On July 18th, the 5th Yingchuan Cultural Tourism Festival and Yang Jiong’s tour ceremony of the “Folk Folk and Colorful Zhejiang” excellent traditional culture series activities were held in Yingchuan Village, Gaojia Town, Qujiang District, Quzhou City. The excavation and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage and the promotion of the core values of socialism have further enhanced the public’s correct understanding of folk beliefs and culture, and felt the will of honesty, so as to generate the heart of emulation and jointly build a beautiful new village with wealth, civilization, harmony and happiness.
- Intangible cultural heritage plays the “song of cultural inheritance”. On the first day of June every year, the people will invite Yang Jiong’s statue, put out a guard of honor, sound a gong to open the way, and parade through the village, which is called “Yang Jiong’s patrol”. As one of the few city god sacrifice activities in Zhejiang Province and even in the whole country, in 2007, “Yang Jiong’s Tour” was successfully included in the second batch of intangible cultural heritage of Zhejiang Province. Yang Jiong’s patrol activities aim to inherit Yang Jiong’s spirit of honesty, serving the people, pragmatism and responsibility, and at the same time warn the majority of young cadres to dare to face challenges and dare to stand up in the face of crises.
2. The solemn ceremony played the “Song of Folk Faith”. Yang Jiong’s sacrificial ceremony consists of four chapters: “Offering Grains”, “Respecting and Virtuous Orders”, “Music and Dance Sacrifices” and “Feng Chenghuang”. The peasant representatives dressed in formal clothes, presented the five grains, and prayed for a good harvest in the coming year; with gratitude to the virtuous order, they read the sacrificial text and offered flower baskets; in the solemn and elegant “Dream Back to the Tang Dynasty” sacrificial music, the memorial ceremony kicked off; and finally all the participants jointly traced the nostalgia and felt the great city god, and bowed three times to show their respect and admiration for Yang Jiong. After the ceremony, the honor guard slowly lifted the statue of Yang Jiong from the ancestral hall, drove out of the patrol, the flag bearer, the honor guard escorted all the way, the village women distributed steamed buns along the road, and the patrol team marched mightily.
3. The protection of relics plays the “song of civilization and fashion”. Yang Jiong (650-695), a native of Huayin, Shaanxi, a famous writer in the early Tang Dynasty, one of the four masters of the early Tang Dynasty, served as the commander of Yingchuan County during the Ruyi period, in the summer of 695 AD, Yang Jiong prayed for the rain for the people and jumped into Yingchuan Lake to die, the heavy rain poured that night, 10,000 acres of rice recovered, and the local people built Yang Jiong Temple in order to thank Yang Jiong for his grace and pray for the peace of the four seasons. Yang Jiongci is well preserved, the building is tall and spacious, and the carving is simple. Every year on the first day of June of the lunar calendar, the villagers of Yingchuan Ancient County will spontaneously hold the sacrificial activity of “Yang Jiong’s Patrol” in Yang Jiong Temple. Yang Jiong culture has brought tourism, culture and economic effects to the village, and the follow-up will make use and carry forward the Yang Jiong culture to make it glow more dazzling in rural construction.
Yang Jiong’s tour ceremony inherited the culture of honesty and integrity, and expressed the simple ideal of consistent national peace and security.Enrich the spiritual civilization life of the people, and play a “song of happiness” for the construction of socialist rural customs and civilization. Qujiang District will continue to carry forward the excellent traditional folk culture and help the construction of rural civilization to be deeper and more practical.