The origin of Water Releasing Festival
Although Water Releasing Festival is developed from the memorial ceremony of God River in the ancient times, it was formally celebrated in the Qin and Han Dynasty. This festival is a comprehensive cultural activity with mass participation. The celebration includes the following parts. The first is the memorial ceremony of Li Bing, the creator of the Dujiangyan Project. This ceremony can be dated back to 168 A.D.whose proof is the statue made in Han Dynasty that has been excavated in the course of Min River in 1974. The second is the establishment of the annual repairing system in the Dujiangyan Project. According to the historical records, Li Bing formulated the annual repairing system after the completion of the Dujiangyan Project. One of the most important systems is that of "clearing of the sands".only by the annual clearing of the sands, the water in the inner river can keep at a normal level. This systems has been established in the Qin Dynasty. The third is the activity of cutting the ropes to bind Machas and releasing the water, which has close relationship with the annual repairing system. The fourth one is the folk activity of knocking the wooden head, which is supposed to date back to the Qin Dynasty due to the great belief of witchcraft. At that time, the witchcraft was rather popular and the great poet Du Fu in the Tang Dynasty has once criticized the superstitious activity in his poem. According to another historical records, the repairing and improvement at a large scale of the Dujiangyan Project in the Han Dynasty can also provide proof of the formation of Water Releasing Festival at that time. And then, why the festival is celebrated at the Qingming Day? There are mainly two reasons. One is that the annual repairing should be completed before spring, while the start of spring in the ancient times is marked in Qingming Day, after which the farming begins.
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The other reason is that 24 solar terms plays very important roles in the agriculture, while the Qingming Day is just the starting point of the spring farming. In addition, one of the two memorial ceremonies in a year should be held just at that time, so the Qingming Day becomes the date of the celebration of Water Releasing Festival.
Written by: Fan Mengling and Meng Lingyu |
