The Sacrifices in Chaozhou
by alywang
There are various sacrifices in Chaozhou from the beginning to the end in each year. In the Chaozhou custom, the ancestors and many deities are the ones who should be sacrificed. The laborious Chaozhou women play an important role in all kinds of sacrifices. They become very busy during Chinese traditional festivals. Besides those sacrifices on festivals, they still need to sacrifice the Land deity one or two times every month.
Different sacrifices are offered different sacrifices. However, incenses, candles and paper which is made to resemble money and burned as an offering are necessary in every process of sacrifices. At the beginning of the sacrifice, people should worship on bended knees and impetrate the blessing from the deities or their ancestors. And then wait for the incenses burning out. When the incenses burn out, people start to burn the “paper money”. That’s the end of the sacrifice.
Walk Out Of The Garden
by alywang
“Walk Out Of The Garden” is a kind of adult rituals in Chaozhou area. When kids reach 15 years old of nominal age, their parents hold adult rituals for them.
The local people usually choose a good day of the year when kids reach the age of holding adult rituals. On the day of “Walk Out Of The Garden”, the kid takes a bath with 12 kinds of flower. It’s believed the fragrance of the flowers can clean the childishness. And then the kid wears new clothes with a bellyband in it. There are 12 longans and two pieces of copper cash in the bellyband. The kid also needs to put on a pair of red clogs. And he/she is not allowed to go out of his house on that day as it means the kid will no longer play all the time in the garden and will to be a sensible adult. Some internal organs of pigs are cooked into soup for the kid. Its hidden meaning is that after drinking the soup, kid will change the new internal organs to be an adult. The kid should worship on bended knees towards the stove of some deity. At noon, the family of the kid invites their relatives and friends to have banquet. The kid of “Walk Out Of The Garden” should be treated as an adult and let him/her sit on the main position.
From then on, the kid has already walked out of the “Garden”. It’s a symbol of being an adult.
The Mid-autumn Day
by alywang
Mid-autumn Day, the fifteenth day of the eighth month in Chinese traditional calendar, is a big Chinese traditional festival on which families reunite.
Sacrificing the moon in the evening of this day is a very old custom. Today, this custom already disappeared in many big cities in China. But Chaozhou still keeps this custom.
When the moon is rising up in the Mid-autumn evening, people start sacrificing the moon because it’s believed there is a deity standing for the moon. The sacrifices include moon cakes, many kinds of fruits, sweet tea, etc. After the sacrifice, we drink the sweet tea and eat the moon cakes and fruits; meanwhile we enjoy looking at the moon. Many kids like celebrating Mid-autumn Day for it means reunion, eating moon cakes and many fruits and having a lot fun^_^
Fishing at the Han-River Corridor
by alywang
I think the Han-River Corridor is a good place for the fishing fans. You can often see some people fishing here. I guess there is another reason people like fishing here: the fishes from the Han-River taste very delicious! There are even some restaurants near the Han-River side serving river fishes .
One of the Chaozhou snack-Guozhi
by alywang about Roadside food stalls
Oh, oh, rice again! Sorry, I really do not know how to translate its name in English. Guozhi is all made of rice. It is a kind of thick soup. The Guozhi itself takes very light. The local people usually drink Guozhi with spicy meet, spicy eggs or other spicy food. It is another traditional snack in Chaozhou. People usually drink it in the afternoon when they feel hungry.
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The Winter Solstice
The Lantern Festival
Chaozhou ceramic
The Deities
