On May 10th-16th, the 2nd Folk Culture Festival was held in Houyang Village, Aojiang Town, Pingyang County, Wenzhou City. During the period, Houyang Village also held folk culture seminars and calligraphy and painting exhibitions to deeply study the traditional folk customs of Houyang Village, which attracted about 20,000 tourists and became a beautiful rural cultural landscape that brought together regional folk cultural exchanges.
During the activity, the whole village was decorated with colorful flags and lanterns, and every house was covered with red ribbons. There are two 20-meter-long “big dragons” hovering in the Tanghe River, and there are various “mythical figures” on the side. The shapes are all vivid and the scene is very lively and festive. These shapes are specially made by folk craftsmen for this event.
Chen Shisi’s belief in customs is a local cultural activity, which has been selected into the representative list of intangible cultural heritage in Zhejiang Province. Chen Fourteen, also known as Chen Jinggu, is one of the folk beliefs in Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong. Chen Jinggu culture is an integral part of China’s traditional culture, and its main spirit is patriotism, love for the people, selfless dedication, saving lives and saving others. Aojiang’s “Chen 14th Belief in Custom” activity first performed the drum drama “South Tour” for five days and five nights, and then went on a tour. There were about 400 people in this patrol team. When they set out, they blew horns, made a big way, and saluted. The whole patrol team was vast and the scene was spectacular. Everywhere they went, every household was like a Chinese New Year holiday, decorated with red lanterns and greeted with fire, praying for peace and good weather.
Visitors can deeply experience Chen Fourteen’s activities of believing in customs, punch in the “ancient style” of cruise ships, watch Wenzhou drum performance, and enjoy the waist drum performance and cheongsam show performed by Houyang Village Rural Art Troupe. The cultural festival at night brings together light shows, traditional snacks, calligraphy and painting exhibitions, online celebrity restaurants, etc., which is full of fireworks and trends, making it a must-have choice for tourists to play at night.
This year’s folk culture festival has given new vitality to traditional folk culture through intangible experience, exhibition and other forms. Houyang Village deeply excavates excellent folk cultural resources, takes folk culture festival as a platform and intangible cultural heritage experience as a window, actively promotes the innovative development of excellent traditional culture, makes intangible cultural heritage alive, stimulates people’s local feelings and cultural identity, polishes the golden signboard of “Millennium Ancient Village” and adds charm to “Dream Village”.