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Xin Ha

Building

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土楼生活  Life in tulou

 

出生/婚姻:在土楼里出生的土楼人现在已经不多见了,大家要么建了新的砖房,要么离开村庄去向城市。达到婚育年龄的年轻人基本上在外工作,有些甚至已经在外地买房,那举办婚礼的地方也是在他们所移民至的城市,在城里的酒店办现代式的婚礼酒席,回来办传统土楼式婚礼的人已经很少了。孕妇一般跟随自己的丈夫在县城或大城市里,怀孕期间也不会选择回到生活、卫生条件差的老家里去。即便有因为个人原因不得不回到村里怀孕的例外,家里人和邻居还是会把孕妇送到高头乡的卫生所接生。

Birth/Marriage: Few people today are born in tulous. Most people either builds a new brick house, or move to the city. Young people who have reached the age of marriage basically work in the city, and some of them have even bought a house there. They usually get married in the city where they moved to, and they celebrate a modern wedding banquet in a hotel, instead of doing it in a tulou in a traditional way. Pregnant women generally follow their husbands to live in the county capital or in a big city. During their pregnancy, they do not choose to return to their old homes, with poor living and hygienic conditions. Nevertheless, there are some exceptions: some pregnant women return to the village for personal reasons. In these cases, the family and neighbors take her to the health clinic in Gaotou town to deliver the baby.

 

教育:在山坡脚下至今依然坐落着一栋现代式建筑的小学,也是在这个地方,原先是一座小小的木屋,如今孩子们的父母辈曾在这个木屋里上学。后来,学生太多,小小的木屋容不下,就把木屋拆了在原地建起新的更大的教学楼。村民能够享受到的教育,也就仅此一个不成规模的小学资源条件而已。随着时代的变迁、村庄人口的迁移,村里的人口越来越少,在村小学就读的学生也越来越少,村里的孩子都到教学条件更好的乡里、县里甚至一些大城市里去就学。村庄里就只剩下一栋简陋的教学楼,一个校长依然坚守在岗位上教育着不到3名的学生。留在村里小学就读的学生,实际上并没有正常的校园生活可言。

Education: at the foot of the hillside, there is a primary school built in modern architecture. It was once a small wooden house where the parents of today’s children used to go. Later, there were too many students, and the small wooden house could not accommodate them all. The wooden houses were then demolished to build a new and larger teaching building in their place. Villagers can only enjoy primary school education, with low resources. Due to the important changes of the last decades and the migration of the villagers, the population of the village is becoming smaller and smaller, and the number of students attending the primary school village is decreasing progressively. Most children in the village are studying in bigger towns, county capitals, or even in big cities, with better teaching conditions. There is only one simple school building left in the village. The principal sticks to his position and teaches less than three students. The students who stayed in the elementary school in the village are not having a normal campus life.

 

工作:村中的工作岗位并不多,除了村书记、村主任、小学校长这几个岗位外,就剩下经营小卖部的老人和农民了。农民将自己种植的瓜果蔬菜和饲养的鸡鸭载去乡镇上去卖,这样的收入只能满足老一辈村民基本的生活需求,但对于年轻人来说,选择到县城发展或到大城市打工,是他们的目前最好的出路。

Work: There are not many job opportunities in the village. Apart from the posts of the village secretary, the village head and the primary school principal, most villagers are peasants ,while some old people run small stores. Farmers will carry their own melons, fruits, vegetables, chickens and ducks to the town for sale. This income can only meet the basic needs of the old villagers. While for young people, choosing to go to the county capital, or work in a big city seems to be the best way out now.

