Folk customs in Zhengzhou
Blessings on the edge of the cradle
Chinese people have always loved creatures and praised life. They all respond sincerely to the birth of a new life. of praise and blessings. Over thousands of years, the Zhengzhou area has also formed ancient customs for the birth of babies, which is quite interesting to talk about.
The rural people in Zhengzhou call the birth of children "dexi", a boy is a "big joy", and a girl is a "little joy". When a pregnant woman is about to give birth, in the old days, the midwife was asked to come home and prepare herself. The mother was asked to sit on a small stool, with a clay or wooden basin underneath to receive the baby. The basin was filled with warm water, and an egg and a lock were placed there. After the baby is born, the midwife washes the baby with warm water and lets the mother eat the eggs in the basin, saying that she can give birth to a baby. The midwife takes out the lock and hangs it on the door, which is meant to lock the baby's life. If a boy is born, the baby's body is buried at the gate, which means that the boy will be able to support the door in the future; if a girl is born, the baby's baby is buried under the tree in the courtyard, which means a flower.
After the baby is born, the father will inform his mother-in-law and relatives and friends the next day, which is called "the good news". When announcing the good news, you should bring gifts, which contain the message of the good news. The gift was delivered to the mother-in-law's house. The mother-in-law knew at a glance that her daughter had been born and could figure out whether it was a boy or a girl. When a boy is born, sesame cakes are brought as a gift, and when a girl is born, sesame candy is brought. Some people hold a rooster when a boy is born, and a hen when a girl is born. On the third day after the baby is born, the person concerned will give gifts of wedding noodles to the surrounding neighbors, while the mother-in-law will go to her daughter's house with four-color gifts of eggs, noodles, brown sugar, and rice to "look at them" for three days.
In the old method of delivering babies, midwives used unsterilized scissors to cut the umbilical cord, which made them prone to tetanus infection and caused a high infant mortality rate. On the ninth day after the baby is born, because the time for possible tetanus infection has passed, it is celebrated on the twelfth day. On this day, relatives, friends and neighbors came to congratulate each other, and the host family held a banquet to entertain the guests. Midwives are especially respected and must be invited and seated at the table. Grandma's family will give gifts such as rice, noodles, brown sugar, eggs, and children's clothes, while relatives and friends will give baby greeting gifts. At the end of the banquet, a bowl of wedding noodles is indispensable. When the guests leave, the host will send some boiled and dyed red eggs "back to the basket", called "happy eggs". This custom has been going on for many years.
In the suburbs and rural areas of Zhengzhou, before liberation, there was a popular custom of naming babies with "Peng surnames", which some people also called "Chuang surnames." In the early morning of the first day after the baby is born, the baby's father will kneel down and kowtow to the first person he meets after going out, whether he is a boy or a girl, and ask him or her to name the baby. This is the surname Peng. I like to meet people whose surnames are Liu and Cheng. Because "Liu" and "Liu" are homophones, they think they can keep their children alive, and "Cheng" and "Cheng" are homophones, and they think they can make their children grow up.
After the baby is one month old, the grandma's family will come to "call for guests". The mother and child will stay together for a few days and then be sent back. This custom is also called away after the baby is full moon. This custom has been passed down for a long time and is still very popular in urban and rural areas of Zhengzhou. When leaving home, a red cloth strip is placed on the mother's head and a red cloth is placed on the baby's head, which is said to ward off evil spirits. The aunt will put a line of black pot ashes on the baby's face, and then wipe it off with the aunt at the grandma's house; when returning, the aunt will put a line of white on the baby's face, which means the baby will live longer.
There is a custom of shaving the baby's hair after the baby is full moon, also called "hair twisting" and "fetal hair". It is an important item in the full moon ceremony. "Tokyo Menghua Lu" records: "After bathing, the baby is born and the hair is delivered, and everyone thanks the guests." When shaving a full moon, you must protect the fontanel and cannot shave all the hair, which is called leaving lanugo. There is a saying that "the hair and skin of the body are influenced by the parents". The shaved fetal hair will not be thrown away. Some parents collect it, some sew it on the baby's pillow, and some make it into a fetal hair pen as a permanent souvenir.
Since then, every year on the child’s birthday, parents will boil eggs for their children in the morning and dye them red, because the eggs are round, which means that everything is perfect for the child. In rural areas, there is also a tradition of eating eggs on children’s birthdays called "Gulugulu" luck" argument. At noon, noodles are made for the children, which are called "longevity noodles". However, polenta is not allowed to be eaten on birthdays, because the Zhengzhou dialect calls polenta "muddleheaded", which means to prevent children from becoming confused.
