The origin of the Xia Yuan Festival is related to Taoism.

Taoism has three officials: the heavenly official, the earth official, and the water official.

Shangyuan - Jiuqi blessed the heavenly official

Zhongyuan - Qiqi pardons sins

Xia Yuan - Wu Qi Jie Shui Guan

October 15 - The water officer relieves the doom

On this day, in order to show reverence to the souls of ancestors, every household will prepare rich family dishes to worship their ancestors, praying for the souls of their ancestors to bless their descendants in the underworld, so that they will be saved from disasters and misfortunes.

The Thorn Mansion was busy early in the morning, and Li Yan and the little girl also got up early in the morning because they went to the street to see this traditional festival.

I didn't want Zhao Zongping and Zou Yu to come over early in the morning, Zhou Ziheng's eyes straightened when he saw these two annoying spirits.

"So early?"

Zhao Zongping smiled, "I'm going to have breakfast with you." ”

Otherwise, you go out early in the morning, the street is so lively, where would he and Zou Yu go to find them.

When they saw Li Yan, they greeted her warmly, Zhao Zongping looked at the girl with joy, "Thank you sister for the pot of national peony, grandfather and his old man liked it very much, and as soon as he was happy, he rewarded me with two thousand taels of silver." ”

Zhao Zongping made no effort, he earned a thousand taels of silver for nothing, but he was happy, he worked hard for decades to save this thousand taels of silver, which is not much thanks to the girl's national peony.

Zhao Zongping thanked Li Yan and said to Zhou Ziheng, "Three days later, it will be my grandfather's birthday, and my grandfather asked me to tell you, and on that day, his old man warmly invited you to the banquet." ”

Zhou Ziheng said, you kid, I can't see that you have other plans.

Zhou Ziheng frowned and said, "As soon as the Divine Competition is over, we have to go back to the academy, and my sister will also go back to Hejun, I'm afraid that I won't be able to go, you will confess to the old man for us, his kindness, our brothers and sisters understand it." ”

Zhou Ziheng didn't lie to him, there weren't many days for the academy to rest, and he accompanied his sister to see the God Competition.

They also have to visit the history of the assassin, and it is rare for my sister to come to Lingnan, so he has to take her to walk around the streets, and there is really no extra time to go to Zhao's mansion to pay respects.

Zhao Zongping was inevitably disappointed after hearing this, but he was open-minded and quickly put aside this worry.

It's just that I didn't complete the task assigned by my grandfather, and when I go back, I won't be told a couple of words by my grandfather.

His grandfather, a highly orchid flower lover, got the national peony he sent yesterday, he couldn't put it down, after hearing that the girl who planted flowers was in Lingnan, after the collapse in the morning, he wanted to follow him over, he thought that it was out of place, and it was difficult to persuade his grandfather to go down, so early in the morning his grandfather dug out the warm quilt and ran here.

After eating, the group went to the Land Temple in Dongcheng.

Although Li Yan and the others went early, Dongcheng was already overcrowded when they arrived, and the local people found a good place to watch the God Games in order to catch up with the good days, and some people came to the gate of the land temple overnight to occupy a seat.

The little girl was full of interest, looking east and west.

Xiao Qi stood intently behind Li Yan with a look of concentration, holding a sword in both hands, alerting the crowd around him, many people are prone to accidents, and his duty is to protect Miss Li's safety.

Cai Buyi's interest is no better than that of a little girl, standing in the crowd, her neck is longer than that of a little girl.

Yao Shisan traveled south and north, and he saw a lot, but he was not so curious, gossiping with Zhao Zongping beside him.

Zhou Ziheng nervously pulled his sister's hand, "There will be a lot of people for a while, and it is easy to get separated, don't be afraid, my brother is pulling you." ”

Li Yan looked at Brother Goose, and wanted to laugh in her heart, where would she be afraid, look at Brother Cheap's palms are wet, as for being nervous to this extent.

Zhou Ziheng's heart jumped suddenly, he also wanted to calm himself, but the first time he shook his sister's hand, he couldn't calm down at all, this hand didn't seem to be his own, he couldn't control it.

Fortunately, when Zhou Ziheng was nervous, the little girl and Cai Buyu exclaimed, "Look, the witch has come out, and the statue has come out." ”

When Zhou Ziheng was distracted, the palm of his hand finally stopped sweating.

But he was panicked in his heart, afraid that his sister would dislike him and sweat a lot.

I won't let him hold hands in the future, what should I do?

The so-called Welcoming God Contest is actually a well-known Lingnan sorcerer to welcome the gods, open a festival, carry the gods to the streets, and accept the people's incense worship.

As soon as the little girl shouted, everyone looked on tiptoe, and saw that at the entrance of the land temple, the sorcerer in witch clothes came out with a big play, and four big men behind her carried the statue to follow her, the sound of cannon battle rumbled, and the street beat copper and gongs, which was very lively.

Li Yan watched the sorcerer dance and sing a big play, and couldn't help but think of the scene where she was praying for rain at the altar of the county god, as if she saw another self, and couldn't help but chuckle.

With the presentation of lion dance, dragon and lion, Huangge unicorn dance, eight singles, acrobatics, floating colors and other programs, the current sound is even more crowded, and the voices are boiling.

Lion dance, dragon lion, acrobatics can be seen in festivals all over the country, like floating colors but unique Lingnan characteristics of folk amusement projects, by people dressed as drama characters singing and dancing, called "outstanding".

There are many folk "color art" projects in Guangdong, which are divided into spring and autumn colors by quarter, and are divided into floating colors, water colors, fire colors, horse colors and so on with "excellent" characteristics.

The performance of this welcome game is a floating performance, there are strong men holding colored stalks, children dressed up in various costumes, dancing in the air, "Tang Seng Learns the Scriptures", "Taoyuan Tie", "Chang'e Running to the Moon", "Nezha Troubled Sea" stories are vividly performed by young actors.

The little girl and Cai Buyi looked at it and sighed, "Miss, these children are too powerful." For this kind of high-altitude performance to perform so well, it should be practiced from an early age. ”

These children are between 4-10 years old, handsome in appearance and moderate in shape, at first glance, they have been carefully selected, so as to reflect the sense of volley when they are churning in the air, it is not easy to come out to beg for life at a young age, Li Yan sighed in her heart.

The second ancestor Cai Buyu and the little girl watched it with relish, and they followed the team to invite the gods all the way and watched several performances.

Li Yan lost interest after watching "Havoc in the Heavenly Palace", most of these performances are the same, after watching one of the performances, the later performances basically follow the routine of the previous one.

While everyone's eyes were attracted by the children's performances, there was a scene at the corner of the street that was incompatible with the excitement in front of them.

A girl dressed in linen and filial piety knelt on the road, and the body of an elderly man stood on a straw mat beside her.

Li Yan said in her heart, this little girl is afraid that she is not going to take advantage of this trouble to sell herself to bury her father.

Such a scene is played out every day in this era, and it can come several times a day.

Some people may sympathize with the girl's plight and throw a few copper plates, but if it costs a hundred taels of silver, the girl will be bought.

There are really very few good people like this, because you can buy one, two, you can buy hundreds, thousands, thousands of refugees, you can't buy them.