 

日常生活:人们从原先的土楼里搬到土楼外的新房去,但生产方式还没有质的改变,村民目前主要的日常生活是和农事耕作挂钩的,在某种程度上说,村民即农民。但是值得高兴的是,国家综合实力的发展惠及了农村,给村民带来了风扇、电视、电脑等用电器,丰富了村民的日常活动,增进了村民农闲时的乐趣。不仅如此,在村头的平地和村部的球场,可以见到大妈大婶们兴高采烈地跳广场舞,观看村部楼下不定期放映的电影也是村民晚上时的选择之一。

Daily life: People move from tulous to new houses outside them, but the production method has not changed qualitatively. The daily life of the villagers is still mainly linked to the farming work. To some extent, the villagers are farmers. However, it is gratifying that the development of the country's comprehensive strength has benefited the rural areas, bringing fans, televisions, computers and other electrical appliances to the villagers, enriching the daily activities of the villagers and enhancing the entertainment of the villagers during leisure time. At the square outside the Xin Hua tulou, and in the basketball court of the village school and community center, you can see the aunties dancing happily, or the villagers watching movies in late evening.

 

死亡:大岭下村人尊重死亡,善待亡者。他们的坟墓形似太师椅,通常靠在山脚庇荫之地。当亡者火化前,村内会鸣大炮,若只有一个老人去世,放两响;若两个老人都去世了,放三响。近而火化后,将骨灰盒一路抬回到村内,在村口便开始放炮迎接,将骨灰送回家中。请法师做法事择良日埋葬,做好法事后,宴请亲朋好友、乐队演奏。良日当天,将骨灰盒一路抬到坟墓,期间沿路放鞭炮,直到安葬亡者。大岭下人专门做墓葬的工人通常是单身男性、家庭贫苦,普通人不会选择做这样的工作。

Death: the villagers in Dalingxia respect death and treat the dead well. Their graves look like an old-fashioned wooden armchair, usually situated at the foot of the mountain. Before the deceased are cremated, big firecrackers are lit in the village. If only one old person dies, they let off two shots; if both old people die, they let off three. After the cremation, the ashes of the dead are lifted and welcomed back to the village home, and firecrackers will be lit from the village entrance. A taoist priest is invited to carry out a religious ceremony and he chooses a good day for the burial. After the ceremony, friends and family members are entertained at a banquet, and a band is invited to perform. On the good day for burial, the ashes are carried to the grave, and firecrackers are lit along the way until the dead is buried. The burial workers in Dalingxia village are usually single men with poor families. Ordinary people will not choose to do such work.

村民的信仰  Religion of Villagers

保生大帝是福建省历史悠久的民间信仰。生前为济世良医,受其恩惠者无数,其医术高明,医德高尚 、闻名遐迩,民间称其为吴真人,尊为“神医”。乡民建庙奉祀尊为医神。著有《吴夲本草》一书。供奉保生大帝世界祖庙位于漳州台商投资区白礁慈济宫,现大陆和台港澳,东南亚有2000多座供奉吴夲的保生大帝庙宇,信众近亿人,保生大帝已成为闽南、潮汕地区及台湾、香港、澳门、东南亚人民所共同信奉的道教神祗。

Bao Sheng Da Di (Bao Sheng Emperor) is a long-established folk belief in Fujian Province. Before his death, he was a very good doctor and benefited a lot of people. His medical skills were high, and his medical ethics was noble, which made him famous. The villagers called him Wu Zhenren (Wu is his last name and Zhenren is a respectful Taoist identity) and built temple to respect him as the medical god. He is the author of the book "Wu Tao Ben Cao" (Tao is his first name and this is an herbal medicine book). The original Bao Sheng Da Di Ancestral Temple is located in the “Ci Ji Gong” in the Taiwanese Business Investment Zone of Zhangzhou, China. Nowadays, there are more than 2,000 temples in the Chinese mainland (particularly southern Fujian and Chaoshan region), Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao and the Southeast Asia, as well as nearly 100 million believers. Bao Sheng Da Di has become a southern and western region.

