Song pool of the Zhuang nationality

Song pool of the Zhuang nationality

Song pool of the Zhuang nationality is a form of Festival gathering and singing activities held by the masses of the Zhuang nationality at a specific time and place.

Gexu has different appellations in the Zhuang nationality areas, but they all have the meaning of "party on slopes", "song on slopes" or "happy festival". It is not only a traditional cultural activity of the Zhuang people, but also a place for young men and women to socialize. Because this activity reciprocates and sings to each other, the ancients call it "pier pool".

On May 20, 2006, Hechi City of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region declared that the Song Festival of the Zhuang Nationality was listed in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list with the approval of the State Council.

A Brief Introduction to Culture

Since ancient times, the Zhuang people have always been famous for their good singing of folk songs. Guangzhou, where the Zhuang people live, is known as "the sea of songs" and "the hometown of folk songs". The pools which fully reflect the characteristics of the Zhuang people's good singing are the pools all over the Zhuang villages. Song pool is a form of Festival gathering and singing activities held by the Zhuang people at a specific time and place. In the Zhuang language, Song pools around Pingxiang, Chongzuo and Ningming have different appellations. They are called "poz slopes coming out of og", "poz slopes on fawh street day", "poz slopes on go gathering". They mean "meeting on slopes", or "song slopes", meaning "singing on slopes"; Wuming means "singing on slopes". Ma Shan and Daxin are called "cave (loengz goes down to dungh wilderness)", which means "gathering in Pingdong"; Tiandu, Debao and Tianyang are called "terminal (hangz Street City ndoenz mountain plain)", which means "Yichangwei city"; in ancient times, Jingxi is called "woyan (og og comes out of ngwemz cave)", which means "meeting in caves". ” Baise and other places are called "Wogan", which means "outside the cave song pool"; Binyang, guests, Hengxian area is called "faengz happy street day", which means "happy pool day"; Yongning area is called "returning the ball", which is a form of singing and singing activities. There are also appellations of Huanpo (Gongpo fwen boz), Huanyi (Gongyi fwen dungh) and so on. Song pools of the Zhuang nationality have a long history. The pools are held in spring and autumn, and the most popular are on March, April and August 15 of the lunar calendar. There are also occasional pools. The regular song pools are usually held two or three times a year. Tens of thousands of people participate in the pools on a large scale, and one or two thousand people participate in the pools on a small scale. The occasional pools are usually small, and can be attended by thirty or fifty or twelve people.

Historical Origin

Song pool of the Zhuang nationality originated from sacrificial singing and dancing activities in the clan tribal era, but in the later stage of social development, this kind of sacrificial activities gradually evolved into communication among the people, and more emphasis was placed on singing activities while the color of "dance" was weakened. Over time, group singing pool activities were formed. According to Huang Xianhuang, the master of Zhuangxue, Zhuangzu has been a folk song lover since ancient times. It can be said that the folk song of Zhuangzu is the source and one of the important means of spreading the civilization of Zhuangzu. In Zhuang dialect, folk songs are called "home" or "joy". Singing folk songs is called "singer". What is home? In ancient times, women had no home, and men were the home of women. Therefore, the word "marry" of women consisted of the words "woman" and "home", which indicated that women and men began to live together with "home". How to "marry" people to find "home"? The Zhuang women depend on singing "home" (folk songs) to find a man who likes to marry. The custom of "choosing a spouse by singing" has come from this. At the same time, ancient women were bound by feudal etiquette, and their words and deeds were restricted by many factors. They did not have freedom of marriage and did not think of "joy". Therefore, they used singing to radiate their mood or to seek for a lover to marry and become a "family" to obtain "joy". Therefore, in addition to mythology, history, politics, morality, geography, astronomy, legends, social life, production and labor, most of the traditional expressions of the Zhuang folk songs are about love and romance, in order to find "joy" as "home" or "home" for "joy". On occasion of wedding and funeral celebrations, relatives and friends came to their homes to hold a'home song party', which is called'Huanjiang Fence'. The Zhuang people have always had the custom of singing at regular gatherings. This custom is called "Gexu" in the Han dialect. The Zhuang dialect is called "Huanlongdong" (meaning a mountain song to be sung in the fields), or "Huanhuanggan" (meaning a mountain song sung outside the cave), or "Huanbupo Slope", "Huanbudong", "Huanxu", "Huanxu Hexu", "Huanyan", "Huanxu Peng". (Port and ruins are synonymous, that is, polder market; slope refers to hillside and sloping land; nest refers to the meaning of going out or going out; port refers to the market in the field). According to the records of ancient documents, Gexu was popular as early as the Song Dynasty. Zhou Qufei's Answer to the Outer Ridges in the Southern Song Dynasty recorded that the Zhuang people "sang and sang repeatedly, and were sentimental and melancholy. They all wrote their own songs on the occasion and refused to follow suit. During this period, there were excellent people. "What I'm talking about here is the singing pool for young men and women's gatherings. By the Ming Dynasty, the Ge Dynasty had developed again, and it was held regularly in a fixed place.

