Folk Beliefs and Customs

Ⅹ-85Folk CustomsYanshan, HebeiBatch 2 (2008)Newly Added Item

01 · Historical Records

The history of the Qiantong Xinzi Festival must begin with the legend of Xu Fu's eastward crossing to Fusang. It is said that more than two thousand years ago Xu Fu crossed east to Fusang with a thousand boys and girls; this memory took root along the coast of eastern Hebei and became the psychological basis for local ancestors venturing to sea and praying for safety. The folk beliefs of the Yanshan area continued this memory, gradually transforming the images of the boys and girls into figures that could be carried through the streets. Its scheduling rule is quite special: the Xinzi Festival is held only on the twenty-eighth day of the third lunar month in a jiazi year; on the same day in other years only ordinary sacrifices are performed. The sixty-year cycle, encountered once in a jiazi round, naturally gives the Xinzi Festival of this area a periodicity—on ordinary days it is not easily activated, and the whole village's energy and resources are saved up for this single day. Precisely because of this, the compact schedule of that day, beginning at the chen hour in the morning and drawing to a close around the wu hour, appears especially solemn. The three changes in the form of the xinzi (faith platform) are the most direct living evidence of this project: building a high earthen platform, binding a wooden frame, and welding an iron frame—three methods appeared in succession, step by step turning the xinzi from a fixed earthen platform into a walking aerial stage. In the bound wooden frame form, wooden poles and iron rods are lashed into a frame; at the top of the upright poles, iron rods and planks are set to form a stage, on which boys and girls perform various artistic poses; the lower ends of the wooden poles are fixed to an iron-and-wood frame, which is lifted by thirty-six burly men advancing steadily to the beat of gongs and drums. Behind these changes lay the dual considerations of craftsmanship and safety, and they also leave a string of marks of changing times.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Folk beliefs, also called "popular beliefs," are conventional traditional ideas formed by people in the long course of production and daily life; under the domination of such ideas, the populace develops psychological and behavioral identification with certain folk phenomena. The Qiantong Xinzi Festival is a cultural survival of the historical event, more than two thousand years ago, in which Xu Fu crossed east to Fusang with a thousand boys and girls; it is popular in the Yanshan area of Hebei. The Xinzi Festival is held only on the twenty-eighth day of the third lunar month in a jiazi year; on the twenty-eighth day of the third lunar month in other years, ordinary sacrificial activities are held. The sacrificial activities of the Qiantong Xinzi Festival begin at the chen hour in the morning of the twenty-eighth day of the third lunar month and end around the wu hour. During the activities, the participants parade and offer sacrifices along the streets under the leadership of the officiant. After the sacrificial rites are completed, the xinzi returns along the streets to the Kaihua Temple, where the officiant leads the participants in further worship at the Qiantong Tablet and the Qiantong Hall. The xinzi used in the Xinzi Festival has taken three forms in succession: a built high platform, a bound wooden frame, and a welded iron frame. In the traditional bound wooden frame form, wooden poles and iron rods are lashed into a wooden frame; at the top of the upright poles, iron rods and planks form an aerial stage, on which boys and girls perform various artistic poses. The lower ends of the wooden poles supporting the stage are fixed to a frame made of iron and wood; thirty-six burly men lift the frame and advance steadily to the beat of gongs and drums. In front of the frame, three-section staff and lion dance performances lead the way; behind the frame follow all kinds of flower troupes—laozi tunes, stilts, land boats, bamboo horses, huali tigers, and yangge dances—performing as they march, a most lively scene.

Three forms of the xinzi float

The float took three forms; the wooden-frame version, lashed from poles and bars with a platform on top, became the standard.

Thirty-six bearers stepping to the gongs

Thirty-six strong men lift the frame on the beat of the gongs, the column's movement made by collective strength and timing.

Tridents and the lion escort

Three-section staffs and the lion dance clear the way, martial display opening the procession with its most imposing note.

The street procession

From the eighth hour to noon the worshippers move house to house under the marshals' direction, pausing at each door.

Return to the shrine for the stele

After the rite the float returns to Kaihua Temple to worship before the stele and hall of the thousand children.

The following troupes

Behind the float follow the luozi, stilts, land boats, bamboo horses, flower tigers and yangge troupes, playing all the way along.

The cyclical term

The festival comes only in sexagenary jiazi years, making this single day every sixty the most solemn occasion.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

It has enriched and enlivened the cultural life of the local people and played an important role in the transmission of ethnic and folk culture in the Hebei region.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

The deities worshipped in traditional folk belief are an important source of the genesis of folk beliefs; praying for blessings and avoiding harm is the inner reason why traditional folk beliefs continue to be transmitted; and the aggregation of various folk cultural expressive forms constitutes the cultural space of folk beliefs. The Qiantong Xinzi Festival is an important expression of local folk belief in Yanshan and has high research value in folklore and historical culture.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

Wu Jishan 05-3019
Xu Shunwei 05-3020
Huang Guanghui 05-3021
Chen Jikun 05-3022
Sinapinchu 05-3023
Liu Shimei 05-3024
Zhang Qingming 05-3025
Zheng Quanguang 05-3026
Ye Da 05-3027
Li Yaohui
Luo Shengzong

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Folk Beliefs and Customs (Yanshan, Hebei) · China ICH Official Project Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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