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Chongqing News

Huguang Guild held a memorial ceremony for the King of Yu

2018-04-08 09:52:44

CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- Recently, the Huguang Guild in Chongqing held a memorial ceremony for the King of Yu, which attracted hundreds of citizens and tourists. It is said that in Huguang Guild, the custom of holding memorial ceremonies for the King of Yu has been maintained for more than 300 years, which gradually forming a kind of traditional folk activity. This year, it will start the declaration of the national intangible cultural heritage.

A memorial ceremony for the King of Yu held at Huguang Guild

At 10 o'clock in the morning, accompanied by chimes, the melodious ancient music rang in Huguang Guild. The ceremony officials were dressed in ancient Hanfu. They came to the Yu Palace and chanted ancient words to preside over the ceremony.

Under the guidance of the chief priests such as the Ceremony Censor, the Etiquette Officer, and the Ceremony Official, the process followed and re-enacted the sacrificial offerings of monks in history. These included 13 procedures from hand-washing, dusting, flower-laying, pilgrimages, doing worships, reading Zhuwen, and libation, and others.

Huguang Guild held a memorial ceremony for the King of Yu.

Since the Qing Emperor Kangxi years, the immigrants who migrated to Chongqing from Hubei and Hunan and their descendants have gathered at the Yu Palace to commemorate the king of Yu, worship their ancestors and pray for peace. These rituals gradually formed the traditional folk activities with a long history and extensive influence in Chongqing. In 2014, it was identified as one of the city's municipal intangible cultural heritage.

Youngsters took part in the inheritance of traditional culture

Citizens and tourists participated in the memorial ceremony.

According to Huguang Guild, the system and etiquette of the memorial ceremony, including oblations, sacrificial utensils, music, dances, funeral oration, etc., contain rich traditional Chinese cultural information and require more people to pass it on.

“In the past, we have invited the inheritors of intangible cultural heritage to serve as ceremony officials. But this year, we have had young people join and the results are very good.” The person in charge said that today’s ceremony officer Yang Yi is a “after 1985”. Not only that, most of the deacons at the ceremony were also "after 1980".

“More and more young people are joining in the inheritance of traditional culture.” This year they will start the application of the national intangible cultural heritage for the memorial ceremony for the King of Yu to further inherit the Chinese traditional culture. (Translated by Gao Jiao, Fathom Language Limited)

Editor:Jiang Yiwei