Having children is not easy, but raising children is even harder. Every parent hopes that their children will grow up healthily and smoothly, but not every child can avoid disasters. In order to make their children grow up safely, people come up with various ways to eliminate disasters and pray for blessings.
In both urban and rural areas of Zhengzhou, there is a custom of recognizing godfather and godmother, which is called "recognizing godfather and godmother". Some rural babies recognize someone with the same surname as their godmother, some recognize someone with a large number of children as their godmother, and urban residents mostly seek out a close friend among their relatives and friends as their godmother.
When doing the wedding ceremony, you should give noodles and snacks to your godmother, and make a pair of large-waisted trousers without sewing the crotch for your godmother. When recognizing the godmother, the baby is put in the big trousers and leaks out of the crotch, which means that the baby is born to the godmother. The godmother should hang a longevity lock engraved with "longevity" on the baby's neck. When the baby reaches 12 years old, the godmother will open it.
In addition to acknowledging relatives, there is also the custom of feeding children "Baijia rice" and wearing "Baijia clothes", which means that children who eat Baijia rice and wear Baijia clothes look like humble beggars. Son, easy to feed.
After a baby is born, especially in single-generation families, when the child's grandmother and grandfather report the good news to the neighbors, they will ask for pieces of cloth to make hundreds of family clothes. Especially those with the surnames "Liu", "Chen", and "Cheng". The homophones of these surnames are all auspicious words, so the elderly will happily accept an old piece of cloth from these families. The size and color of the cloth does not matter, but blue is the best, because "blue" is a homophone for "block", which means that with blue cloth, monsters and ghosts will not be able to take away the child.
There are many things to pay attention to when sewing Baijiayi, such as the direction of the cloth pattern, puzzle pieces, etc., there are agreed-upon rules. Clothes should not be open at the chest, and should be made into a large cardigan with a partial opening, also called a Taoist robe. This kind of clothing often leaves a slit at the bottom, which is called the place where the soul is hidden. After the child is one month old, the mother will sew it up, which means that the child's soul has stayed with the mother.
People in Zhengzhou still have the custom of feeding their children hundreds of meals. On the first day of the first lunar month, elders hold babies and hold broken bowls in their hands, pretending to be beggars and begging along the street. It is advisable for a hundred families to beg, and then they stew the buns, vegetables, and rice together, cook it into porridge, and let the children eat it, which means that the children will be protected by the hundreds of families and avoid disasters. After eating hundreds of meals, the elders will steam 100 wheat flour steamed buns the size of copper coins, carry them in a basket and walk along the village or street. When they meet a child, they will give a steamed bun as a gift. After the buns are cooked, others will finish chewing the buns, and their children will grow up safely, which is commonly known as "chewing disasters".
The custom of wishing birthdays to the elderly has been around for a long time. The names of birthday wishes vary according to the age of the elderly.
In ancient times, according to the chronology of Jiazi, Yichou and Bingyin, one person would be sixty years old every 60 years. When a person lives to 60 years old, it is called the year of sixtieth year. Henan people are accustomed to regard 60 years old as the starting point for formal birthday celebrations. There is a folk saying that "you cannot celebrate your birthday until you are sixty years old". Every five years after the age of 60 is called "small birthday" and every ten years is called "big birthday".
Birthday celebrations are usually held one year in advance according to the imaginary age. The 60th birthday is celebrated at the age of 59, and the 70th birthday is celebrated at the age of 69. After celebrating a birthday, there should be no interruption in the future. Usually small celebrations, and full celebrations at the age of ten. In the old days, there was a custom that people who lived for 99 years were called "white" longevity, which means one person is missing from a hundred years. Centenarians often do not talk about being a hundred years old, but only talk about being 99 years old, which means "ninety-nine, not enough life".
Generally, families celebrate the birthday of the elderly every year, but the scale is relatively small. Usually the younger generations get together and have a banquet to celebrate. The married daughter buys birthday cakes and steams the steamed buns into peaches. Xing Shoudao came back to honor the old man. Nowadays, rural areas have also accepted the emerging form of birthday celebrations and send birthday cakes to the elderly. However, many people avoid unlucky words such as "blow out the lamp and pull out the wax" and do not light candles on the birthday cake. However, "longevity noodles" have always been an indispensable food when celebrating the birthday of the elderly. Children should add some noodles from their own bowls to the elderly's bowl, which is called "adding longevity".
Starting from the age of 60, some families will hold large-scale celebrations, called "Daqing". During the Daqing period, some children even invited professional troupes to sing operas, act in movies, and hire storytellers to add to the fun.