The Disappearing Custom of Building a Town —— Comment on Liang Zan's Seal

In the old society, on the day when people built new houses and boarded beams, clay carpenters were bound to sing on the Luban stage to celebrate, which was called the poetry seal of Liang Zan. The craftsmen built a Lubantai in front of and behind the main beam with door panels. When it was auspicious, Liang began to sing poems. The general procedure is as follows

At first, the youngest apprentice of the craftsman climbed the wooden ladder, sang "Climbing the ladder step by step" to the Luban platform, sat or stood on the platform and sang for a paragraph or two, then came down and talked about seniority. From small to large, every apprentice sang a few paragraphs by analogy. The lyrics can be made up and sung now, but the first sentence must be "step by step up the ladder" Finally, the head sang a few paragraphs "Step by step on the ladder", and then formally praised the poem seal. Most of the content is good words, such as blessing the host, being the champion, making a fortune, and then singing various flower names, all from various operas. When the chef praised the poem seal, other clay carpenters echoed under the stage, and the lining word was "Liu Langyuan". After the chef finished singing heartily, he threw the flower cakes, steamed bread and candy on the stage into the crowd, and everyone rushed forward happily and brought them up.