Song pool originated from sacrificial singing and dancing activities in clan tribal era. With the development of society, this primitive ritual group singing and dancing has changed from "entertaining gods" to "entertaining people", from "dancing" to "singing", thus forming group reward singing activities. It has a special symbolic and cohesive force, and it has an impact on every member and family of the Zhuang nationality.

There are many moving legends in the course of the long-term development of the Song Dynasty of the Zhuang Nationality, such as praying for a good harvest year, selecting a son-in-law through song contest, and passing on songs by Sister Liu, the goddess of songs. Among them, the popular story is "Saige Chooses Son-in-law". Legend has it that in the past, the daughter of an old singer of the Zhuang nationality was very beautiful and could sing folk songs. The old man hoped to choose a young man with outstanding singing ability as his son-in-law. Young singers from all over the country rushed to propose to each other in Song contests, and regular song contests have been held since then.

Major activities

Song pools are held mainly in spring and autumn, the most popular in spring and April, and the most frequently held on the third day of the first three months of the lunar calendar. In autumn, Song pools are concentrated on August and September of the lunar calendar, especially the Mid-Autumn Festival. The venues of the pools vary from place to place, but each pool is usually held in a relatively fixed place.

The songs of the Zhuangs vary in size and size from place to place. During the song pool period, there were less than one or two thousand people, and more than ten thousand people came from all directions to participate. The festival usually lasts for three or five days. There are fixed locations, such as polders, slopes, etc., and there are also uncertain locations. Generally, they are held in open spaces and hillsides not far from villages. Setting up a colorful shed, setting up a singing platform, throwing balls and choosing a good spouse are different from others.

The Zhuang nationality mainly has the following forms: Festival song pools, which are usually held from the first month of the lunar calendar to May and in August and September of autumn; on-the-spot song pools, which are sung at the time of working places, pools and weddings; competitive song pools, including "letting off the ball, returning the ball pool" and "temple fair competition song". Some pools are festival, Memorial and sacrificial. The song pool on March 3rd of the lunar calendar is the most grand.

primary coverage

There are three main aspects in the activities of singing pools. One is the acquaintance of singing houses, that is, the choice of matches based on songs. Secondly, there are tray songs, guessing songs, song-to-song, stories and unique song-to-song, fighting songs and so on. Thirdly, the pool period is accompanied by the activities of throwing embroidery balls, grabbing fireworks, fighting eggs, and blogging fans, and even the performances of Zhuang Opera, Shigong Opera, Tea Picking Opera and other literary and artistic performances.

Song pool takes young men and women's friendship as its core content, that is, depending on Song matching and song contest to appreciate songs. On Song Day, young men and girls wear Festival dresses, men carry gifts, women carry embroidery balls, looking for young people in other villages, three or five or groups, and go in groups to sing folk songs at the Song Ground. Some carried the statue of Liu Sanjie around the pool for a week before they began to sing. Some girls set up multicoloured embroidery shed, waiting for the young man to come, while singing, while examining each other's personality and talent. Some are men and women aligned, the girl wants her lover to throw the embroidery ball, if the other party likes, on the embroidery ball tied gifts, throw back the woman. Some pools have the custom of touching eggs: a young man touches a girl's eggs with his colored eggs. If a girl wants to be friends with him, she exposes half of the eggs and lets him touch them; if she doesn't, she holds them all. There is also a village A to the village B to send the ball, the appointment to return the ball when the folk song competition, such as village B lost, the ball is not allowed to return, the next year to continue to play until the singing win.

