at the beginning of the new year, the first thing is to paste door gods and couplets. On New Year's Eve (or 29th), every household goes to the streets to buy Spring Festival couplets, and those who are interested in it also spread paper and splash ink to make spring fun, decorating the portal inside and outside the house.
Door keeper, it is said that it is a magic tea that can catch ghosts. The Book of the Yellow Emperor quoted in Ying Shao's Custom Pass in the Eastern Han Dynasty said: In ancient times, there were two brothers, Shen Na Yu Lei, who lived on Dushuo Mountain. There is a peach tree on the mountain, and the shade is like a cover. Every morning, they review the ghosts under this tree. If an evil spirit harms the world, tie it up and feed it to the tiger. Later, people used two mahogany boards to draw portraits of God Tea and Yu Lei, and hung them on both sides of the door to ward off evil spirits. It is recorded in the Chronicle of Jingchu Years Old by Liang Zongjing of the Southern Dynasty: On the first day of the first month, "making a peach board to touch the household is called immortal wood, painting two gods to stick to the household, and the left god naphthalene, the right dragon, is called the door god." However, the door gods recorded in the real history books are not gods and dragons, but an ancient warrior named Cheng qin. It is recorded in the Biography of King Guang Chuan of Han Dynasty written by Ban Gu that the portrait of Cheng qin, an ancient warrior, was painted on the door of the temple of King Guang Chuan (Qubing), with a short coat and trousers and a long sword. In the Tang Dynasty, the position of the keeper was replaced by Qin Shubao and Wei Chijingde.
The narrative in The Journey to the West is even more detailed: The Dragon King of Jinghe made a bet with a diviner, and as a result, he broke the dogma, so he should be punished. The Jade Emperor appointed Wei Zhi as the supervisor. The Dragon King of Jinghe pleaded with Emperor Taizong for his life. Emperor Taizong agreed, and when it was time to kill the dragon, he summoned Wei Zhi to play against him. Unexpectedly, Wei Zhi took a nap under the rain, and his soul ascended to heaven and beheaded the Dragon King. The Dragon King complained that Taizong had broken his word and cried for his life outside the palace day and night. Emperor Taizong told his ministers that Qin Shubao, the general, was willing to stand outside the gate in uniform with Wei Chijingde. Taizong agreed. That night was really nothing. Emperor Taizong, unable to bear the hardships of the two generals, ordered the skillful painter Dan Qing to draw the true face of the two generals and stick it on the door. Later generations followed each other, so these two generals became the gatekeepers of thousands of families. On the two gates of some old-fashioned gatehouses in Chaoshan today, we can also see Shencha, Yu Lei or two valiant warriors, whose images seem to be the same, but after careful observation, one of them holds Strafe and the other holds an iron mace. Wei Chijingde is the whip bearer and Qin Qiong is the mace bearer.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/Story/ShowArticle.asp? ArticleID=1365
The keeper of the door
The Chronicle of Jingchu Age written by Liang Zonggu in the Eastern Han Dynasty reads: "Painting chickens, or carving five kinds of chickens and native chickens on the door, hanging reeds on them, inserting peaches beside them, all ghosts are afraid of them. Years old, painting Er Shen armour? , affixed to the left and right of the household, left shentu, right Yulei, called the door god. " It can be seen that China had the custom of sticking to the door gods at least 2, years ago. The purpose of sticking to the door gods is to ward off evil spirits and resist ghosts, which is permeated with rich religious sacrifice colors.
in the song dynasty, due to the prosperity of citizens' economy, the application of movable type printing, advanced science and technology, and the people's life improved day by day, the door-keeper paintings and Zhong Kui New Year pictures appeared in the market, and the door-keeper paintings began to spread to people's homes, becoming a practical art form that people loved.
When it comes to the prosperity of engraving and printing industry in Song Dynasty, Kaifeng Prefecture in Henan Province must be mentioned. In the Song Dynasty, Kaifeng House was established as its capital, which was called Lejing Bianliang City in ancient times. The prosperity of handicraft industry and commodity economy has brought the increasingly rich material life and cultural life of the emerging citizens, and also brought the prosperity of the ancient Bianliang, which can be seen from the famous painting The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival in the Song Dynasty.
Zhuxian Town, 2km away from the suburb of Kaifeng, is one of the four famous towns in ancient China (Hankou Town, Jingdezhen Town and Foshan Town), the ancient battlefield where Yue Fei defeated Jin Bing in the Southern Song Dynasty, and the birthplace of Chinese New Year couplets and woodcut paintings of gods. According to Li Buqing's "Yue Fei and Zhuxian Town", it is recorded that "the red paper door god is the old custom to spend the New Year, and it is the most famous specialty in the town. In the heyday of the past, there were more than 3 people in this industry. "
The paintings of door gods in Zhuxian Town flourished in the Qing Dynasty. On the ninth day of September in the lunar calendar every year, Zhuxian Town's New Year pictures industry holds a celebration, and a "Door God Meeting" is held in front of Yuefei Temple and Guandi Temple in the town. Compared with the national New Year pictures, Zhuxian Town's New Year pictures have their own unique features, mainly with three characteristics.
First, there are the most varieties of door gods and oracles. Door gods include Whip at once, Whip under the Step, Zhong Kui, Wenwu God of Wealth and so on, all of which are used to exorcise evil spirits and ghosts. "Five sons get into the exam", "Kirin sends the son" and "Adding officials and crossing the road" are used for auspicious wishes; There are also historical figures and operas, such as Changbanpo, Jiuliandeng and Huotangzhai, etc., which are also among the door gods. The oracles include Three Realms of Heaven and Earth, Three Stars, Kitchen King, Destroying Officials, Liu Hai and Hehe, all of which are popular among the people.
Second, the color matching method of Zhuxian Town New Year pictures is amazing, and the nine pigments used are all prepared by artists themselves, and they are exquisite. For example, red is made of sappan wood, yellow is made of Sophora japonica seeds, purple is made of sunflower seeds, green is made of raw copper, boiled and filtered, and azurite is made of azurite powder ... The front fabric carefully boiled by special formula is pure, bright and calm, and it will not change color for a long time.
Third, Zhuxian Town's New Year pictures are simple and childish in shape, rough and vigorous in lines, simple and strong in color, showing the unique simple and honest temperament of folk art in the Yellow River valley. Compared with the delicate and elegant Tianjin Yangliuqing New Year pictures, they have a masculine beauty endowed by the Central Plains culture.
Since modern times, people have gradually got rid of ignorance and moved towards scientific civilization. Doorman paintings have experienced many twists and turns, and they have been robbed. However, the auspicious meaning endowed by the door god painting is always indelible in people's hearts, and its tenacious survival just illustrates this point. It is true that the heyday of the traditional woodcut door-keeper painting in China is over. Perhaps in a few days, visitors to Zhuxian Town will have to go to the New Year Painting Museum to see the door-keeper. However, the traditional door gods can't say that they will change into other forms and appear in our lives. At the same time, as an important category of China folk art, its origin and development, its spiritual form and artistic form really deserve our attention and study. (Zuo Hanzhong)