 

大岭下的村民们信奉保生大帝,每年从正月初二开始,广济宫附近村镇都会抬轿子前来迎接保生大帝前往他们村里游村、听戏,祈求保佑。各村镇轮候迎接,活动一直持续到农历三月份才结束。每三年,大岭下的村民会将保生大帝神像送往厦门祖地,给保生大帝神像更换新衣,而后迎回村里。


The villagers of Dalingxia believe in Bao Sheng Da Di. Every year from the 2nd day of the first lunar month, the villages and towns near the Guang Ji Gong (Guang Ji Palace) bring the sedan chair and carry the statue of Bao Sheng Da Di to their villages, tour around, listen to the opera, and pray for blessing. The villages and towns take turn and wait for the sculpture, and the activities continue until March of the lunar calendar. Every three years, the villagers of Dalingxia bring the statue of Bao Sheng Da Di to the ancestral land in Xiamen, replace with new clothes, and then return to the village.

保生大帝在村民们的心中,是一个能解决他们日常生活中诸多问题的神。村里曾有一对夫妇向保生大帝求子,第一年求男孩子,果然生得一个男孩,第二年求女孩,便生了一个女孩。


In the hearts of the villagers, Bao Sheng Da Di is the god that can solve many problems in their daily lives. In the village, there was a couple who prayed for having a child. In the first year, they asked for a son, and then they really gave birth to a boy. When they asked for a daughter in the second year, they gave birth to a girl.

村民阿康叔说,他曾经肚子疼痛6个月,到各处医院求诊均未检查出任何疾病。无奈之下,其姐姐指点他求助于保生大帝。他便去广济宫求签,对应保生大帝得的药方簿,求得用苦桃树得的寄生植物治愈病痛。不仅只此一件保生大帝灵验之事,他又提及,他的孙子曾高烧不退,四处医治无效,他去广济宫求得7分钱中草药,孙子服下一副药即退烧见效。此外亦有,大岭下村人在山东弹棉花做工,遇到一妇人得大肚怪病,久治无效,便告知该妇人可向保生大帝求药,妇人随丈夫来到大岭下村,求得一方,打开看后为致命毒草药,妇人不敢尝试,回到山东老家。第二年,大肚病越发严重,又来向保生大帝求药,药方与去年一模一样。广济宫的宫保告诉该妇人:“由于你去年没吃这个药方医治,因此保生大帝还是给你同样的药方。”妇人惭愧,愿完全信任保生大帝,服下毒草药,竟然奇迹般的治愈这疑难杂症。


The villager Ah Kang Shu said he once had an abdominal pain for 6 months, but no disease can be diagnosed in various hospitals. In desperation, his sister advised him to seek help from Bao Sheng Da Di. He went to Guang Ji Gong to pray and draw divination stick, and finally know how to cure the pain with the parasitic plant of bitter peach tree according to the prescription book of Bao Sheng Da Di. Besides this spiritual experience, he also mentioned that his grandson ever had a high fever and failed to heal. He went to Guang Ji Gong and got 7 cents of Chinese herbal medicine, and his grandson recovered after taking the first dose. In addition, the villager of Dalingxia encountered a woman who had a big belly disease when they worked on cotton handling in Shandong. The woman has received treatment for a long time but it is not effective. The villager told the woman to seek for medicine from Bao Sheng Da Di, and the woman came to Dalingxia Village with her husband. She got a prescription but it was deadly poisonous herbs. The woman did not dare to try and went back to her home in Shandong. In the second year, the big belly disease became more serious, and she came to the Bao Sheng Da Di to seek medicine again. The prescription was exactly the same as last year. Manager of Guang Ji Gong told the woman: "Because you didn't take this prescription for treatment last year, Bao Sheng Da Di still gives you the same prescription." The woman was ashamed, became fully trusting the Bao Sheng Da Di and take the poisonous herbs. After that, miracle happens and the intractable disease was cured.

保生大帝对百姓的庇护,使得村民们对祂怀着深深的爱戴之心。本地村民、相邻村民,以及外出归来的人,甚至台湾、香港等海外华侨,为大岭下村重修广济宫纷纷出资捐助。至今,保生大帝香火不断。


The protection of the people by the Bao Sheng Da Di made the villagers deeply love him. Local villagers, neighboring villagers, returning people, and even overseas Chinese such as those in Taiwan or Hong Kong, have donated money to the Guang Ji Gong in Dalingxia Village. So far, the burning incense for Bao Sheng Da Di is continuing ceaselessly.

