Yan Emperor Mausoleum ceremony

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Yan Emperor Mausoleum ceremony

Applicant: Yanling County, Hunan Province

Project No.: 481

Project No.: Ⅹ - 33

Time of publication: 2006 (the first batch)

Category: folk customs

Region: Hunan Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Yanling County, Hunan Province

Protection unit: Yanling County Cultural Center

A brief introduction to the ceremony of Yan Emperor's Mausoleum

Applicant: Yanling County, Hunan Province

Yandi mausoleum is located at the foot of Yanling mountain, 15 kilometers southwest of Yanling County, Zhuzhou City, Hunan Province. It is said that in ancient times, Emperor Yan, the ancestor of the Chinese nation, Shennong's family came to the south for inspection, tasting herbs and curing diseases for the people. Unfortunately, they accidentally tasted poisonous herbs and died. They were buried here. According to historical records, it has been a custom to offer sacrifices to Emperor Yan since the Han Dynasty.

Emperor Yan is a great man, who has been greatly respected and sacrificed by the Chinese people of all dynasties.

Yanling County has a long history of "Yandi mausoleum sacrifice" culture, including cultural sacrifice, material sacrifice, fire sacrifice, music sacrifice, dragon sacrifice and so on. There are two kinds of sacrificial ceremonies: Official sacrificial ceremony and folk sacrificial ceremony. According to historical records, grand ceremonies were held in Song Dynasty, no less than 15 times in Ming Dynasty and 38 times in Qing Dynasty. In the long historical process, "Yan Emperor Mausoleum ceremony" has become a comprehensive cultural carrier covering music, dance, literature and other fields. On the sacred fire platform of the memorial site, nine dragons are radially arranged with the sacred fire stone as the center, spouting flames from their mouths to ignite the sacred fire of Yan emperor at the top of the sacred fire stone to commemorate the popularization of fire by the Shennong family of Yan Emperor The "human dragon" of props shows the idea that Chinese people are not only the descendants of the dragon, but also the people who transmit the dragon. On the square of the Dragon hall, the performances of five different colors of dragons, yellow, green, black, white and red, carried out according to the orientation of "five elements", contain rich traditional cultural connotations. Since the reform and opening up, with the increasing influence of Yan Emperor's mausoleum in the Chinese community, to participate in the "Yan Emperor's Mausoleum ceremony" has become an important way for Chinese people to seek national identity, look forward to national unity, and express their patriotic feelings. In recent years, more than 100000 overseas Chinese have come to the mausoleum of Emperor Yan every year.

The formation of Yan Emperor's culture experienced the process of consanguinity identity, political identity and cultural identity, which is still a strong spiritual link to maintain national unity, national unity and oppose division. Under the influence of Yan Emperor's culture, the outstanding historical and cultural traditional virtues, such as unity, independence, peace loving, self-improvement, dedication, reform and innovation, still have a profound impact on today's Chinese people.