelago. At every fishing season, sea-worship ceremonies are held at the time of the Sea-Opening and Sea-Thanksgiving festivals; fishermen call them "xie long shui jiu" (thanking the dragon with water and wine) or "xing wenshu" (presenting written petitions). As a representative of Zhoushan folk custom, the Sea-Opening and Sea-Thanksgiving Festival reflects the belief and reverence of East China Sea fishermen for the Dragon King of the East Sea and the various gods of the sea, and shows the wisdom of the eastern coastal population in living in harmony with nature. The fishermen of Yuankuang place their hopes for safety and abundance in their seafaring livelihood on the Dragon King of the East Sea, and deliberately choose the day of Grain Rain (Guyu) to worship the sea, expressing their piety and praying for the Dragon King's protection. The Sea-Net Festival (shangwang jie) of Zhougezhuang Village, Tianheng Town, Jimo City, Shandong Province, is also known as the Sea-Worship Festival (jihai), and is a grand festival for local fishermen. The Zhougezhuang Sea-Net Festival is usually held around Grain Rain each year, when village fishermen about to put out to sea worship the gods of the sea with pious hearts, praying for safety and a good harvest.
The fixed official rite of Daishan
Daishan distinguished an official sea rite, with a prescribed and complete protocol, from the folk rite, and the two traditions ran side by side.
Folk rites on the return voyage
Once the boats return safely, the folk rite of thanks begins, offering catches and jars of wine to the sea deity while performances give thanks and pleasure together.
How fishing villages keep the ritual order
The protocol survives because each fishing village writes the ritual day into daily arrangements, fixing who presides, who serves, who supplies offerings and who stages the performance.
One rite before departure, one after return
The same ritual form is used twice with opposite meanings — supplication before departure, thanksgiving after return — keeping the form fixed while the feeling changes.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
In Xiangshan and Daishan of Zhejiang, the fishermen's Sea-Opening Festival is a folk activity held when fishing boats put out to sea, praying for safety and abundant catches; the Sea-Thanksgiving Festival is a folk activity held after the boats return safely, to give thanks for the gifts bestowed by the sea. Historically, sea worship in Daishan was divided into official sacrifice and popular sacrifice; the prescribed ritual forms were elaborate and the procedures complete. At present, some fishing villages in Daishan still carry on this traditional folk custom. The geographical position and climate of Yuankuang Village in Rongcheng City, Shandong Province, are very distinctive: at every Grain Rain solar term, deep-sea fish and shrimp, following the laws of seasonal migration, crowd into the coastal waters of the Yellow Sea to the south of Yuankuang Village. Hence the local sayings "fish and birds never break their word" and "at Grain Rain, a hundred fish come ashore." Coastal villages and towns along the Rizhao coast of Shandong, such as Liangcheng, Shijiusuo and Peijia Village, have been engaged mainly in fishing production since ancient times. Local legend holds that the thirteenth day of the sixth lunar month is the birthday of the Dragon King of the sea; on that day fishermen gather at the Dragon King Temple to hold worship ceremonies, and at the same time make arrangements for the coming year's fishing production.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Yuminkaiyangxieyang Festival · Yuminkaiyangxieyang Festival · Yuminkaiyangxieyang Festival · Yuminkaiyangxieyang Festival.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The fishermen's Sea-Opening and Sea-Thanksgiving Festival is a typical representative of traditional maritime culture. It has important reference value for research in folklore studies, religious studies, social psychology, and local history and culture, and it is necessary to take measures to protect and pass on this ancient maritime folk custom.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Han Sulian 05-3013
- Wang Weiyan 05-3014
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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