Usually, young men take the initiative to sing "sightseeing song" and look for opponents; when there are more suitable objects, they sing "meeting song" and "invitation song"; when the woman agrees, they sing "inquiry song"; when they know each other, they sing "love song" and "love song"; when they know each other, they sing "farewell song". The lyrics are accompanied by the choreographer, which is metaphorical and cordial. People. Young men and women contact each other after the song, establish certain feelings, and make an appointment to see you at the next song pool.

Song pool involves astronomy and geography, myths and legends, farming, social life, ethics and morality, love and marriage and other aspects, almost nothing goes without singing.

In the pool, besides songs, there are also cultural and recreational activities such as drama, folk art, sports and so on. There are also many colorful games, such as wonderful throwing of embroidery balls, interesting touching of red eggs, lively fireworks, and performing grand games that the masses like to hear.

Sacrifice to Blotta

Tianyang in Guangxi is regarded as the birthplace of Buluotuo, the ancestor of Zhuang people's humanities, while Ganzhuang Mountain is the sacred mountain of Buluotuo culture. According to folklore, the nineteenth day of February in the lunar calendar is the birthday of Buluotuo. From this day on to the ninth day of March in the lunar calendar, the Zhuang people in history will spontaneously go to Ganzhuang Mountain to worship. The Zhuang people who come to worship will sing folk songs. Over time, the oldest and largest pool in Guangxi has been formed. The pool in March also includes it. Among them.

Inheritance Significance

There are activities of song pools in all areas inhabited by the Zhuang nationality. There are 640 song pools in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Song pool is the natural carrier of Zhuang folk songs. It has become the representative form of traditional cultural and entertainment activities of the Zhuang people. It has created the unique "Song pool culture" of the Zhuang people, which plays an important role in the generation, inheritance and development of all kinds of traditional folk songs of the Zhuang people. At the same time, it is also the treasure house of Zhuang folk literature, which has important value for understanding and studying the ancient social life of the Zhuang nationality. Gexu also provides a place for people, especially young people, to learn folk songs and display their talents, and meets their psychological needs of advocating folk songs and poetic thinking.

With the acceleration of modernization, the traditional ethnic and folk culture has been seriously impacted, and the activities of song pools have gradually decreased. Many singing pools die out because old singers do not participate in and take over from young and middle-aged singers after they quit. We should take prompt measures to rescue and protect this ancient national custom.

The State attaches great importance to the protection of intangible cultural heritage. On May 20, 2006, the folklore was approved by the State Council and listed in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage lists.

Main species

classification

Gexu was originally a kind of "Spring and Autumn Festival Song", which was closely related to the production season and rhythm of life in the Zhuang nationality area, and combined with many festival activities, and became a singing party held at a specific time and place. However, with its development from "Spring and Autumn Papers" to "Singing for Music" and the "Singing" of the social life of the Zhuang people, it often appears in various occasions when people gather together that the group sings in pairs and becomes an on-the-spot singing pool. In addition, there are also the agreed singing competitions between villages, which is also a special form of pool. Some of them are divided into day and night pools, field pools and village pools according to the time and place of their activities. Generally speaking, the activities of song pools in different places are similar or different. From the point of view of their timing and characteristics, they can be roughly classified into the following types: singing pools, singing pools, singing pools, singing pools, singing pools, singing pools and singing pools.

Festival song pool

This is a singing party held in the annual festival. Most of them are from January to May in spring, August and September in autumn, which are local special singing festivals. Some of them are the same as the festivals of February, March and April of the Han nationality, as well as the festivals of the Yuan, Mid-Autumn and Chongyang. Among them, especially in the spring season, song pool activities are the most prosperous. For example: 50 pools in Jingxi County, except Ludong, Tunpan, Dongba and Nongda, which are held in July and August, are held in spring (among which there are three meetings in January, July and August); 48 pools in Chongzuo County, 44 pools in spring; and 72 pools in Baise City. The Festival period of 43 pools in Longzhou County is also concentrated in spring. Its grand occasion, as described by Huang Yu, a Zhuang poet in Longzhou in the Qing Dynasty, "Shuangxi clouds lock up Jiaoyao, spring rain leaks into the sky, oil umbrellas cover the hat layer by layer, and the sisters of the former village step back to sing."

