Ancestor Worship Customs
01 · Historical Records
Erecting lantern poles and raising colored phoenixes is a traditional folk activity of the Jiang-surname people of Gangpan Village and its surroundings in Jiedong County, Guangdong Province, to commemorate their ancestor Jiang Wanli, the patriotic prime minister of the Southern Song.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
At the end of the Song, the Right Chancellor Jiang Wanli was captured but refused to surrender, and threw himself into the river to die for his country; his grandson Jiang Ruzu led his family to settle at Longsha, Jieyang. When the Jiang lineage had passed to its 11th-generation ancestor, clan members discovered a phoenix roosting in a bamboo grove by the river; recalling that their ancestor Jiang Wanli had loved phoenixes all his life, the Jiang descendants adopted the form of "erecting lantern poles and raising colored phoenixes" to commemorate their ancestor Jiang Wanli, expressing that they would not forget their forebears, and it has been passed down from generation to generation. Erecting lantern poles and raising colored phoenixes uses a mao bamboo pole more than ten meters long, with bamboo leaves left at its tip; a lantern hangs from the bamboo tip, and above the lantern hangs a five-colored "colored phoenix." The phoenix's tail and body are draped in red silk embroidered with golden thread, inscribed with the words "auspiciousness" and "happiness"; beneath the phoenix hang wind chimes — when the wind blows, the "colored phoenix" turns and the bells ring clear and sweet. By day, bamboo pole after bamboo pole and "colored phoenix" after "colored phoenix" stretch from household to household in a most magnificent sight; at night, the various flashing lights installed on the lanterns and "colored phoenixes" all shine at once, forming a colorful city of lamps, brilliant and spectacular in the extreme. This folk activity of erecting lantern poles and raising colored phoenixes is a unique folk custom in the Chaoshan region and even throughout the country; it is of great significance for carrying forward the traditional humanistic spirit of the Chinese nation, enriching the cultural life of the people, and strengthening community cohesion, and it also has important value for folklore studies, history, and craft studies.
Bamboo grove found, poles raised
A heron-like bird in the riverside grove prompted the custom of raising a phoenix on a pole.
The bamboo pole with its leaves left on
A bamboo pole of over ten metres keeps its topmost leaves, so the phoenix seems to rise out of a grove.
Silk and gold thread on the phoenix
Red silk worked with gold thread covers the phoenix, with written good wishes and bells below.
A street of poles by day
By day the poles link house by house into a thicket of bamboo and colour down the lane.
The lantern city after dark
At night every lamp lights at once and the street becomes a lantern city of flickering lights.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Jiang family of Gangpan Village and the Jiang family of the Longsha area descend from the same branch, and the practice of erecting lantern poles and raising colored phoenixes spread through Chaoshan along this line of kinship. In any village where the Jiang clan lives in concentration, before nightfall someone will set up bamboo poles at high points in front of their doors; the colored phoenixes on the poles are made by each village, with no uniformity demanded in size or pattern — only in forming a continuous display. Each household contributes its own lanterns; where people are many, the line stretches all the way to the lane entrance, and even a small village can raise three or five poles without difficulty. This festival often falls in the same period as the New Year and Lantern Festival community events, with colored phoenixes and festive lanterns hanging along the same streets; the first-month nights of Chaoshan are held up by these few bamboo poles.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The uniqueness of this folk custom is that it has no temple and prescribes no ritual protocol: the commemoration of a worthy is compressed into a single object that can be raised up. The bamboo pole is something readily at hand in the countryside; red silk and golden thread are ready-made festive trimmings of the season. Joined together, they become a memorial that can stay lit all night — inexpensive yet serviceable in every way. Commemorating a worthy and adding to the festive scene are here fused into one: the clan members both worship their ancestor and bring liveliness to the whole village, so this folk custom is bound especially closely to the everyday life of the countryside.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Liu Yixia 05-3036
- Zhuge Yi 05-3037
- Chen Dunhe 05-3038
- Fan Zhongyi
- Qu Bilaji
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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