除此之外,村民也信奉着天地神灵,他们会将一些心愿寄托天地众神,许愿时,摆上供桌,摆放鸡鸭果品等供品,点燃香烛,斟上茶酒,焚香祭拜,心中默念愿望。许下愿望的事情过后,依然设供桌摆供品,焚香祭拜还愿。村民盖土楼的开基仪式,也会设香案桌,摆供品,祭拜天地,以祈求夯墙盖楼时平安无事。


In addition, the villagers also believe in and entrust their wishes to the gods of heaven and earth. When they make wish, they put chicken, duck, fruit and other offerings on the table, ignite the candles and incenses, and pour tea and wine to worship and whisper the wish in their hearts. They will do the same when the wish is realized, in order to redeem the vow to the god. By the way, they also worship the heaven and earth to pray for peace and safety when ramming earth and doing construction of the Tulou (earth building).

 

这里的村民在修建土楼的选址上,亦会请风水先生选址,他们信奉风水文化。在村民的口中,经常会道出诸多有关风水的故事。大岭下的村民口中,流传着这么一个故事:曾经有一位风水先生路过此地,天气炎热,口干舌燥,路过温姓族人的土楼,想讨一口水,温姓人恶言相向,让风水先生去喝河沟里的水,风水先生转身离去。之后,风水先生路过江姓族人的土楼,又向江姓人讨水喝,江家人热情招待,烧水沏茶,并杀鸡炖菜,并留宿风水先生。于是风水先生心怀感激,指导江家人从村落背靠的山坳沿着坡下来,铺一条石板路,临溪桥头截止,用石头打造一个箭头,埋在桥头。整条路形似弓箭,直指对面虎形山,破除虎形山对江家村落的煞气。因温家人土楼聚落坐落于虎形山,从此以后温姓族人多年轻病亡,家族逐渐衰败,最终族人仅剩下一人。风水先生在帮助江姓族人的同时,又惩奸除恶,最终江姓族人在大岭下村得以繁衍生息。


The villagers will ask Feng Shui master (geomancer) to choose a site for the construction of the Tulou building. They believe in Feng Shui culture and you will always hear Feng Shui stories from them. In Dalingxia, there is a story circulating: Once, there was a Feng Shui master passed by the village, the weather was hot and he was thirsty. When he walked by the Tulou of the Wen’s family, he asked for some water, but the Wen’s replied with harsh words and told the master to drink water from the stream. The master turned around and left. After that, the master went by the Tulou of the Jiang’s family and requested for water again. The Jiang’s family welcomed him with cordial hospitality, boiled water and made tea, killed chicken, stewed vegetable and made dishes, as well as accommodated the master. The master was grateful, so he guided the Jiang’s to pave a stone road downhill until the head of the bridge across a stream. Then they used stone to make an arrow and buried it at the bridge head. The entire road looks like a bow and arrow, pointing directly to the tiger-shaped mountain in the opposite side. This broke the evil spirit of the tiger-shaped mountain to the Jiang’s village. Meanwhile, because the Wen’s Tulou located on the tiger-shaped mountain, their family members became sick and died in young ages, and the family has gradually declined (only one clan member left at last). While helping the Jiang’s, the Feng Shui master also punished and eliminated the evil. In the end, the Jiang’s family is able to prosper in the Dalingxia Village.

不论是保生大帝、天地神灵,还是风水先生,大岭下的村民们信奉的,皆是与大自然、与生产生活息息相关的。揭去这些故事的神秘面纱,我们看到的是村民们的朴实、善良、勤劳。


No matter it is the Bao Sheng Da Di, the God of the Heaven and Earth, or the Feng Shui master, what the villagers of Dalingxia believe in is closely related to the nature, their production and living. Uncovering the mysterious mask of these stories, we see the simplicity, kindness and diligence of the villagers.

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