The significance and characteristics of this kind of song pool activities, either due to praying for the New Year or to some kind of commemoration, are basically commenced with the local agricultural Festival at the age of the year.

Exhibition. In Modern Festival song pools, except for a few places, most of them do not hold any ceremony. The venues are mostly on the slopes of the countryside. They are moved to villages at night, and some are held in market towns. At that time, people tend to sing freely. The meeting time is usually one day, and there are two or three days in some places. Such Festival pools are the largest in scale, such as those in Wuming County (March 3) and Jingxi County (February 22). The number of participants sometimes reaches 340,000. Secondly, there are about 20,000 singing pools: Chunxiaoyan, Liulian Village, Tianyang (7-9 March), Napo County Township (28 March), Sangyuanpo, Yunbiao Township, Hengxian County (2-4 January), Jingxi County Township (22 February), Longlin (25 March), Ludong (10 July), Pingguo. Shanxin County (April 9 and 10), Busha, Qujiu Township, Fusui County (April 3, 13 and 23), Wuming County Township (March 3), Baying, Yangtze River Township, Donglan County (January Spring Festival), Shuanghe Temple, Rongshui County (March 3) and Lanmaping, Sanfang Town (March 3), Lianhua Street, Gongcheng County (Middle). The autumn festival) and so on 12; about 10,000 people Festival song pools nearly 60. It can be seen that people attach great importance to traditional song pools.

Form of activity

During the festival period, Fusui and Ningming counties, there are several nearby points that take turns to "Fupo", that is, the activity form of holding the second concert. The local name is "Wopo", which means to go out to the hillside to sing and play while it is busy. In the past, there were nine traditional song pools in Fusui County, namely Nawao, Tongtong, Paidou, Laiheng, Poqu, Nadu, Banhan and Public Security. They were distributed on both sides of the Ming River and the Public Security River. Downstream, there were Qinyue, Tongmian and Porui in Ningming County, which were connected with 12 Song pools. Every year, from the beginning of March 4th, the "Wopo" will be held one after another, one by one, until March 15th, the first round will be held in Brai. Then, from March 16 to March 27, the original sequence of "slope restoration" was carried out again, and the end of March 27 was declared. The significance of this "compound slope" is related to the local production season. As the busy spring ploughing is approaching, people enjoy themselves, and young people have more opportunities to promote friendship by intensifying their social activities. At the same time, people also express their strong desire to pray for richness by means of "Fupo".

On-the-spot singing pool

This kind of song pool is a form of singing in certain occasions and occasions. Such as group labor, marriage and celebration, market gatherings, etc.

Although there is no specific date and venue, and the scale is smaller than the traditional festival pool, singing on this occasion has become a custom in many places, which can be said to be a broad pool.

The Zhuangs of the Labor Song Club have the custom of singing a couple of songs in the productive labor, "although ploughing the fields, they must also have oral music" (Zhou Quifei: Answer to the Outer Ridges) Pingnan Music). At the same time, due to the slow development of social history, economy and culture in the Zhuang nationality area, especially in the western part of Guangxi, the middle of the Qing Dynasty was still in a primitive and closed state of life. The same race, neighbourhood and village community help each other to work, commonly known as "compensate for work" (also known as "change work"), to complement the shortage of labor, also by this gathering singing.

In modern times, with the development of social economy, the Zhuang farmers in Zuojiang and Youjiang areas often hire young people from other places to work as temporary helpers in busy seasons. There are 6 to 8 people in a family, 30 to 50 people in a family, and more than 100 people in a rich family. Because of the different climate in mountainous areas and the different times of farming and harvesting uprisings in different areas, young men and women are also willing to take advantage of their leisure time to engage in social activities or perform their songs. They don't care about pay. Generally speaking, women transplant rice, men pick rice; women cut rice, men pick rice. As they worked, they sang at the same time. At night, he continued to sing in the village. Women's groups are gathered in the main house, men's groups of 35 stop outside the house, singing and singing through the window.................................................. This kind of labor song festival, especially spring transplanting Yangko, is the most prosperous, and each place has its own unique form. For example, in the past, in Qinmi Township of Debao County, spring insertion in every nature village was agreed to be completed on the same day or in a day and a half. At that time, a solemn transplanting ceremony will be held. It seems that this is a legacy of the ritual of praying for the New Year in the labor production of clan tribes. With the local planting time limit, the scene is warm, and the female singers are also more concentrated, which attracts many young people from other counties (Jingxi, Tian and other counties). The time of transplanting seedlings for the fans of Qin Dynasty has also become a grand pool meeting for 230,000 people.

What is more unique is that in the past, there was a custom of hiring girls to plant rice seedlings and sing songs at night in Baowei Township, Daxin County. In the western Guangxi countryside, people often take the honor of hiring girls who are diligent and good at singing, and take the enthusiastic singing of Tiandong and villages as a sign of auspicious celebration. Therefore, in the spring and autumn harvest season of labor song, there are often villages after villages, a continuous phenomenon.

The pool singing is a form of activity in which men and women invite each other to sing in the pool. "The Tumin of Western Guangdong... Singing in the pool every spring, men and women

Sitting aside, his songs are all men's and women's words. Others reject it, such as "You love me, I don't love you" and so on. If two people are happy, they will join hands in the wine shed and sit and drink together. They will give each other gifts to settle their feelings and meet regularly. (Zhao Yi: Liao Zao Ji; Bianjun Customs) This kind of pool day singing is still popular in Hechi City, Debao, Jingxi and Bama counties. But it's not necessarily sung every day. It's only sunny in the festival or leisure season, or at night. Some are in the polder pavilions, some are in the streets or suburbs. Participants are not only young people, but also a considerable number of middle-aged and elderly people who are good singers. They often find that a place name singer comes to the pool and invites a temporary match song together. The situation is also very different from the ancient "singing in the spring moon while pool", and the scale is also small. Marriage Club sings not only "Answer the song for marriage", but also to celebrate the marriage by singing. In modern times, this custom still prevailed in the countryside. In Liucheng County, "when married, relatives and friends also try singing all night". In Hengxian, "When the bride goes out, the male guest and the female wedding aunt sing folk songs to each other and sing along until they reach the village side." "In the evening, the bridal aunt and the guest-boy over there sing folk songs in the hall, some sing until midnight, some sing till daylight."

This kind of wedding singing is not only an integral part of the wedding ceremony, but also a way of celebrating relatives and friends. On the evening of the wedding ceremony, people sang to each other with their wife's aunt and became a celebration song. On the wedding night, the reason why people sing all night is closely related to the marriage customs of the old Zhuang people. The bride was accompanied by the bride overnight. The next morning, they returned to their mother's home together. The accompanying singer of the man's family also sang farewell. The relationship between Gexu and the marriage culture of the Zhuang nationality is discussed in the fifth chapter.

Competitive song pool

This kind of song pool is a traditional folk song competition between villages or groups of singers. Time is usually held in festivals, or in specific pool venues, prepared and organized to carry out activities in accordance with certain popular procedures. There are mainly the following forms:

"Return the ball" and "release the ball" song pool is a kind of folk song competition between villages with a special color ball as the medium. It is mainly popular in the villages of Xinjiang, Baiji, Liangqing, Wuwei, Nachen and Nanxiao where the Zhuang people live together in Yongning County, Guangxi.

The temple fair song contest is held during a specific temple fair. Its characteristics are organized, but no appointment is needed. At that time, singers will come on stage directly or impromptu duet across the river. There are two kinds of duet, male and female duet and village duet. Among them, the most representative is the Fushan Temple Gezhen in Hexian County, Guangxi, which meets on May 19 of the lunar calendar, commonly known as the "Lighting Club".

Singing "Grass Song" is a form of Zhuang women's song contest. It is mainly popular in Xincheng County, Guangxi. On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15, people sit in the courtyard and organize a pair of songs in the moonlight. The so-called "straw song" means that both sides of A and B get their names by taking a section of straw as the symbol of victory or defeat of the song.